U-Turn

by Maren Lee

  “Fine. I’ll pay for the next one,” she declared as she gave him a look of defiance.

  “We’ll fight about that later.”

  Katie laughed. Wow. A beach vacation with Ryan. Just a few weeks ago, Katie would have never guessed she’d be here right now. But she was happy. A grin spread across her face. “I can’t wait for this. I know you just got shot and everything, so you win, but I’ve had a really fucking stressful few weeks. I need to relax.”

  “I don’t need to win, baby. But I will help you relax.” He grabbed her hand and placed it on his cock. Fully erect.

  “Holy shit. How on earth do you have a hard-on right now? You just got out of surgery.”

  “I always have at least a semi when I’m around you. But when you’re sitting right next to me in your sexy superhero nurse getup? My cock becomes hard as a lamp post.”

  “I can feel that.” She smiled, leaning down and kissing him. Katie rubbed him softly through his hospital gown. “Is this what you need? You need your naughty nurse to help you feel better?” she asked on a whisper. She didn’t need to be caught at work molesting a patient.

  “Mmmmmm,” Ryan replied. “I’m a little groggy. I think that’ll wake me right up.”

  She slid her hand under the sheets, slipping underneath his hospital gown where he was completely bare. She grasped his erection tightly and rubbed her thumb over the tip, precum already seeping out. He hissed. Katie began stroking his cock with her tight grip, twisting slowly as she moved up and then a long, tight stroke coming down, using his precum as the lubricant to jack him off. Ryan groaned in pleasure. She could feel his cock swelling in her hand, getting ready to release. She squeezed tightly and pumped faster. She spit in her other hand and brought some additional wetness under his gown to make the friction more pleasurable for him.

  “Fuck,” Ryan spoke quietly, attempting to keep his voice down.

  She squeezed him tightly near the base and then moved her hand in a spiral direction as she pulled up with her hand. She ended the upstroke with a thumb swipe over the head of his cock and then squeezed tightly on the downstroke, simulating what she imagined her pussy felt like to him. After a few more strokes, she knew she had him.

  “Oh god, baby. Can’t stop. I’m coming already,” he whispered as his cock spurted in her palm. Ryan convulsed and then relaxed.

  “Holy shit,” he said with a smile.

  Two knocks rapped on the door. Fuck. Katie pulled her hand out from underneath the sheets as the door started to swing open.

  “Can we come in yet?” Jake asked as the parade of boots started to enter the room.

  Ryan cleared his throat. “Yeah. Hey, guys.”

  Fucking great. Katie smiled and looked to Ryan, attempting not to show the panicked look on her face. Ryan was trying not to laugh. She literally had a fistful of come. Of course it had to be the moment when Jake and half the Bounty County Sheriff’s Department walked in. Of course. She pretended to check a machine with her free hand and then, as nonchalantly as possible, walked over to the sink on the other side of Ryan’s bed.

  Jake followed her. No! Go away, Jake. “Hey, Katie-did. Thanks for taking care of our guy. Relieved he’s okay.”

  Katie nodded and turned on the sink. “No problem, Jake. It’s kind of my job.” Also, I’m in love with him. She looked back at Ryan, panic in her eyes.

  “Come see my war wound, Jake!”

  Thank god. Ryan was distracting Jake. As he walked away, she hurried to wash the fistful of come down the sink. Her heart was pounding.

  “How you feeling, man?” Brenden asked.

  Ryan laughed. “I am fucking great.”

  “Jesus. Must be the pain meds talking,” Smitty said.

  She dried her hands. Wesson shot a glare her way. She smiled and placed her index finger and thumb at the corner of her mouth and moved them across her lips; universal sign language for ‘zip it.’ He furrowed his brow and sat in the chair furthest from Ryan’s bed.

  “I mean, other than being shot, I’m fucking great.”

  “You’re off on paid leave, Ryan. As long as you need. Stay home. Relax. We’ll set up a calendar of folks to come help you out, cook you dinner. Sierra is already on it,” Brenden stated.

  Shit. Ryan gave Katie an ‘oh fuck’ look. Wesson snickered across the room.

  “Actually…if I have time off anyway…” Ryan trailed off. Katie liked where this was going. This is good. This will work. “After I break outta this joint, I’m gonna get my physical therapy orders and head to Cabo to rehab at my parents’ place there.”

  “Your parents have a place in Cabo?” Wesson asked.

  “Yep. They’ve had it for years. I usually take the kids down once a year, but haven’t had a chance to go yet this year.”

  Katie smiled. She was going to be the lucky benefactor of this next trip. She couldn’t wait for sun and sand and relaxation and beach sex and more naughty nurse play.

  “You going by yourself?” Wesson asked.

  That little fucker.

  “I… uh. My parents are going to meet me down there,” he lied.

  Wesson nodded his head. Katie could tell he didn’t quite believe Ryan.

  They really just needed to rip off the bandaid and tell everyone, but it wasn’t the right time. Not yet.

  Shit.

  This secret keeping business was getting harder and harder.

