Page 57 of Broken Breath (Rogue Riders Duet #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Alaina

I’m so exhausted, even my eyelids hurt.

But here I am, sitting cross-legged in the dirt outside the bus with a flashlight clamped between my teeth as I work the bolts on my bike like I’ve lost my mind.

A foregone conclusion.

I tried to take Dane’s word that no one but him and Finn had touched my bike after period mageddon five days ago in Leogang, I really did. However, knowing they left my bike unattended, even though it was just outside the bathroom and for just a few minutes, did not compute.

I told myself it was fine, that I could let it go, but then I rolled it into practice, and I heard it. That whisper in the back of my head telling me something is off.

Something could be off.

The doubt dug into my brain like a thorn, and I barely made two runs before I packed it up and came down to tear it all apart again, every bolt and screw, just to be sure.

Dane gave me a look when I ducked out early. One of those ‘ you-good?’ looks I’ve seen a hundred times by now. I waved him off, and told him I was just tired, which wasn’t a lie, but wasn’t the truth either.

When everything is back together, I shine the flashlight along the chainring, scanning for anything I missed, any scratches or misalignments that weren’t there before.

My nails are chipped from the hours of this obsessive ritual, and my joints ache from sitting on the hard ground, but I can’t stop until I’m absolutely sure.

At least it helped keep my mind off Mason and Luc.

I didn’t see them before I bailed, but I did catch Otis.

He was bouncing around the pits as he usually does, and when I asked about Luc, the words blurting out before I could stop them, he grinned and said he was skipping out today, spending his birthday with his mom, which is good. Great, even.

I hate that I don’t have his number to at least text him, though. Wish I could have said something . Grimacing, my flashlight falls out of my mouth, rolling pathetically on the ground.

I glance up at the sky, at the thick and low clouds hugging the peaks.

Happy birthday, Frenchie.

The forecast says rain is coming, not just tonight but straight through the weekend. The track is going to change a dozen times before race day, and every line I studied earlier won’t mean shit by Sunday.

Maybe that should make me care more about practice, but it’s Les Gets. I know this track, love it, even. Not like I know Austria—that one’s special—but Les Gets is familiar, and if it’s going to rain, it’s going to rain. Nothing I can do about that.

There’s nothing left to do on the bike either, but I can’t seem to make myself go inside.

I know it’s because Finn is in there, hanging out with Dane like nothing is wrong.

After all, I can hear them, even from here.

The low hum of conversation, Finn’s rough chuckle occasionally carrying through the bus’s thin walls, landing like a punch to the ribs each time.

He sure as hell isn’t laughing like that around me anymore.

Whenever we’re together now, which only happens when Dane is there as a buffer, Finn’s mouth shuts, and he makes a show of keeping space between us, like I’m radioactive and he’s trying not to get burned.

And even though I tell myself again that I deserve it, that I’m the one who ruined everything, it still fucking hurts.

I dig my boot into the dirt, grind my heel until I hit rock beneath, thinking if I press hard enough, it’ll distract me from that wound.

A new shadow steps into the beam cast from my discarded flashlight, followed by two more. Looking up slowly, I find Luc, Piper, and Otis looming above me, but my gaze is only drawn to one of them. Luc has that grin, the one that spells trouble, and means I’m not getting out of whatever this is.

“ Petit. ” Luc has his hands on his hips, head cocked to the side. “Why are you not ready?”

I frown. “Ready for what?”

“Told you, we’re going out to celebrate. Get up, pull on something that isn’t grease-smeared. I mean, you’re hot…” he pauses, making a show of looking me over “… but this isn’t the look for the club.”

“The what ?” I ignore the flip of my stomach as I sit up straighter, grimacing against my tight muscles and the pain that spikes through me at the movement. “Where are we going?”

Luc narrows his eyes at me like he sees my pain but thankfully doesn’t address it. “My favorite club in Bonneville,” he says instead. “Best music, best drinks, best night out you’ll get around here.”

I glance at the mountain of a bus behind me. “How are we even getting there?”

“Paul hooked us up.” Otis bounces on the balls of his feet. “Driver and a van for the night. Birthday gift.”

