It was tempting to pick the most valuable bike in the lineup but my gaze fell on a pitch black Hondusa which I knew had one of the highest top speeds of any super bike ever made. A smile tugged at my lips and my heart started beating faster as I headed straight for it, tracing my fingertips along the sleek bodywork.
I turned to look at Darius, unable to even try and hide the wide smile on my face as I thought about riding this beauty.
He returned his Atlas to his pocket and mine kept pinging but I ignored it as I looked up at him.
The frown he’d been sporting fell away and he smiled back at me, stepping closer.
“You like this one?” he asked, his gaze sweeping over the bike before coming back to rest on me.
“I do,” I replied, holding his eye as I perched on the saddle, claiming it as my own. “I’m going to really enjoy winning it from you.”
“I’m going to really enjoy wiping that smile from your face when you lose,” he replied, his tone teasing.
He drew even closer to me, placing his hands on the chassis either side of where I sat and caging me in with his body.
“Are you going to tell me what you want if you win?” I asked.
“Something I can’t buy,” he replied, leaning a little closer. “Which I don’t think you’d give me if I just asked.”
“What?” He was so close to me now that I could feel the warmth of him dancing in the air between us.
His gaze fell to my mouth for the briefest of moments and my heart leapt of its own accord. “You’ll have to wait and see when I win.”
Darius stepped back and turned away from me as he chose his own bike.
I took a deep breath as I tried to clear my head of the fog he’d placed around me and my Atlas pinged again.
I pulled it out of my pocket and glanced at the messages I’d received. There were several shirtless pictures of Caleb and promises of things he’d like to do with me then there was another message, demanding I confirm whether or not I was out with Darius. I raised an eyebrow in surprise and glanced at Darius, finding him looking back at me with a smirk on his face.
“Problem?” he asked, sounding amused as he rolled a red Yamaharpie out of the line up.
“Did you tell Caleb we were out together?” I asked.
“Were you planning on keeping it a secret?” he asked in response.
“No,” I replied. “I’ll be telling everyone and anyone about how I won one of your precious bikes from you by tomorrow. But I get the feeling you might have annoyed him.”
Darius held a hand out for my Atlas and I handed it to him, not really caring if he read the messages Caleb had sent.
He cast an eye over them for a few seconds then tossed it back into my hands before taking his own Atlas from his pocket again.
Darius caught my hand and pulled me upright, before throwing his arm around my shoulders as he held his Atlas in front of us and took a picture while pressing a kiss to the top of my head. I couldn’t help but laugh as he took the picture which he instantly sent on to Caleb.
“You’re an asshole,” I said halfheartedly as I ducked out from under his arm.
“At least I’m consistent,” he replied with a laugh.
I couldn’t really hide the smile which was trying to fight its way onto my lips and with a jolt of surprise I realised I was actually enjoying Darius’s company. I switched my Atlas off and shoved it back into my pocket. I’d just have to deal with Caleb tomorrow.
“Are you ready to lose a bike then?” I asked.
“I’m ready to see what you’ve got, Roxy,” he confirmed, hooking two helmets from a shelf above the bikes and tossing me one.
“That storm is going to make this interesting,” I commented.
“I could use magic to keep the rain off of me but I’m guessing you can’t yet?” he asked.
I shook my head, turning the helmet over in my hands. I knew I wouldn’t be able to give enough concentration to maintaining an air shield while trying to win the race. “I don’t need magic tricks to beat you anyway.”
“Then I won’t use any either. I don’t want you thinking I only won because I had an advantage.” Darius pulled his helmet on and I followed suit. The visor lit up with a little display in the bottom left corner and I frowned in surprise as I looked at it.
“There’s a built in GPS which I’ve programmed with the track circuit,” Darius’s voice came through an earpiece in the helmet and I flinched a little. “Just follow the directions in the bottom left. I set it to a random route so that I won’t be at an advantage but we can take a ride around the main ring first if you want to get a feel for the track?”
“I’m used to following random routes. I don’t need a practice round,” I assured him. No need to add that that was because I was often fleeing the police and taking back alleys and sidewalks to escape them.
“Okay then. It’s a fifteen mile route, I’ll lead you out to the start point. First one back to the drive wins.”
“I hope you’re not a sore loser,” I teased.
Darius tossed me the key to my bike and I caught it neatly. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never lost.”
I rolled my eyes as I kicked my leg over the saddle and started the engine. It was actually something of a novelty to use a key to do so.
The engine roared with the promise of the rush I’d been missing and I sighed with pleasure, letting my eyes fall closed for a moment as I just appreciated this metal creature beneath me. “Fuck yes. I’ve missed this feeling so much.”
“What bike did you leave behind in the mortal world?” Darius asked and I opened my eyes to find him watching me like I was the most interesting goddamn thing he’d ever seen.
“I’ve never owned my own bike,” I said before realising that I probably shouldn’t have admitted that.
“Then how did you learn to ride?” he asked in confusion. I could only hear him over the roar of the engine because his voice still came through the speaker by my ear but somehow that made it easier for me to talk to him.
