Page 1 of Hook Up

Prologue

Ryder

Ilove two things in this world: racing and Greer Hammond.

Racing because of the adrenaline rush as I fly around the kart track and Greer, because she’s perfect. According to my best friend, Greg, I have a better chance of becoming the next Michael Schumacher than dating his big sister. Not that he understands why I would want her to begin with.

“She’s old and ugly,” Greg would argue, his nose scrunching in distaste.

“She is not. Take that back. Greer is the most beautiful woman in the world.”

And so it went with the two of us, although his observations never swayed my affections. In my eyes, she’s the ideal woman, and one day, she will be mine.

My other goal? An F1 world championship.

I may only be ten, but I have goals. No, they’re not dreams, because I plan on making them my reality, and that’s what I’ve told my parents since I was seven. My mother claims I was born old, whatever that means.

I’ve always known what I wanted, and what I could live without.

It’s a fairly easy breakdown.

Unfortunately, my life is not so easy at the moment. My father has the big C, the dreaded cancer. My folks hid it from me for a while, thinking I couldn’t figure out something was wrong. Suddenly my tough-as-nails father couldn’t move from the bed and was too weak to attend my races.

He never missed a race before.

It wasn’t a difficult deduction.

Now, he spends his days in the cancer ward of Memorial Sloan Kettering. I didn’t know any hospital names before Dad’s cancer. I’d have been happy to keep it that way.

Mom didn’t want to leave Dad alone during his treatments, but she knew a hospital was no place for a boy my age. Besides, how would I get to the track every Friday and Saturday? Dad had one request after he discovered he was sick—that my life change as little as possible.

Lucky for me, my best friend is also into racing, and Greg’s parents were more than willing to let me spend the summer with them, trucking us both back and forth to the kart track. When I say parents, I mean Greg’s mom. His dad is rarely around anymore, spending every evening working late at the office.

A huge work project, or something.

But Mrs. Hammond? She drives us to the track without fail, ensuring she keeps the promise my father made to me when I started racing.

See, I’m good. Really good. I win almost every race and after the last one, I heard people—total strangers—claiming I’m the next big thing.

So, I know I’m going to make it. That’s why I can’t miss a single race or practice.

I miss my dad being at the races, though. He always supported me, even though he hoped I would change my mind about racing and become a doctor. I have the IQ, but medicine never interested me.

He doesn’t want me wasting my big brain, but I’m not. Racing encompasses all sorts of math and science, my two favorite subjects in school.

Mainly, Dad wants me happy.

For the most part, I am, especially when I have a front-row seat to Greer as she lounges by the pool. It doesn’t matter that she only sees me as her younger brother’s friend.

One day, she’ll see me for who I really am.

“Stop staring at my sister,” Greg hisses, tossing a wet towel in my direction.

I flip him the bird, but my gaze never falters. How can it? She’s the perfect woman—well, almost woman. She’s eighteen, with tan legs and long, dark hair that swings against her hips when she walks. Plus, she has a smile that lights up her face and freckles dusting her nose. I could stare at her forever and never tire of the view.

“Dude, are you listening?”

With a sigh, I shift my attention to Greg. “Yeah, I heard you, but it won’t work.”

---