air quotes around the word sister. “Coach Bradley is listed, so she could have called. Selena clearly had their address, so she could have written. Anything would have been better than her just showing up and traumatizing our Ty-baby.”
Jamie made a face at Lou for poaching his nickname, so Lou flipped him off. “Do you really think it matters?” he argued a moment later. “Either way, Tyra would have been blindsided since her father lied to her.”
Lou waved him off. “Well, maybe he had his reasons.”
“There’s never a reason to lie,” Ever said, speaking up for the first time. “No matter how harsh the truth, lies always cut deeper.”
A heavy sigh came from the Sprinter that made everyone except Ever wince. Wren keeping the fact that they shared a father was still very much a sore subject between the two—partially because they both refused to talk about it.
“You’re one to talk,” Lou snapped, defending her man. “Have you told Four about the tracking app you put on her phone?” At the guilty shift of Ever’s gaze, Lou became even more smug, if that were possible. “Didn’t think so. I saw it last week when I showed her how to set up Instagram.”
“And you waited until now to tell me?” Four shrieked.
Unapologetic, Lou studied her nails. “I had my reasons.”
“Which were?”
“There was no one else around.”
With fire in her eyes, Four rounded on Ever before shoving her hand in his pocket and digging out her phone. Once it was free, she slammed the iPhone into his chest. “Delete it.”
Shaking his head, Ever accepted her phone before smoothly slipping it back into his pocket. “No.”
Big surprise there.
Four’s hands balled into fists just as someone called for the riders over the loudspeaker, making everyone collectively release their breath. None of us put it past Four to draw blood if she had to. Without a word, she turned away from Ever and accepted the helmet Jamie held out for her before storming off.
“Thanks a lot, brat,” Ever spat before rushing after Four.
Lou cheekily saluted his retreating back just as the missing sisters appeared.
Note to self: get pip’s phone and delete that damn app.
“What happened?” Tyra inquired. “What’s wrong with Four?” She was too busy watching Ever shove through the crowd to get to Four to notice me staring her down. Where the hell had she been?
“Lou opened her mouth, and the entire universe imploded,” Bee informed her.
“So nothing out of the ordinary,” Tyra responded with a shake of her head. She was smiling until her gaze met mine. I watched as she bit her lip and wondered what she had to be nervous about. Or maybe my guilt was just making me paranoid. “What happened to your shorts?” Her gaze had fallen to my lap.
“Oh, nothing,” Jamie responded before I could. “He was going for the ripped jeans look, but they don’t really work with cargos, right, man?” Jamie clapped me on my back, and if his girl hadn’t sat in his lap that very moment, I would have decked him. Bee narrowed her eyes at me like she’d read my mind, so I smirked.
“Come on,” I said when I noticed everyone heading toward the track. “We need to get closer.” I stood and stretched, ignoring Selena eyeing me as I took Tyra’s hand and led her away from that poisonous bitch. As we moved through the crowd, I wondered what betraying Tyra made me since there had been two of us in that back seat. I couldn’t put all the blame on her sister now, could I?
The track turned out to be a bigger challenge in size and obstacles than the one in Jersey. The heels were steeper, the jumps higher, and the turns seemed to be sharper. For miles, there was nothing but dirt as everyone gathered around the rope they used to keep bystanders off the track.
I glanced down at Tyra and got caught up in the wonder etched on her face. “A lot bigger than a junkyard, huh?”
“And not nearly as smelly,” she observed.
Leaning down, I whispered in her ear. “Sadly, I won’t be tempted to spank you when it’s all over, either.” The night Four raced for Mickey in an abandoned junkyard and had almost gotten Tyra and herself killed had been the moment I realized how badly I was screwed. I’d almost wrung Tyra’s goddamn neck for scaring me the way that she had, which could only mean one thing—I cared about more than just getting under her