Burnout (The Holland Brothers Book 1)

I watch Avery walk back to the stadium seats and climb up into the middle section about halfway up. Colter rides back and grins at me. “Ready to put on a show?”

My nerves kick up. I’m doing the Superman seat grab for the first time in front of an audience tonight. It’s a fun trick with a lot of variations to make it harder or give it more style. I’ve landed it dozens of times in practice, but it’s always different in front of a crowd.

“You’ve got this. Piece of cake.”

I nod in acknowledgment, then jut my chin toward the audience. “Your girl is here.”

“Quinn’s here?” His brows pull together like he’s trying to understand my words.

“Yeah, she and Avery drove up.”

His grin widens. “Then don’t embarrass me in front of my girl, Holland.”

With a laugh, I start up my bike. “I’ll do my best.”

I drive around the track a few times, pulling wheelies and burning out in front of the audience. They love it and I feed off their energy, giving them more when they cheer louder.

My gaze finds Avery every time I dare look at the crowd. I swear I can see she’s smiling even though it’s impossible to make out her facial features from this far away.

I speed up the ramp and whip to cheers from the crowd, then go right back around, hitting the ramp faster than before. There’s no other feeling quite like hitting the end of the ramp. Everything goes quiet like a collective intake of breath. It’s just me and my bike hanging midair.

I let my legs come up behind me, grab the seat with one hand while keeping the other on the handle, then cross my legs for a little extra flair. All the work I’ve done in the gym hasn’t been for nothing. My core squeezes to keep my lines straight and my upper body strength helps me hold on for dear life. One wrong move and this could end badly.

For a few seconds I’m suspended in the air above my bike. I’m flying, weightless and free. I can hear the music and the cheers, but it’s white noise just like when I’m racing.

It happens so fast and then I’m scrambling back to my seat before I land. Like all the best moments in life, it’s over before I can grab hold of the feeling.

The crowd is louder than before as I come around and stop in front of them. I stand on the pegs as I wave. It isn’t my imagination this time when I glance up at Avery. I know she’s smiling.

She’s waiting for me when the show is over. Quinn runs to Colter as we come out together. Avery hangs back, a little more reserved than her friend. I wonder what it might be like to have her run and jump into my arms, so excited she can’t wait to see me a second longer. I don’t know when it happened, but at some point, I started picturing her in all kinds of scenarios I never gave much thought to before.

She doesn’t catapult herself toward me, but I settle for the huge grin on her face as I approach.

“I bow down to the king of the nac four sixty.”

“Oh, you’ll bow down later all right, princess.”

Her blue eyes flash with heat as I take her chin between my thumb and pointer finger and drop a kiss to her perfect mouth. All I can think about is getting her alone to show her just how happy I am she drove up to see me.

“Congrats. Seriously, you were inspiring. The crowd loved you. I thought I was going to have to fight off a couple of women talking about what they’d like to do to you.”

My lips twitch with amusement at the thought of Avery being jealous of some chicks I don’t know and could care less about.

“Better get me out of here before they try to steal me away,” I say jokingly and wink at her.

“They’ll have to go through me.” There’s something so adorable about her being ready to throw down to stake her claim on me.

“No chance. I’ve been thinking about getting you naked since you showed up.” With her meet and the freestyle event, we haven’t had any time alone in days.

A flush creeps up her face. “Quinn wants us all to go out together first, and then I’m all yours.”

I’d rather spend all night showing her exactly how happy I am she drove up to see me, but I guess I can share her for a couple of hours.

“All right. I gotta help finish loading the truck first.” Colter still has his mouth fused to Quinn’s. Looks like we might be doing it without him.

“I’ll come with you,” Avery offers.

I like that she wants to tag along. I’ve noticed she’s never afraid to jump in and help. It’s not even a trait I realized was important to me. I’ve so actively avoided letting anyone in or accepting their assistance, but I like that she does it without making it a big thing.

I’m also glad she’s sticking with me because it gives me an excuse to keep kissing her as we make our way through the crowd that’s still gathered from the event.

I take her hand so we don’t get split up. She hovers close to my back and I feel a shot of pride walking with her. Guys notice her everywhere, but right now they’re checking her out and she’s with me.

We come to the edge of the crowd and I drop her hand to drape an arm around her shoulders. Avery attaches herself to my side.

A man steps into my line of view but it takes me a few steps to place him. I slow and Avery moves ahead before pausing to wait for me.

“Mike,” I say when we’re in front of him. “What are you doing here?”

He smiles and his brows lift slightly. “You invited me.”

I did. I’ve invited him to every event, but he’s never shown up.

“I was visiting some family nearby and thought I’d check it out. That was impressive.”

“Thanks.” My pulse speeds up at the sight of my old team owner. Mike’s gaze shifts to Avery.

“Hello,” he says.

“Hi.” Avery waves and smiles politely.

“This is Avery,” I tell him, then look to her. “Mike is the owner of my old racing team, Thorne.”

“Oh.” Her tone implies she’s made the connection. “Nice to meet you.”

“Same to you.” He gives me his attention again. A serious expression that has me anxious and excited. “Can we talk?”

“I see Quinn and Colter not far behind us.” She smiles at Mike again. “Nice to meet you.”

We both watch her go. As the seconds tick by, I grow more curious. It isn’t like him to show up unannounced. The ideas I had about him popping by to lure me back after seeing I can be a part of a team seem like the dreams of a silly kid. What does he care if I can do freestyle? His business is racing.

“When you first told me you were doing freestyle, I thought you were kidding.”

“Colter and I are old friends,” I say by way of explanation. “He needed help and I had some time to kill.”

He nods thoughtfully. “Thinking of making the switch full-time?”

He wants to know if I’m planning on racing next season. It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him it’s no longer any of his business. I’ve always liked Mike, but I’m still salty he dropped me. Ultimately, I decide being an asshole won’t do me any favors.

“No. This was just something to focus on while I’m figuring out my next steps. Racing is still my dream.”

“That was a hell of a performance to be a side gig.”

“The team is great. They let me train with them, and I just tag along and do a few tricks.”

He nods thoughtfully. “Being humble looks good on you. I hope it doesn’t sound too condescending when I say I’m proud of you.”

His words swirl around in my head. If I’ve changed, it’s because I’ve seen what it’s like to have a team around me that wants me to succeed. Colter, Brooklyn, all the rest of the guys. Most of all Avery.

“Thanks, Mike.” I clear my throat. “How’s the team looking?”

“Good. Things are good. The full team is heading back to headquarters next week.”

“That’s great.”

His soft chuckle tells me he knows I’m bullshitting. Some of my anger has dissipated, but I’m still not quite ready to pretend I’m ecstatic that they’re all doing fantastic when I’m without a team.

He doesn’t say anything else and somehow, I know now he’s never going to invite me back.

I clench my jaw as I watch my dreams of rejoining the team go up in smoke. There is no other plan. “Well, I should get going. Thanks for stopping by, Mike.”

I start to push past him, eager to get away from him and sit in my disappointment. I wanted him to see me succeeding on a freestyle team and he did. It just didn’t have the results I wanted.

Mike throws a hand out to stop me. “Actually, there’s one other thing.”