Page 102 of Send It
“Gee I don’t know Mom, maybe it’s because we have a part time wife and mom who treats us like an afterthought.”
Nana snorts out a laugh from the recliner, earning a hateful stare from my mother.
“Colson,” she says, returning her stare to me. “What has gotten into you?”
I shake my head, limping over to the island where my truck keys are. “Just finally seeing people for exactly who they are instead of what I wish they would be.”
I scoop the keys up and head out the door. There’s no way I’m hanging around for this shit and thankfully my dad doesn’t stop me.
I slip into the driver's seat of my truck and crank the ignition. I don’t know exactly what my plan is, but when I drive and end up at the Banes’, I know it’s based on pure habit.
It’s my place. My happy place with my people.
Just as I’m pulling in the driveway, Lincoln walks out the door. She’s almost running and the protective part of me can’t help but swing open the door. “Are you okay?”
She runs straight to me and wraps me into a hug, hersmaller body fitting exactly into me like a missing puzzle piece. “I’m okay. I was on my way to your house.”
She pulls back and I watch as she overthinks that hug and how far she needs to stand from me. Which hurts because I don’t want her to be afraid to touch me. “I love you, Colson. I know that you need to talk to Reiss and that this isn’t something I can help with or force, but I need you to know that my feelings aren’t just going to go away. I can’t just bury how I feel to make Reiss feel better about us. I know that he’s your best friend and he’s my brother but I can’t just turn it off.”
She’s staring at me with desperation, a loving look in her eyes that no one else has ever given me. She’s fighting for us. I’ve never had anyone fight so hard for me. To care like she does. I mean this girl put my fucking shirt on her back to race for me and had her ribs broken.
“I love you, Lincoln,” I tell her, gripping her face between both my palms. “I don’t want you to turn it off.”
She jumps into my arms and I shift my weight onto my good leg as she wraps her legs around my waist, her lips falling onto mine.
“Ahem,” Reiss coughs causing Lincoln to pull away and my eyes to close with regret, allowing her legs to fall to the ground.
Shit.
“Lincoln, can you give us a minute?” Reiss says and his calmness is almost scary. I can tell Lincoln can sense it too.
She hesitates as she walks away from me and I wait until she’s inside before I turn toward Reiss, unsure of what to expect.
“I’m sorry about that. My mom came home so I got in my truck and just drove. I didn’t expect to come here. Butwhen I pulled in I didn't expect Lincoln to be here. I thought she’d be at Lakeside.”
Reiss nods, “It’s fine. We need to talk anyway.”
“I know, I’m really—” I start, wanting to lead with an apology but Reiss cuts me off.
“No,” he starts. “I get to go first. I trusted you. I knew that in a room full of people talking shit about Reiss Bane you’d have my back and you did, I knew that you’d do whatever you could to help get me to Nationals and you did. I just never in a million years would have thought that while I was getting ready for one of the biggest races of my life, my best friend would lie to me.”
“I’m so sorry, Reiss. I swear I never meant for anything to happen with Lincoln. It just…”
He holds up his hand, “I’m not talking about Lincoln.”
My brows furrow and I wait as he looks at the ground disappointed, “You lied to me about your leg, and you let me believe that everything was fine when in reality you had a surgery scheduled and never planned on racing at Nationals. That is what I’m pissed off about. I’m pissed that you thought that you couldn’t tell me the truth.”
My shoulders sag, “Dude I just couldn’t do it. I tried to ride through the pain and telling you about my surgery felt like giving up on a dream we’ve had since we were little.”
He smiles softly, “Going pro like our dads.”
“Yeah,” I nod. “There’s only ever been one dream. Pro motocross, Bane Racing, and…”
“My sister,” he finishes, my heartbeat picking up with his realization.
I nod, “Telling you felt like giving up on that dream and I didn’t want you to be disappointed if I didn’t makeit. Lincoln thought that if she could at least place on the podium for a race or two she could get me there. Then I could have my surgery and come back to the pro circuit."
“That could have happened. It almost did.” He says.
