Page 79 of Knot So Fast
The bravado is gone, replaced by something more real.
The fourth light flickers on. My hands position themselves perfectly on the wheel, muscle memory taking over. But mymind is twenty-three cars back, with the woman who's risking everything for reasons I'm not sure even she fully understands.
The fifth and final red light completes the sequence. In seconds, they'll all extinguish and unleash us onto the track.
Once that happens, there's no stopping, no second chances, no taking back what's about to occur.
"Don't die on me, you hear?" The words come out rough, desperate, carrying the weight of all the things I can't say over an open radio channel.
Don't die like you almost did before.
Don't leave me again.
Don't make me watch you burn a second time.
I can hear her smile in her response, that particular mix of confidence and vulnerability that's purely Auren.
"Wouldn't dream of it."
The lights hold steady, five red eyes staring down at us like judges preparing to deliver a verdict.
My right foot hovers over the accelerator, finding that perfect balance point between reaction and anticipation. The engine screams beneath me, 15,000 RPM of barely controlled violence waiting to be unleashed.
Around me, twenty-two other engines sing the same violent song.
But I'm only listening for one—the one in last place, piloted by a woman who shouldn't remember how to race but whose body might recall what her mind has forgotten.
Time stretches like taffy.
Seconds become hours.
Heartbeats become drum solos.
Everything balances on this knife's edge moment between stillness and chaos.
She's here. After a year of careful distance, of honoring agreements I never wanted to make, of watching from afar while my brother played at relationship with her—she's here.
On my track. In my world.
Ready to prove that Auren Vale doesn't need anyone's permission to be exactly who she was born to be.
My lips curve in a smile that no one can see behind my visor now that I’ve forced it back down.
This was supposed to be my last race, my graceful exit from the sport that defines me.
But Auren's never been one for graceful exits or carefully planned endings.
No, she prefers explosions. Chaos. Revolution.
And as the lights hold steady above us, preparing to release us into whatever comes next, I realize that's exactly what she's about to deliver.
Not just for me, but for everyone who thought they could keep her caged.
The question is: will any of us survive what she's about to unleash?
The lights stare down at us, unblinking and eternal. My entire world narrows to those five red circles and the woman twenty-three cars behind me who's about to remind everyone why she was legendary before they tried to erase her from history.
This is it.
