Wilder (The Renegades) (32 page)

She hesitated, looking down briefly.

“I disabled Penna’s bike. She’s fixing it in the back. I’d rather die than hurt her. I don’t want to hurt you, either.”

“And that’s why you pushed me off a cliff in Morocco?” I glanced down and saw Paxton still riding the circuit, and I silently cursed Little John. I didn’t know how long I could keep her occupied before I was the one she threw off the catwalk.

“That was unfortunate,” she admitted. “But the cameraman walked away, and you were alone. I thought you’d jump, land in the water. I hoped you’d be scared enough that Pax would stop the movie, or you’d just leave, and he’d fail his classes. I never meant for you to get hurt.”

“I could have died!” My brain was misfiring, trying to reconcile the angry woman in front of me with the friend I’d made the first morning on board.

“You didn’t, but you might if you stay up here. Now, go!” She bounced slightly, and the metal creaked, then descended a couple inches.

“I can’t let you hurt Paxton or anyone else,” I said, clinging to the railing.

“They need to understand that what they’re doing ruins lives. It ruined Nick’s life, and it destroyed mine! And they don’t care! They just keep on going, keep pushing. It’s not fair! I only want them to stop!”

My hands tightened on the rails, my knuckles turning white. “Let’s get down, Brooke. We can talk about this on the ground.”

She shook her head. “I’ve come too far, especially now that you know. Then again, I could blame it all on you. Nothing bad started happening until you showed up that first day.”

Another bounce and the angle deepened. I looked down to see Paxton at the start of the center ramp. The one we were directly above. God, this was the moment she’d been waiting for. “Don’t do it,” I begged.

“For what it’s worth,” she said, looking down at Paxton before she glanced back up to me. “I think he loves you. Even if you were just a tool to get Rachel on board.”

My eyes widened.

“Of course I know. Don’t be stupid. I’ve known since Penna ran the background check on you when you both applied to the program. That’s why I grabbed that picture before we left L.A. The only one who doesn’t know is Landon. Which is kind of fitting, seeing as Paxton was the only one who didn’t catch on when Rachel and Landon were fucking around behind his back. It hurts to turn the tables, doesn’t it?”

“So you planted the picture so I’d find it?”

Keep her talking. He hasn’t started yet. Distract her.

In fact, he wasn’t there at all. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Don’t get excited, he’s just backing up to get enough speed to hit the ramp. This will be the jump of a lifetime,” she said with a smile that didn’t even look like hers. She was losing it right in front of me, and if I couldn’t stop her, someone was going to get hurt…or die. “The one Nick would have made if he’d been here. But Paxton always has to have it all, doesn’t he? The tricks, the girls…even you. It was hard to watch you fall for him, knowing he was just using you. I really like you, and I thought you’d be smarter, that I wouldn’t have to involve you, but then I saw how badly he wanted you, needed you, and I knew you were the key to everything. If you were hurt, if you quit, the movie would fail. They’d go home and reassess. After Madagascar, I figured if you saw the picture, you’d leave him to rot in that jail cell. Movie over. Mission accomplished and no one gets hurt…other than Nick, not that they care. But no, you had to call Brandon. You had to fix everything for the guy who only wanted you for your best friend. Where is your self-worth?”

I heard the bike rev, then come flying out of the tunnel. As the bike hit the ramp, Brooke jumped as hard as she could, then ran, the catwalk falling as she raced toward me. When I tried to grab her, she pushed me back, and I fell along the catwalk as it turned into a giant slide. I saw the camera break loose at the last second before I gripped the support beam, catching my weight as the catwalk fell to a full ninety-degree angle.

“Paxton!” I screamed as the camera hit the dirt of the landing ramp right before his bike did. The front tire impacted, the bike flipping and flinging him off, where he tumbled over the side of the dirt ramp, falling twenty feet to the ground.

“No!” The sound was nearly inhuman as it ripped from my throat, seeing his leg at an unnatural angle as people rushed to him, the motors suddenly quiet. “Paxton!”

“I’m here, baby,” he said from above me. “Hold on!”

My head swiveled between my arms to see him on the supported length of catwalk, not in a crumpled mess beneath me. “Pax.” He was alive. He was okay.

My fingers slipped a fraction of an inch, but it was enough to send my heart into overdrive, beating out a panicked rhythm.

“No!” Brooke shrieked. “This can’t be for nothing! You’re supposed to be on your bike!”

“Yeah, well, Penna is!” he yelled as he gripped her forearms, yanking her onto the platform.

