“What happened then?” Lev asks. “All I remember is that you were there, and you fainted.”
“I drove right off the racetrack and just ditched the bike before leaving the racing area. Everyone was distracted trying to get the emergency services to Atlas. So, no one noticed me. I snuck into one of the teams’ trailers that was unlocked and ditched my leather pants and jacket that I was wearing over my little sundress. And then I ran back toward the racetrack. Atlas was strapped onto a gurney, and they were loading him into an ambulance. I didn’t understand why they weren’t trying to resuscitate him. I…”
Ares yells at her. “Because he was dead. Atlas died on impact. He tried to avoid you and hit that concrete pillar instead.”
Ares
I’m going to kill Heather.
That’s the only thought that keeps coming to my mind, taking root and growing fast.
I’ve never understood what my brother saw in her. Her intensity was always a huge turnoff for me. And I saw straight through her nice girl act. I saw her catty, envious side and warned my brother about it countless times.
Guilt floods me at the thought that I should have been more convincing. If Atlas had listened to me and broken things off with Heather, he would still be alive today.
As I watch her cry inconsolably, I feel no warmth for her, no compassion. “Quit the theatrics, Heather.” I bite out. “Those are fucking crocodile tears. You took everything away from me, from my family. But you don’t care. All I’ve heard you do since you got caught is make up excuses. Blaming your unforgivable actions on others. It’s all about you, as usual. If you had been truly sorry, you wouldn’t be here today. On a dirt bike, trying to finish the job that already cost Atlas his life.”
Chance agrees with me. “Ares is right, Heath. I’ve always defended you whenever he said that you were toxic. Zara has been your friend all this time. She trusted you. But you deceived her. You befriended her when you wanted to hurt her all along. Why?”
“Because she came back, and she took you away from me. Like she was going to steal Atlas.” She yells. “Don’t you see? We were in a good place at last. We were getting closer until she came back and ruined everything.”
Dad intervenes. His eyes are wet; he looks like he aged by ten years in the last ten minutes. “What do you mean? Zara hasn’t taken anything from you.”
“Oh, come on, Scott. A man of your age, someone who had the skills to play a proper sport, who built a multimillion dollar business when he retired and then started a successful political career, should be a little more perceptive. I don’t get it; it’s like you have blinders on. These four,” she’s referring to me, Chance, Lev, and Zara. “Have been fucking around right under your nose pretty much since you got married. And the illegal races had been going on for months, and you were none the wiser. Wake the fuck up.”
Dad’s jaw ticks. “Go on. Since I’m so slow, why don’t you enlighten me?”
“It isn’t that complicated. After I lost Atlas, I decided that Ares should take his place. They’re identical, and if I have tobe honest, I’ve always liked Ares better. That brooding thing he has going on is so fucking hot. I was dating Atlas only because Ares never really gave me the time of day. I thought that I could change that with time. That our common loss could bring us closer together. He kissed me the night of Atlas’s funeral after all, so I knew he must have been attracted to me.”
She’s delusional. “I kissed you because I was broken. I was a mess. I had just buried my fucking twin brother. I thought you were the one person who understood how I felt, at least partially. But it was never about attraction, Heather. I’ve never felt that way about you. Kissing you was a mistake; it didn’t make me feel any better. Remember? I told you that night.”
Heather shrugs her shoulders, unwilling to hear what I’m saying.
“I would have won you over with time, Ares. You were Atlas’s copy. You were supposed to be mine. And then I slept with Chance, and he’s so hot. He rocked my world. I thought that if I played my cards right, maybe I could have you both.”
Chance sets the record straight, like I’ve already seen him do once before. “Heather, I told you. Sleeping with you was a mistake. It felt wrong. I cared for you; I wanted to be there as a friend, but nothing else.”
She refuses to accept that she was never going to have me or Chance. That neither of us was Atlas, and that we had no intention of walking in his shoes when it came to her.
“You would have come around. Both of you. I just needed time. But then she came back and ruined everything.”
Now Zara is crying too.
My heart breaks for her. “Princess, it’s ok. You’re safe now. It’s over.”
I take one step toward her with the intention of wrapping my arms around her, but I’m distracted by the deafening noise of a motorcycle engine. It’s coming from behind me.
I barely have time to turn around before everything unravels. It all happens in the blink of an eye.
Chance’s MTT-420—that used to belong to Atlas—comes barreling out of the curve at breakneck speed.
It’s coming straight at me.
I was so distracted, trying to comfort Zara, that I react too late. There’s no way that I can move out of the way fast enough. It’s going to hit me.
I don’t even realize that I had closed my eyes, frozen in terror, waiting for the impact.
And the impact comes, but it isn’t as hard as I expected.
