Page 5 of Broken Breath (Rogue Riders Duet #1)

CHAPTER THREE

Alaina

“Dane-fucking-Crews!”

My head snaps up from where I’ve been trying to focus on the dirt at my feet instead of the throbbing pain in my hip.

Finn.

Canadian, red-wearing, stupidly good-on-a-bike Finn. I used to tease him about how aggressively patriotic his kit always looked, like he was sponsored by maple syrup and hockey fights. He’d just smirk and say, What, you don’t like a guy with national pride?

He’s grinning as he strides over, all loose confidence and easy swagger, like he’s got nowhere to be and all the time in the world to get there. He’s dressed in his red kit and is dangling a white helmet from his fingers as he stops in front of us.

His blond hair is a little shorter than the last time I saw him, but his blue eyes are still so damn beautiful, if not a little more tired.

He looks the same and completely different all at once.

Only he’s not twenty-seven anymore, he’s thirty-four, and yet, he’s still him .

Still effortlessly cool in that way that used to drive me insane.

They call him Grandpa Greer now, as he’s the oldest guy racing in the World Cup, but apparently, this will be his last season.

Of course, I’d come back the year Finn Greer is finally leaving.

When Finn reaches Dane, he yanks him into a tight hug, clapping him hard on the back.

“I heard rumors that you were back, but dammit, you really fucking are!”

Dane huffs a laugh, shaking his head. “I’m not back back. But I’m here.”

“God, I fucking missed you.” Finn lets go of him, still grinning. “And you’re a fucking ghost. Why haven’t I heard from you in so long? Going on forever.”

“I’m sorry, man.” Dane exhales. His posture is tight, but his voice is soft in a way that makes my chest ache. “I missed you too.”

I know how much he means it. Finn wasn’t just his best friend, he was Dane’s only family, besides me.

Finn nods, like he gets it. “And how is she ?”

She? Is he talking about me?

“Alaina’s fine. She’s working for Dad now in DC.” Dane gives Finn the lie we agreed on.

We knew this would happen eventually, someone asking, wondering where I went. But I didn’t think we’d have to use the story so soon, and I sure as fuck didn’t think Finn would be the one asking, that he would care.

He pauses, his expression unreadable. Then warmth settles in his gaze, and he nods again, slower this time. “Beauty. Good for her.”

It’s genuine. I can hear it in his voice and see it in the way his shoulders ease. This is actually good news to him. It matters that I’m supposedly okay.

My throat tightens, my fingers flex on my grips, and I have to fight the sudden, stupid, useless urge to swallow hard.

Then Finn’s eyes flick to me, and just like that, the warmth is gone. Something flashes across his face, startled. His gaze lingers, and his brows pull together ever so slightly. It’s quick, barely a flicker, but I see it, the way his brain catches on.

I fight to keep my posture relaxed and hold his gaze just long enough before shifting down, like I don’t care and don’t feel the tension thickening between us.

“And you are the rookie the Dane Crews took under his wing?” Finn asks casually, but his eyes don’t match his tone when mine come back up to meet his.

Ah, fuck.

“That’s my little cousin, Allen.” Dane steps in smoothly. “Allen, this is my best friend, Finn.”

Finn blinks, apparently resetting as his brows lift slightly before his face lights up like Dane just handed him a damn Christmas present.

“Best friend?” he repeats, turning back to him. Then he yanks Dane into another hug, gripping the back of his head like they’re still twenty-something and undefeated.

Dane laughs, pushing him off. “All right, all right.”

Finn lets go, stepping back with a smirk, breaking his gaze from Dane to glance back at me. “I gotta warm up too. Can’t have the rookie being faster than me again.”

Then he winks at me, and my stomach does a stupid, traitorous flip.

Really hormones? After all these years?

“See you out there!” He turns, and the number 14 stares back at me from his jersey as he strides away .

“Send it!” Dane calls back while I exhale slowly, forcing my hands to loosen their death grip on the bars. Dane watches Finn disappear before muttering under his breath. “That was close.”