“No!” she yelled. “Penna!”

I wanted to look down, but my hold was too precarious.
Let her be okay. God, please.

The metal creaked as he leaned back over. “Brooke?” I questioned.

“Security has her,” he said calmly as he headed toward me, Little John lowering him by his feet. “Firecracker, I’m going to ask this time that you not let go.”

“Smart-ass,” I said, my breath shaky. “Is Penna okay?”

“I hope so,” he answered. “Just hold on.” His hands gripped my wrists. “Now let go. I’ve got you.”

We locked eyes, and I knew with utter certainty that if he dropped me, I would die. Without another thought, I let go of the railing, trusting my weight to him.

“Pull us up!” he yelled, and we started to rise, the metal creaking and groaning as the screws began to give way. I wanted to close my eyes and wait for the inevitable fall, but I didn’t look away from him.

“Move!” I heard the ground crew screaming.

Paxton and I slid onto the catwalk, and as he gathered me into the safety of his arms, the last of the supports gave way, and the catwalk crashed to the now-empty ramp below.

So close. It had been so close.

“Is she okay?” he called down, his arms firmly wrapped around me. I rested my head on his chest, listening to his heart and trying to match mine to its steady beat. For every ounce of bravery that had somehow surfaced, I felt that much weaker lying in Paxton’s embrace, like my body was completely depleted of adrenaline, energy, whatever it was that had kept me on that catwalk.

Landon hovered over Penna, his hands running the length of her body.

“Landon!” Paxton yelled, but still didn’t move when Landon threw him the universal one-fingered wait sign.

“She’s breathing! Give us a second!”

I felt the war within Paxton rage, the need to be with his friends versus the need to stay with me.

“You can go,” I whispered.

“Not until you’re okay,” he responded, resting his chin on my head. “God, when I saw you up here, I didn’t know if I could get to you in time. I’ve never been that scared in my life.”

“Me, either,” I admitted. “Thank you for coming for me.”

“God, Leah,” he said, tipping my face up to his, “all I wanted was to trade places with you. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe.”

Now my heart was racing again.

“Pax!” Landon shouted. “I think just her leg is fucked up.”

We both sagged in relief. “Are you okay?” Paxton asked.

“Let’s get down there,” I said.

“It was supposed to be you!” Brooke shrieked from behind us, where she was held by two huge security guards. “She’s supposed to be fixing her bike!”

“She wanted to use mine instead, you traitor! You could have fucking killed her!” Paxton railed. “You nearly killed Leah, you had me tossed in jail, and you messed with our equipment? I know you’ve had a hard time, Brooke, but she’s your sister! We’re your family!”

“It was supposed to be you! How could you leave him behind? How could you do his trick? How could you use everything he built and just step over him, forget him, knowing what you did to him?”

Paxton helped me to stand, keeping my hand tucked in his. “Because he’s helping me!”

Brooke stilled, her eyes blinking rapidly, sanity itself coming back into them. “What?”

“That’s his design, Brooke. That’s his ramp technique. That’s his kicker. Who do you think mapped out the drop zone in Madagascar? Helped design the pipe layout in Barcelona?”

“I don’t believe you,” she said, panic creeping over her features.

“Then ask him yourself,” he snapped and pointed to the end of the motocross track, where a young man sat in a wheelchair, looking up at us.

“Nick,” she gasped.

He simply shook his head at her.

“Take her,” Paxton ordered the guards.

We all descended as quickly as possible, Paxton and I both breaking into a run to get to Penna. Never once did he let go of my hand after we hit the ground. My lungs burned by the time we reached the main level, where Penna had been neck-braced and placed on a stretcher.

“I need to deal with the arena, but I need to go with Penna, too,” Paxton said, ripping his free hand through his hair.

“Go with Penna. I’ll stay,” Nick said, coming up behind us.

He was devastatingly handsome with thick blond hair that was given to curl, bright blue eyes, and a Paul Walker mouth. “You must be Leah. I’m sorry it’s under these circumstances, but I’m glad to meet the woman who’s tamed Wilder.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too, Nick. I’ve heard a ton of great things about you.”

“None of them are true,” he said with a grimace. “Seriously. Take Landon and go. I’ve got it here.”

“I’ll stay, too,” I told Paxton as they loaded Penna into the back of the ambulance. “Between the two of us, we’ll take care of it.”

Paxton nodded once, then pulled me against him, kissing me fiercely. “I thought I almost lost you.”

“You almost did,” I said, and we both knew I meant more than what had just happened.

