Walker Revenge (The Walker Family Series Book 5) (2 page)

Russell did remember, though Jake had been
much worse off. Not only had he crushed his leg and his arm, but
he'd also had a life-threatening head injury to boot.

“What made you decide to race again after
something like this? I can’t even imagine driving again.”

Jake grinned. “It’s inside me. I have to go
fast. Adrenaline junkie. Maybe when you’re up and running, we’ll
hit the track, and you’ll get over it.”

Russell snorted a laugh, which hurt clear
down to the toes he couldn’t feel. “I think I’ll be fine without
it.”

“I had Officer Smythe show me your truck.
There’s nothing I can do with it. But I’m having them bring it to
my shop.”

Russell sunk into his pillow. “Figured. I
really messed it up, huh?”

“Dude, you’re lucky to be alive,” Jake said
in a voice that could have been mistaken for his mother’s. “You’d
better just write it off and be grateful.”

“Maybe I’ll replace it with some little
number like Gia’s Mini Cooper.”

Now Jake laughed, and Russell knew it was at
the thought of the Mini-Cooper Gia owned. “I’d love to take that
thing to the track.”

When the door opened again, Russell looked
to see which nurse would be coming his way with meds or needles,
but to his surprise, Chelsea walked through the door, a duffle bag
on her shoulder.

Their eyes locked, but they didn’t say a
word. She was obviously not coming to poke him.

“Hey, Chels,” Jake was the first to
speak.

Chelsea lifted her head, a look of surprise
flashed across her face as if she hadn’t even noticed there was
someone else in the room.

“Hey, Jake. Sorry,” she said shifting her
attention back to Russell. “I didn’t know you had company. I’ll
come back.”

“Nope,” Jake moved toward her, kissed her on
the cheek, and pulled open the door. “I’ll see myself out. Take
care, cuz. I’ll stop back by. You’ll be here for a while.”

The very thought made Russell’s pain kick up
a notch.

“Is he still racing?” Chelsea asked,
gripping tightly to the strap of the bag that hung from her
shoulder.

“Yeah. He didn’t learn his lesson.”

“I’m heading home. I just wanted to come
back in and say that I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Come sit and talk. I really could use some
non-Walker visit time.”

Chelsea looked at her watch. “I only have a
few minutes.”

“I’ll take them.”

She bit down on her bottom lip and still
gripped to the strap of the bag. “I probably shouldn’t have come
in. You need to rest and…”

“I wanted to see you,” he said trying to
adjust the slightest bit on the bed, but that only caused more
pain. “It was a nice surprise to wake up to you this morning.”

“I shouldn’t have even started your vitals.
I just didn’t want to cause problems with my supervisor.”

“You never came back.”

“I traded floors. I thought it would be
best.”

“So you don’t want to see me?”

She shifted the bag to her other shoulder
and looked at her watch again. “Russ, I just want what’s best for
you. I’m not that. Not even now. I don’t think me being your nurse
would help you heal.”

“Yeah. Having a gorgeous nurse might ruin my
day,” he felt the flame of his anger rise in his chest. “I’m
surprised you bothered to stop on your way out. But I guess you’re
in a hurry.”

“I am. I hope everything goes well for you.
I know your family will be a great support for you.”

“I’m sure they will,” he reached for his
bedside remote and turned on that damned TV he’d had enough of.
“Guess I won’t be seeing you again, huh?”

“It’s better for everyone.”

“Sure.”

Chelsea looked at her watch one more time
then stepped closer to the bed. “Russ, I wanted to apologize to
you.”

He turned off the TV. “You wanted to
apologize to me?”

“Yeah. For back when we were together, and
you were deployed. I’m sorry.”

The memory of it came back to him. The
moment he’d seen her that morning, none of that had come to mind.
In fact, he was fairly sure he’d told her he wanted to apologize.
Well, he sure as hell wasn’t going to do it now.

Russell sat quietly. He didn’t know what to
say to that.

Chelsea moved closer to the side of his bed
and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. “You’re in good hands. I
have to go.”

