Page 16 of Burnout
“Colter.” His smile widens. “I remember you two riding like bats out of hell together. Mom was always afraid you were going to kill yourself trying to beat him.”
“Trying to?” I scoff. “I’m way faster.”
“Is he still racing?”
“No, he’s all-in on freestyle. He’s really fucking good too.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. You and he were always the best around.”
“He asked me to tour with his team during the off-season.”
“Doing freestyle?”
I wave it off. It’s not like I’m seriously considering it. “He said I could travel with them and help set up and tear down until I was ready to perform.”
“You should do it.”
“Why?”
“You need a team and he’s offering one.”
Not the right kind of team, though. None of his guys or Brooklyn race.
“Hear me out.” Hendrick leans forward and his eyes are bright. Every inch of him is brimming with excitement. “Thorne dropped you because you were a bad teammate.”
I clamp my jaw down at the reminder.Thanks a lot, bro.
“Show them you can be part of a team.”
“It’s a distraction and hours wasted that I could be training for next season.” Freestyle is fun to watch, but riding is what I want to do.
“Replace the hours that you’re moping around here with practicing some tricks. How hard could it be?”
Really fucking hard probably, but his excitement is so palpable that I find myself considering it.
“I’d be gone most weekends.”
“So? We survived during the season while you were at events.”
“It was summertime.” Brogan and Archer were chilling and enjoying the months off from college, and Flynn just had sports camps and practices to juggle.
“We will manage,” Hendrick reassures me.
“I don’t know,” I say, but I can’t shake off the idea. Could it really work?
“Promise me that you’ll at least consider it, okay?”
“Why are you pushing this so hard?” It’s more work for him and everyone else. It makes their lives harder, not easier.
“Because you told me once that I should fight like hell for my dreams because one of us should get a chance to chase them.”
“I was talking about you,” I remind him.
His dark, serious gaze locks on me. “I know you were, and I chased mine. I did what I wanted to do, and I don’t regret that it’s over. Now it’s your time. So, fight like hell for it.”
FIVE
“That wasn’t bad,”Colter says as I stop the bike next to him.