“I love you, Leah. If that means you need me to stop riding, stop filming, stop…anything, I will. Everything is empty without you. I’m empty.”

I kissed him gently. “I love you, too. Now go.”

“Does this mean…?”

“It means we’ll talk later. Get your ass in the ambulance and keep me updated.”

“I know what it took for you to trust me with your life up there. I’m just asking for you to trust me with your heart.”

“I know,” I whispered, needing a little more time for my brain to catch up to what my heart, body, and soul already knew: I was always going to be his.

He stole one more kiss and then jumped into the back of the ambulance. As they pulled out, Brooke was being lowered into a police car, her eyes locked on Nick.

“I’m so sorry,” I said to him, unable to process the thought that it had been Brooke all this time, laughing with me, guiding me, and plotting against Paxton. But I knew that my feelings had to be nothing compared to Nick’s.

“Me, too,” he answered, his eyes saddened with a loss I could only imagine. “Me, too.”

Chapter Thirty-One

Paxton

Abu Dhabi

“And how do you feel your lack of training time has impacted your preparation for today?” Martin Sykes asked, thrusting his ESPN microphone in my face.

“It hasn’t been easy,” I answered honestly. “The Renegades put a priority on college this year, which is something we’re proud of, but we’ve had to balance schoolwork, field studies, and general fun with as strenuous a training schedule as we could handle.”

“How has training on board a cruise ship challenged you?”

“The boat moves.”

Sykes laughed, and I didn’t bother to tell him that I wasn’t joking.

“We found that when we were at sea, we were focused on our studies and physical training. We had limited facilities in port, but we had some great friends open their tracks and ramps to us, for which we are eternally grateful.”

I glanced to my left, where Landon was taking his own questions, and farther down, where Penna sat with a bevy of reporters, her leg, casted in bright pink from the hip down, propped on a chair.

“And the loss of Rebel after yesterday’s training accident?” Sykes asked, following my line of sight.

I forced a wry smile. “As you can see, she’s not lost, she’s healing.”

“Right. Bad choice of words. Do you think the priority on school is what caused that accident?”

He waited easily, unknowing that he’d just ripped open the still congealing wound.

“I think there are a lot of factors that led to Rebel’s accident, but I can assure you that we’ve taken protective measures to make sure nothing like that will happen again.” And it wouldn’t. If I ever had to sit in another hospital for one of my friends, it wasn’t going to be because I’d been too blind to see what was really happening.

“Right. And that trailer? You took a big risk going with that angle to draw in views.”

This time my smile was genuine, especially when I saw Leah coming through the doors behind him, wearing that flirty sundress she’d bought in Mykonos. I couldn’t wait to slide my hands up those smooth thighs—
Concentrate!
“Right, the trailer. That motive was purely selfish, but I wanted everyone to see that what makes life extreme isn’t always just pushing your body to the limit, it’s also about opening yourself to new experiences, whether they’re physical or emotional.”

“Has she seen it yet?” he asked with a sly smile.

“You know, I’m not sure. But I think I’m going to go ask her, if you don’t mind,” I answered.

Sykes laughed. “Ah, young love. For ESPN, this is Martin Sykes with the X Games Gold medalist Paxton Wilder, leader of the famed Renegades.”

I gave the camera a sharp wave and a grin and then headed toward Leah without asking if he’d want to talk again after. If I succeeded, they all would. If I failed…they all would. Either way, I wasn’t getting out of here today without a ton of cameras shoved in my face.

“Hey. I didn’t want to bug you, I just wanted to say good luck before I found my seat,” she said, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear. “Plus, our grades came out,” she added nonchalantly, like our entire future wasn’t riding on them.

My stomach dropped. “Okay?”

A slow smile spread across her face. “You passed with a 3.4. That physics class pulled up your GPA. Well, and your Lit final.”

“It was good,” I bragged.

“Yeah, like your ego isn’t big enough already.”

“How did you do?” She’d kept a 4.0 since freshman year, and the last thing I wanted was to be the one who pulled her down.

“All As! Physics was so close I could have taken a wrong breath and gotten a B, but I kept my 4.0.”

Thank you, God.
I swept her into my arms, lifting her up so her lips were level with mine. “What should we do to celebrate?”

“I figured you’d go do that triple front you’ve been busting your butt for, and then deal with the media.”

“Maybe we could grab dinner? Talk about us?” I asked, her feet still dangling above the floor.

She looped her arms around my neck. “I think you might be the first man in existence to want to sit around and talk about our feelings.”