As she turned, he reached for her, which was
a task, he’d realized as he pulled wires and tubes. “Please stop in
again. I don’t want us to leave things the way they were. I know
you’re married, and I know things didn’t work out between us, but
we were friends once. Remember?”

Chelsea took a breath, as if she had
something to say, but instead, she continued to leave, closing the
door behind her.

That had been harder than she’d wanted it to
be. Sincerely, Chelsea had gone to his room with the hope that they
could find a common ground between them, but she couldn’t do it.
She couldn’t even tell him she wasn’t married anymore—or why she
was in such a hurry.

Deep inside, she wanted to know what he had
to apologize for and did he remember telling her he loved her?

Chelsea looked at her watch again. She was
late now, and if she didn’t get across town in a half hour, she’d
be charged for being late. She couldn’t afford that again. It sure
would be nice to have a partner in life that could help with
everything—or even family nearby. That was just one of the many
things Chelsea regretted about her decisions. She could have been
part of the Walker family, but no, she couldn’t have been bothered
to wait for the man she loved. She had made rash and stupid
decisions.

She deserved what she got. She deserved
Russell’s anger.

Chelsea waited for the next elevator,
counted the minutes as it stopped on each and every floor, and
hurried through the lobby to the doors that lead to the parking
lot.

Employees didn’t have the luxury of curbside
parking. No, she was going to have to sprint to get to her car and
make it across town.

Yanking the door open, she threw her bag
into the passenger seat and shut the door. Fumbling for her key,
she finally managed it into the ignition and turned it. Nothing
happened.

“No. No. No,” she repeated to herself and
tried again. Still, the engine didn’t respond.

Chelsea threw her head back against the
seat. The tears were there before she knew it. She couldn’t afford
late fees, and she couldn’t afford car repairs. School payments
were due soon, and if she didn’t pay her cell phone by the end of
the week, that would be turned off too.

The tears rolled down her cheeks now and
everything inside of her broke. This wasn’t how she’d planned her
life, so why was it happening like this?

A knock at the window had her screaming.
When she turned her head, she saw Officer Smythe backing up, his
hands held in surrender.

Chelsea opened the door.

“Sorry, Chels. I saw you sitting here and
wanted to make sure you were okay.”

She wiped at her cheeks, brushing away the
traces of tears. “My car is dead.”

“I can give you a jump.”

She tried to smile. “That would great. I’m
late picking up Lucas.”

“How about I give you a ride, and we can
come back and fix your car.”

The tears were back. “That would be
fantastic.” She wiped her cheeks again. “Forgive me. I’m a mess
today,” she said as she grabbed the bag. “Can you help me get his
seat out of the back.”

Phillip Smythe smiled with a nod. “Of
course. He’s getting big, huh?” He opened the back door and
unbuckled the car seat.

“Yeah, he’ll be three in a few months.”

“Exciting age.” Phillip pulled the seat out
of the car. “I’m parked just over there,” he said with a nod as
Chelsea closed the door and locked the car.

“I really appreciate this.”

“My pleasure. I was just headed in to see
Russ. Did you know he was here?”

She bit down on her lip. “I talked to him.
Of course, since I’m one of his caretakers, I guess I can’t discuss
it with you, even if we are friends.”

He shifted a glance her way as they walked
toward his truck. “You’re one of his caretakers?”

“Student nurse rotation.”

“How did that go over?” he asked as he
unlocked his truck and opened the door for her.

“You’re asking if he threw me out of the
room?”

Phillip opened the back door and set the
seat inside and strapped it in with the seatbelt. “Russ has a
temper. I was with him when he found out you were married. That was
a long night. I just…”

“He said he loved me before he passed out
from the meds they have him on. So no, he didn’t kick me out.”

Phillip shut the door and walked around to
the other side as she closed her door and buckled in. Phillip
climbed in, and started the engine “I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Yes you did,” she laughed, and he followed
suit.

He put the truck into drive and started out
of the parking lot. “He told you he loved you?”

“He’s not fully there. They have him on a
lot of meds to keep the pain down.”

“His truck is totaled. He’s lucky to be
alive,” Phillip’s voice changed from humor to real terror. “He’s an
idiot. Not only did he get into a fricking fight at the bar, but
he'd also been drinking.”

