“Already taken care of. All you have to do is have fun.”
“Thank you so much, Ryder.” She stops me to lift up and press a kiss to my cheek. It’s completely innocent but my body reacts quite differently. I play it cool not wanting her to see how much her kiss affects me.
We approach a shiny red Hellcat, the one I saw in her apartment’s parking lot. “This is it?”
Her car looks exactly like mine except for the paint color. Same exterior mods and all. It makes me curious to see the inside.
“Yep. This is Stella.”
“You named your car Stella?” I practically yell at her, causing her to jump and look at me with confusion.
“Yes. Stella is a good name. Do you have a problem with it?”
“Elizabeth. You namedmycar Stella.” Her mouth forms the cutest “O.”
“You’re shitting me?”
“You did.”
She throws back her head and lets out a huge laugh. “Jesus Christ, Ryder. You’ve been living in my brain this entire time. Why is it that you’re the one person out of all four of you guys that I can remember in any capacity?”
That’s a great question. Is it just random coincidence or something more? Why me and not Jay?
I’m still wearing my racing gear, so I have her slip on the coveralls and help adjust the pink helmet on her head. I fix the bulky HANS device across her shoulders and clip it into the helmet. She watches my eyes closely the entire time. The focus she has on me right now is a bit unnerving and adds to the already heightened senses her cheek kiss ignited.
“You know, I really like your eyes. You have a bit of green mixed in with the light brown and yellow.”
I mentally warn myself not to do something stupid. The urge to wrap my hand around her neck and smash my mouth down on hers is overwhelming. I make some final adjustments and drop my hands from her helmet, then I put on my own. “Ready?”
Full grin. “Oh, yeah. But this thingy makes it hard to turn my head.”
“That’s the point. With your head injury, I don’t want to have your neck whipping around.”
“That’s very considerate of you, Ryder. I promise not to complain anymore about it.”
She gets in the driver’s seat of her car and I get in the opposite side. And just like I suspected, she has bucket seats that are black with a red stripe down the middle. The dash is a bit different than mine, which is a custom job I did myself using swirled steel. It takes a while for Elizabeth to get comfortable in her seat with all the racing gear she’s wearing. I hand her some gloves.
“Okay. Let’s start her up and drive to the start line. Did you remember to bring the red key I texted you about?”
Elizabeth holds the red key up. “I left the black key at home.”
I give Elizabeth instructions on how to set her Hellcat up for the track. “First, turn the engine on, then hit the Track button on your menu screen.” Once she does this, I show her how to fully turn off her traction control.
“Is that it?” she asks me.
“Yep, you’re good to go. You’ll want to drive through that open gate over there,” I point out. “Keep in mind that your car will now have a bit more power than you’re used to. The first part of the course is a straightaway so you can let her go as fast as you’re comfortable with. Then I’ll teach you how to drift.”
We drive through the gate and onto the track. “This is going to be so good.” I can feel her excitement and enthusiasm. It’s contagious. “Alright,” she says, shifting into first gear while applying the brake. “Here we go!”
She stomps on the gas, drops the handbrake, and does a few wheel spins before her tires find some grip and we speed off down the straightaway. I watch her handle the car like a pro, her grip on the steering wheel perfect, her reaction times excellent, her shifting from one gear to the next smooth. Could her brain subconsciously recall all the times she was with me in the car watching me do the same things? She never drove like this before and I’m utterly fascinated by it all.
Elizabeth keeps the gas pedal down until the car reaches a hundred miles per hour before she lets out a whoop and slows down to a steady fifty.
“Ready to try drifting?” I ask her.
“Hell yes. Bring it on.”
“There’s a wide part of the track coming up in about a tenth of a mile. Drop your speed down until you’re going about twenty miles per hour. What you’re going to do when you approach the corner is come in wide and turn the wheel sharply. As you turn, gradually add power with the accelerator until you feel the back tires start to slide. When that happens, you’ll want to ease off the throttle a tiny bit and turn your steering wheel in the opposite direction. Don’t lose your grip on the wheel or things will get very hairy, real quick. Once you’re in the drift, use the steering wheel to keep yourself pointed where you want to go, and use the throttle to adjust how much you want the car to slide out. When you want to come out of the drift, ease the throttle again until the back wheels come back into a forward alignment. We can try it as many times as you need. No pressure and don’t rush it, and don’t worry if you spin the car because, trust me, you will until you get the hang of it. Got it?”