  “Nosarev make bail?” Ryan asked. Katie had no idea what he was talking about.

  All the guys shook their heads. “He got away, man,” Smitty said. “The second the gun started firing, he ran toward the car. I was too busy ducking and trying to make sure you didn’t get dead to stop him.”

  “Shit.”

  “Yeah. Thanks, by the way,” Smitty touched Ryan on his good shoulder. “If you hadn’t told me to duck, man, I could’ve been toast.”

  Ryan didn’t remember much, but he remembered seeing the blacked out window roll down to reveal a barrel of a gun. Pointed at both of them, but Smitty was closer. He could’ve definitely been toast.

  “Glad you didn’t get dead, man,” Ryan put out his left hand. Smitty slapped it.

  “Glad you didn’t get dead, too, buddy.”

  “You and me both.”

  Katie closed her eyes in relief. It was a truly dangerous job. She’d come to terms with her brother doing it. But thinking about Ryan in danger made her heart hurt.

  “If you guys wanna make out, let the rest of the group know so we can give you some privacy,” Jake said, apparently deciding to lighten the mood. Katie rolled her eyes.

  Fucking Jake.

  ➰

  Ryan was fucking tired. It was day three. He was tired of being in the hospital. Tired of the pain in his fucking shoulder. Tired of being asked by nurses how much pain he was in on a scale of one-to-ten. He didn’t want to take the meds, but he also hadn’t been able to sleep much last night. So he was fucking tired. Still. Complaining about that felt pretty fucked up.

  The bullet hadn’t hit anything major. He didn’t appear to have any nerve damage. There was no sign of infection in the wound. By all accounts, he was a lucky fuck. “Could have been way worse,” he’d heard the surgeon say. But he also had concussion symptoms – he must have hit his head on the ground after the bullet caused his fall – so they were being careful with him. Watching him. Too carefully, in his opinion.

  He’d told Katie to go home and rest both nights. She didn’t want to and tried to protest, but she couldn’t very well explain why she was sleeping in Ryan’s room when she wasn’t scheduled, so she did what he said. She was back early both mornings to check his vitals, looking beautiful as always. Today – discharge day – she’d brought him a set of clean clothes. Thoughtfully, she’d grabbed one of his Wrangler snap-front shirts so that he could easily shrug into it and only needed one hand to button and unbutton it. She also brought him some non-hospital-food breakfast and coffee. It was heavenly.r />
  So Ryan was fed, dressed, and ready. His arm was strapped. And his prescriptions were ready for pickup in Imminence. He felt fine for having just been shot a few days ago. It was noon. He wanted to get the fuck home. But for some reason it was taking a long time to get cleared for discharge. So in addition to being tired, Ryan was fucking grumpy. He needed to get home and get to sleep in his own bed. Smitty was coming to pick him up as soon as he got the word. Now if only he could get the fucking word.

  “How you doing, honey?” Katie came in and gifted him with a smile. My fucking beautiful angel.

  “Grumpy. Ready to get the fuck out of here. What is taking so long? I feel fine.”

  “I don’t know. I can’t find Dr. T. I’ll keep paging him. Chill out, grumpy.” She came to his side and kissed his forehead. She bent over to unplug one of the machines that had been hooked up to him yesterday.

  While Ryan was checking out her ass in scrubs – that fucking delicious ass I can’t wait to tap again – he heard footsteps enter the room.

  “Heyyyyyy.” Ryan turned to the familiar voice and Katie stood up.

  Oh shit.

  “Erica?”

  His kids followed in behind her. He saw Katie duck down and pretend to be occupied with the cording of the machine next to him.

  Ryan felt opposite emotions at once. He was so happy to see his kids, but at the same time, he was fucking freaked out that his ex-wife and, if he were being honest with everyone, his likely future – and much younger – wife were in the same room. He hadn’t expected that to happen today.

  He went with emotion number one. “Oh my gosh, you guys. This is such a good surprise!” he exclaimed. “I’m just about to get out of here, though. You didn’t have to come all the way from Helena!”

  “Daddy!” Hannah ran at him and hugged him. Ryan hissed in pain as she hit his shoulder. “Shit. I mean, shoot. Sorry, Daddy.”

  “I’m okay. Language, Baby Boo.”

  She hugged him even tighter. “Sorry, Daddy.” She pulled back and stood by her mom. They were starting to look so much alike. Hannah was now slightly taller than Erica. Her brown hair slightly longer. Her brown eyes a little darker.

  “We figured you might need some company, even if you said you didn’t need us. The kids begged me. We were worried, Ryan.”

  “Glad you’re okay, Dad.” His son Nick hugged him on his left side. “I love you.”

  “I love you too, bud.”

  Ryan could feel Katie’s eyes on him. On Erica. On his kids. He had no fucking clue what to do in this moment. Shit. Should I introduce her? She doesn’t seem like she wants to be introduced. Ryan again felt conflicted feelings. His kids were his world. He wanted Katie to want to meet them.

  “How long are you planning on being here?”

