Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81426 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 407(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 271(@300wpm)
And there was that guilt, making me nauseous again. Whether I was lying or not, we were still being misleading, and that didn’t sit right with me. “It’s not serious, though. I don’t want you to get the wrong idea.” But saying that, saying we weren’t serious, tasted bitter on my tongue. Because Cam truly was important to me. This was such a clusterfuck. Even I didn’t understand it. “Anyway, are we gonna ride or what?”
“Fuck yes,” Rush replied.
I pulled off my jeans, got my knee braces on and then my moto pants. Neck brace, boots, gloves, helmet. We got on the bikes, that loud braaap sound we both loved filling our senses as we did, then headed for the track and rode.
I wasn’t as fast as Rush. I didn’t jump as high either, and he didn’t try to slow down to my pace for me, which I loved. It would piss me off if he did, and Rush knew that.
There was something about riding that made it easy to let go, to forget everything else, which I did, but every time we took a break, I found myself thinking about Cam and what was going on with us. Him asking me if I was happy and me not knowing what I wanted to do. But then we’d ride again, and all that was gone with the scent of gas burning and that sound in my ears.
“I missed this—riding with you,” Rush said hours later when we were done. “We need to do this more often.”
“Yeah. We do.”
He was quiet, looking around before admitting, “I’m thinking about retiring after the upcoming season.”
My eyes snapped to his. “No shit?” That…surprised me.
“I’m not sure. I haven’t told Red yet, so don’t say anything. It’s just… I won the championship last year. I’ve not ridden the outdoors the past two years. Before him, riding was my life, and while I love it, I don’t need it the same way. I did everything I set out to do, and I can still ride or be a part of the sport. I just don’t know if I wanna keep up with the training and the traveling and all that. Does that sound fucking crazy?”
Before, it would have, but as I looked at him, I realized it didn’t. “No, it doesn’t. You’ve never been the type who’s scared to go for what you want, and you’ve also never been the type not to get it. You have your championship. You’ve had your career, a better one than most riders. Maybe now it’s time to do something else.”
“Exactly. I knew you’d get it.”
I did, and I wanted that for myself as well. To find my thing.
“You should come spend Thanksgiving with us,” Rush said, changing the subject. My first thought was Camden. I wondered what he was doing. He’d be with Sawyer, of course, but then, what if he wanted to be with me too? Or hell, maybe I was way off, and they’d go to Florida to see their parents or something.
“Cam is welcome too, of course. Hell, the more the merrier. Ash and Beau will be home. Maybe we should make a big thing of it—The Saturgays Do the Holiday.”
I laughed. “You sound like Linc.” I never had big holidays like that. I’d spent my childhood with his family, but nothing like this large group of friends. “I’m gonna talk to Cam and let you know.” Because the truth was, if Cam wanted me to spend it with him, that was where I wanted to be. It was another thing I wasn’t ready to unpack the reason of yet.
“Yeah, man. That’s good.” For the second time that day, Rush squeezed my shoulder, but this time, he smiled.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Camden
When I’m with you, I feel like I can fly…but when we’re apart, I’m drowning. ~ Letter from Henry
I got rained out of work. Sometimes I toughed it out. I wasn’t afraid of a little water, but if there was a safety issue, I wasn’t putting my employees at risk. We’d made it a couple of hours before a drizzle turned into a downpour, and that was that for the day.
After going home to get changed, I headed to Fearless to see Sawyer. The bookstore was fairly packed, the weather likely having something to do with it, people reading, sitting on their laptops, and drinking coffee.
“Hi!” Lizzy, one of his employees, who was currently making some kind of drink for a customer, smiled at me.
“How’s it going?”
“Good. Busy, as you can see. Casey’s working the floor. Sawyer is taking care of paperwork in his office.”
“Nope. I’m taking a break.” My brother came over.
“Do you want anything to drink?” Lizzy asked.
“I’ll make them,” Sawyer replied, going behind the counter. “What do you want?”
“Surprise me,” I replied, and he chuckled.
One of the tables emptied, and I sat down. A couple of minutes later Sawyer brought over two drinks and cinnamon coffee cake.