Shutdown (Nitro Crew, #4)

by Winter Travers

  “You know absolutely nothing about me, and we’ve spent maybe a combined thirty minutes together the past three days. How is this idea even entering your mind right now?”

  Roc leaned forward. “I’m having this idea cause I want the fuck out of here and you seem to be the person who can make that happen.”

  Never, in my fourteen years of being a doctor, had someone propositioned me to come live with them.

  “Your idea is asinine.”

  “Whoa,” Harlyn muttered behind me. “What the hell is going on?”

  “I’m getting my ass out of here, and Dr. Clark is going to make it happen,” Roc said matter-of-factly.

  “Uh, I feel like I missed so much while I talked Remy through turning on the dishwasher.” Harlyn moved next to me and rested her hands on her hips. “Anyone care to clue me in?”

  Roc’s eyes connected with mine, challenging me.

  “Your father wants me to come stay with him while he heals.” It sounded simple enough coming out of my mouth, but it was crazy.

  “Uh,” Harlyn looked from Roc to me. “Come again?”

  “She says I can’t be alone. I need a nurse. I choose Dr. Clark.” Roc leaned back against the bed. He folded his arms over his chest as if he had just solved all of the world’s problems.

  “She’s a doctor, Roc,” Harlyn pointed out just as I had.

  “Then her helping me shouldn’t be a problem.” Roc seemed to be the only one who thought this was a good idea.

  “She works.” Harlyn paused and looked between Roc and me. “As a doctor.”

  “I broke my legs, not my fucking brain, Harlyn. I know that.” Roc sighed and pushed back the covers. “I wanna go home, but I can’t go home unless I have someone to take care of me.” He looked at Harlyn. “You ready to move back in with me for a few months?”

  “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.

  “They were just leaving,” I grunted.

  “So,” Jay drawled. “Are you the only nurse working tonight?” he asked.

  I cut through him with a glare and shook my head once.

  “I’ve got this side of the hall. Mickey has the other side.” The nurse marked a couple of things on the chart then hit the button on the machine next to me. The blood pressure cuff tightened slowly.

  “And how is Mickey tonight?”

  Brooks elbowed Jay in the gut, and Jay doubled over clutching it. “Shut the hell up, dude.”

  “She’s seven and a half months pregnant with some wicked acid reflux tonight. That is how Mickey is tonight,” the nurse laughed.

  “Poor Mickey,” Jay cringed.

  “Would you two get the hell out of here,” I growled. I would much rather sit alone in the dark than listen to Jay babble on.

  “We’ll let you rest, Roc. Frankie and I will come in before we leave for the race.”

  “Good, good,” I muttered. “There are a few things we need to go over.”

  Brooks chuckled and clapped me on the shoulder. “I’m sure Frankie will love to hear whatever you have to say.”

  “Maybe we should check on Mickey to make sure she is okay,” Jay mumbled as Brooks pushed him out the door.

  “Later, Roc,” Brooks called.

  “If that boy is looking to hook up with Mickey, he’s barking up the wrong tree.” The nurse shook her head and wrote something down on my chart.

  That was the one thing I knew Jay wasn’t up to. “His girlfriend lost their baby a bit ago. Still pretty raw for him.”

  The nurse looked up from the clipboard and frowned. “Oh my, now I feel stupid for even thinking he was going to hit on her.”

  I waved my hand. “Two months ago, you would have been completely right.” The one-eighty Jay had done as soon as he found out Delaney was having his baby shocked all of us. It was a damn shame the little guy didn’t make it. “He’s got a girlfriend now but that doesn’t keep him from trying to set me up with any and every one.”

  The nurse laughed. “Well, you might have a better chance with Mickey only because her baby daddy is in his forties.”

  I waved my hand. “Not looking.”

  The nurse tsked and finished looking everything over. “You’re one of my easy ones for the night. If you need anything, just hit the button; otherwise, I’ll be in a bit later.”

  She flitted out of the room and turned the lights off completely.

  The TV shone brightly, and I turned up the volume. I knew I wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon so I might as well watch reruns of Gas Monkey Garage.

  I wasn’t going to get a good night's sleep until I was out of this place, and that all depended on Dr. Clark now.

  *

  Mave

  “Are you going to do it?”

  I stabbed my spoon into the ice cream and cradled the phone between my ear and shoulder. “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean you don’t know?” Delaney sputtered in my ear.

  I scooped a mound of mint chip ice cream onto my spoon. “I mean, I don’t know what I’m going to do. On one hand, it’s ridiculous of me to even consider because I know nothing about Roc, but on the other, can I really turn my nose up at an easy two thousand dollars a week? I could take that money and use it for a getaway to Maui or something.”

  Work had been exhausting and seeing my ex all of the time was taking a toll on me. A vacation sounded pretty good right about now.

  “You can go to Maui without having to babysit a couple of weeks, Mave. You’re a doctor.”

