Page 26 of Drive Me Wilde

I wave toward the wilderness area across from the ranch. It's mostly shrubs and tall grass, but it's a shortcut to town. The bikes—and the riders—will be thrashed, but Braxton's thugs have a head start. We need to cut that down if we're going to have any chance of stopping them.

The tires leave the ground as I jump the bike off the road and into the tall grass. Birds and creatures who aren't expecting an army of dirt bikes, take off and jump out of the way as I plow through the overgrown landscape. Sharp branches claw at my arms. Blood trickles down my forearms. The unruly landscape doesn't allow much opportunity to look around, but I glance back briefly. Ronan is following the path I'm mowing down, but Colin and Zander are making their own parallel path next to us.There is no right or wrong way across. You just have to twist the throttle, keep your face down and plow through.

We reach the place that gives a view of Harbor Avenue, the long, curved road that intersects with Main Street. I can hear the brassy sound of the school marching band ahead. Zander releases one of his eardrum breaking whistles. He circles his arm in the air to show that we've caught up to the assholes on bikes. He makes a sharp turn right and the rest of us follow.

It's the shittiest terrain to ride through, but we trample the grasses and shrub with our fat tires. Dad's shady business dealings rarely spill past his own personal space, but this time he's dragged the whole damn town into it. And the parade—Indi is in the parade.

I lower myself down and grab the throttle. I blast right through a spidery looking shrub and am the first to hit pavement. My brothers are right behind.

Zander pulls up next to me and tells me to drop back. I'm unarmed but that doesn't hold me back. I'm ready to pound some faces. Zander reaches back for his gun and tells us, even Colin, to stay back. Zander is fiercely protective of all of us. As the oldest brother, he was thrown into a sort of protective, fatherly position because our own dad was useless in the job. But we're together in this today. The twins and I are not letting him go it alone. We ride up next to him. Zander looks mad at first, but he knows we're staying right there next to him.

The asshole on the slowest bike, a big dude who probably outweighs the bike by fifty pounds, is the first to hear us coming up from behind. He leans down and tries to hurry to catch up to the others, but his bike can't handle his weight coupled with the speed. Smoke shoots out from the motor, and the bike slows way down. Ronan circles the guy, who is in a full panic. He seems to be unarmed. He lays the bike down and takes off at aslow, plodding run. Ronan takes off after him. The guy is fucking toast, and we're down to three.

Zander pulls up next to the guy at the back of the pack and swerves his bike toward him. The guy overcompensates and loses control of the bike for a second before regaining it. His gun is still in his belt. They weren't expecting the ambush, and that works in our favor. They don't have their weapons ready. The guy swings his fist out at Zander. Zander ducks out of the way and then drives the guy off the road. He chases him down.

We're down to two and the element of surprise is over. I see the glint of a gun and yell to Colin. "He's gonna shoot!" The gun goes off as Colin and I part. He misses. It's hard to shoot a moving target, especially when you're moving too.

My heart is racing so fast, it's hard to catch a decent breath. Colin and I pull back together and speed up. The two remaining bikers reach Main Street. My hopes that they'll just take off because they're down two guys are dimmed when they continue toward the activity. The town isn't big, but it seems everyone is lined up on Main Street to cheer on the floats and band.

The second biker takes off and swoops right in front of the hardware store's slow-moving float, then he starts to slalom through the rest of them. The float drivers panic. Some speed up and crash into the next float while others veer off toward the spectators. The fastest biker is now racing along the parade route. People are jumping out of the way and screaming. It's full chaos. I chase him down, unsure if it's the right decision or not. Then I see the guy go for his gun. I have to stop him.

Behind us the parade has come to a dead stop. Sirens are approaching in the distance. People are grabbing their kids and running from the parade route. I'm on the rider's tail. He's heading for the high school float. Indi and her cheer squad are all hanging on to each other and anything stable on the float as the driver tries to make a getaway with a giant unwieldy float onhis back. The rider lifts his gun in the air and fires a shot. The girls scream and drop to their stomachs. In the chaos, Indi's gaze finds me. It's filled with terror and rage.

I lower myself down and head straight for the rider. My front tire just passes his back tire, and I turn the bike hard. We both go down. My shoulder cracks as I hit the asphalt. Skin shreds off my arm and face. The float veers off the road and the tires of the car holding it hit a curb, jarring the whole thing so hard, the cheerleaders are tossed off. The asshole hit the pavement hard. He pushes to his feet and stumbles a few steps. The gun dangles from his hand. I kick the gun out of his grasp, and it flies through the air and smacks into the drugstore window.

I grab the guy's shirt, and before he can react, I plow my fist into his face. He drops in a heap. I hurry around the float to make sure Indi and her friends are all right. Indi is limping as she walks around to help a few of her friends. Zach and some of his teammates are already at the float to help. He hugs Indi. She peeks up over his shoulder at me, and the look she gives me pierces straight through me. It's far more painful than my broken collarbone.

"On your knees and hands on your head, Wilde." It's Officer Towne. I know his angry voice well. I drop to my knees and put my hands on my head. Once again, my brothers and I are going to have to take the fall for our dad's shitty fucking choices.

Now

"Dad, did you see? We took a jump?" Rio's excited tone snaps me from my thoughts.

"You took a jump?" I ask, looking straight at Zander.

"It was a small jump," he assures me and looks at Rio. "What happened to keeping that part secret?"

Rio holds out her arms. "Can't keep something like that secret." She pulls out her phone. "Wait until I tell my friends." She runs off to send a flurry of texts.

"So, what do you say? Up for a little racing? It's been a long time," Zander says.

I look back at the bike and think about the last few tense minutes with Indi. "Yeah, you know what? That sounds good. Haven't thrown dirt in my big brother's face in a long time."

eleven

. . .

Indi

Atext wakes me from a deep sleep. It was easy to nap on El Honey's soft quilt and slightly lumpy mattress. I'm still catching up on all the sleep I lost in the last week. The walk home helped clear my head and tamp down the irritation I was feeling after the few moments with Jameson. It seems the two of us will never be able to smooth out our history enough to even be cordial to each other.

The text is from Kinsley.

A bus of tourists just pulled up to the sandwich shop, so I'm going down to help Nev. Help yourself to whatever in the fridge.

Thanks. Do you mind if I cut a few of the roses out front? I want to go to the cemetery and visit your grandmother and my dad.

Of course. Take as many as you like. The pruning shears are in the shed out back. Oh, there's a bike there too. You can use it to get around town.

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