Page 66 of Secrets That Bind Us
Shaking myself out of my memory, I give Bear a quick pat before I throw on my riding jacket, zipping it up to grab my helmet, which feels heavy in my hand. A boulder. A weight I’m used to feeling on my shoulders. I step in front of the covered Ninja that’s sitting beside my Harley, and I quickly tug off the tarp. It took me years to rebuild her, my pride and joy. My winning piece.
When I first got her back, I couldn’t stand the sight of her–busted, like my leg. My future. My life.
I click the button on my keys, the garage door opening behind me, then throw my leg over the seat, kick the stand, shove my key into the ignition, and hear her roar to life, purring under me.
As soon as I’m out, the garage door closes behind me and soon I’m tearing through the street, ready to get back to Verity. But as I race through town, bypassing the landmarks that have stood still through time, another memory hurtles back to me. It’s the one I try my damnedest to forget but never can.
“Last race of the season.” Spyder singsongs, stepping around the bike I’m working on now. It ain’t my baby, but it’s someone else’s, so I’m taking care of it.
“Don’t care,” I sing back. I’m covered in grease, my fingers black from where I was trying to get a spark plug unstuck. The damn thing was practically fused to the engine. I’m trying to hurry so I can get back to Verity’s for dinner. I promised her we’d catch a movie afterwards, and I like keeping the promises I make her.
“It’s fifty thousand dollars.”
I stiffen, the possibilities of what I can do with that kind of money are endless, especially now that I’m going to New York with Verity next week. We’d be comfortable for a little while. A nice cushion.
He takes my silence as a sign to continue. Spy shrugs his shoulders; helmet tucked under his arm. I look up at the fucker. Brown skin, brown eyes, brown hair, a little older than me but not by much. “Look, I’ve been winning every race. It’s getting boring. I need a challenge.”
I blow out my breath.
“I’ll give you fifteen K of my own money just for participating. You can keep it, and the prize money if you win.”
Sixty-five thousand dollars.
“Why would you do that?”
“I told you. I’m fucking bored. At first it was fine, lining my pockets like that. But now, it’s boring. And you know what this race means – Waco. That’s where I want to get. But if I win, I want to go because I earned it. Not because everyone else sucks.”
Fuck, I promised her I would keep it legal, but that’s so much money. Just the fifteen grand alone would help out. She wouldn’t have to work. She could just write while I look for work. Shit. I could even probably go to school if I work and put back what I spend. We'd be set.
I scratch at my jaw, knowing I’m getting more grease on it, but goddamn. Sixty-five K.
“Think about it,” Spy says, putting his helmet on and exits the shop.
I throw my tools on the ground, exhaling sharply.
I round the last bend of the hill, past the Abernathy farm, and then down her long driveway that’s concrete now– not gravel– and turn off the engine. It’s like a blast from the fucking past when I see her at the screen door, waiting to welcome me inside her mama’s house.
I climb off my bike and pull my keys out, shoving them in my jacket pocket. “Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
She grins, the door still between us. “You saw me the day before yesterday.”
“A day too long,” I admit.
Her chin juts to the Ninja behind me. “Is that…?”
I grin, taking off my helmet and setting it on the seat. “Yeah. Took me forever to get her back to where she was but… she’s solid.”
She hums in thought, grinning at me through the screen door as I make my way to her and up the porch steps.
“You gonna keep me waiting on you a little longer or is that your mama’s pot roast I smell?”
“You remember what it smelled like?”
I don’t tell her I stayed when she left and made something of herself. I don’t tell her I helped Marie around the house once she was gone so she didn’t have to worry. I don’t tell her I lived in this house while I went to college, thinking I was helping out Marie by doing so. All in due time. Instead, all I say is, "I remember everything, gorgeous girl.”
Her smile drops a bit but not completely as she opens the screen door, and I make my way inside, not taking my eyes off the little pink sundress she’s wearing that flares at her hips but hugs her chest and torso just right. I flick my eyes to the pendant on her necklace, and I swear myknees buckle. Memories of her doodling sunflowers all over her paper during homeroom storm my mind.
I lean over at my desk. “What’s with the sunflowers?”
