Grasping at Eternity (The Kindrily) (25 page)

The bike roared and I smiled at the initial lurch forward. I concentrated on Carson’s instructions, making sure I pulled the clutch and kicked the shift peg through each gear. The exhilaration of the increasing speed made my heart race. Even through my gloves, my hands had the pins and needles feeling from the strong vibration of the handlebars. I glanced back but Carson hadn’t moved yet.

By the time I reached fourth gear, I felt like I was flying. I made a wide left turn right before Camel rock. When I straightened out again, I stood up and kicked it into fifth. Driving in the opposite direction, Carson zoomed by me, waving like he was on a leisure bicycle ride, but he had given me such a huge head start. I could beat him. I just had to keep up my speed.

Dakota stood seconds away, swinging his arms over his head. The closer he got, the more confident I was that I could win.

I blew past him, and he jumped up and down. My laughter echoed inside my helmet. I did it. I beat Carson.

I downshifted, but nothing happened.

I tried again. Nothing.

I pulled my handbrake then remembered Dakota saying only the footbrake worked on his bike. I tried stomping on the brake, but my foot overshot the pedal. Something caught the bottom of my pants and yanked me to the right. I was stuck. I kept trying to free my foot, but I couldn’t. My hands were death-gripped on the handlebars as the force still tugged at my pants leg.

I kept kicking at the shift pedal, trying to get it into neutral, or to slow down, or anything.

I was gasping for breath. My helmet had become a sauna.

The bike felt like it increased speed. My heart beat a hundred times faster. I tried looking back at Dakota or Carson to signal them for help, but so much dirt had covered my helmet shield that I could barely see out of it. I was scared I’d get pulled off if I let go to wave my arms.

When I looked forward again, I had to blink and force my eyes to focus. Up ahead, it looked like the earth dropped off into nothing. The edge of the cliffs were nearby, but I couldn’t be that close.

Rocks and pebbles flew up all around me. I turned hard and the bike skidded sideways.

I was that close. I was heading directly for the huge drop-off.

This was it. Death came to take me again. Not Nathan, not an angel—death.

As much I had begged for it, I couldn’t stop pleading, “Don’t let me die. Don’t let me die,” which sounded like a whisper inside the seclusion of my helmet.

For a fraction of a second, the wheels stopped rolling against the ground and spun against nothing but air. I braced myself for the long fall. The bike fell out from under me. My feet momentarily dangled in mid-air as my stomach flew into my throat.

I was flying. Falling.

Then, what felt like a steel claw, clenched onto my forearm.

My arm jerked upward so hard it should’ve come out of its socket. My hip and shoulder slammed into a wall of solid rock and I cried out in pain. Someone yanked me up again, and my feet hit flat ground right before they collapsed under me.

I opened my eyes to see a cloud of red dirt.

My helmet was tugged off my head, and through the hair hanging in my eyes I saw Carson. He took off his helmet. “Good gods, Sparky. How many lives do you think you have?”

I glanced behind me just in time to see Dakota’s bike explode against the rocks a hundred feet or more below us. Carson’s bike was beside us. I threw my arms around his neck, clinging to him for dear life.

“The bike,” I gasped. “It got stuck in gear.”

I wanted to explain the rest, but I couldn’t. I started bawling.

“Aw, man,” Carson groaned. But he didn’t push me away. He awkwardly hugged me back then lifted me like I was a weightless doll and carried me to his bike. I was trembling, and couldn’t stop crying no matter how hard I tried.

He climbed onto his seat, keeping me held against him with one hand and steering with the other. “You’re okay,” he shouted over the roar of his engine. “Trust me, I’d never let anything happen to you.”

I nodded against his chest, wanting so badly to be off his bike and back in the safety of the Luna house. The engine was too loud for me to hear what he mumbled after that, but I thought he said something about Nathan.

∞

We got back to the house after sunset, covered from head to toe in red mud.

Dakota helped pull my riding gear off while Carson made a couple icepacks. I shoved one inside the waistband of my shorts and gasped at the freezing cold against my hip. I gingerly placed the other pack against my shoulder. “Thanks again, Carson.”