“Well, if some other man wants to talk about our feelings, I might have a problem with that.”

“You know what I meant.”

“I did, and I do. I want this settled between us so we can move on.”

Her face fell, and I immediately regretted my word choice.

“Have you seen the trailer yet?” I asked.

She shook her head, and I lowered her slowly to her feet, letting our bodies press against each other but denying her the kiss she was staring at my lips for.

“We’ll talk after,” she promised, but nothing more.

“Okay.”

It killed me to let her walk away, but I had to prep. The show was starting in ten minutes.

“Hey, I need a second,” Brandon said from behind me, shocking the hell out of me. He wasn’t even in a suit; instead he was dressed down to look almost normal.

“Whoa, what are you doing here?”

“You’re our investment.”

I gave him a what-the-fuck look.

“Okay, you’re my baby brother, and I wanted to be here when you pull off the triple front flip, okay? Maybe I’m a fanboy at heart.” He shrugged. “Besides, after what happened yesterday, I wasn’t leaving.”

I nodded. “First, never say fanboy again. Brooke is in custody—psychologists have been called in—and so is the worker she paid to loosen the catwalk. If she hadn’t almost killed my girlfriend and her own sister, I’d almost applaud the genius of her planning.”

He nodded slowly. “Penna will recover?”

“Yeah. She’s heartbroken, but you’d never guess it the way she’s putting on a face for the cameras. She’s stuck in that cast for three months, but knowing her, she’ll be on the ramp in that wheelchair.”

“Okay. And speaking of wheelchairs…”

“Nick is here, but he’s sticking to the background. He’s not ready to deal with press yet, and I’m okay with it.” I canted my head. “You brought him, didn’t you?”

Brandon shrugged. “I may have told him that there was a seat on the jet if he wanted it. And then I may have sent that jet for him.”

I sucked in deep breaths, trying to get my emotions under control, and then I mentally said “fuck it” and threw my arms around my brother, slapping his back. “Thank you.”

He returned the gesture. “Don’t mention it.”

I pulled away. “I guess we’d better get up there. How many views are we at?” We’d been a thousand shy about an hour ago, and I knew Brandon—he was an asshole about numbers.

“You’re close, but you’re not there,” he answered.

I nodded. “Yeah. I figured. We took a gamble with the trailer, but she’s worth it.”

“What are you going to do?” Brandon asked.

“Use the ship.”

“What?”

“If we don’t make it, I’m going to the board. As in put my ass in a suit, fly to L.A., and use the ship as collateral against the cost of funding the movie. We both know the ship is worth a hell of a lot more than the production costs.”

“There’s an idea.” A spark flashed in his eyes that I almost called pride.

“I know Dad will be pissed. It’s Mom’s ship.”

“Yeah, well, Dad’s in Mykonos right now…if you catch my drift.”

My mouth dropped. “No fucking way.”

Brandon nodded. “Why do you think he’s been working so hard to hand over everything? He told me that there’s a difference between making a living and making a life.”

“Holy shit.” That was incredibly unlike our type-A father.

“Then he told me that watching you is what taught him that.”

Okay, now I was speechless. “I don’t…I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’ll use the ship. Dad spent your entire life investing in you. Now it’s time for you to invest in yourself, and I honestly think he’ll be excited that you’re making a business decision for once. You’ve got this. Now go jump through the air.” He slapped me on the back again and walked off, passing Landon. “Break your leg, asshole,” he called out, flipping him off.

“Nice to see you, too, Brandon,” Landon answered. “Damn, that guy has a memory like an elephant. Is he ever going to let that go?”

“Steal a guy’s girlfriend once, and his brother hates you for life,” Penna answered, wheeling over to us.

Landon winced. If he’d known what had gone down the last week with Rachel here, he’d be doing a hell of a lot more than wincing. “Come on. That’s ancient history.”

“Not as ancient as you might think,” I said with a grimace, then pushed Penna away before he could ask what I meant.

All three of us made our way along the plywood path that had been set down for Penna until we reached the ramp that led to the raised dais. I glanced up at the Jumbotron. We were still a hundred or so views away from a million. So incredibly close, but not close enough.

“No regrets,” Landon said.

“None,” Penna agreed, squeezing my hand. I glanced down at her, but she already had her Rebel smile in place, and I hated that while we might be at the end of our crucible, hers was just beginning.

I found where Leah sat next to Brandon in the VIP box. No regrets. Well, unless she still didn’t want me after this trailer played. Then I would have basically laid my heart out on top of mortgaging my ship. Yeah.