“I know.”

“I’m gonna head down.” He ruffles my short hair with a grin. “Show them how a Crews does it.”

I glare at Dane who just chuckles and walks off toward the gondola station, but I stay on the trainer, my legs spinning, keeping my muscles warm until, one by one, the other riders filter past me, heading for the gate.

When it’s close to my time, I exhale sharply and unclip from the trainer, grabbing my helmet and shoving it back on. The moment it’s on, I feel steadier.

This is fine.

I grab my bike and move toward the start, taking my position in fourth-to-last place.

It’s tight, and I can feel the adrenaline rolling off the other riders as we inch forward one spot at a time, each rider dropping in and vanishing down the mountain.

No one speaks because there’s nothing to say.

The only sound is the hum of the starting gate, the distant roar of the crowd below, and the rhythmic breaths of everyone waiting for the drop.

Ahead of me, Finn steps up. His posture is loose, like he’s out for a casual ride and not about to launch himself down one of the most intense courses in the world, but that’s just Finn, always relaxed.

Mason Payne, Isaac Raine, and Luc Delacroix are behind me. The best of the best, and I’m standing right in the middle of them.

Fuck. This is real.

Finn rolls up to the gate, and the countdown starts to beep for him. Five seconds, then I’ll be next up.

My pulse kicks up, and my breath turns shallow under the weight of the riders behind me, the eyes of the crowd below, and the crushing realization that this moment, the one I’ve spent seven years crawling back to, is actually happening.

The white 14 on the red jersey in front of me blurs as I try to concentrate on it, and a sharp jolt rips through my chest when my throat locks.

My diaphragm spasms.

Hiccup.

Finn’s head snaps around so fast it’s a miracle he doesn’t give himself whiplash. Through the clear lenses of his goggles, his blue eyes go wide.

Then the start beep blares, and Finn rips his gaze away, turns back, launches off the gate, and disappears down the track, but those wide, stunned eyes stay with me even after he’s gone, stealing the air from my lungs.

Just the way they did the last time he looked at me like that.

And suddenly, I remember.

I open my eyes to Finn Greer’s stupidly handsome, very concerned face hovering over me.

“Fuck, you okay?” His eyes are wide, his hair a mess beneath his backward cap, and he’s looking at me like he’s half-expecting me to start crying or some shit, which is exactly why I start laughing. Loudly.

Finn lets out a breath and shakes his head with a snicker, like I’m the most exhausting person he’s ever met. “Jesus, Al. Maybe you should wear a helmet after all.” Then he yells over his shoulder, “She’s fine, Dane!”

From somewhere behind him, my brother’s voice carries across the track. “Told you that BMX is stupid, Speedbump.”

Finn rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, you and your downhill superiority complex.” He reaches down, offering his hand, and I grab it.

Big mistake.

Because in the next second, he’s yanking me up way too easily, and suddenly I’m flush against him. His arm is steady around me, holding me upright like I might topple over again, and I swear my brain short-circuits.

Holy shit.

It’s the closest I’ve ever been to him, and he smells like sweat, chain grease, and maple-scented bad decisions, but before I can embarrass myself, he starts brushing the dirt off my back, reminding me I’m nothing but Dane’s dumb little sister who fell on her ass, again.

“Give the damn bike back before you end the season early for yourself,” Dane yells, but he’s focused on his phone.

“Don’t listen to him.” Finn is completely unfazed, his big, rough hands casually dusting me off. “Do you wanna go again, baby girl?”

There it is. The nickname. The one that always makes my heart do dumb, unnecessary things, and I know exactly how he means it. Baby. As in child . As in Dane’s kid sister who isn’t a real person in his eyes. Not his baby.

I ignore the little pang in my chest and grin up at him. “Hell yeah.”

Finn smirks. “Attagirl.”

God, just bury me now.

The second round is fun, and I’m going at it fast and recklessly, just how I like it, but it’s still not downhill mountain biking. The bike is too small, too twitchy, too not right. Still, it’s Finn’s bike, and the fact that he let me ride it? That alone is a win.

