Page 43 of Send It
“Why did you lie to Reiss?” Lincoln slurs as she plops herself down onto the stool next to me. “About your leg. You don’t want me and that’s fine but you can’t race like that.”
“I’m gonna do what I’m gonna do, baby Bane.”
And believe me, I want you.
“No you aren’t,” she says.
“Yeah, I am, Linc. I don’t have a back up plan. Going pro is the only plan and I’m almost there.”
“So you wanna risk everything for it?” She closes her eyes, the alcohol catching up with her fast, “You’ll risk it all to ride, but you won’t take a risk with Reiss for me.”
“It would be too weird for him,” I say. “He’d lose his fucking mind if he knew, Lincoln.”
“He’d be fine.” She smirks. “I can make my own choices. I’m going to tell him.”
She’s so drunk she nearly falls into me.
“No you aren’t,” I snap, straightening her back on her feet. “You can’t give him a mindfuck like that right before Nationals.”
“Then let me ride,” she sasses, crossing her arms over her bikini-covered chest.
“Let you ride?” I question.
She lowers her voice, “At Nationals. I ride in your place, in your jersey, on your bike. Then when I win and get you that factory team spot, you will have time to get your surgery.”
“Pffft!” I laugh, “You are drunk and delusional. No fucking way.”
“Okay,” she shrugs and starts to walk off, but I reach out to grab her wrist, unsure if she’s bluffing.
“Wait.”
A giant grin spreads across her face and I know I’m totally fucked.
21
Lincoln
When I walked away from him, I knew he was only telling me what I wanted to hear to protect his friendship with Reiss. He cared more about that than taking care of himself.
I shouldn’t have agreed to the extra shots but I kept drinking to get a rise out of Colson. It is all starting to catch up to me quickly and everything is starting to blur.
“Do you want to get out of here?” Jackson asks loudly over the music and chatter around us. My body’s inability to speak and the spinning of the room doesn’t bode well for either of us when I hit the floor with a thud.
My eyes open when I feel a cold sensation on my forehead and it’s not Jackson that is standing in front of me.
It’s Colson and Reiss.
“Come on,” Colson says, slipping his hands under myknees and around my back, lifting me off the floor, completely disregarding his crutches. “Let’s get you home.”
I feel comforted by his touch and empty the second he places me in the passenger seat of his car.
“You sure you got her?” I hear Reiss ask. “I’ve never seen her this sloppy and you are limping.”
“Yeah bro, I’m ready to head home anyway.”
Reiss sighs, “Can you take her to your house to sleep it off? If dad sees her like this I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Colson nods, “Yeah, we’ll go in through the basement. There’s no way my dad is still up.”
