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.
25 Solo
I CURSED AS I pushed my bike harder, faster, trying to regain the ground I’d lost when Panther had taken to the sidewalk to pass the traffic. He was in a mood to play—and win—but I wouldn’t be giving in so easily.
I hadn’t done anything illegal in the hop, but not following the rules to the letter obviously riled him up enough that it’d been either kick each other’s ass on base in front of everyone, or find another way of dealing with pent-up aggression.
I could’ve thought of a better way, personally, but it would’ve involved no clothes and something other than our bikes between our thighs.
Up ahead, Panther looped through the cars with amazing ease for how fast he was going, and if he hadn’t been kicking my ass, I would’ve almost smiled. For someone who cared so much about rules, he sure wasn’t so keen on following them right now.
The beach traffic was a pain in my ass, and as Panther blew through a yellow and it turned red before I got there, I swerved onto the sidewalk as he had.
There. Getting closer now, but I needed to pull out some serious maneuvers if I was going to win this thing. And I didn’t like to lose.
I managed to catch his tail, and I knew the moment he saw me in his mirrors, because he shot a finger my way.
So pissed, I thought, my lips curving. Pissed meant passionate, and that was something I could work with.
He continued blocking me at every turn, ratcheting up my frustration. We weren’t far from the end, and I didn’t have long to win this thing. If I were an asshole with a death wish, I would’ve bumped his back tire to send him spiraling out. The only problem with that plan is I’d probably end up in that wreckage too—and my idea of taking Panther down didn’t include casts, just a bed. Or a counter. Or a wall. I wasn’t picky.
I faked to the right so I could move around him on the left, but Panther didn’t take the bait. Unwavering, he kept his lead through the final stretch, and then he veered down onto the beach.
Sand sprayed everywhere in his wake, forcing me to move to the side, narrowly avoiding the massive rock foundations at this end of the beach. No one usually came down to the cliffs, not with the strong undertow in the water or the rocks casting shadows when they tried to tan. It was the perfect spot to end this thing, and as I curved around one of the formations, I pulled even with Panther. Only a little bit further, a little bit more power, and—