When I roll up to where the guys are sitting, Sum 41’s “Pieces” blasts from a speaker box. Definitely Finn’s music. He’s into the early 2000s punk rock stuff, or anything with loud guitars and attitude. I may or may not have started listening to them as well.

Finn leans back on his elbows, laughing at something Dane said, looking way too attractive for someone who just exists, but then I hear what he’s talking about.

“ I swear, I barely had a hand on her, and she was already…”

Dane groans. “God, stop. I do not need to hear about you getting dry humped against a door.”

Finn snickers. “First of all, I wouldn’t call it dry. Second, she was impatient and didn’t even let me get my damn belt off before she had her hand down my…”

Oh-my-fucking-God.

I make a strangled gagging noise, drop his BMX carefully next to him, and plop down onto the dirt before my brain can fully process what he just said.

“You guys are gross.”

“What?” Finn grins, utterly unbothered. “You’ve never had someone so desperate for you they couldn’t wait? So hot for you, their brain just shorts out the second you’re near?”

Heat zips down my spine. My stomach flips, and I drop my gaze to the dirt, hoping the ground will swallow me whole before he sees what that just did to me.

Because no, I absolutely have not had that.

But I’ve thought about it and him way too much. About how it would feel to have Finn lose control over me, to see him let go of all the reasons why this can’t happen and just take me.

Nope.

Nope, nope, nope.

Finn stretches lazily before tilting his head toward me, smirking as if he knows exactly what’s going on in my head. “You don’t really think I’m gross.”

Then, because he is the absolute worst, he reaches over and tugs my braid before pushing up to his feet, grabbing his bike, and heading toward the track.

I watch him go, my face still burning, and Dane sighs beside me. “You have to stop that.”

I tear my eyes away. “Stop what?”

He gives me a look. A big brother, I’m-about-to-ruin-your-life kind of look. “He’s ten years older than you. I think he’d go to jail if he even thought about doing what you just thought about him doing to you.”

I make a strangled noise. “I never said that I wanted to ? —”

“Sure,” Dane cuts me off with a raised eyebrow, not buying my shit. “I’m just saying… that will never be a thing, and I don’t want you getting hurt over something that’s so far out of the realm of what’s possible.”

I scowl. “I’m not getting hurt.”

“Good. How about Steven?”

I blink. “Who?”

“Or was it Stefan?” Dane shrugs. “That guy from the junior league. The one who tried to get your number last week.”

I wrinkle my nose. “Ew.”

Dane grins. “Come on, he’s not that bad. He actually lands his jumps, which is more than I can say for half the guys you race with.”

“I literally just watched him eat shit on the track yesterday.”

He laughs. “Okay, fine, bad example. What about Payne? He’s a solid rider, and he just applied for a spot on our team for next year when you all move up to elite.”

“He did?” I shift my weight, thinking about the one guy in the junior league who doesn’t leer or talk over me, the only one who even comes close to Finn looks wise, though they’re nothing alike.

Mason Payne is fast, focused, and quiet.

He doesn’t look at me like I don’t belong, but only because he doesn’t look at me at all, even though I watch him probably too closely.

He always rides angry, and somehow, I get that.

“I’ve never even talked to him. It’s not like we’re friends. ”

Dane shrugs. “That could change.”

Before I can change the subject, Finn rolls up, wiping sweat from his forehead. “What are we talking about?”

“Nothi…” I start, but a hiccup cuts me off.

Finn smirks. Fuck.

Dane grins up at him. “Alaina’s thinking about dating one of the junior league guys.”

“Oh yeah?” Finn’s brows shoot up, eyes flicking between us. “Thought she was too good for the junior league boys?”

I glare. “I hate you both.”

“Nah. You love me.” Finn chuckles, and then he’s gone, leaving me to suffer as Dane huffs a laugh beside me.

I am never coming to the BMX track again, unless he’s here.

Which is the fucking problem.