Clutched (Wild Riders) (6 page)

“Mike's taking a look, but I know that Beau isn't stupid enough to not cover his tracks.” He sighed. “I wish he was.”

“He'll get what's coming to him,” I assured him. “Karma is a real bitch and Beau's been pressing his luck with her for a long time.”

“True.”

“Are they going to operate on Brett?”

“Yeah. They are getting ready to now. I'll keep you posted.”

“How bad do you think it is?”

“I don't know. His knee was pretty swollen.”

“Call me as soon as you know something.”

“Will do.”

The line went dead and I felt like my stomach was in my throat. I couldn't stop myself from thinking that if I would have just stayed in Halstead with my brother and Brett—my team—that I would have caught whatever was wrong with the bike. Things with Chayse were tense enough without adding guilt and blame to my list of emotions. My frustration was building. I could feel it causing my blood pressure to spike as I ran my fingers roughly through my hair.

Mindlessly, I reached out and slapped a half full water bottle off the coffee table in front of me. The contents and the bottle went flying across the room.

“Fuck.”

“That's pretty much the same way I feel about watching films.”

I turned to find Chayse walking toward me.

“I'm not in the mood for sarcastic commentary.” I turned back around and brought my hands to my face. When I looked back up, after trying to wipe the feelings of helplessness away she was standing beside the sofa.

“Okay then...” Her eyes were conflicted with concern and irritation. “I can come back later.”

“No.” I needed to get my shit together. This wasn't the first time I'd had a friend get hurt. And he was alive. His leg might have been messed up, but Reid hadn't said anything about it being life or death. Or even career-ending. Brett was going to be just fine. I had to believe he would be. “I'm good. I just got some bad news and it threw me for second.”

“Everything okay?” She eased down next to me. The way she was biting at her lips told me she wasn't too good in situations like this. Apparently, neither was I. The little outburst I'd had with the water bottle must have spooked her.

“Yeah... I mean... it will be.” I took a breath. “My friend, Brett, was in an accident this morning.”

“Sallinger?” Her eyes went wide. “What happened?”

“Not sure yet. But my brother and I think this little punk from our hometown messed with the bike he was riding.”

Her beautiful face contorted into a mask of disgust. “That's messed up. Who does something like that?”

“Beau Gregurich,” I answered. “He's pissed at my brother for a lot of things. Mostly stealing his girlfriend. Brett was just on the wrong bike at the wrong time.”

“Is he going to be okay?”

“His leg is pretty busted up, but I'm hopeful.”

“Wow,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry.” The irritation was completely gone from her face and now solely concern. “I'm sure he'll be fine.” She held my gaze for a second as she reached out and placed her hand on top of mine. The energy that passed between us was warm and comforting.

“Um, I don’t know what they’re going to tell Nick so maybe don’t mention—

“You can trust me, Hoyt,” she said so softly I barely heard her. Her pupils expanded, pulling me into her gaze.

I nodded. For some reason, I did trust her. I just wished she could return the favor.

For a split second I wondered what it would be like to have her arms wrap around me. To kiss her lips softly and thank her for listening to me. Her breathing changed and I felt the shift between us.

She pulled her hand from mine and cleared her throat, stifling the moment and reminding me exactly why I was sitting there with her. “Ready to watch those films, coach?”

T
he tension between Chayse and I had lessened a bit since I confided in her about Brett, but I could still tell she was not my biggest fan. I'm not sure why it bothered me. I'd told myself plenty of times exactly why I was there. To coach. To train. To teach. Nothing more. Nothing less. But, her icy attitude toward me was starting to weigh on me. There'd been a moment between us when she'd comforted me about the accident, but as soon as that moment passed we were right back to butting heads.

I laid awake every night trying to figure out a way to reach her without all the animosity. I went back and forth between wondering if maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on her to thinking I needed to be less friendly and more professional. She managed to show up on time each morning in the gym and after lunch when we hit the track. She rode hard every day. She was even starting to show signs that she was actually listening to what I was saying. Granted it had only been two weeks, and old habits were hard to break, but she was showing signs of improvement. I just wasn’t sure exactly how to tell her that.

