“Want to go for a ride?” I asked, interrupting her. She wasn’t going to stop trying to people please, so cutting her off seemed like the quickest way.
“With you?”
“Yeah. Just around the track. Unless you’d rather ride with someone else.”
“Should I want to ride with anyone? I was planning on sitting here with Carly the entire time.”
“You’re about to spend your entire day at a racetrack with professional drivers. You have a herd of people to watch Bailey, and I know for a fact you have been fine riding with me before. Why not go for one ride?”
“I’m sure you can only go faster now.”
“Maybe, but I’m also about ten times better of a driver, so my skill matches my speed.”
“And I won’t get hurt?”
“I wouldn’t ask you if I thought there was any chance of that.”
“Then fine. Take me for a ride, Kye.” It wasn’t like it was anything different. It was my name, one I had heard a thousand times, but it never sounded the same as when she said it.
I headed back to the cars, grabbing two helmets and beckoning for her to follow me to one of the cars set up for this track. It was beat up. Any logos or markings had long been painted over or broken off, but it still ran great. It didn’t really matter what they looked like when they were built to do this.
She looked as skeptical as I would have guessed her to be, but she grabbed the helmet and got in.
“What am I supposed to do?”
It took me a second to take it all in. Daisy was sitting in my passenger seat, her long blonde hair pulled over her shoulder as she looked over the helmet. The fear and memories kept slamming back into me, each one hitting me harder, and now was one of the worst. It was like a day had gone by, like she was still mine and I could lean over and pull her close, like I could kiss her until I couldn’t breathe.
I tried to shake it off, waiting until she had her helmet on before peeling out and onto the track. I didn’t check on her at first, didn’t look over as I hit the first three turns. The car ran flawlessly, the back letting go the second I wanted it to so the car could drift around the curve.
The back end swung, drifting around the last one as she yelled out something. She grabbed my arm, holding onto me tight.
“Do not do that again,” she said, her fingers digging into my forearm.
I adjusted my hand on the shifter and slowed more, motioning that she could take off the helmet.
“You okay?”
She pulled the helmet off with a gasp and looked over at me with wide eyes. “I can’t believe you do this all the time.”
I laughed, leaning back into the seat as the car rumbled around us. “The most fun I can have doing something legal.”
She shot me a look, and for one beat of my heart, I thought I knew what she was thinking. Daisy had always been thinking something dirty, and right now, I was pretty sure there was something like that on her mind.
There was on mine, at least. Because no matter what type of fun I could have, I could always have even more fun with her. I would give up any car or race for the rest of my life to have a fraction of the fun I could have with her.
Her eyes wandered down to my hand, looking at her name so clearly stamped on my fingers.
I never regretted it. I had wanted to, plenty of days I had wished I did regret it, but it kept me sane. If I had to go back, I would only get it tattooed there sooner.
Her hand slid along my forearm, her fingers trailing down until she reached my hand, where she stopped to trace the letters.
A shiver of need came over me, wishing I could have more. I wanted to take more, but she pulled back.
“Sorry,” she said, panting now. “I’m sorry. I just still can’t believe you did that.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. It’s your name, I would think you’re allowed to touch it.”
“But I know you hate being touched. I just–I wasn’t thinking. Sorry.”
“You know I don’t mind you touching me.”
“Still?”
I could only nod, wishing she would do it again. I held my hand out, and finally took a breath when she grabbed it, inspecting the tattoo closer.
As if she could hear my thoughts, she looked up at me. “Do you regret it?”
“No,” I said, surprised at myself. I was about to lie, to tell her I did, but the truth slipped out. “There’s nothing about you that I regret. Besides leaving.”
Her eyes met mine, and I wanted to stick a knife in my chest at the pain I saw there. I knew she had to hate me to some extent, but there was only hurt there now.
“Can we go back?” she asked, her eyes not leaving mine. “To the crew, I mean.”
“Yeah, of course.” She hadn’t dropped my hand, but I set it back on the shifter. Hers lingered on mine for a few more seconds before she pulled it off.
I parked back at the garage area and spent the rest of the day trying to ignore the burning in my chest. We raced and hung out, eating nearly everything Carly brought, until night fell and we headed over to watch the movie. Scout was ecstatic as we sat back, and I tried again to ignore my own problems.
Then Daisy sat down in the chair next to mine, Bailey on her lap as they snuggled back under a blanket with a smile.