“I had a boyfriend with bikes. A few actually. That tended to be my type, particularly after I lost my trust in cars.”
“Because bikes don’t have a roof, so you can never get stuck in one?” he guessed.
“I suppose that won’t help me if I get caught beneath ice again though will it?” I snapped. I didn’t want him digging around in my head and I certainly didn’t want to be chatting to him like we were friends or something. Why the hell did I keep on letting myself forget what he was and what he’d done to me? “Are you done stalling or are you ready to lose a race?” I asked.
Darius nodded at me and though I could only see his eyes through his visor, I got the impression he wasn’t pleased that I’d put an end to our little chat. But what the hell did he want from me? I wasn’t going to be spilling all of my secrets to the guy who had treated me like shit from the second he met me just because he’d suddenly decided to take an interest in who I was over what I was.
I revved the engine and dropped the clutch, shooting forward and up the ramp.
The rain slammed into me the second I made it onto the drive and I slowed as I guided the bike across the gravel.
Darius came up beside me and I let him take the lead as he headed along the front of the house before turning onto a concrete track which wound into the shade of woodland to the west of the manor.
He pulled up, placing his foot on the ground as he waited for me to take my place beside him on his left.
Thunder crashed through the sky overhead quickly followed by a flash of lightning which lit up the trees around us and the track which led away from me.
I must be absolutely insane to do this in this weather.
The GPS at the bottom left of my visor said my first turning was going to be a right in half a mile which meant I was going to need to make the most of the straight shot before that turning.
“Ready, Roxy?” Darius purred.
“Prepare to lose, asshole,” I repli
ed darkly, my gaze fixed on the track ahead of me, or at least as much of it as I could see in the dark.
“Three. Two. One-”
I dropped the clutch and pulled the throttle, shooting forward with the force of a rocket launch as I ducked my head low and sped into the storm.
Darius was right beside me and a wild grin pulled at my lips as I increased my speed. Raindrops speckled my visor but the speed we were travelling at meant they were swept away again as quickly as they landed.
Darius laughed in my earpiece as he took the lead and my smile widened as I watched his exhaust edge ahead of me.
The second he was clear of me, I threw my weight to the right, swinging my bike that way as I dropped a gear and opened the throttle again, sweeping into the inside lane just as we hit the turn.
My knee almost skimmed the ground and puddle water splashed up against my jacket as I leaned all the way into the corner before righting myself again and opening the throttle wide the second I hit the straight. I flew into the lead and Darius cursed through my earpiece.
The track left the woods and I followed the GPS directions with Darius right on my tail as the track wound through a sweeping meadow which was being battered by the storm.
My heart was pounding and the bike roared with hungry energy beneath me, tearing up the course as I fought to keep control of my lead.
We swung a right then a left and my elbow brushed against Darius’s as he sped up the inside lane, struggling to regain his position.
I threw half a glance at him, changing gears and leaning low as I fought to hold him off. He fell back for a moment then gained on me again, managing to keep the inside track as we hit a hairpin turn.
By the time I’d navigated it, he’d taken the lead back and I growled at his back as his excited laughter reached me through the speakers.
Thunder boomed overhead again and I flinched as lighting forked through the sky instantly. The storm was right on top of us and the track was slick and deadly as we pushed the bikes to their limits.
We sped around the track, the engines roaring and my heart hammering to a tune of pure, unbridled joy. This was freedom. There was nothing in the world that compared to this feeling.
We shot back into the woods and I was so close to Darius’s bike that I was sure my wheel almost touched his once or twice. He was good. I’d give him that. But I was better.
I gritted my teeth as we came upon a long straight, flattening myself as much as I could so that the bike could cut through the wind at top speed.
I closed in on Darius, my front wheel making it in line with his back.
The manor was ahead of us, the display on the GPS telling me I had less than a third of a mile to the end of the track. I couldn’t let him win.
I could feel the water beneath the wheels threatening to unbalance me as I pushed the bike harder.
Thunder echoed through the heavens so loud I could have sworn the earth trembled. A great arc of lightning shot down from the clouds, slamming into the trees ahead to our right and fire sprung to life.
I couldn’t spare the burning glow any attention as I drew the throttle back even further, my bike finally speeding past Darius’s as he yelled something which I couldn’t concentrate on.
The finish line was looming ahead, the gravel driveway calling me home for the win as heavy rain splattered my visor so thickly I could barely see.
Movement caught my attention on my right just as the huge, burning tree which had been hit by the lightning crashed across the track in front of me.
I squeezed the brakes, pulling way too hard for the wet conditions and feeling the back wheel slide out behind me instantly.
I screamed as the bike spun out, ducking my head as I clung to the handlebars for dear life. I caught sight of Darius’s bike spinning out of control too half a second before my bike collided with the fallen tree and I was thrown into the air.
My heart slammed into my ribs as blind panic consumed me and I flung my arms out, magic pouring from me in a wave which I had no control over. I only begged for it to save us.
I was tossed about in a vortex of wind which managed to slow me down somewhat and threw me towards the sweeping lawn to the front of Acrux manor.