  I had been reminded of that many times tonight. “I know, Del. I just...I mean...is helping Roc for a couple of weeks for some easy cash that bad of an idea?”

  After all, the guy had two broken legs. If he drove me crazy, all I had to do was walk away.

  “I don’t know if you’re crazy for doing this or brilliant,” Delaney muttered.

  “You and me both, girl.” I shoveled the scoop of ice cream into my mouth and mulled over being Roc’s personal nurse. It was crazy. Then why hadn’t I just said no? Because I knew I couldn’t turn down that much money so easily.

  “He is good-looking.”

  My breath caught, and I stopped chewing.

  “You know, for an older guy,” Delaney continued. “If I was in his age range, he would definitely be on my radar.”

  “Sounds like I might need to give Jay a heads up that his boss might be in the running to steal his girl.”

  Delaney laughed. “Only if I age a good ten years in my sleep tonight.”

  Roc was good-looking. For a cranky man with only racing and cars on the brain. “I’m not going to help him out because he’s hot.”

  Delaney crowed into the phone. “So you think he’s hot!”

  “So do you, Del. You just said it.”

  “Nah, girl. I said he was good-looking, not that he was hot. Hot is in a whole different ball park from good-looking. I can say the bag boy at the grocery store is good—looking and no one would bat an eye at it. But as soon as I would say he was hot, you better believe people are going to think I’m crushing on the seventeen-year-old and ready to have his babies as soon as he turns eighteen.”

  “What in the hell are you talking about?” Jay shouted in the background. “I go to visit Roc at the hospital and you leave me for the bag boy at the store?”

  “Whoops,” I gasped. Of course Jay would walk in at the worst time. “I’ll let you explain to Jay what you mean.”

  “I’ll ask him what he thinks about you going over to—”

  “No,” I shouted. I did not need anyone else's opinion on me and Roc. All it was going to do was confuse me even more. “You will not ask him anything about it.”

  “But how are you going to decide what to do?”

  “By myself.”

  I had already decided what I was going to do. I was a doctor and made extremely good money, but I could help Roc and have a nice chunk of change to blow on a vacation.

  “So this means I’ll see you at the hospital tomorrow?”

  “Have a good night, Del.” I hung up without actually answering her and tossed my phone on the couch next to me.

  I was going to be Roc’s personal nurse for couple weeks or so.

  This was going to be interesting, but at least I knew it would all be worth it when I was lying on the beach surrounded by cabana boys and tall margaritas.

  *

  Chapter Three

  Roc

  “Looks like you’re busting out of here today.”

  Fuck yeah. I knew Dr. Clark would come through for me. I knew it was a fucking crazy idea, but I needed to get the hell out of here. “Where are my clothes?”

  The nurse laughed. “Your daughter said she would bring you something to wear home. She’ll be here in an hour.”

  “Harlyn?” What happened to Dr. Clark?

  “If that’s your daughter’s name. I just talked to her on the phone. She said she’s getting your
home nurse all set up and then will be over.”

  I was surprised Dr. Clark wasn’t going to be the one to take me home. The home nurse this woman was talking about must be Dr. Clark.

  “So, before she gets here, I thought we would get you cleaned up so you’re not a smelly mess for your new nurse.”

  “I’m paying the new nurse a pretty fucking penny. She can handle me smelling.”

  Then pulled the blanket back from my legs.

  I was a fucking cripple. I knew it had been just a blanket, but at least it concealed the casts on the bottom half of my legs.

  “Come on, you’re the only one I’ve got for the day so we might as well as make the most of the rest of our time together,” she laughed.

  By the time I was sponge bathed and sitting back in the bed with just my underwear on, I was fucking exhausted. I used to be able to go for sixteen hours plus at the fucking track, and now, a shower was too much for me.

  “I’m fucking weak,” I grumbled.

  The nurse chuckled and helped me to lie in the bed. “For every day you’re in a hospital bed, it takes a good four to five days to recover.”

  “I’ve been here five days,” I complained.

  “So, it’s gonna be a good month ‘til you start feeling like yourself.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “Oh, there’s that sunny personality I’ve missed at work the past week.” Harlyn breezed into the door and tossed her purse on the chair by my bed. “It’s only ten o’clock and you’re already calling bullshit?”

  I laid my head back on the pillow. “I need a new fucking body. This one doesn't work anymore.”

  Harlyn laughed. “I think it’s just a little banged up right now, but I’m pretty sure you’re going to make a full recovery. Your nurse waiting for you at home is going to make sure of that.”

  “Any reason why you’re here and she’s not?”

  “I’m gonna go grab the discharge paperwork since your daughter is here. I’ll be right back.” She walked out of the room, and Harlyn smacked me on the shoulder.

  “Would you shut up. Mave doesn’t want anyone here to know she’s staying with you.”

  “Why the hell not?” I was paying her some good money.