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Iwatchedas the bike stopped just inches away from slamming sideways into the pylon, smoke continuing to billow up from the tires. On the monitor, Arthur sat frozen, his eyes wide. Gregor's ghost disappeared into thedistance.

"Shit,"he muttered. "Dammit."

Arthur slowly broughtthe stalled engine back to life and pulled the bike through the rest of obstacle, and into the pit. He stepped out, shifting back to human form. I ran to him and pushedhim.

"What the hell, Arthur?"Ishouted.

He stumbled backand fell against the side of the wolf-cycle. He looked stunned and ashamed, and I grabbed him and hugged himtightly.

"If you're goingto tell me those things, at leastlistento me," I said. He was trembling slightly in myarms.

"I'm sorry,"he said. "I thought... I wasn't thinking. I saw him pulling ahead of me and saw no otherway."

"Dammit,you could've crashed. You know how delicate the balance is in that section. Speed doesn't alwayshelp."

"Iknow,"he said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry,Perry."

We walkedaround the bike to inspect it. There was no visible damage, except that the tires were obviouslyworn.

"Maybe I could've pulledit off with fresh tires," he said. "Six runs without a tire change. That could beit."

"Or maybe youwere just going too fast," I said. "Please don't do that again. You're going to killme."

We broughtthe bike back in to the garage. Without a pit crew here, we couldn't change the tires. We'd just reached the limit of our practice for the night, and just as well. We'd both lost track of the time, and the exhaustion was catching up with us. That was how these kinds of mistakeshappened...

When we got backto the house, Arthur filled the bathtub and the two of us dipped into it. Arthur wrapped me up in his arms as we sank into the piping hot water, and I felt the tension slowly dissipating from my body. I was surprised to feel himshivering.

"Arthur?"I turned to look at him, and he looked away. "What is it?" Iasked.

"Ireally fucked up,"he said. "I keep playing that moment over and over. I feel like an idiot, telling you to help me and then ignoring you like that. It could've been all over. I feel like... Like that was something Gregor would'vedone."

"No,"I said. "Uh-uh." I brushed his hair back from his forehead and kissed him there. "You are in no way like that man. Not at all. Let’s just concentrate on what we have to do. How to beathim."

"Yeah,"he said, and kissed me. We both sank further down into the tub as I relaxed into his arms. "How to beathim..."

"Maybe... I might have an idea."

"I'mopen to any and allideas."

"We haveaccess to this new system, the ghost system. We've been racing against Gregor's records, trying to improve against his style of racing. Maybe we ought to be looking at otherpeople?"

"Other people?"

"Other racers.Ones that have totallydestroyedGregor on the White Tree track. That way you pick up new techniques, and you see what his weaknessesare."

"Hounds of Hell,"he said. "You're absolutely right." He kissed mycheek.

Igrinnedand tilted my head back to steal another kiss from him. "We make a pretty damn good team, don'twe?"

He kissedmy neck and my shoulder. "I'll say. I can't even imagine what I'd do withoutyou."

As he kissed me,I felt excitement rushing between my thighs. In the heat of the bathwater, my cock hardened and rose. I let my hand sneak between his legs, and found his length. He smiled and murmured as I pulled on him, and his hand moved down to reciprocate. The water sloshed gently with our movements. The all-enveloping warmth of the bath only increased the pleasure of his strokes, and I moaned softly and pulled him into another kiss. I loved the feeling of his naked skin against me, the slippery curves of his muscles up against my back. Our tongues lolled against one another, teasing and exploring, and the heat emanating from the bath made my headspin.

"Can I wash you?"Arthurasked.

"Okay,"I said, not exactly sure what hemeant.

We stood up,and Arthur soaped up a bath sponge. I laughed. "You're literally going to washme?"