“I…ah…well,” she cleared her throat and took two steps back. “You know, with Remy and you not being at work…”
Roc pinned me with his gaze. “I’ll pay you two grand a week.”
Holy freakin’ hell. Roc was possibly insane.
“I’m on vacation the next two weeks, Roc, and that is entirely too much money. You could find a health home nurse that would help you for much less.”
“You going somewhere? I also don’t want some random nurse. I want the best. I’m willing to pay for it.”
“You know…I…there were some things I wanted to do.” Binge watch Game of Thrones, eat my bodyweight in ice cream, and possibly go to the aquarium. Important things. Though I wasn’t getting paid two grand a week to do them.
“Do them at my house,” he insisted.
“Dad, you can’t be serious right now,” Harlyn insisted. “Stay here until Monday, and then we can worry about you coming home later.”
“I’m not laying here for four more fucking days, Harlyn. I want to go home,” Roc growled.
“This isn’t something that needs to be decided right now,” I interrupted. “It’s not like I could even get Roc discharged tonight.”
Why did I even say that? It made it sound like I was considering it.
Was I?
“Then in the morning. I want to be out of here in the morning.”
“Dad,” Harlyn whined. “Why can’t you just lay in bed, be lazy and enjoy it. I would love to be laid up for a couple of weeks with nothing to do other than watch TV and sleep.” Harlyn tried to reason, but even I knew Roc was not the type of man who would be content lying in bed for weeks.
“Let me sleep on it.” It was like I didn’t even know what was going to come out of my mouth. I was seriously considering this. Roc was a straight-up grump but there was something telling me that this was a good idea.
Harlyn gasped, and Roc crossed his arms over his chest with a satisfied grin on his face.
“You can’t be serious,” Harlyn called.
I wasn’t entirely sure I was serious, but I knew I needed to think about this by myself.
I was going to say no, right?
Chapter Two
Roc
The lights were dimmed, and I had been tired earlier, but now, I couldn’t sleep.
Harlyn and Dr. Clark had left half an hour ago, and the TV droned on quietly while I tried to doze off.
“Fucking bullshit pillows,” I grumbled. I grabbed the pillow from behind my head and pounded it with my fist.
I didn’t plan on asking Dr. Clark to come be my nurse, but I was beyond desperate to get the hell out of here. If having Dr. Clark stay with me was my ticket home, then I was fully ready to cash that fucker in and get the hell out of here.
“Damn, you really must have been banged up pretty good in that wreck if you’re going to sleep before nine.” Jay strolled into my room and stood at the end of my bed with a shit-eating grin on his face.
“Hell, they let anyone in here,” I grumbled.
“You must not be that bad if you’re still grumbling.”
I rolled my eyes and wished to God I would have fallen asleep before Jay walked in. “Pretty sure it’s past visiting hours. You can see yourself out.”
“Damn, Roc. You’re as savage as ever.” Brooks walked in behind Jay and moved to the side of the bed.
“You can stay. He can wait for you in the car.”
Jay held his hand to his chest and stumbled back a step. “I’m wounded. Completely wounded,” he gasped.
Brooks laughed. “Not sure why. The only difference from when he normally talks to you like that is he’s laid up in bed.”
Jay moved to the side of the bed and plopped down in the chair. “Totally thought two broken legs might dull Roc’s sharp edges.” He kicked his feet up in the bed and looked up at the TV. “I was completely wrong,” he muttered.
“What the hell are you two doing here? Shouldn’t you be working on getting everything loaded for the race this weekend?” It was Thursday, and King Racing should be in full-swing getting everything ready.
“Just got done with the car. Remy headed home to Harlyn, but Jay and I figured we would head over here to see how you were doing.” Brooks nodded to my legs. “You got any feeling in those fuckers or do they have you doped up on pain meds?”
“I can feel them all right. Though they do have some meds going through me that help dull the pain.” They also made me tired as fuck. I was glad when Dr. Clark had said they would be knocking back my dosage. “You sure you’ll be ready for the race?”
I know Harlyn had said Frankie had taken over the reins of the team, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to stop worrying.
“We just need to double check the load, and we’ll be hitting the road bright and early in the morning.” Jay laughed. “Kind of fucking weird having Frankie boss me around.”
“Please,” Brooks chuckled. “How is that any different from when Roc was around? I’m two steps away from marrying the chick and I know damn well how bossy Frankie is. She was made to run the team.”
“Yeah, but she better not get too comfortable doing it.” I was returning to the team. Frankie was only going to have a couple of weeks playing boss before she was back to being car chief.
“We know you’re not replaceable, Roc,” Brooks assured me. I had been working with Brooks for years now, and he was more like a son to me than my driver, and ultimately, he was the owner of the team. “Your place is with King Racing.”
Jay chuckled and shook his head. “I gotta say, I’m pretty surprised you’re even still in here. Figured you would have conned your way out of here and back to the shop by now.”
“Working on it.” Hopefully, I would be out of here by the morning, if everything went to plan.
“Don’t rush this, Roc,” Brooks warned. “If you need to be here then just be here.”
“What I’m doing here, I can be doing at home. Running up a huge fucking bill to just sleep all day and night.”
“You don’t need to worry about the bill for all of this, Roc. King Racing has this all covered.”
Jay patted the side of the bed excitedly. “That means you should totally have a couple of sponge baths every day. I bet those fuckers are like five hundred bucks a pop. And,” he drawled, “I bet we can find a hot nurse or two to give them to you.”
Brooks leveled his gaze on Jay. “How is it that you actually have a girlfriend?”
Jay shrugged. “I’ve got my eyes only on Delaney. Now, that doesn’t mean I can’t help Roc get a little bit of action.”
“Oh, you have some late night visitors.”
“Not her,” Jay mumbled under his breath.
Brooks slapped him upside the head and stepped back from the bed. “Sorry, ma’am. We got off work late and decided to drop in to see Roc.”
The older nurse walked over to the other side of the bed and grabbed my chart. “No worries, boys. I was just surprised to see you.”
The nurse was well into her sixties and had long white hair pulled into a ponytail. Not exactly the woman I wanted to give me a sponge bath.