Page 8 of Need for Speed (The Elite 2)

“Eh, only several times a day. Why?”

“Just making sure. It’d be a shame if you didn’t realize how entertaining you are sometimes.”

“Oh, I see what’s happening here. This is where you tell me you really did enjoy my sky penis. It’s okay, you can admit it. Just the two of us here.”

I rolled my eyes. “You need a new story. That one’s getting old.”

“Is that a dare? A challenge? Because you know me, I’m always up for a challenge.”

“You’re always up for anything.”

Solo eyed me for a second and then pursed his full, pouty lips. Lips that had kissed and sucked every naked inch of me just a few days ago.

“See, now that I’d have to disagree with. These days, there’s only one thing I get up for…”

When I made no move to stop him or urge him to continue, Solo ran his eyes over me, and it was like flames licking over my skin.

“Shame he’s not able to enjoy it just now, though.”

I swallowed and shifted on the bed, because hell, if Solo’s mission was to distract me from my pounding head, he’d succeeded. Now I just had an insistent throb between my thighs.

“You okay over there? Not feeling any pain, are you?”

His smug smirk told me that Solo knew exactly what afflicted me, and that the only pain involved was the ache in my balls.

“You’re evil, you know that, right?”

Solo shrugged, that smirk morphing into a full-on smile. “I think it’s more like I’m hot and you’re horny, so you’re lashing out. But that’s okay. I forgive you.”

Since he was right, I didn’t bother denying it, and instead scanned the room, trying to look at anything other than him. As I took in the balloons and flowers—and was that a stuffed animal?—something he’d said when we first got here came hurtling back full force.

“Did you say my parents brought this all back from the hospital?”

Solo got to his feet, walked over to one of the balloons, and poked at it. “I mean, I’m guessing. The guys are all down at the beach today, and I didn’t bring them over here, so that leaves your folks. Let’s be real: no one is going to say no to your father if he demands entry to your place.”

That was true, but shit, I hadn’t even thought of it. Of course my father would want to see me, damn it. I wondered who’d called him. Well, pretty much any of my instructors was a good guess. There was no way Captain Hughes’s son ejected from a plane and he didn’t get the first call.

“Did you see him? Did he come and see me in the hospital?”

Solo’s mouth opened, but before he could answer, I shook my head.

“That’s right, you weren’t there.” Fuck, seeing my father was the last thing I wanted to deal with, and as I tried to think of a good way to postpone the inevitable, I noticed Solo had gotten quiet all of a sudden. I glanced over and noted the teasing light from earlier had disappeared, and in its place was something much more serious. “Solo, you okay?”

6 Solo

WELL, DIDN’T I feel like a royal asshole. Here I’d thought I was being so helpful this morning in getting Panther home and situated, and one off-hand comment from him had reminded me what a fucking coward I’d been when he needed me most.

Royal asshole, right here.

“Solo?”

“Huh?” I looked to where Panther was frowning at me.

“Are you okay?”

I nodded, not wanting to admit that I was just thinking about what a total douchebag I’d been in staying away from him when he’d been lying in the hospital after one of the most terrifying things a human being could ever go through. No point in reminding him I was a total tool.

“I’m good. Just hungry.”

Panther eyed me for a beat, and I knew he didn’t buy my story for a second, so I walked to the window and looked outside to see if our food would miraculously appear.

“I get why you weren’t there, you know.”

I looked over my shoulder to see him watching me like one might a skittish animal.

“It’s okay.”

I scoffed and shook my head. “Please don’t do that.”

“Do what?”

“Make excuses for me.” I twisted my lips as I turned to lean up against the wall. “I should’ve been there. I wanted to be there. I went crazy when your plane went down. But then—” I pulled myself up short, and when Panther just sat there staring at me with those bruised and bloodshot eyes, I let out a breath and turned back to the window. “I just should’ve been there.”

I heard Panther whisper my name like a plea, but luckily for me, the Grubhub driver pulled up out the front of our rooms at that exact moment.

Without another word, I pulled open the door and escaped out into the fresh air where I could take a minute to breathe, where I could get my head on straight, and when I re-entered his room with my arms full of food, I plastered on a smile and steered the conversation where I wanted it to go.

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