“That’s enough,” Mom says. “Reiss, you need to explain what the fuck is going on and why you are so calm about it. And Lincoln, you need to tell me exactly whathappened that night with Jackson. Your dad said his jaw is wired shut.”
“Let’s talk about Jackson in private,” I say, turning to Reiss waiting for him to explain.
Reiss sighs, “I told you that Mira was pregnant. I never said she was pregnant by me.”
“The fuck?” I squeal. “What the hell is going on!”
Reiss tells us a story about how he found Mira at a race and felt bad for her. How they concocted this giant scheme to help them both. Mira was taken advantage of by one of Landon’s friends who had threatened her, and she didn’t want to dump that on her brother right before the big race so she used my brother to cover it up. Reiss gets the satisfaction of getting in Landon’s head a little before Nationals and Mira fucks with her brother’s head less than originally anticipated. A win-win for both of them.
He tells us how after Nationals Mira plans to tell Landon the truth, no matter the cost, but from the way Reiss explains it, whoever got Mira pregnant is powerful and she’s really scared of him and what he will do to her when she tells the truth.
“Why the fuck would you get involved in that mess?” I groan. “Why do you always gotta be the knight in shining armor, swooping in to save girls in distress?”
He shrugs, “I’m a lover boy.”
“You love her?” I screech. “Oh my God it’s worse than I thought.”
Reiss just shakes his head, “It’s not like that. I care about Mira but no I’m not in love with her.”
“Well thank God for that,” I huff.
“Lincoln,” Mom chastises. “Your brother can love who he wants, even if it’s Mira Tate.”
But I can’t? Even if it’s Colson Raines.
37
Colson
Tearing down Reiss’ bike and putting it together took longer than I thought it would. In fact, I was there for the better part of all night. I’m really good at working on these bikes, hell I could rebuild the top end and replace shocks when I was like twelve or thirteen. But an entire rebuild is new territory. I put Reiss’ bike back together and today I’m calling around to find the parts I need.
“What are you doing here?” Ryan asks, walking into the shop. “It’s 7AM.”
“Haven’t been to bed,” I explain. “I took Reiss’ bike apart. I’m trying to find the parts to rebuild one of the practice bikes.”
He stares at me and I think he’s kind of shocked. “You did what?”
“I’ve already made calls. I’m gonna be able to get almost everything here within a couple days.”
“You are gonna rebuild a bike?” He looks wary, like he’s questioning my ability.
“I am,” I say. “I’m gonna make sure that Landon Tate regrets the day he fucked with me, but I’m gonna do it the right way. On the track.”
He opens his mouth and I think he’s going to argue with me, but he doesn’t. “I’m proud of you,” he says and a sense of pride swells in my chest. Partly because it’s not something I hear very often. “After hearing about you breaking Jackson’s jaw, I was starting to wonder if the Colson I love so much was still in there.”
I bite my lip, disappointed in myself, “I know. I should’ve handled it differently but at the time I couldn’t see past being pissed the fuck off. I still am.”
“Lincoln needs to see that you can handle things without resorting to violence,” he says. “Women only think the bad boy thing is sexy for so long and then they want to know that when times get hard, their partner will comfort them instead of fighting.”
Something tells me he’s learned this the hard way.
“I’m trying really hard. The Banes are my family, so I just lost it.”
He nods firmly, “The best way to handle this thing with Landon is on the track. You’re right about that. Now… Do I need to take Reiss’ bike to our mechanic to get it checked out?”
“Nope,” I say. “I ran it this morning. Runs great, maybe even better than before.”
“I’ll take one of the bikes to the shop and have Grant strip it down for you so when the parts come you will just need to put it together. It will give you more time to train.”