Page 33 of Fast

It’s impossible not to laugh and roll my eyes. “You only want to see them because you think she has a nice ass.”

He winks at me. “You know me way too well. Come on, as long as she doesn’t have buck teeth and a giant nose, you’ll have something nice to look at. If not, she’ll have girlfriends, so it’s going to be in our best interest to get friendly with her.”

“As if we need help to get girls.” I laugh as we get to the stairs.

Lev’s smile widens. “We don’t. But pretty girls tend to hang out together. So hanging by the pool or at the beach is going to be a lot more interesting.”

I can’t disagree with that. “Yeah. You’re right.”

Kelly’s voice reaches us before we come into view of the foyer. “Scott, this is my baby girl, Zara.”

I don’t even have time to think about the only girl I’ve ever met with that name.

My eyes are immediately locked with hers, as green and bright as I remember them.

“Hi, I’m Chance. And this is my friend, Lev.” She offers me her hand to shake and… fuck. Her skin is as warm and soft as it was when we first met. My gaze descends to her pink lips, still as soft and inviting as they were two years ago.

She hasn’t changed much since that night, when she rode on the back of that dirt bike tied to me by a belt.

The memory of her soft lips, of her sweet taste, floods me like a tidal wave.

I know she recognizes me because she’s checking me out the same way I’m doing with her. That night, at the party, was one of the best nights of my life. I’ve thought about Zara countless times in the past two years. I had planned on knocking on her hotel room door, but Ares had stopped me. He was adamant that we had offered Zara a place to stay, and we needed to behave like gentlemen. Going to her room, according to my brother, would have been like asking for a quid pro quo. I let him convince me to wait. I would get her number and maybe take her out, just the two of us.

But then Atlas was hit by that rogue bike and our lives changed forever.

In the chaos that followed the crash, I had lost track of Zara. None of us remembered our promise to give her a ride home until much later that night; and by then Zara was gone.

I had thought about looking for her a few months later, but I never did.

Atlas’s death changed our family and our town in too many ways to count. The memory of Zara was part of a time when my heart and my family were whole. That time was gone forever.A part of me preferred to keep that memory intact, rather than making Zara a part of this new reality.

“Chance,” Dad’s eyes go from mine to my hand. “Are you going to give Zara’s hand back any time today?”

Shit.

I’ve been staring at her, holding her hand into mine for far longer than it’s appropriate. “Sorry. I just… you look familiar.” I say, searching her gaze for a sign that she hasn’t forgotten that weekend of two years ago.

“You too,” she smiles. “And Lev.”

There’s a beat of silence. Dad looks at the three of us, as if trying to figure something out.

Thinking about it, Zara and Heather had been hanging out with us in the paddock until the very last minute. We walked back to the VIP seating area and then the girls had gone to the bathroom. Shortly after, our lives were turned upside down. I doubt I even introduced them back then, as we were all focused on the race.

ZARA

“Hi, I’m Chance. And this is my friend, Lev.”

His hand is so big that it swallows mine. The skin of his palm is warm and slightly rough.

My eyes rove over his tall, athletic body. Both Chance and Lev haven’t changed much since two years ago; they just look more grown up.

Their bodies have filled out, the lines of their faces have lost the softness of childhood.

I feel heat rising to my face, as I can’t take my eyes off of them. I kissed both of these guys.

In the two years since that night in Bridgeport, there haven’t been that many kisses.

I guess it shouldn’t be that surprising, since Mom sent me to an all-female school after she found out how I had lied to follow Cal. My ex was everything my mom disapproved of. He wasn’t in college, he rode motorcycles, and he was five years older than me.

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