Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
King
One member of each team stands on a large ramp behind each racer. Cat is our chosen starter. She’ll give the cobbled-together car its initial push, and then Bennett will use a set of controls to steer it through a course and over the cliff. Josie and I will be his eyes and ears.
Jim perches on a platform off to the side of the starting ramp. He holds a megaphone in one hand and a large green flag in the other. Kenny flaps his wings atop a perch beside him, then rambles on about something incoherent in his creepy little bird voice. Jim nods and agrees with him.
“Is everyone ready to begin?” he shouts into the megaphone, and we tell him yes.
For the third time.
Finally, Jim waves his green flag in the air. “Ladies and gentlemen, start your engines!”
Kenny screams something about global warming as his wings flare wider.
“Thank you,” Jim bellows as the bird continues to scream and cock its large white head. He raises the flag again, which only makes the bird lose his mind more.
Josie covers her mouth to hide her smile. “You’d think he would have left the bird in the bus.”
“Jim insisted Kenny wanted to see the natural wonder, and you’d be hard pressed to convince me he wasn’t right.
I’ve never seen that creature behave so joyously.
” I point at him. “You know, had Al Gore shown even a modicum of that enthusiasm, more people might have listened to him rather than turning him into a mockery.”
“Hey, ManBearPig is real, King.” Josie raises her eyebrows at me, and we both laugh. “I’m super cereal.”
Jim finally gets his bearings and drops the flag. Cat grabs the starter on our racer and gives it a yank. The other starting members do the same, and the smell of gasoline drifts toward us.
The Cattle bolted into the cages of each racer let out muffled screams behind their stitched lips. Josie is all smiles and excitement as she stands beside me and awaits the carnage.
It’s taking a great deal of focus to watch the start of the race instead of the way the tops of her breasts peek from the low neckline of her tank top and glisten in the Arizona sunshine.
She’s drenched in sweat, and I want to lick every salty inch of her skin.
When she bounces on her toes before the railing drops, I nearly cram my knuckle into my mouth and bite down.
“Stop distracting me,” I whisper.
She smiles a little wider and bounces a little harder. She knows what she’s doing to me, the cheeky brat.
The railing drops, and the cars get a starting run down the ramp. Now I really do need to pay attention. Bennett is blindfolded in front of us. If we don’t tell him which way to steer the car, we’ll never make it through the course and off the cliff.
“You’ve got a tight turn coming up,” Josie says, taking the reins. “There’s a car coming up on your right too. Go ahead and ease to the right so that you cut them off in the turn.”
“Atta girl,” I say with a pat of her ass. “Talk him through it.”
“Gross,” Bennett says, but he makes the turn and cuts off Ice Pick’s Cattle.
I peer over heads and find Blayne scowling at me. He and Eve are directing poor Ice Pick, who seems to be struggling with his left and right. Blayne’s scowl turns into a sigh of resignation as their car slams into a barrier and spins out.
“Watch out ahead,” I say to Josie.
I point toward an upcoming hazard—a set of logs. Some of the cars might be able to make it over them, but we chose slicker tires to help us drift on the tighter turns.
Josie pulls me in front of her and directs me to place my hands on Bennett’s shoulders. “Show him how much force to use in the turns,” she says.
She gives him verbal directions, and I use pressure to guide him even more. The system works brilliantly, and we skirt past the logs and through a set of hairpin turns with ease.
Cat joins us after making her way off the ramp.
Together, the three of us help Bennett through the course, and by the end, he’s closing in on second place, then first place as Ezra’s racer spins out.
Their Cattle’s helmet flies off, followed by his head as the tiny car breaks apart against a boulder.
“The importance of safety,” Cat giggles.
I give Bennett’s shoulders a squeeze. He’s approaching the final stretch now, and the cliff is just in sight. “Foot on the gas, son. Don’t let up now.”
“Thanks, Pops,” he says with a grin, and he’s transformed into a little boy in front of me.
The same little boy I would sometimes follow home from school, just to ensure he made it safely through his neighborhood.
The same little boy who skinned his knee while riding a bike, and when I, a stranger, stopped to help him, he boldly told me to fuck off.
He was six.
I’m as proud of him now as I was then. I’m proud of all of them. They grew up well, no thanks to me.
The girls let out a cheer as the car shoots off the edge of the canyon. Bennett pulls off his blindfold just in time to see the rear tires disappear over the edge. He jumps to his feet with a shout and throws down the controller.
Confetti cannons blast colored paper into the air, and Jim declares us the winners.
“Suck it, Ezra! I whipped your ass!” He lifts Cat into his arms and spins her around. When he sets her down, he turns to me and gives my hand a shake. “We make a pretty good team. You aren’t so bad for a geezer.”
“Let’s not forget Josie’s part in this.” I pull her into the celebration circle, and Bennett ruffles her hair.
“Yeah, you did pretty good, Carrot Top.”
Josie rolls her eyes. “It’s not even the same shade of red.”
The last car comes around the curve, and off the cliff it goes. The others start making their way to the canyon’s edge, eager to see the wreckage. I’m keen to see what remains of our racers and Cattle as well.
“Come on,” I say to Josie. “Let’s go take a peek at the mess.”
We make the trek across the hot, dusty terrain until we reach the sheer edge. Bodies, metal, and wood lie in heaps below us. Most of the others congregate a few yards away. They cheer and laugh and relive the race.
All but Ezra. He hangs even further back. His feet inch closer to the limos with every second.
“Hey,” I say to him. When he looks at me, I motion him closer. “Come here.”
He shakes his head, but I refuse to relent.
“There’s a ledge just below here,” I say to him. “You can’t fall far enough to cause injury.”
