Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 187754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 939(@200wpm)___ 751(@250wpm)___ 626(@300wpm)
“No.” She chews on her bottom lip while we wait for her to confess whatever she obviously doesn’t want us to know. “I don’t know how to drive anything. I don’t even have my license.”
Khalil is the only one of us who grew up in a stable, loving home, so his brows shoot up in surprise. “Your uncle never taught you how to drive?”
“That would be a no.”
Clenching my teeth to keep my thoughts to myself, I silently watch Khalil give her a quick tutorial. “Throttle. Brake. Never press them both at the same time. When turning, shift your body in the direction you want the bike to go. Keep your feet on the running boards at all times. In the event you fall off, this clip will disable the ignition,” he says as he fastens the cord and clip attached to the key to her belt loop.
As I’ve been doing regularly since she dressed in a pair of my Ski Bibs for the trip to town, my gaze travels to Aurelia’s plump ass while her back is turned to me, and I feel most of my anger melting away as I imagine making her ride me in reverse later.
“That’s it?” she asks.
“Pretty much. Hop on.” Khalil slides a yellow helmet over her head since she isn’t wearing the mask right now before sliding a red one over his own. He then scoots back into the second seat, and Aurelia takes the driver’s seat. I watch her gloved hands nervously curl around the handles, and then our eyes meet through the open visor of her helmet.
“Stay behind and don’t stray.”
Once she nods, I look to my right at Seth, who is already straddling his Ski-Doo and wearing his green helmet. Our gazes meet, and he jerks his chin, silently acknowledging my unspoken order.
Only then do I slide my blue helmet on with a heavy exhale.
This isn’t just a huge mistake. It’s a necessary one on all counts. We get to show Aurelia that we’re willing to trust her. And she gets to prove to us that we can.
I turn the key in the ignition and take off without warning. If I don’t now, I never will. I’ve realized it’s much easier to keep Aurelia prisoner and deal with her hate than make her want to stay and hope we’ll be enough.
One makes me a coward, and the other…
I’m not sure what the other makes me, but I’m not so selfish that I can completely disregard a possible future in which Aurelia is happy, too.
One glance over my shoulder shows her keeping up. Seth is hot on her tail, and while I can’t see Aurelia’s face, instinctively, I know she’s smiling.
We’re halfway through the valley when I decide she’s got the hang of it, so I pick up a little speed. Moments later, I hear her voice through the speakers.
“Whooooo! This is amazing!”
“That’s okay,” Seth deadpans. I can hear the smile in his voice. “I didn’t need eardrums.”
“Oh, shit!” Aurelia screeches even louder, making the three of us groan. “You can hear me?”
“Bluetooth, baby. We can all hear you,” Khalil answers.
“Thorin, go faster!” Aurelia immediately demands.
“You sure you’re ready for that?” Instead of an answer, I hear her engine accelerate. Aurelia breaks formation and speeds past me with Khalil holding on for dear life and Seth cheering her on. “You don’t even know where you’re going!” I shout when I recover from my shock.
“Then you better keep up!”
I feel a grin split my face at the same time I hit the throttle. The four of us race across the frozen valley. Aurelia’s got all of that deadweight—aka Khalil—slowing her down, so I barely have to max out my speed to catch up to her. Seth is not far behind, but I can tell he’s not really trying for some reason.
I don’t give it much thought as I continue to gain on Aurelia. I’m still inching closer when Khalil suddenly twists in the rear seat and throws something. Whatever it is, I barely have time to duck the missile before it can hit me between the eyes. Instead, the orange sails over my shoulder and bounces off my snowmobile’s reflector, cracks it, and then hits the ground.
“Why the fuck are you throwing shit at me?” I bark.
“Mario Kart, asshole!” Khalil throws another fucking orange.
It finds its mark this time, hitting my right shoulder so hard that I lose my grip on the accelerator and some of my speed. Growling, I press on the gas to catch up again, dodging all the over-ripened oranges that Khalil just happened to bring with him.
I’m starting to suspect this race was their plan all along—Aurelia’s, Khalil’s, and maybe Seth’s, too. They probably plotted to fuck with me, knowing I have a competitive nature.
Khalil finally runs out of oranges about five hundred feet away from the forest line that marks the end of the valley, so I decide to make my move, shifting to the left side of Aurelia’s Ski-Doo and increasing my speed. Despite Khalil’s frustrated encouragement, Aurelia is still too nervous to max out her speed, so I’m confident I have the easy win in the bag.