Page 104 of Love Collided

“Always.”

He smiled, his lip healing and bringing back the devastating smile that made my stomach flutter. He kissed me again before I stepped back.

“If we make out in here for too long, we are bound to get caught.”

“They don’t know I’m here yet. I’ll just walk around the other side and pretend I just showed up.”

“Alright. I just don’t want them to know about…” My voice trailed off as I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth. It didn’t feel right to call this a friends with benefits situation anymore, but I knew Chase wasn’t going to give me more. I had been fighting it all week. We had basically been living together, and I had loved every second of it. But every time I went to bring up the idea of ending this arrangement and starting a new one, my stomach would churn and I would get too nervous to say a word.

Kind of like now.

He was still smiling. “Know about us?”

“Yeah, that.”

“How about we talk about it later and for now, you go win some races?”

I gave a sharp nod. “I think that’s a great idea.”

For the next few hours,I did exactly that. I focused, I raced, I won. Each race went by with ease and before I knew it, I was lined up for the third race. I needed to win this one or the next to stay in the running for Vegas.

I took a deep breath, sitting behind the wheel as a car next to me lined up. My adrenaline spiked as the roar of engines drowned out the world around me. It wasn’t long before the light changed and we both took off. It was a simple race, one straightline for a road against another car. I had done it a thousand times, and I knew as soon as the back of my car broke loose, I was in serious trouble.

The entire car started moving sideways as I tried to correct it and failed. The car turned too much, slamming into the wall. The sound of the metal smashing into concrete was nearly as bad as the impact, the crunch of metal and plastic making my eyes squeeze shut.

I let off the gas, but the car kept going, the screech of metal reverberating through me.

The car finally came to a stop, the impact still reverberating through my body, every nerve tingling with shock. I tried to calm the panic that bubbled up, knowing I could get it under control if I didn’t let it get worse. I kicked my legs out, feeling that they were free enough. My hands shook as I reached for the release of my safety harness, the metal click echoing loudly in the eerie aftermath of the crash.

I pushed against the driver’s door, which luckily opened with ease. It was the passenger side that was mainly ruined. My heart sank as I looked over the car. I couldn’t imagine this was going to help my chances, and after losing that race and not having a car for the next, I was pretty sure my dreams of racing in Vegas next week were crushed.

By the time I turned to look down the track, the crew was already there.

“Are you okay?” Fox yelled before they even stopped.

I gave him a thumbs up, still fighting to get my helmet off.

“I’m fine,” I yelled as they stopped. The track officials were right behind them, looking over the car to make sure it wasn’t going to catch fire before seeing if anything was leaking. The track would be down for a while if anything spilled out.

I didn’t listen as they talked to Ransom and Fox, who were quick in moving the car. Chase came over, looking me up and down and then to the car behind me.

“Are you actually okay?”

“Yeah, it didn't do any damage to me, just the car.”

His eyes were wide, his jaw tight as he looked at me again. I could see how bad he wanted to reach out and check me over like he had at the hospital. He was inspecting every inch of me, the hardened look on his face not softening.

“You were just thrown into a wall at a hundred miles an hour. What do you mean it didn’t do any damage to you?”

“The suit, the roll cage, the helmet. They all did their job and I’m completely fine.”

He didn’t look like he believed me, and it really didn’t seem like that when he slammed against me, wrapping his arms around me tight and fast.

“Fuck,” he mumbled, squeezing me so hard that I almost couldn’t breathe.

“Come on,” Fox yelled, waving at us. “Let’s get her down the track and checked out.”

Chase nodded, his face hardening and apparently going into business mode. He walked me to a car without a word, and once we were back down the track, he brought me right to the EMTs who checked me over.

---