Page 15 of Played

River felt her knee touch concrete as she was pushed farther into the curve by Archer. There was no time to pull out of it. Looking over her shoulder, she stared at him. His tire rubbed her bike. If she went down., it would be hard. The bike wobbled as she came out of the turn. Straightening up as she twisted the throttle, she hoped she would come out of it. She managed to straighten out the bike and took the next turn deep in the pocket.

Commentator 2:Wow, that was close, most people don’t realize how hard that is to do. Coming into the curve, everyone’s shaking their heads as Morgan is fourth place, Wile in fifth. Morgan looks back at Wile, waving her off.

Commentator 1:Morgan’s clearly looking for a fight here today. And Wile is ready to give him one.

Commentator 2: Wile is not letting up. If Archer Morgan had given Wile some respect, she wouldn’t be… Oh my God, Wile just passed Morgan in the turn. She’s not backing down.

Commentator 1:Look at this—Morgan is pulling underneath Wile and runs her out wide.

FUCK!The concrete was coming up fast. Her forehead made contact first. She tumbled end over end, her mind scrambling to figure which end was up. She wasn’t sure, it was happening so quickly and slowly at the same time. The wall was coming up quicker than she would like. Her whole body bounced as she came to a sudden stop against it. Laying there, River settled, going through her checklist in her head.Move your fingers and toes. Search for pain. What hurts?

Commentator 2:Looks like he tangled up with her on purpose.

Commentator 1: Archer Morgan may get a penalty for that.

Commentator 2:That took River Wile out of the race and seals her fate for this season.

Fucking Archer.That little fucker had ridden up on her like that. The asshole could have killed her with that stunt. She’d kill him when she got back to the pit.Punk ass. Clamoring to her feet, she waved off the medics, thinking she was good—her bike not so much. That was until her leg went left when she went right. She hit the ground, managing to land as gracefully as she could. As she pounded a gloved fist into the dirt, River knew this was gonna cost her more than a new sponsor.

Commentator 1:Looks like River Wile will need to be carried off the track. Hope she will be all right.

What a way to get off the track. River tried clearing her head. It was imperative before she got back to the pit. Damn it, she wasn’t going back to the pit if the medics decided she needed more than what they could do. River really did not want to go to the ER for X-rays. Fury burned in her veins. She wanted to get her hands around Archer’s neck.Calm down, River.She could only hope he got penalized for that stunt.

***

Her team watched as River crashed the bike, ghosting across the track as it dragged her. At the last minute she broke loose as the bike flipped up, smashing into the wall. River barreled through the hay bales, finally coming to a stop as she hit part of the wall. Mal sucked her breath in, eyes wide on the TV monitors. Yelling for Dan, she was running for River when her husband grabbed her around the waist, stopping her. Mal felt him pull her in tight against his body. That was her best friend, the only sister she had. “What if she isn’t ok?”

“Look she’s up…” Dan tried to force his wife to focus on what was happening. This was not, nor would be, their last wreck as long as River raced. Just as Mal looked back at the screen, River collapsed to the ground.

“Something’s wrong. She went down. Oh God.” Mal tried to get free of Dan. She needed to be out there taking care of River. There was no one else but her and Dan.

Dan struggled with Mal, finally getting her to look at him. He could see the sheer panic in Mal’s eyes. “We will wait for the call and follow the medics if she has to go to the clinic.”

Mal stood there, biting her thumbnail, bouncing up and down on her feet. She hated this crap. She’d seen River crash too many times. Mal heard the call that River was headed to medical to be looked at before taking her to the ER. Grabbing her radio, Mal turned to dart off, slamming into Riot. “Move, dickhead.”

“Stop, Mal. Tell me what’s happening. Please.”

“She’s headed to medical. Now move.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“She won’t want you there.”

“Don’t care.”

***

Laying in medical, waiting to see the doctor, River saw Mal running towards her— and right behind her came Riot. Seeing him running behind Mal made her feel defeated. Hell no, snap out of it. I just rode a hell of a race, even Archer Morgan can’t deny that fact.The punk just didn’t have respect for anyone on or off the track. He won’t go far in this world unless he gets some fool to offer him a real sponsorship. His points were lower than hers this season.

Mal rushed in, talking ninety to nothing. “River, have you been checked out yet? That was a hard crash.”

River shook her head no at her best friend and the biggest worrier when it came to her health and wellbeing. Riot stood back, his chest rising and falling as he stared at her. “Nah, I’m lying around, chilling for no damn good reason.”

“Do not get fresh with me. I just watched you slam into a wall.” God, she loved Mal. River would have been a puddle of nothing if she hadn’t had Mal in her life all these years.

“I’m fine, just pissed.”FUCKING PISSED!“I didn’t hit the wall. Well, I don’t think I did.”

“You came damn close to it.”

---