Page 13 of Full Throttle

Chapter Three

Nikki

Words didn’t exist anymore.

My brain forgot how to program my tongue, to sound out words, to form sentences to exchange in human communication. The simplest of things, one I’d been doing since I was two years old—gone. I stared at Leon, shock washing over me like a cold shower. My skin turning cold as my heart rate accelerated.

It couldn’t—

This had to be some sort of sick joke.

Right?

They were just having a bit of fun and pulling my leg. There wasn’t an actual bomb in the car…that I raced in…last night.

Images from last night came rushing back again. My fists tightened on the blanket, almost as if my body was “strapping itself in” for the panic coming around the corner.

“Nikki?”

I don’t know which one called my name.

Hell, I didn’t even know if my eyes were open—or if I was still breathing. I’d been sucked back in time, reliving the crash from the outside, seeing it in a different light. It wasn’t an accident. It was a fucking hit.

To take me out.

“Nikki, look at me,” Dontell ordered. I felt a dip on the other side of the bed, followed by a large, warm hand cupping my cheek. My head was turned, but I couldn’t focus.

“Someone tried to kill me,” I whispered, replaying the memories I could remember from last night over and over. I went further back, to Oasis. When Cain was arguing with me, warning to stay off the streets.

Did he know…?

Why wasn’t he telling me anything? I knew we weren’t anything—at least, not anymore—but I was Oasis! And so was he! We were supposed to be looking out for each other—

That’s what he was trying to do.

I ignored the small voice inside of my head. It belonged to younger, more foolish Nikki. She had so much hope, she could’ve healed the world with it. Instead, she put all that hope into one man.

A fucking street racer who only ever saw her as the stupid girl next door.

“Nikki!”

I blinked, and Dontell’s handsome face came into view. He was holding my head in his hands now, his dark, onyx-colored eyes fierce with worry. “Breathe in,” he ordered.

I sucked in a gulp of air and was about to release it when he clipped, “Hold it for three seconds. One…two…three…release.” As the seconds passed, I felt my body relax slightly.

“We shouldn’t have done that,” Lee muttered from the other side of me.

Dontell ignored his best friend, his eyes remaining connected with mine. His beard was clipped short, his dark skin glowing over the handsome, god-like structure of his face. “You good?”

I swallowed, wanting to wince at the sour taste in my mouth. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I don’t know where that came from.”

His thumbs swept over my cheeks as he gave me a lazy smile. “You’ve never had a panic attack before?”

“Is that what that was?” I breathed as he dropped his hands from me.

“Yeah, Mina has them sometimes,” he explained.

Mina was Leon’s sister. She was in a relationship with Dontell, and they were heal over heels for each other. Dontell was also head over heels for Mina’s daughter, Cleo. They all lived together in Dontell’s house, which was cut out from a magazine and put on the street.

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