Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 152045 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 760(@200wpm)___ 608(@250wpm)___ 507(@300wpm)
I smile at that. My cousin deserves her too. He’s good to her.
“Were you scared, moving to the Falls and everything changing?” I ask.
“Yeah. But I was scared all the time before that too,” she explains. “You gotta choose which scared you want to be. Love or fear, remember?”
I nod. Love or fear. If I choose to back off racing, it won’t be because I love my parents. It would be because I’m afraid of making them unhappy. Or because I’m afraid of getting injured.
She finishes my hair and covers it with hairspray. I look at my makeup in the mirror, my dress laying on the bed.
“You okay?” she asks me a question next.
I nod. “Yeah.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
Mischief gleams in her eyes, and I laugh, knowing she wants to talk about sex now that I’m having it too. “You mean, do I need advice on the most optimal position for reaching multiple climaxes?”
“Let me know when you’re ready. I have an answer for that.”
I stand up, my cheeks warming. “I think I’d like to figure it out on my own.”
I dress in a backless, black dress with spaghetti straps and a slit for cleavage that trails halfway down my stomach. The waist is tight and then flows out in a wide skirt that falls to mid-thigh. I slide on some black high-top sneakers, and thirty minutes later, we’re walking out the front door.
A whistle cuts through the air, and I see Coral, Mace, and Codi standing around Coral’s car.
Codi is in jeans and a hoodie, and Mace is in her usual black jeans and leather jacket. But her eyes are done and her lips are red, and she wears a fun, gothic white blouse that leaves half her tummy bare.
Coral is dressed in a tight, short black dress with long sleeves and strategically placed holes, the hems frayed at her thighs and looking very apocalyptic.
“Back at ya,” I say.
I meet them at the bottom of the steps, sliding my phone into the small purse that hangs from my wrist.
“You should come,” Coral tells Aro. “We can scrounge you up a dress if you like, but really, that’s fine too.” She gestures to Aro’s black shorts that you can barely see, because they’re nearly swallowed up by her huge black hoodie. Her long legs and toned thighs look gorgeous all the way down to her black, heeled ankle boots. “There are some people who’d love to see you.”
But Aro is tapping away on her phone. She glances up. “Maybe prom.” She sighs, looking at me. “There’s apparently a huge race in the Falls tonight. Jax and Jared need me there, and Hawke’s already on his way. I gotta go.”
“A race?”
“Yeah, some team from L.A. is coming through on their way to Pittsburgh?” she explains what they must’ve just texted her. “Your dad just found out, so he’s letting them make a special appearance. He’s running a superbike race, endurance tests, and Van der Berg’s on the dirt.”
Superbikes…
And all of a sudden, I feel it. All the people, the lights, the sounds of the motors filling the air… I don’t want to miss it.
But she touches my arm and starts to leave. “Have fun,” she says.
“Bye,” I say, barely audible. In a moment, she’s gone and Mace is opening one of the car doors. “Let’s go,” she calls out.
We slide in, Codi and me in the back and Mace and Coral in the front. We speed off toward the dance.
But it only takes a few seconds before I realize that’s not where I belong. I want to see the race.
“Wait,” I blurt out. “Stop.”
Coral slams on the brakes, she and Mace looking around like we were about to hit something.
“What’s wrong?” Mace asks.
I don’t know. I just know I can’t pretend that I don’t know exactly where I want to be.
I’m about to tell them I need to turn around when my phone rings.
I dig it out of my little purse and see my dad calling.
“Dad?” I answer.
“There’s a Motocross Special at seven,” he tells me. “And a superbike exhibition just after. I can have your bike here.”
I stop breathing, tears filling my eyes.
“You want in?” he asks me.
“You mean it?”
“I think so?” he says like he’s scared.
I laugh a little and wipe my nose. He’s inviting me to race…a motorcycle. “I’m on my way,” I tell him.
We hang up, and I look at Mace and Coral. “Turn around.”
“What?”
“Please,” I beg Coral. “I have to go to the track.”
She pauses for a moment and then hits the gas, spinning the wheel to make a U-turn. We charge back down Knock Hill.
But we pass the house. “I can take the bike,” I blurt out.
“No, we’ll drive you,” she says.
“You want to change?” Mace looks at me then to Coral.
But we’ve already passed the house. I look to Codi. “Give me your clothes.”