  “We drove the five hours. Kids need to get ready for school to start, so we thought we’d check on you, make sure you’re set up okay at your place. We’ll head back tomorrow or the day after, depending.”

  Ryan breathed a sigh of relief. He was worried he was going to have to hide Katie in his closet for a full week. Maybe she can stay with Jake and Lane.

  “Erica, I’m glad to see the kids. So glad. But honestly, I’m totally fine. Other than having to immobilize my right arm for a few days, I’m completely capable of feeding and dressing myself. Boss man is giving me time off to convalesce, so I’m gonna head to my folks’ vacation house as soon as I get the all clear to start my rehab and relaxation.”

  “You’re going to Mexico by yourself?” Erica asked. Katie coughed as she wound the cord up on the machine next to him to make herself busy.

  “Uh, yeah.” Fuck. He didn’t want to say he was going with his new girlfriend. Not to Erica. Not in front of his kids. And certainly not when Katie was currently in his room pretending to do her job. She finished fiddling with the machine and picked up a few items on the floor, walking them over to the trash can.

  “Buzz me if you need anything else before they discharge you, Mr. Blakesly,” she bit off as she walked out of the room. Fuck. Is she mad?

  “She seems nice,” Erica commented, clearly not finding Katie’s goodbye to be friendly. It wasn’t intended to be nice.

  Fuck.

  “How about we hang around until you’re discharged and then drive you to Imminence?”

  Shit. Katie is gonna be pissed. What the fuck to do I do now? Think quick.

  “That sounds fine. Would you guys mind going down to the cafeteria and getting me a sandwich or something? It’s taking forever to get discharged out of here and I’m starving.”

  Erica smiled. “Yeah, I can do that. Kids, you stay here with your dad and keep him company.”

  Fuck.

  “I’m hungry too, Mom. I wanna see what they got down there.” Yes! Nick to the rescue.

  “Me too,” Hannah chimed in. Thank you, baby Jesus.

  “Well, okay then. We’ll be back with a sandwich.”

  “Appreciate it, Erica.” He really did. The second they walked out, he hit the call button.

  Katie walked in a few minutes later with her hands on her hips.

  “Baby, please. When you dove back down, I thought it was because you didn’t want me to introduce you. Fuck, don’t be mad at me. I love you.”

  Katie smiled. “On my list of awkward moments, that one is now at the top.” Thank god, she doesn’t sound too mad.

  “Stick with me and that list will just get longer, I promise,” he grinned. “I just sent them down to the cafeteria for some grub so that I could make sure you’re not mad. Do you want me to introduce you, honey? I will.”

  “I don’t know. Is it too weird since I was just in the hospital room unplugging machines their dad was hooked up to without saying a word? Let’s just save it for next time when I’m more prepared and come armed with gifts.”

  “Okay. No pressure, honey. But… They’ve informed me they’re staying the night tonight. At my place. I have a room for them. Erica will double up with Hannah.”

  Katie’s eyes went wide. “As much as it kills me not to stay with you tonight, I think, perhaps, I’ll ask Jake and Lane if I can crash at their pad tonight. I need to tell them about Brian still anyways.”

  “You sure, babe? We can out this whole relationship now if you want to. Just give me the word. I can have a whole lotta awkward conversations real fast, baby.”

  “We better wait for you to be completely healed before you have to fight my brother.”

  Ryan chuckled. “You sure you’re not mad?”

  “I’m not mad. I was just surprised and weirded out and holy shit, Ryan, your kids are beautiful.”

  “I have to agree with you there.”

  “Your ex-wife is beautiful, too.”

  “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world, to me,” he assured her as he pushed a tendril of her hair behind her ear. “Erica is cool, I promise. You’ll like her. She and I spent a fair amount of time hating each other, but we’re done with that now. It was taking up too much energy and wasn’t good for the kids.”

  “That’s good, babe. Fuck, I hate that I’m not going to be there to take care of you tonight. Are you sure you don’t need me?” she questioned.

  “I’ll always need you, but unless you want to go public with our relationship tonight, I’ll be fine with my kids waiting on me,” he smirked.

  “Okay… Hey, make sure you hit the pharmacy and pick up your scripts before you get home. And eat something before you take the antibiotics. They can get pretty gnarly on your stomach. I can get dinner delivered for you if you want?”

  “I can do it, babe.” Her need to take care of him made his heart feel full. He fucking loved this woman.

  “Text me as soon as you get home. Text me updates on your pain. Text me when you go to bed. Text me when you wake up tomorrow. Text me, text me, text me.”

  “Same goes, honey. I want to know exactly how things go down with Jake. And start looking for
plane tickets. Find some good ones and I’ll call you tonight and give you my credit card number.” He pulled her down to his lips and kissed her roughly, invading her mouth with his tongue, making sure she understood. He pulled back gave and her a look like he meant business. He did not want to argue about this. He was fucking paying for their vacation. He may be the invalid currently, but he was going to take care of his woman.

  Katie’s face had a dreamy look on it. “Okay. I better go before they come back for you.”