Page 51 of The Secret Girl (Adamson All-Boys Academy 1)
“You are not getting a kiss,” I grumble, but then when I think about it … about Micah pushing me up against the side of his yellow sports car, sliding his fingers into my hair, and pulling me in close … it doesn't sound half-bad. Actually, it sounds like heaven. He smirks at me, clearly not impressed with my feeble protests. “Okay, fine, you can have a kiss if you win”—when you win is more like it because I don't know shit about racing cars—“but if I win, I want to know everything about Jenica. Everything.”
Micah and Tobias glance at each other, but I guess they're as aware as I am about my chances of actually winning this, so they both shrug before turning back to me.
“Deal,” they say, and then Micah swaggers back to his own car as Tobias opens the driver's side door for me.
“My lady, your chariot awaits,” he says as I grin and slide onto the sumptuous black leather seat. Just before he closes the door, he leans down, smelling like sweet and tart cherries and cedar, and puts his lips up close to my ear. “Happy birthday, Charlotte.”
Tobias stands up, closes the door, and moves around to the passenger side while I try—and fail—to get my thundering heart under control again.
That … is the best birthday present I've ever had.The road we're racing on is an old access road to the state park. There's a locked gate that Micah has no problem picking, letting it swing open with a creak of rusty hinges. On our right is the bay, glittering under a nearly full moon. On the left is a mountain, dotted with trees and climbing up into the night sky.
There's a guardrail on the beach side, and Tobias has promised me we'll be the only traffic on this road.
“When Micah and I race here, we cap the speed at ninety. No faster than that, no exceptions.” Tobias leans back against the driver's side door, watching me from the shadows inside the car. “Do you have any questions?”
I shake my head.
“You gave me a pretty good tutorial on the way over here. Plus, I'm dying to just let loose for a minute.” Dad would fucking kill me—and rightfully so—if he knew what I was doing. I turn my gaze back to the road as Tobias rolls down his window.
“You ready, bro?” he asks, and his brother nods, fingers clamped around the wheel.
“Let's do this,” he growls, and the intensity in his voice makes my blood feel hot, adrenaline coursing through me. My own hands curl on the wheel, and I slide my tongue across my lower lip. Oh yeah. I'm at least going to give him a run for his money.
“Ready, Chuck?” Tobias asks, and I nod. He grins, and the lights from the dashboard make his teeth look green. “On my count. One … two … GO!”
My foot hits the gas, but I push down too hard and the car fishtails while Micah shoots ahead. Relaxing the pressure just a bit, I get us going forward, but I can barely see the red blaze of his taillights in front of me as he takes the first corner so sharp he nearly scrapes the car on the rocks.
I'm too cautious for that—and besides, it's not my car—so I take the turn wide and accelerate, the wind blowing through the open window and ruffling my hair. With the ocean on one side, and the forest on the other, it's a magical moment.
“Slow down a bit up here,” Tobias shouts over the wind, and I nod, putting on the break just enough that when a sharp corner appears out of nowhere, I'm ready for it.
Micah is still so far ahead of me, I couldn't dream of catching up, but I'm laughing, and I most definitely do not want to die out here tonight, so I take it slower than I would if I were actually trying to beat him.
The road winds up and around, and eventually, the ocean falls away, and it's just trees on either side. The ground is made of hard-packed dirt and gravel, but the tires of the Lambo grip it like strong fingers, and I don't feel in any danger of skidding.
By the time we get to the old, cracked parking lot at the top, Micah's already waiting, sitting on the hood of his car and staring out across the city with its twinkling lights.
He smirks as we pull up, and I shut off the engine.
“You know, he won't make you kiss him if you don't want to,” Tobias says, and the smile on his face is far away and sort of wistful. I feel like I'm seeing the real him for the first time since we met. And I kinda … maybe like him a little.
