“I’m serious. Put your money where your mouth is.”
“Grow up, Solo.”
“Oh. You’re scared.” I pushed off his bike and backed away. “I get it. No worries, then.”
As I turned to walk away, I gave it about three beats, and then I heard Panther say, “All right. You’re on.”
24Panther
IF SOLO WANTED a go at me, he could fucking have it.
I was over the narcissistic asshole tackling whoever he wanted to get to the top, no matter what the cost. This shit wasn’t going to fly with me. Not anymore.
“Third and Sunset,” I yelled out to Solo over the purr of our engines, and then I took off out of the base, my adrenaline pumping even more than it had during the hop. It was mixed with anger and frustration now, making it a deadly combination that Solo wasn’t ready for.
He wanted a race with no rules to ignore? He’d fucking get one.
I rolled up to the intersection of Third and Sunset, practically deserted at this time of day, and didn’t have to wait long for Solo to pull in beside me. As he looked over at me, he revved the engine, causing me to grit my teeth. I flipped up the visor and pointed out in the distance some twenty miles away. “The end point is Black Rock Cliffs. You know it?”
Solo nodded.
“On green,” I said, pointing to the traffic light, and snapped my visor back down and got ready to fly. The heavy thud of my heartbeat was like a countdown…four…three…two…one.
The light flipped to green and we were off.
Gunning it through the streets of Mesamir, my vision may have been red, but my focus was clear. Solo wasn’t winning this time. I’d hand him his ass on a platter and relish every second of it. First, though? He could choke on my dust.
I raced ahead, swerving into his lane and cutting him off, an asshole move right up his alley. In my mirrors, I could see him move to the left, and I followed, blocking him yet again. Then to the right he went, but a car in the lane beside us forced him back behind me, and I grinned.
Was it the smartest thing in the world to race in broad daylight where we could get caught? Hell no. But I didn’t plan to get caught, and as we outpaced the car beside us, it was clear Solo gave no fucks either.
It was like the guy got off on the danger, like giving the finger to anyone of authority made him high. Invincible. I couldn’t fathom how anyone went through life without a moral code to keep them in check, but this guy… This guy was too much, and his ego needed to be brought back down to earth.
Up ahead, the road turned into a series of sharp curves, one side rocky cliffs and the other nothing but open air, the road overlooking the ocean below. As I rounded the first section, my bike so low to the ground I almost grazed the asphalt, I maintained the speed, not giving an inch. Solo had kept pace with me so far, and I needed to get a wider lead.
I flew around the second curve with ease, but as I rose back up, Solo was there, sneaking into the inside of the lane, and as a car came barreling by in the opposite lane, I had to break position and whip in behind him.
Shit.He was ruthless, on the ground, in the sky… It didn’t seem to matter much to Solo where he was. If there was something to win, he’d win it. If there were rules to break, he’d break ’em.
That just made me want to punch the shit out of him.
As the other lane cleared out for the moment, I took the opportunity to move into it, pushing the engine as hard as I dared so that I came up alongside him. It was neck and neck as we took the turns, but I needed to get the hell out of this lane before another car—
Shit.
I had to swerve into Solo’s lane, almost knocking into him as a truck blew its horn as it passed by. My heart was jackhammering at the close call, but I wasn’t letting Solo take this race. Not today.
Solo looked at me as the road straightened out, and it was a good thing our helmets muffled any words, because I could only imagine the curses Solo was throwing my way after almost ramming him into the rock wall.
We were halfway to the finish line, and I needed to kick things up a notch. Problem was, coming down out of the hills meant having to deal with the beach traffic on the other side of Mesamir.
There would be no slowing down, at least not for me, which meant throwing my cautious-by-nature side to the wind. Gaining ground, I sped ahead of Solo, weaving smoothly between cars already going over the speed limit. The red lights were few and far between on this stretch, thank God, because even channeling some of Solo’s devil-may-care attitude didn’t permit me to put other’s lives at risk.
At the first one, I swerved onto the empty sidewalk, bypassing the stopped cars as Solo continued to weave through them. He lost momentum then, and I thought he’d stop altogether at the light, but then he charged past everyone, barely missing a car attempting to turn. A chorus of horns broke out behind him, and I glanced over my shoulder to make sure he hadn’t killed anyone.
Reckless motherfucker.
25Solo
