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“Mal can be…”

“She’s always been your champion. That’s what Cypress always said about her. He also said with her around you would never need a man.” Jason laughed loudly, pulling River in closer for a fierce hug he whispered, “Don’t give up on Riot.” He placed a peck on her cheek and left her standing there in the middle of the hall alone. Dumbfounded.

River followed the wall of pictures while she waited for her meeting. Some of the images made her smile and some of them almost made her sad. She needed to get past the hurt and sadness. It was time. Time to move on. She had some similar pictures in her home stuffed in a back closet where all the ghosts of her past lived. Maybe she should dig them out and do something with them. What good did they do sitting in the dark collecting dust?

“River.”

At the sound of his voice, her stomach flipped, and butterflies released, making her feel unsettled. She needed to get through this one meeting so things could move forward. She turned towards him as he stood outside his office door.

“Afternoon, Johnny.” She saw the expression on his face go from easy to hard in a flash. She hadn’t meant to put it there. It seemed inevitable that she upset him at every turn. That in itself was one reason she had made her decision. If she couldn’t get out of her own way, how could she get the fuck out of anyone else’s? Walking back down the hall, a picture caught her eye. It was of all of the guys laughing together, standing around the track. “That looks like it was a good day.” She felt him walk up. He leaned in, almost pressing against her back as he looked at the picture.

“It was a good day. It was actually the last day we were all together.” He moved away from her, leaving her where she stood, staring at a happy moment that a friend had taken of the pack.

“Hey, is that Colton Donavan in this picture?”

“Yeah, he and Becks had stepped over. We were actually laughing at something Colton said.”

“He called me after the crash, told me anything I needed to call him. I could only say thanks. I never reached out to him after that. He seemed sincere.”

“He’s a good guy.”

River moved away from the picture. “Sorry, I know you’re busy.” Moving past him, she went into his office, which was bare except for a desk and two chairs.Minimalist?“Should I sit?”

Riot had no clue how to deal with a stoic River. A temperamental River he could work around all day, but this was different. Something seemed off with her. “Yes, please sit.” He clenched his fist so he wouldn’t reach out and touch her as he stepped to the other side of the desk. “You look nice today.”

“You too. I forgot how great you wore a suit.” Looking around the office, she took in the view. “This suits you, Johnny.”

“So, it’s Johnny now?” Riot snapped at her.

The last thing they needed would be for her to lose her temper. She hadn’t come here to argue, she had come to make peace. “Should I call you Mr. Meniere?”

“What the hell is with you today, JoJo?”

“I’m not JoJo anymore, and I’m not sure you’re Riot. Those two people were very different from who we are today.”Stick to your guns, River, don’t let him get under your skin. But he was. His condescending tone was grating on her last nerve. Here she thought they could be adults for a fucking change, and he wanted to push her buttons.

“Is this some kind of fucking game you’re playing?”

“No. I’ve made some decisions. I’m trying to be respectful of your position.”

“Can’t wait to hear this load of crap.”

Calming her inner child, she knew he had every right to be mad at her. She had played with his heart and his mind. She was no different than Laurel. A bitter pill to swallow was the truth. “This will be my last season racing.” She held up her hand as he began to argue. When he stopped, she continued. “I will honor my word and sign the contract for the rest of this year. I won’t give you any grief about the decisions that you and D & T Racing make. I will listen to Ben about anything to do with the bikes or the track. All I ask is that at the end of the season, you guys consider finding a team for Mal and Dan. They’re really great at what they do. It’s not their fault no one has seen their full potential.”

“What’s changed?”

“Me.”

“Bullshit!”

River slammed her hand on the arm of the chair, tired of not being heard. Her life, her choice damn it. Shoving out of the chair, she moved away from the desk to distance herself from Riot. “You and I have been angry at each other longer than we were ever in love. Now you’re fighting to get that back and I’m fighting not to. I’m tired of stumbling over my mistakes.”

He watched as she stared out the windows. He noticed she looked tired. Not sad, just tired. Like a woman closing one chapter of her life and trying to figure out what chapter would open up next. This was not what he expected from this meeting. Refusing to let her go so easy, Riot tried to rile her up. “I’m a mistake? Is that what you’re fucking telling me, River?”

She almost unloaded on him, instead River smiled at him as his secretary walked in with a stack of papers. It didn’t matter that she was a pretty redhead. River had moved past the jealousy. Glancing back at Riot she took an extra second to really look at him. “Not at all. You were never a mistake.” She watched as the young woman laid the papers down and scurried back out closing the door behind her.Poor timing, doll.

Taking a step back, he changed tactics. “River, you’ve been running for so long. Maybe it’s time to stop. Take a step back and figure things out.”

“Problem with time is that it slips away from you when you’re not watching it. Days pass, turning to weeks, weeks to months, months to years. Before you know it, you’re not waiting for the phone to ring and you’ve simply moved on with your life. I never moved on and neither did you, Johnny. I pretended to and you… I’m not sure what you did.” “If you have time tomorrow, I will be testing the bikes at Fontana Speedway.”

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