Free Hot SEALs: Reclaiming the SEAL (Kindle Worlds) (Lost and Found Series Book 11) by J.M. Madden

didn’t want to tell him the truth, either, even though he deserved it. “I’m not sure. We’ll have to wait and see. You had massive damage to the bone and the surrounding muscle. You’ll have to learn to compensate for the injury.”
    Gabe blinked at her, his brown eyes almost black with turmoil. Julie crossed to the side of the bed and took his hand in hers. “I’m not a doctor, Gabe. I could be completely off about this.”
    “But you are an aftercare nurse. You’ve seen amputations and other bad injuries. Was this as bad as those?”
    Julie knew she was wading into dangerous waters, but he had to be prepared for the fight he was going to face. “Yes. It’s bad, but it wasn’t an amputation. With your determination, I strongly believe you will be back in top form in no time.”
    Gabe seemed to sense that she wasn’t telling him everything, but Julie refused to demoralize him. Was his injury bad? Yes. It was the worst she’d seen without actually being an amputation.

Chapter Ten
    THE INACTION WAS going to kill him.
    If it wasn’t for his Team keeping him occupied, he would have gone nuts long ago. Every single day there was somebody new waiting for him to wake up. While Julie worked her shifts at the hospital, one of the guys came to sit with him. Or play games. Or watch TV. As soon as Julie arrived, the Team member disappeared. He was very rarely left alone to stew in his own juices.
    As much as he appreciated his Team supporting him, though, he missed Butter. Over the past few weeks, he’d come to the realization that a situation could be as bad or as good as you made it. Butter had made decisions that Gabe never would have. In spite of the never ending support he could have had, that Gabe was experiencing now, Butter had chosen to end his life.
    That was not what he would do.
    Gabe vowed to return to fighting form before winter.
    As he stared out the window of his room, summer began to slip into fall and he counted down the time before he could start the serious rehab.
    The surgery to insert the nail had gone off without a hitch. And now, weeks later, he was ready to start gaining back what he’d lost.
    Julie had left her job at Petrovic’s office, gladly, she’d told him. She’d been going nuts there, she was so dissatisfied with her job. She’d returned to Walter Reed full-time now so that she could be closer to him in the rehab facility down the street, but he worried about her. There were dark circles under her eyes and when he asked her about them, she gave him some flip answer. After being in the hospital so long, he could understand how the nurses could burn out.
    Restless, Gabe worked his way out of bed. He propped the crutches under his arms and headed for the weight room. He couldn’t work his leg but he could sure as hell work his upper body.
    When the day finally came for the doctor to read his most recent x-rays and decide whether or not he could start rehab, he tried not to snap at the guy with impatience. He’d waited so long and the boredom and inaction was going to kill him. Literally, his muscles were wasting away.
    After much hemming and hawing, the doctor nodded. He could go to rehab.
    Gabe and Julie celebrated by having pizza in his room.
    “I’m so ready to get moving again. I want to run.”
    Wincing, she held up a cautionary hand. “Don’t get too excited. You have to start with walking, and that will be painful enough at first.”
    *     *     *
    DAMN, SHE WAS right. Three days later Gabe was giving serious thought to punching the guy currently straightening his leg against the mat. The muscles around the gunshot wound were quivering with fatigue. Snatching at the towel beside him, Gabe mopped sweat off his face, more tired than he could remember being since waking up in Walter Reed after the first surgery.
    The rehab guy, Gabe thought his name was Trent, flexed Gabe’s knee, sending the muscles into a new flurry of quivers.
    Julie walked into the room later