“Stop. You already thanked me a million times. It’s not your fault Dakota’s bike was a P.O.S.”

As many times as I had thanked Carson for saving my life, Dakota had apologized to me a dozen more for his faulty bike. I felt horrible that I sent it flying off a cliff and exploding, but he didn’t seem to care it was destroyed.

“I still don’t understand how you caught up to me and snagged me off the bike in time.”

Carson shrugged. “Lucky for you, I think and move fast.”

“Car, seriously,” Dakota said. “That was the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen.”

I eyed Carson’s biceps as he downed a Vitamin Water. He didn’t look strong enough to pull off a feat like that, but I’d once heard adrenaline made a mother lift a car off of her trapped baby. People become superheroes in life-or-death situations.

“And by the way, I let you win.” Carson slid a Vitamin Water and two Ibuprofens across the counter to me.

I graciously accepted.

The front door squeaking open caused all of us to shut up. Carson and Dakota turned to look at me as
he
came around the corner—the one person who could single-handedly make my day even worse.

“Hello,” Nut Job hailed.

I sat frozen next to Carson, my drink bottle still lingering at my mouth.

“Hi, Maryah,” Nathan said softly.

If looks could kill I would’ve been locked up for murder. I set down my drink, dropped my icepack, got up, and limped off to my bedroom.

Why did Nathan have to show up right after I stared death in the face yet again? And why was he here on a Sunday night? Didn’t he have to be at school in the morning? I shook off my angst and grabbed a change of clothes so I could shower, but I gasped when I opened my door.

Nathan stood on the other side. “Carson said you were hurt.”

“I'm fine.”

 
He raised a brow then rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d like to apologize for what happened in Albuquerque, if you’d extend me that honor.”

Why did he speak with such good manners? It made me feel like I had to respond with good manners of my own—not that he deserved any.

“There isn’t much to say,” I grumbled.

“I assure you, I have much to say.”

I took a deep breath. My father always said people deserve a chance to say they’re sorry. I didn’t give my father that chance before he died. Listening to Nathan didn’t mean I had to forgive him, but slamming the door in his face might cause another maniacal mood swing. Plus, as much as I hated admitting it, he looked so unbelievably gorgeous that I didn’t mind looking at him a little longer.

“Fine.” I stepped aside and let him in.

Nathaniel

Carson wouldn’t tell me much, but he did say Maryah injured her shoulder while dirt bike riding. I gestured at the chair beside her bed. “Would you prefer to sit?”

“Nope, I’m good.” She crossed her arms over her chest, still holding her change of clothes.

My chest tightened when I saw she wasn’t wearing her ring, but then my attention lingered on the polka dot underwear clenched in her hand. She glanced down and shoved them between her shirt and shorts so they were out of view. Her cheeks blushed so strong that they almost matched the red dirt in her hair.
  

I contained my smile to keep from embarrassing her further. “I know you have no desire to see me, but I couldn’t bear the thought of you being angry with me for one more day.” She didn’t blink. “I have felt awful every minute of every day since the balloon fiasco.”

Still nothing. I’d always been horrible at apologies, and I was failing miserably at this one as well. “Maryah, I am more sorry than you can imagine.”

Her words were flat. “You tried to kill me.”

“That wasn’t my intention. I only meant to scare you, to make you realize you didn’t truly want to die.” My excuse was horrible and pathetic. “But it was wrong and inexcusable.”

“You insulted my family.”

“I am deeply sorry for that. Please forgive me for being such a monster.”

She flinched at the word monster. I hated that she thought of me in such a way, but Carson said she had used that title and her guilty eyes confirmed it.

“I’m an inconsiderate imbecile and I wish I could take it all back, but there is no undoing what’s been done. However, I’d like to make a peace offering as a sign of my regret, and to extend my respect to your parents and your brother.”

“What?”

I bowed my head. “I have a gift for you.”

“A gift?”

“Technically, it belongs to you by birthright, so you should think of it as an inheritance.”

She gaped at me with confusion. “Why can’t you just speak like a normal teenager?”

Because I’m not, nor do I want to be
. I extended my hand. “Will you join me?”

“Join you in what?”

