Chapter Sixty-four
Nadia
The first race after Olympus fell felt like a funeral.
Half the town showed up anyway. That was Stonebridge for you.
People here would gather around anything dangerous just to prove they survived it.
I don’t know which was louder, the engines screaming through the night one after another or the crowd itself.
For the first time in weeks, nobody talked about Olympus. Nothing about the tunnels or the trafficking or the dead gods beneath the mountain. Tonight? They talked about Daredevil. Me versus Riven. Again. The irony almost made me laugh.
Three weeks ago we were drowning in the Styx, killing my father. Now we were standing beside our cars while Stonebridge took bets on which one of us would destroy the other first. Healing looked weird here.
Pop leaned against the guardrails beside the starting line, smoking a cigarette while pretending he wasn’t emotional about seeing me back behind the wheel.
Shane stood nearby taking cash from people dumb enough to bet against me.
Kendra bounced Rhys carefully against her shoulder while hacking into traffic cameras on her phone.
“How are you holding a baby and committing felonies at the same time?” Deck asked her.
“Multitasking.” Rhys sneezed directly into her hoodie.
“See?” Kendra said proudly. “Natural talent.” Deck looked exhausted in the way only impending fatherhood could produce.
Isla sat bundled beneath three jackets in a folding chair nearby, glaring at anyone who got too close to her stomach. Including Deck.
“Stop hovering.”
“You’re literally having contractions.”
“And you’re literally annoying.”
Fair. My eyes shifted, as if I could see the clocktower rising above the town from here.
Riven spent the last week rebuilding the inside almost nonstop.
Apartment walls, flooring, and somehow plumbing.
The idiot even installed a bathtub. A real one.
When I asked why, he looked genuinely offended and said,
“Because you need a healthier coping mechanism.”
He wasn’t wrong. Riven pulled up beside me in his NSX, dressed head to toe black, and had that stupid cocky expression I simultaneously hated and loved more than oxygen.
The crowd immediately started screaming louder.
Of course they did. Stonebridge loved us almost as much as it loved watching us self-destruct.
Riven killed the engine before hopping out.
“You nervous?” I snorted.
“You wish.”
“Mm.” He stepped closer.
“We don’t have to race tonight.” I looked at him like he lost his damn mind.
“Yes, we do.” A slow grin spread across his face.
“There she is.”
God, I missed this. Not the dramatic version of us. Not the toxic chaos. Just this. Us existing in the same space without bleeding. Riven reached up, hooking two fingers through the chains around my neck. My dog tags and my mother’s necklace. I’d barely taken it off since Pop gave it to me.
“You ready, wife?” The word still hits me directly in the chest every single time. I leaned forward slightly until our foreheads touched.
“You better lose gracefully.”
Riven laughed softly against my mouth before kissing me once.
Quick and certain. Home. The starting flare exploded overhead seconds later, and Stonebridge suddenly began screaming.
Riven revved his engine, and the crowd surged against barricades.
I slid into my brand-new baby, a 5th-gen Viper Pop and Deck, which I managed to procure via grand theft auto.
I had to strip the plates and give it a new paint job, but I loved it.
It was an upgrade from my last 4th gen; I had fun modding it, and the new paint was a sick, glossy navy blue.
Immediately, pain was still tugging faintly through healing ribs as I gripped the wheel, but I ignored it, enjoying the moment.
I forgot how much I missed this. The familiar growl of the engine vibrated through my bones while adrenaline sharpened everything around me.
Beside me, Riven revved once. Cocky asshole. I smirked.
Then the flare dropped. We took off, and the city blurred instantly. Streetlights streaked gold across wet pavement while tires screamed around the first corner hard enough that smoke exploded behind us. For the first time in months, my brain finally went quiet.
No Anton. No Olympus. No grief. Just speed. The first turn approached fast. The Viper flew into the turn so aggressively the crowd above the overpass erupted into screams. Riven stayed glued beside me through the curve before falling slightly behind coming out of it.
I laughed breathlessly, the sound shocking me. Because it was real. Not forced and not survival. This was joy. Pure fucking joy. Until the last turn approached. Blackridge Curve. The crash site. My hands tightened around the wheel instinctively as memory slammed into me all over again.
Glass.
Blood.
Fire.
Agony.
Fear tried clawing its way up my throat. No. Absolutely fucking not. Riven flashed his headlights. in the rearview, signaling me to slow down, maybe even stop. I didn’t. No, I pressed harder on the gas instead, taking the turn with lethal precision that I could tell shocked him.
Get fucked, Olympus. By the final stretch, the whole town seemed alive around us. People hanging outta their cars. Jumping on the asphalt. Screaming our names. Stonebridge wasn’t mourning anymore. It was surviving.
I crossed the finish line half a car length ahead of Riven. The crowd detonated instantly. Fireworks exploded somewhere overhead while people surged toward the barricades screaming my name.
“That’s right, Stonebridge, your new King of the Daredevil is: Nadia Slade!” JC announced with a big ass grin. I climbed out of the car, shaking with adrenaline and laughter, just as Riven approached.
“You cheated.”
“You’re just slow.”
“Impossible.” He grabbed my waist suddenly and hauled me against him hard enough I yelped.
Then he kissed me in front of the entire city while Stonebridge lost its collective mind around us. When we finally broke apart, both breathing hard, Pop shouted from somewhere behind us:
“About damn time!” Kendra wolf-whistled loudly while Rhys smacked Deck in the face again. The kid had incredible timing. Then-
Isla screamed. Everything stopped instantly, and Deck’s entire soul left his body.
“Oh, my God!” Abby blinked.
“Was that a contraction?”
“That,” Isla hissed through clenched teeth.
“Was definitely a fucking contraction.” Deck panicked immediately.
“We need a hospital.”
“I AM AWARE.” Shane burst out laughing while Deck nearly dropped the car keys trying to help Isla stand. The entire street dissolved into chaos again. And standing there beneath the neon lights and screaming crowds and ridiculous insanity of Stonebridge, I realized something terrifying.
For the first time in my life? I wanted a future.