Taking a deep breath, I pushed ahead of my cousin again. Through my periphery, I saw him shake his head as if to ask me what I was doing. I ignored him and urged my bike to seventymiles per hour through Downtown Atlanta as we ripped through sharp turns, breezing through red lights as if they were optional.
Fucking let a car hit me. Please.
Slate and I weaved in and out of traffic, going at speeds that weren’t legal in congested areas. If a cop caught us, it wouldn’t be an issue. It would be handled by the King’s Palace. As Kinetics, our vision and reflexes were superior to humans’, so driving at these speeds wasn’t a concern. We did much more dangerous things in training.
I slowed to a stop at a red light, then turned right, heading down a back alley, Slate following closely behind. The roar of the bikes’ engines was deafening until we parked behind a building and cut the engines.
My breath began to fog the glass on the shield of my helmet. Pulling it off, I looked to Slate and nodded toward the roof. He removed his helmet and trailed behind as I climbed the ladder to the flat roof.
The gravel beneath my feet crunched as I crossed to the edge of the building and sat on the ledge. My ankles dangled over the edge as Slate dropped down beside me.
A comfortable silence dragged on between us. Finally, my cousin cleared his throat before turning his head, his hazel eyes hardening. “So, what was that about back there?”
“What?” I asked, keeping my vision locked on the telecommunications buildings in front of us.
“That reckless shit back there?”
I shrugged, not wanting to expose what clawed beneath the surface of my skin. “I was just trying to get through traffic.”
“Chrome,” he snapped.
I turned my head and met his gaze. “What?”
“What the fuck?”
I exhaled, my breath forming a cloud of vapor. “I was anxious to get the fuck out of there.”
“Yeah? At the risk of your life, bro?”
I snorted. “It’ll take a lot more than a crash to kill me.”
Slate reeled. “You can’t be serious.” Retreating his knees to his chest, he shook his head. “You’re mortal like everyone else, Chrome. Don’t fucking forget that.”
I laughed. “How the hell could I forget?”
Slate shook his head. “I’m sure the gossip gets to your head every now and then.”
My face twisted in confusion. “The gossip is the last thing I’ve ever given a fuck about.”
“What do you give a fuck about then?” My cousin inquired, angling his head with raised brows.
A heavy pause weighed between us as my fingertips dug into the concrete of the ledge. I redirected my gaze ahead of me before answering, “Her.”
“Peri?”
“No…” I responded on instinct. “Yes…her, too. But I’m talking about the princess.”
Slate looked down and chewed his lip. “I see. What aren’t you telling me, Chrome?”
“Why does it matter?” I asked, my voice sounding as dead as I felt on the inside. “What can anyone do about it?”
Slate inhaled a deep breath. “I can help.”
“Can you, though?” After this recent bout of punishment, I was beginning to feel more demoralized than ever.
Slate nodded. “Yeah. I’ll find a way to train her.”
“How?” I asked, angling my chin toward him, hoping he had a solution I hadn’t been able to think of yet.