The announcer did his thing, but I wasn’t listening. I only had eyes for Leah, and the way she fidgeted with the skirt of her dress that bared her legs.

Then I found the microphone in my face and slipped into being Wilder. “What’s going on?” I asked the crowd, and they roared.

“We’re the Renegades, and we thought we’d put on a show for you guys! I’m Wilder, this is Nova, and Rebel, of course, had a little mishap, so she’ll literally be sitting things out until her bones can catch up to the level of badass that she is.”

The crowd booed, but cheered when Penna took the mic. “Sorry, guys, I said go, and the bike disagreed. Don’t worry, it’s three months, tops. And if you’re nice, I’ll let you sign my cast,” she added with the flirtatious grin she was known for.

Then she handed the mic back. Damn, I was proud of her.

“Right, so how many of you have seen the trailer about what we’ve been up to these last three months?” I asked. The crowd went wild.

“At least they like it,” Landon said quietly.

True, but there was only one reaction I was interested in. I met Leah’s gaze and spoke only to her…well, and the fourteen thousand other people here. “We were asked to cut a trailer that would give you guys a glimpse at the crazy stunts we’ve been pulling, and I realized something. If you hang around the Renegades long enough, chances are you’re going to see one of us fall.”

The crowd booed, and Penna did a mock salute that turned the crowd to soft laughter.

“The truth is that I fell. Hard.” Leah’s lips parted. “And I didn’t realize just how hard until I was already on my knees, begging for mercy. Love does that to you—breaks you down and then builds you back up into something even better. I can tell you that it’s an extreme sport of its own, but it’s more dangerous, because the outcome isn’t solely in your hands, and there’s no parachute once you
jump.”

Her eyes widened, and it took every ounce of my willpower to stand on that stage instead of going to her.

“So in case you missed it, here’s the first glimpse of our new project,
International Waters
.”

The arena darkened as the trailer began. Fuck, I couldn’t see her face, or watch her reaction. This sucked.

The music started, and I knew by heart what she was watching. It wasn’t just the stunts…it was me falling in love with her. It was the moment she’d agreed to zip-line, then when she’d called me an asshole and climbed out of the pool. It was me absorbed in her smile in Bermuda, and the moment I’d pulled her onto my lap when she fell off the ramp while we were at sea. It was me calling her baby, trying to get her to wake up, cradling her to my chest. It was her face watching me skateboard in Barcelona, and the far shot of when she’d kissed me on the beach. It was our kiss in Rome, on the bleachers, and the shots Bobby had snuck through the window as we studied, neither of us able to concentrate much on the books. It was the Mykonos sunlight in her hair, and the GoPro footage I hadn’t even realized Penna had taken when we BASE jumped at the shipwreck. It was the slow dance in the club, the way I watched her walk away when I was supposed to be practicing, all interwoven with the Renegades commentary about what experiences they were having on our trip. It went to me begging Leah to let go, and her jumping in Morocco, and landing in the water, and her flying into my arms after the landing in Madagascar.

I’d never in my life been as thankful for Bobby’s snooping cameras, or the masterful way he knew how to cut tape. He’d taken three minutes and, instead of putting out an extreme sports trailer, produced a love story punctuated with the adventure of a lifetime.

The crowd cheered as the lights lifted, but I kept my eyes on Leah, who had tears streaming from hers. “So what do you say, Firecracker?” I asked into the microphone. “Are you ready for the adventure of a lifetime? Because I know you’re the only rush I need.”

I stood paralyzed until my play-by-the-rules girl vaulted over the divider and bolted for me. Then I dropped the mic, uncaring as it hit the ground, and jumped from the dais to meet her halfway.

My arms wrapped around her at the same moment her mouth found mine. I angled for a deeper kiss, knowing that I was claiming her not just in front of fourteen thousand fans, but everyone watching live on ESPN—realizing that she was marking me as hers, too, and loving every second.

I broke the kiss before we went to an NC-17 rating, and simply rested my forehead against hers as the crowd went berserk around us, taking in every single nuance of the moment. “I love you,” I said to her.

“You’re everything,” she said, using my own line on me. “Oh, and I love you, too, which is something I don’t see changing anytime soon…or ever.”

“I like forever.”

She smiled. “I said ever.”

“Yeah, well, you know me—I have to push everything one step further.”

“Forever,” she agreed, and kissed me softly, which sent up another raucous cheer. “Now you’d better go jump before the crowd turns on me.” Then she ass-smacked me in full view of our audience, and I laughed. “Go get ’em, Wilder.”