Page 3 of Need for Speed (The Elite 2)

Add in the fact that my brother died doing the exact same maneuver, and I was skirting around feelings and emotions for Panther that I hadn’t yet identified. Suddenly that moment I had trained for seemed like the last thing I could mentally handle.

So what had I done? Nothing. Since the moment Panther hit the water, to when they’d pulled him free and we’d been told he was alive but unconscious. I’d somehow made it through the debrief, headed back to my room, and hadn’t left since.

Several of the guys had stopped by, Gucci included, trying to convince me to come down and see Panther. But I still hadn’t been able to work up the nerve to see him in person.

Fuck. Why him? No, that wasn’t right, because I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. But the idea of Panther’s strong, lively body lying on some hospital bed made my stomach revolt. Especially when I thought of the last time I’d seen him stretched out on a mattress.

Bang bang bang.

The loud knocking on my door made me look toward it, but I didn’t move. I wasn’t in the mood to see anyone today. So unless the person outside was here to tell me the place was burning down, they could just stay out there. I was content to wallow in my own misery—alone.

“Solo! Hey, Solo?”

Gucci.

“You in there? Open up, man.”

Nope. Not gonna happen. Not today. Things got real quiet then, and just when I thought he’d left, the banging started up again.

“Come on, Solo. Answer the fucking door. He woke up.”

Huh? Wait…what?

“Panther woke up. Where are you?”

As Gucci’s words penetrated the door and started to sink in, I threw the ball across the ground and jumped to my feet. I pulled open the door not a second later, and when Gucci caught sight of me, a frown creased his forehead.

“Okay, you look like hell.”

I winced against the sunlight, my eyes trying to adjust after I’d sat in my room for the past however many hours with the curtains drawn. “What did you just say?”

“You look like hell.”

“No, before that, moron.”

“Oh, yeah. Panther woke up.”

As my brain tried to play catch-up, I stood there gripping the door, because just hearing those three words was like some kind of dream—or a nightmare, if I was still asleep and this wasn’t real.

“He woke up?”

“Yeah.” Gucci nodded, and then shoved open the door to my room and walked inside. “An hour or so ago. They wanted to check him out before they let us all know. Figured we’d want to charge over there and demand to see for ourselves that the golden boy was back in the game.”

Still not believing what I was hearing, I turned to see Gucci walking over to the curtains. He pulled one open and then the other, and as I kicked the door shut behind me, I said, “How… How is he?”

“Pretty banged up.” He pivoted to face me and crossed his arms as he leaned against the window. “Something you’d know if you’d come to see him over the past few days.”

“Don’t start on me again.”

“I’m not.”

“Then what would you call it?”

Gucci rubbed his fingers over his stubble. “Pointing out a fact.”

“Yeah? Well, you can take your fact and shove it up your—”

“Hey, hey.” Gucci raised his hands. “Chill, okay? This is me you’re talking to. I know what this is all about, but you need to get past it, man. You need to get past it and come and see him.”

I ground my back molars together as I forced myself to swallow in a gulp of air. I wished things were that easy, that I could just push aside this anxiety that had a hold on me whenever I pictured Panther rocketing out of his jet and careening toward the Pacific. But it wasn’t that easy, and his horrifying accident had brought forth a crippling memory that I’d been so good at keeping buried.

“I can’t.” The words were clipped and final, but that didn’t seem to mean shit to Gucci. He shoved off the window and strode over to me, then he took hold of my biceps and squeezed them tight.

“Look, I know what happened to Panther a few days ago hit close to home for you more than any of us. But he’s okay, and you need to come and see that with your own two eyes.”

I knew what Gucci was saying was right, but at the same time I couldn’t stop the sheer panic that was making my palms sweat and my pulse race.

“Hey?” Gucci gave me a gentle shake to refocus me. “Why don’t you go take a quick shower, and I’ll wait and head over with you.”

I wanted to tell him no, that I would go over when I was ready. But I had a feeling that if it were left up to me, I would avoid seeing Panther for good.

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