“This is bullshit,” she argued, catching me off guard. The two of us were alone in the shed. She was pulling her riding pants on and I was giving her bike a thorough inspection. Ever since Brett's injury, I'd been triple checking her bike before she rode. I'd thought we were past her little outbursts. “How can you expect me to get faster if you're not even letting me jump?”

“You're making a big deal out of nothing,” I fired back. “All I said was run the track with wheels on the ground. You don't need to go balls out all the time.”

She shook her head and let out a huff of air I was sure contained all of the other curse words she wanted to spew at me. She paced the shed a few times before crossing her arms across her chest and staring me down. As if I was going to budge.

“Can you just try to do things my way?” I tried to reason. “I'm not just making you do this for my own amusement, Chayse. If you switch your focus from the jumps to the turns and straightaways we can shave down your time.”

“I have been doing things your way. I'm in the gym every morning and on the track until dark. I'm not complaining—”

“Really?” I chuckled, standing up from checking her fuel lines.

“I
haven't
been complaining. I'm doing everything you say.”

“Just appease me.” I paused, knowing that it was going to take more than me just telling her today. For whatever reason, she was having a hard time listening. “Please.”

“Let's say I do... what am I going to get out of it?”

“Faster riding time,” I said with a straight face. Her pursed lips and the cute tilt of her head said that wasn't the answer she was looking for. “What do you want?”

“A night off.”

“You get every night off,” I countered. “When the sun sets you can do whatever you want.” Which she had clearly been doing. I'd seen her walking around with Hoffman on more than one occasion now. A fact that I was trying to ignore, despite the tumor of disdain growing in my chest every time I saw them together.

“Fine. A weekend off.”

A whole weekend?

“I don't know if that's such a good idea,” I said.

“Look, all I'm asking for is a couple nights out of this place. The contract says I have to have permission to leave Mill Valley for anything non-motocross related. I just need you to sign off.”

“You really think I'm going to okay you going out with Hoffman for the weekend?” At least if she was in the facility, I could make sure she wasn't getting too caught up with Link. He wasn't a bad guy, but he wasn't good enough for her.

“Excuse me?”

“I saw you with him the other day,” I explained. “Is that why you want a weekend off? To be with him? You know it's a bad idea to get involved with someone during training.”

“What I do off the track is none of your business,” she said, much more calmly than I was expecting. I was waiting for the wrath of Chayse McCade. I was waiting for her temper tantrum and for her to stomp away to end this conversation. She put on her chest protector over the black and white jersey she was wearing.

“It
is
my business. I'm your coach. I'm here to make sure that you act accordingly and that your career is your first priority.”

“My career is my only priority,” she argued. The heat was rising in her face as she pulled on her riding gloves, roughly shoving her hands inside of them. There was my girl.

Shit. My girl?
Where the hell did that come from?

“Link and I are friends. That's it. Not that I need to justify anything to you. I want the weekend off because I need to get out of this place. I need to be somewhere away from motocross. Away from the constant pressure,” she hesitated. “Away from... you.”

I felt like I'd just jumped a triple and cased the landing. My stomach bottomed out at her words. She wanted to be away from me? Was I really that bad of a guy that she needed a break? I wasn't going to let her off the hook so easy. I walked toward her and watched as her eyes widened.

“Away from me? You really hate me that much?” I said, stopping a few feet in front of her. “Am I that intolerable?”

“You can be,” she said plainly. She turned her head, avoiding eye contact with me. I watched her inhale deeply.

“You can't even look at me now?” I couldn't help myself from closing the distance between her. I didn't want her to hate me. I didn't want her to wish for time apart. Maybe I was an asshole, but I wanted her to know that everything I was doing was for her own good. “Chayse...” I said, reaching out and placing my hand on her waist. My self-control was wearing thin. I couldn't stop myself.  I didn't want to stop myself. “Look at me.”

“Why?” she said, finally turning her eyes on me. “So you can tell me to stay away from Link? So you can tell me to my face how much of a disappointment I am?” Her eyes were starting to gloss over and all I wanted to do was pull her into my arms. This is not what I had wanted to do to her. I wasn't trying to break her. I was trying to make her better. “So you can tell me I’m blowing your big shot and mine too?”