Josie looks down. “No there isn’t,” she whispers.
I elbow her ribs as Ezra finally starts toward us.
Kindra stands with the others, but she mouths thank you as she realizes what I intend to do.
Ezra gets close enough for me to grab, and I reach out and pull him between Josie and myself before he can hurry away. With a gulp, he peers over the edge.
“You’re a bloody liar,” he mutters. “There is no ledge.”
“And you’re a bloody fool for being so afraid of something so wondrous and beautiful.
Even aside from the stunning disaster below us, look at the magnificence.
The sunset. The rock formations carved by wind, water, and time.
You can’t see any of that from back there.
” I motion in front of us. “Sometimes the reward is greater than the fear. You just have to take the chance.”
I’m speaking to Ezra, but as I stare at Josie looking out at the fading sun, I’m speaking to myself a little too. My heart aches with some unknown feeling as she catches me staring and offers a warm smile.
“Sometimes you have to do the scary things,” I continue, my eyes still on her. “Especially if the end result outweighs the regret. No one is asking you to die, Ezra. We’re only asking you to try.”
Ezra takes a deep breath and looks out at the view before him. He tenses as he takes that last step forward, but he relaxes with his next breath. His toes hover at the precipice, and a bit of loose rock skitters into the wind.
I release him and stand beside him, lending him strength through my presence. “Whenever you’re scared, just remember this moment. I might have steadied you, but you walked to the edge.”
Ezra’s head jerks to the side, and he studies me hard for a moment. Only now do I realize that I said the same thing to him all those years ago as we stood on the Cliffs of Dover. We’ve walked this same path before, and he’s remembering, though I don’t see how.
Jim and I smudged this memory.
I chuckle and take a step back. “Did I say something wrong?”
“No,” Ezra says, his brow furrowed. “Just a moment of déjà vu. Nothing more.”
Thankfully, Kindra comes over and saves the day.
“Well, look at you going closer to the edge than I ever would. Why don’t we just take a teensy step back.
” Kindra takes his hand and pulls him away from the ledge.
“That’s better. If you have plans to die, let’s wait until after I’m next in line for your hefty life insurance policy. ”
As the two of them step back to watch the sunset, I pull Josie aside and lead her away from the group a bit. Jim catches my eye and gives me a nod and a sly smile. Damn him. He knows he’s won. He knows that I’ve fallen for the girl and that I’m about to do something positively barmy.
“You aren’t going to shove me into the canyon, are you?” Josie glances around, but she keeps following me away from everyone else.
My heart picks up its pace. Am I really doing this? Am I about to ask her if she can forgive me for being so foolish for so long? Am I about to lose this bet?
“Oh god, you don’t want to talk, do you?” she asks.
“Actually, yes.” I motion for her to take a seat on a rock.
She looks from me to the reddish boulder. “I think I’d prefer to stand.”
“Suit yourself.”
I lean against the rock and fold my arms over my chest. Without my suit, I feel underprepared. Maybe I should wait until I’m better dressed.
No. The cargo shorts and t-shirt will have to do. Stop procrastinating!
I take a deep breath, but as I consider the best way to break it to her that I’m Grantham Carter and that I don’t think I want to die at the end of this and I damn sure don’t want to go on without her anymore . . . my throat closes off, and I say nothing.
Josie cocks her head and steps closer with a smarmy grin. “Riveting talk. I’m glad you pulled me away from that sunset for this.”
I roll my eyes, then spin her around so she can watch her damn sunset. My arm remains over her chest as I hold her against me. She leans over to kiss my skin, and a smile breaks onto my face.
I long to kiss her, and I no longer think it’s only because it’s a challenge. That might have been why I thought I couldn’t live without Marcia, but when it comes to Josie, it’s something different. Something new.
Something I don’t think I can run from anymore.
“How do you think the plan went?” she asks.
“With Blayne?”
She nods, and a warm breeze tousles her hair and sends the tea-tree scent into my nose. My eyes slide shut, and I take another deep breath before the stillness returns.
“I think it went as well as it could have done.” I place my other hand on the thick pad of skin over her hip. I love her curves, her softness. I love her.
Fuck. I love her.
She turns her body just enough to look me in the eye. “You’re being awful short tonight. Any particular reason?”
“My apologies. I’ll try to grow a few inches more, as her nibs requires.”
“If you don’t stop with the dad jokes, I’ll have to buy you a grass-stained pair of New Balances and start calling you Daddy.”
I reach lower and grab a fistful of her ass. “If you don’t behave, Daddy will bend you over his knee and give you a proper spanking.”
“Gross,” Cat and Bennett say as they stroll by, heading the scenic route back to the limos.
With a tormented sigh, I brush her hair over her shoulder and nip her neck. “I guess the party’s over. Shall we continue this in the privacy of our bedroom on wheels?”
“Only if we can keep going with the punishment aspect.”
Then I remember the chase.
Smirking against her skin, I say, “Are you prepared for our date tonight, my beauty? We don’t leave Arizona until late tomorrow evening.
We can spend all night hunting each other through the desert, then watch the sun come up before sleeping through the heat of the day.
We’ll be refreshed and ready to make the late-night drive. ”
Quinn laughs as she, Aven, and Blayne stroll by. “You’re in for a fabulous time, Josie!”
“Let’s continue this in the RV,” she says, her face turning five shades of scarlet.
She grabs my hand and hauls me toward the limo with the strength of ten men, and I’m powerless to stop her. I don’t know that I’d want to. I stride along behind her. Either she’s eager to discuss the chase or she’s eager to call it off, and I’ll know which soon enough.