“So he’ll have a DUI?”

Phillip rubbed his forehead. “No. His blood
work came back normal.”

“So he was just going too fast?”

“You know what sucks? Both of our jobs have
us tied to confidentiality. I shouldn’t be talking about this.”

“So there’s more?”

He shot her a look. “Nothing leaves the
confines of this truck?”

“Nothing,” she promised.

“I think he was run off the road,” he said,
and Chelsea felt as though it had punched right into her gut.

“Someone did that to him?”

“I don’t have my proof yet. I want to talk
to him. Friend to friend. He’ll tell me if he was drinking too
much. There’s medical proof that he wasn’t, but were there other
circumstances? I need to know what the fight was over. Maybe
that’ll help. No one at the bar said much.”

Chelsea reached across the cab of the truck
and touched Phillip’s arm. “He looks horrible.”

“I imagine.”

She removed her hand and squeezed her arms
around the duffle bag in her lap. “When I walked into his room I
just stood there and stared at him. Both of his eyes are black.
There are cuts all over his face and arms. His leg is bandaged from
top to bottom. He broke his ankle, and they had to do surgery to
remove debris that impaled him,” she continued as her eyes welled
with tears. “He’s going to need a lot of physical therapy to get up
and moving.”

“He’ll do it. And he’ll do it far ahead of
schedule too.”

That made her chuckle. “He will.”

“Did you tell him you’re divorced?”

She turned to look at him. “No. Why would
I?”

Phillip shrugged. “You said he told you he
loved you.”

The words hung there, just as they had when
Russell had said them. “He’s drugged up. Whatever he says can’t be
construed as truth. He did love me—once.” And of course, she’d
loved him since. The memory of him had forced her into many
sleepless nights.

The reality of what she’d done to him always
loomed. Though she wouldn’t have Lucas if she hadn’t strayed away
from Russ. And though she’d rather have had Russ, and his temper,
be Lucas’s father, she couldn’t deny that Lucas was her greatest
gift in life. He far surpassed any silly love she’d had for Russell
Walker. Lucas had kept her going in hard times. Sure, he was only
nearly three-years-old, but he fed her soul.

Phillip pulled up in front of Martha’s
daycare. “I’ll wait here for you.”

Chelsea put her duffle bag on the floor.
“Thank you for doing this for us. I’m sorry to take time out of
your day.”

Phillip smiled. “The only other thing on my
agenda today is to talk to Russ. He’s not going anywhere.”

She chuckled and climbed from the truck. As
she shut the door, she thought about Russ and his family. The
Walkers and their five sons were tight knit. They had each other’s
backs, and as a team, they had the backs of relatives and friends.
You were in good hands if you were associated with the Walkers.

She’d missed that part when she’d married
someone else. The Walkers would still have her back. She knew that.
But it would never be the same.

Chelsea opened the door to the daycare
center and immediately saw her son following Martha around the
table as he laughed. When he caught sight of her, he yelled,
“Mama,” and ran to her hugging his arms around her legs.

She might have missed out on a Walker last
name, but the little man hugging her was worth more than that. How
could she ever even consider that having waited for Russell would
have been better than never having had this sweet little boy?

There was a time when she’d thought she’d
known true love—when she was with Russell. But she hadn’t found it
until she held her baby for the first time. Sure, it was different
than the love of a man, but it was absolutely pure. Perhaps that’s
where the universe meant for her to land. Not with Dominic and not
with Russell. But she was meant to have that little boy.

Chapter Three

Drugs were supposed to be fun, Russell
assumed, even though he’d never experimented with them. He’d
thought they were supposed to give you a high better than
alcohol.

He thought of the time he’d had his wisdom
teeth out. He was loopy, and that was fun.

Clinging to a hospital bucket as he threw up
the Jell-O he’d tried to consume, was not fun. Every time they
touched his IV, it made him sick. They said anesthesia would do
that to a person, although he was distinctly under the impression
that when they gave you anesthesia, it was so you wouldn’t feel
anything. Why the hell did he still hurt so much, and why was he
throwing up?