I hit the ground hard but it felt soft and spongy beneath me as earth magic cushioned my fall. Darius slammed into me a second later, the impact of his massive body hitting mine causing more pain than hitting the ground had. His helmet smacked against mine and a crack was scored through my visor.
We tumbled across the ground in a tangle of limbs before jarring to a halt with him on top of me.
I groaned as pain danced through my body, drawing in a ragged breath which my ribs protested to with a blinding flash of pain which made half a cry pass through my lips.
“Roxy?” Darius asked, pushing himself back as he yanked his helmet off and tossed it to the ground. “Are you okay?”
I groaned in a noncommittal way. I was alive which was pretty damn miraculous all things considered but okay was pushing it. I was in a whole world of pain and it was taking all of my self control not to start screaming, especially as I took another breath and blinding agony ripped through my ribs again.
Rain slammed down on Darius, plastering his dark hair to his forehead but he ignored it as he reached out to pull my helmet off too.
I ground my teeth together as I tried to ignore the agony in my chest but as he touched my side, a line of curses spilled from my lips potent enough to make him raise his eyebrows at me.
“Hang on,” he said, reaching out to cup my cheek in his rough palm.
The warmth of his magic pushed into my body and the tension coiled in my limbs relaxed as he took the agony away.
I took a deep breath, raindrops washing over my cheeks as I lay with my face to the tempestuous storm clouds above, panting as the pain faded.
Darius finished healing me and caught my shoulder, heaving me up to sit facing him. I looked into his eyes as the rain pounded down on us and we both tried to catch our breath. My gaze slowly slid to the wrecked bikes and the fallen tree which should have killed us and my lips parted at the sight of the mangled metal.
“Well shit,” I breathed. “How the hell did we survive that?”
“You should know,” Darius replied, his eyes still on me as I stared at the flames. “I don’t have air or earth magic.”
I looked back at him in surprise. “I saved us?” I asked, needing confirmation because I sure as hell hadn’t been thinking clearly enough to be able to do it on purpose.
“You did,” he confirmed.
I looked back at the blazing wreckage of my bike and laughter burst from my lips. After a beat, Darius started laughing too and I leaned into him as my smile nearly split my face in two.
That had been fucking insane but it had also been one hell of a rush.
“We should get the hell out of here before Jenkins sees the mess we’ve made,” Darius said, a wide smile on his face as he took my hand and pulled me to my feet.
“Won’t your dad care that we wrecked those bikes?” I asked as Darius took the stardust from his pocket and held it ready, still keeping hold of my hand.
“I bought them with my allowance, he won’t care about that,” Darius said dismissively before throwing the glimmering stardust over us.
The storm and blazing wreckage disappeared in an instant, stars swimming in an endless galaxy around us before the world righted itself and I found myself back in Darius’s bedroom in Ignis House.
We were dripping a puddle onto the floor, our muddy boots staining the new carpet while the two of us grinned like naughty school kids.
“That was insane,” I breathed. “I can’t believe we tried to race in that storm.”
“I can’t believe you almost beat me,” he replied, stepping a little closer to me.
“Almost?” I scoffed. “We were at the finish line. I had you beat and you know it.”
“I was about to take back the lead but it’s cute you think yo
u would have won.” Darius caught my waist between his hands and I looked up at him in surprise.
His magic swept over my skin and he drew the water out of my hair and clothes before mixing it with that from himself and sending it all flying into the bathroom and down the drain.
I watched the water as it flew away from us, my throat bobbing as he kept his grip on my waist.
He stepped closer again and I stepped back. I looked up into his eyes and found a smile playing around his lips. He walked me back another step. And another. My thighs hit the edge of his golden bed.
Before he could move me again, my hand landed on his chest. “I should go,” I breathed.
“Stay,” he replied instantly.
Silence hung between us and my heart started beating faster as I looked at the perfect angles of his face, the rough stubble lining his jaw and the endless depths of his dark eyes. For a moment I felt like I wanted to know all of his secrets and give him all of mine but my hand was still on his chest, holding him back and I didn’t remove it.
“I have my Air Trial tomorrow,” I said. “I really need to get some sleep and-”
“So sleep here. Like last night. We don’t have to do anything else.”
I frowned at him, wondering why the hell he would ask me to do that and why the hell I wanted to say yes.
“I have a perfectly good bed downstairs,” I replied, shaking my head just a little. “Why would you want me to stay?”
Darius frowned like he wasn’t sure what to say to that but he inched a little closer all the same. “Because it feels right,” he breathed.
I wanted to deny that but my heart pounded a little with the truth of his words. Hadn’t I woken up feeling safe and secure in his arms this morning? Hadn’t I wanted that feeling to go on and on? But I’d also been horrified and a little terrified to realise exactly whose bed I’d found myself in. That part hadn’t changed. He was still the monster who had hurt me in more ways than I could count since I’d arrived here.
I shook my head slowly, increasing the pressure of my hand on his chest as I forced him back a step.
Zodiac Academy 3: The Reckoning: An Academy Bully Romance (Supernatural Bullies and Beasts) Page 24