Page 14 of Hyperspeed
His cocky smile remained, but I saw the way his hand tightened around the microphone, knuckles white against the dark plastic. “If you keep pushing your luck like that, eventually it won’t go your way.”
“And yet here you are, first place and still rattled. Guess luck’s working just fine for me,” I remarked, one eyebrow raised.
Kai turned away from Ben and narrowed his eyes at me, fixated on my cocked brow. “I’m not talking about theresult; I’m talking about the way you race.” Jax and Zylo stood awkwardly between us. “You’re lucky the move paid off. Next time, that stunt could cost you more than just fourth place.”
I snorted, flicking my hair over my shoulder. “We’ll agree to disagree. But I am sure about one thing.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Next time, you can watch me up ahead, not just glance at me in your wing mirrors.”
Kai scowled, and Jax struggled to hide his smile. Zylo, meanwhile, straight up guffawed and slapped me on the back.
“Dream on,rookie,” Kai bit out. He snarled the word like it was an insult, and I felt the marks on my skin heat. A quick glance at my hand confirmed they were glowing a vivid red, my annoyance on show for the galaxy to witness.
Kai’s scowl vanished, replaced by his trademark smirk, all too satisfied with the reaction he’d provoked. The tension lingered as the cameramen exchanged wary glances, and Nina stared at the sky as though begging the stars for patience.
Eventually, Ben cleared his throat before turning back to the cameras.
“Well, it’s clear the track will be heating up in more ways than one. Will Rev’s bold moves pay off next time? Or will Kai’s strategy keep him ahead as we begin the race for the championship?”
Kai flashed the camera a blinding smile that made my stomach churn, while Ben finished up.
“That’s all for today, folks. It’s goodbye from Vortex Canyon, and we’ll see you at the next race!”
Keep Your Eyes on the Racing Line
Kai
Two weeks after the race in Vortex Canyon, I was alone in my top-floor apartment on Zyphar, still watching the replay of Rev’s manoeuvre on lap forty-five. I’d watched it more often than my go-to porn clips, and for once my right hand was getting a break.
Every few days, I opened the recording on my TV, and skipped through the race to watch that moment. My heart beat faster each time, my breaths came quicker, convinced he’d crush himself under the rockslide.
Obviously, I knew he wouldn’t. Knew his cocky little ass had made it through, just to snipe at me during the press conference.
But watching Dray slam on the brakes while Rev sped up, my gorge rose. My stomach churned as I watched the structure of his vehicle narrow, my gut in knots as he slipped through the minutest gap between boulders, only slightly wider than his car.
And I hated to admit it, but it was impressive . . . brilliant, in fact.
But it was also reckless. He was a rookie with no sense of self-preservation, pulling tricks some of the most seasoned drivers wouldn’t dream of.
The worst part? He didn’t even break a sweat.
I’d listened to his radio—to Zylo yelling about a rockslide, his team principal ordering him to brake—and all the while, Rev’s breathing didn’t even quicken. Didn’t stutter. Unruffled, he calmly passed through the gap, overtaking Dray in the process.
All he said was, “I’ve got this.”
Dray had been furious, of course. The rookie had bested him in qualifying, and then he’d lost out because Rev had the balls to do what most of us wouldn’t.
There was a reason for that.
What if his timing had been off? A split second either way and he’d have been history before his career had even got off the ground. Wouldn’t look great for Zenith, would it? They finally replaced the driver who’d died on the track with another who met the same grisly fate.
I’d warned him against his impulsive behaviour, and I thought he’d listened. Rev had driven like a top-tier Astro Space League racer. He’d held his own against drivers from Nebula Shifters, and he hadn’t batted an eye when a swirling dust devil materialised on lap twelve.
But then he had to dothat.
Coupled with the jabs we’d shared during the press conference, the fans were eating it up.