“No,” I said, placing my other hand on her hip. “You're not a disappointment.” My lips were dry as I watched her swallow. The tension in her neck was inviting. I wanted to place my mouth on her skin and take it away. “Far from it.”

“Then what do you want from me?” she asked, her voice sounded far more vulnerable than it ever had. I had her in my grasp and knew that I was holding something far more than just her body in my fingertips.

God, what did I want from her? I wanted her to blow the competition out of the fucking water—my brother included. I wanted to see her ride the way I knew she could, to see her smile what I knew would be a radiant fucking megawatt smile after she took that victory lap.

But right now, I wanted...

I wanted...

Her.

I couldn’t voice any of that out loud. I knew for certain that I didn't want to be the reason that she was upset. I knew that I didn't want her hanging out with Link, or anyone else for that matter. I knew that I was currently in a situation that was bigger than both of our egos. And, most of all, I knew that I wanted to know what it felt like to kiss her. I leaned in slowly, watching her eyes fall shut as I neared. A single teardrop coasted down her cheek as I memorized the way she looked in that moment. Innocent. Vulnerable. Willing.

My hand raised to her face and I used the pad of my thumb to wipe away the tear that had fallen. My body was humming in such close proximity to her. My pulse raced. My hands twitched to explore her curves. The blood rushed to my cock. She was standing there finally willing to let me do whatever I needed to do. It was exhilarating, and erotic, and terrifying all at the same time. Just as I was about to find out exactly how soft her plump, red lips were, the walk-in door of the shed opened interrupting us.

“Hoyt?” A voice called out. “Chayse? You two planning on hitting the track today or what?” It was Nick. Chayse's eyes opened and the moment was ruined. She quickly wiped her eyes and I pretended that I was tightening the straps on her chest protector. Nick rounded the equipment in the shed and made his way toward us.

“There,” I said, walking away from her. Her eyes were on me and I could tell that she was just as confused by what had just happened as I was. “All ready to go.”

“Thanks, coach,” she said, pulling on her helmet to stop Nick from seeing her face. I wouldn't have minded having a helmet myself. I did my best to keep cool. “I'll meet you on the track.” She nodded at Nick who was oblivious to what he'd walked in on and took off toward the track.

“How are things going?” Nick asked, when the sound of Chayse's bike headed out the door.

“Good,” I lied. “Everything is good.”

“Exactly what I want to hear,” he said, giving me a hard pat on the back. “I'm setting up an event in next week. Your brother is coming back for it. I want him and Chayse to schmooze some of our investors. Let them see that Throttled has the best team on the track.”

“Sounds good,” I said with nod. “I'll let her know.”

“Perfect,” he said, clapping his hands together in front of him. “Now, I want to see her ride. I want to see if you're earning that paycheck and actually making a difference.” He laughed.

I faked a laugh as I followed him toward the track. I was making a difference all right. I just hoped it was on the track as well as off of it.

W
hat in the great wide hell had just happened?

I couldn't even pretend to think straight as rounded the curves of the track. We'd almost kissed. Well, he'd almost kissed me. I'd almost let him kiss me.

Worse, I’d
wanted
it. Badly.

What was wrong with me? I didn't even fucking like him. But, I sure did like the jealousy I saw written all over face as he asked me about Link. So much that I almost lied and told him that Link and I had been hooking up when the sun went down each and every night. It would have been lie, I think I would have enjoyed getting a rise out of him. The farthest I'd gone with Link was letting him put his hand on my back when I walked into his trailer. We'd shared a drink and good conversation every now and then, but that was as far as it went. Link was just a friend, and I think he was okay with it.

The steadiness in Hoyt's eyes and the feel of his hands on me had taken every ounce of willpower I had. I couldn't do anything but stand there. As much as I wanted to make him mad and jealous, a bigger part of me wanted to please him. It was infuriating. I'd told myself that I didn't care what he thought, but clearly I did. I cared so much that I was willing to let him have his way with me in that empty shed...until it wasn't empty anymore. Hearing Nick's voice and seeing him walk toward us had put the kibosh on whatever was happening between me and Hoyt.