“Jesus.” He paces away from her and then back again. “No. Look, it’s a race in Miami that sounded like fun. I miss racing, Luna. I’ve never kept that a secret.”
“Youcan’trace.” She grips his shirt in her fists, and her eyes plead with him as she speaks. It makes my heart hurt for my sweet friend. “You absolutely cannot,under any circumstances, race a car. It could kill you, and if that happened, I’d be so mad at you, I’d kill you again.”
“I didn’t tell you because I likely won’t get clearance to do it anyway, so there’s no reason to upset you. It’s a moot point.”
“No, it’s not, because if a doctor did lose her mind and say,Oh, okay, you can race, you’d actually freakingdo it.Admit it.”
“Oh, yeah, I’d fucking do it in a goddamn heartbeat and wouldn’t think twice about it.”
Luna shakes her head and releases his shirt, stepping back from him. “After everything you’ve been through, and everything we’re trying to build together, you’d risk your life just to drive a car?”
“Justto drive a car?” He crosses his arms over his chest, and I cringe.
That was the wrong thing to say.
“What, exactly, do you think I did for a living, Luna? Drive a fucking taxi? Because trust me, no one’s giving taxi drivers three million dollars when they win, or a Ferrari because it’s part of their contract.”
“Three million,” I whisper to Tanner, who nods, not taking his eyes off of our friends. “Whoa.”
“No, that’s not what I meant.” Luna’s clearly frustrated as she pushes her hands through her dark hair. “I meant that you’re willing to throw away so much for the sake of driving a car.”
“Is that an ultimatum?” he asks, his voice suddenly very cold.
I sidle over and slip my hand into Tanner’s, and he gives it a squeeze.
“Not only can I not watch you race ever again, but Iwon’t, Wolfe. The thought of losing you that way keeps me up at night and fuels my nightmares, so if you think that I’d willingly live through it with you, you’re crazy.”
“So, if I say yes, we’re through? You’ll walk out on me, and that’s it for us?”
“The fact that you’d even consider saying yes, and that you kept this from me, has me questioning some things right now, if I’m being honest.”
“Fuck that, Luna.”
“No,” she says, shaking her head emphatically. “I practicallycarriedyou up the cliffs by my house, more than once, because you couldn’t manage it on your own. You black out for hours. You’re in so much pain it takes my own breath away, and you’re telling me that you’d consider doing the one thing that could fuckingkillyou?”
“It’s like breathing,” he hisses, and takes her shoulders in his hands. “Don’t you get it? It’s my goddamn lifeblood, and it was torn away from me. I didn’t get to choose that.”
“You can choose it now,” she says, her face suddenly ashen. “You’re in control now. Wolfe, youknowyou can’t do this.”
He blows out a shaky breath and then yanks Luna into his arms and hugs her close.
“I just wish I could have it back, just for a little while, so I could say goodbye to it in my own way.”
“I know.” She rubs soothing circles over his back. “I know, and I’m so damn sorry. I really am.”
June sniffles and wipes away a tear, and I realize I have tears of my own on my cheeks that I swipe away.
It must be torture to lose something that you love so much like that.
“I never planned to accept the invitation,” Wolfe admits as he kisses Luna’s head. “I know that I can’t. But it felt damn good to be asked.”
“Of course, it did.” She pats his cheek and then twists his ear.
“Hey!”
“That’s for not telling me.” Now she pats his cheek again and smiles softly. “I wouldn’t really leave you. Probably.”
“Good to know.”