Page 107 of Burnout
“Yeah, she and Avery drove up.”
His grin widens. “Then don’t embarrass me in front of my girl, Holland.”
With a laugh, I start up my bike. “I’ll do my best.”
I drive around the track a few times, pulling wheelies and burning out in front of the audience. They love it and I feed off their energy, giving them more when they cheer louder.
My gaze finds Avery every time I dare look at the crowd. I swear I can see she’s smiling even though it’s impossible to make out her facial features from this far away.
I speed up the ramp and whip to cheers from the crowd, then go right back around, hitting the ramp faster than before. There’s no other feeling quite like hitting the end of the ramp. Everything goes quiet like a collective intake of breath. It’s just me and my bike hanging midair.
I let my legs come up behind me, grab the seat with one hand while keeping the other on the handle, then cross my legs for a little extra flair. All the work I’ve done in the gym hasn’t been for nothing. My core squeezes to keep my lines straight and my upper body strength helps me hold on for dear life. One wrong move and this could end badly.
For a few seconds I’m suspended in the air above my bike. I’m flying, weightless and free. I can hear the music and the cheers, but it’s white noise just like when I’m racing.
It happens so fast and then I’m scrambling back to my seat before I land. Like all the best moments in life, it’s over before I can grab hold of the feeling.
The crowd is louder than before as I come around and stop in front of them. I stand on the pegs as I wave. It isn’t my imagination this time when I glance up at Avery. I know she’s smiling.
She’s waiting for me when the show is over. Quinn runs to Colter as we come out together. Avery hangs back, a little more reserved than her friend. I wonder what it might be like to have her run and jump into my arms, so excited she can’t wait to see me a second longer. I don’t know when it happened, but at somepoint, I started picturing her in all kinds of scenarios I never gave much thought to before.
She doesn’t catapult herself toward me, but I settle for the huge grin on her face as I approach.
“I bow down to the king of the nac four sixty.”
“Oh, you’ll bow down later all right, princess.”
Her blue eyes flash with heat as I take her chin between my thumb and pointer finger and drop a kiss to her perfect mouth. All I can think about is getting her alone to show her just how happy I am she drove up to see me.
“Congrats. Seriously, you were inspiring. The crowd loved you. I thought I was going to have to fight off a couple of women talking about what they’d like to do to you.”
My lips twitch with amusement at the thought of Avery being jealous of some chicks I don’t know and could care less about.
“Better get me out of here before they try to steal me away,” I say jokingly and wink at her.
“They’ll have to go through me.” There’s something so adorable about her being ready to throw down to stake her claim on me.
“No chance. I’ve been thinking about getting you naked since you showed up.” With her meet and the freestyle event, we haven’t had any time alone in days.
A flush creeps up her face. “Quinn wants us all to go out together first, and then I’m all yours.”
I’d rather spend all night showing her exactly how happy I am she drove up to see me, but I guess I can share her for a couple of hours.
“All right. I gotta help finish loading the truck first.” Colter still has his mouth fused to Quinn’s. Looks like we might be doing it without him.
“I’ll come with you,” Avery offers.
I like that she wants to tag along. I’ve noticed she’s never afraid to jump in and help. It’s not even a trait I realized was important to me. I’ve so actively avoided letting anyone in or accepting their assistance, but I like that she does it without making it a big thing.
I’m also glad she’s sticking with me because it gives me an excuse to keep kissing her as we make our way through the crowd that’s still gathered from the event.
I take her hand so we don’t get split up. She hovers close to my back and I feel a shot of pride walking with her. Guys notice her everywhere, but right now they’re checking her out and she’s with me.
We come to the edge of the crowd and I drop her hand to drape an arm around her shoulders. Avery attaches herself to my side.
A man steps into my line of view but it takes me a few steps to place him. I slow and Avery moves ahead before pausing to wait for me.
“Mike,” I say when we’re in front of him. “What are you doing here?”