“I don’t deserve it, but please, I am asking you to trust me.” My hand was suspended inches away from hers. I craved her touch, but she threw her clothes on the bed and shoved her hands in her pockets.

“Well, lead the way,” she said.

I ushered her out of the room and down the hallway. When we passed by the kitchen, Carson gave me an approving nod. Dakota pumped his fist in the air. I held the front door open, and Maryah and I walked to the driveway in darkness.

I pushed the gate open and her knees buckled, but I caught her by the arm. In the driveway, I had lit dozens of red and white candles and arranged them in a large circle. Parked in the middle of the heavenly glow was a white ‘57 Desoto with a red bow on top.

She shakily walked toward the car and touched the back fin. “It’s just like my parents’.”

“It is…theirs.”

“What?”

“It’s the car your parents owned. The fellow who bought it from your uncle agreed to sell it to me.”

“Are you kidding me?” She looked at the car again, and a huge smile spread across her face, but when I stepped closer, I saw tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Are you all right?”

“Do you have any idea how much this means to me?”

 
“Then those are tears of joy?”

She nodded and wrapped her arms around my waist. Every cell in my body tingled with joy.

“How did you know?” she asked, pulling away. Her embrace was too short—much too short. I wanted to hold her forever.

“Anthony. He sensed how upset you were that the car had been sold.”

She smiled and nodded. “But wasn’t it expensive?”

“You’d be surprised how generous people can be when you share a story with them.” Truth was that Dylan had to persuade the stubborn, coldhearted antique dealer to sell me the car. I disliked the man so much I told Dylan we should have made him give it to us for free, but Dylan remained levelheaded and negotiated a more-than-fair deal.

Maryah glanced between me and the Desoto at least five times. “Thank you so much, Nathaniel.”

Hearing her speak my name so fondly made me feel like a new man. She no longer looked at me with resentment. “My pleasure.”

An engine roared behind us and I turned to see a Jaguar pulling into the driveway. River Malone parked and stepped out of his car holding white roses.

 
“You forgot your flowers last night,” he said to Maryah before glaring at me.

A bomb began ticking in my chest. I knew they were friends, but what sort of friends give and accept roses from the other? If she was dating him—dating anyone—it would cause an explosion that would annihilate my heart and soul.

“Oh, thanks.” Maryah took the vase from him. “Nathan, do you know River?”

“He knows me,” River said. “What’s all this?” I assumed he gestured at the car and glowing candles, but I couldn’t be certain because I couldn’t take my focus away from Maryah. The ticking in my chest grew stronger. She couldn’t be with someone of River’s caliber. She couldn’t be with anyone aside from me. We were destined to be together.
You and me for eternity.
Or had that also changed when she erased?

She stepped between me and River. “Nathan found my parent’s car, and convinced the owner to give it back to me!”

“Is it a Valentine’s gift?” River asked.

“No. It’s a…a…” Maryah looked at me, lost for words.

Parts of me had gone numb, but I managed to force out, “peace offering.”

“Where’s the diamond necklace I bought you?” River snarled.

Diamond necklace? He had bought her jewelry? And she accepted it? Was that why she stopped wearing her ring? I held my breath as the final beeps of my internal bomb rang through my ears. Her answer would determine a false alarm or a detonation. Beep, beep…

“Umm.” She shuffled her feet and brushed dirt from her shirt. “I went four-wheeling and didn’t want to get it dirty.”

KABLAM! Fragments of rage and devastation shot through me, ricocheting off of every memory I had of us together, shredding me into useless rubble. Visions of her kissing him made my stomach lurch. I had to walk away.

“Whatever,” River said. “Let’s take the peace offering for a spin.”

 
I clenched my fists at my sides. The veins in my arms and neck throbbed.

How dare he lay a finger on the precious car that used to be ours. I wanted to grab him by his throat and shove him back in his pretentious Jaguar.

“Oh. Well, I guess we…” Maryah practically skipped over to me. She had a bounce in her step that I hadn’t seen in decades. River made her
that
happy?

“Keys are in the ignition. Let’s roll!” River strutted toward us. He handed me the vase of roses. “You don’t mind taking those inside, do you, pal?”