“Paul?” I lift an eyebrow. “Your team manager helps you go clubbing?”

“He wants us to do some social media content,” Piper cuts in, shrugging like it’s no big deal.

“You know, make downhill biking look like it’s not all just sweat, dirt, and focus, and we actually have fun sometimes.

Luc’s the main attraction. Our followings have doubled since we’ve had the dickhead on the team. ”

Luc smirks. “I do know how to have fun.”

He reaches out, fingers curling around mine, and pulls me to my feet in one smooth motion. I stumble and end up almost chest-to-chest with him. His eyes lock onto mine, dilating with unmistakable heat that tightens my stomach.

Acting on my early wish, I lean up and whisper, “Happy birthday,” before pressing a soft kiss to his cheek.

His breath hitches, then he exhales slowly. “Thank you, bébé. ”

I let go of him and scoot the bike off the ground. Then I wheel it to the back of the bus and lock it up with stiff fingers.

From the side, Piper clears her throat. “Hey, uh… could you ask Dane if he wants to come?”

I glance at her as I walk past, smirking at the pink flush on her cheeks. “Sure. Will do.”

Luc’s hand smacks against my ass, a sharp sting that makes me whirl around, scowling.

“Birthday privileges.” He shrugs, giving me a lopsided grin .

I flip him off, but a smile is already tugging at the corners of my mouth.

Damn French menace.

The second I step inside the bus, Dane looks up from the tiny table where he and Finn are seated across from each other, their conversation coming to an abrupt halt.

“Hey.” Dane eyes me. “You wanna go to bed?”

I ignore him as I tug open the overhead cabinet, my fingers brushing past grease-streaked jerseys and race pants until I pull out a clean black hoodie, oversized enough to swallow me whole, and a pair of jeans that might pass for club appropriate if you squint.

Peeling off my current hoodie, I toss it toward the bunk. The white tee underneath clings to me more than I’d like, but the binder is so not happening tonight. My ribs are already sore from wearing it so often, and I’ve had enough of that particular kind of suffocation for the week.

“Al…” Dane says hesitantly as I get dressed in the new hoodie.

Feeling some kind of way, I kick off my boots, hook my thumbs in my waistband, and shove my shorts down, leaving me standing there in my sock-filled boxers.

Dane hisses. “ Alaina! ”

I catch Finn’s head snapping away, eyes shooting up to the ceiling as if the stained panels there have suddenly become very interesting.

I shrug at my brother. It’s not like either of them hasn’t seen worse, Finn especially. Hell, he knows almost every inch of me, scars, bruises, the whole damn map of who I am, and if he’s going to spend the whole night pretending I’m invisible, I can pretend he is too.

I pull on the fresh jeans, buttoning them slowly just to make Dane sweat.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he asks sharply .

“Going out.” I stuff my feet back into my sneakers. “With Luc. Celebrating his birthday.”

“What? Where? ”

“A club in Bonneville.” I yank on the laces, tugging hard. “His favorite one, apparently.”

Dane’s mouth opens like he’s about to bite the moon.

“Your fake driver’s license says you’re twenty, Alaina.”

“True, but as Finn here taught me when I was seventeen…” I jerk my chin at him, catching the twitch in his jaw, “… the legal age for drinking and clubbing in Europe is eighteen. So chill.”

Dane glares at Finn, who has the nerve to bite his lip like he’s trying not to laugh.

“ Really ?” Dane spits.

Finn lifts his hands. “I was being educational .”

I roll my eyes. “It’s not like I’m gonna drink anyway.”

Not that I could even if I wanted to. With the amount of pain meds currently running through my system, one sip would probably knock me flat.

Dane shakes his head before scrubbing a hand over his face. “How the hell are you even getting there?”

“Paul arranged a driver for Luc.” I shrug, already grabbing my phone, sliding it into my pocket.

Dane’s brow pulls tighter. “ Paul ? His team manager?”

“Yup.” I raise my eyebrows at him. “Piper asked if you wanted to come along.”

That makes him pause. “Piper’s going too?”

I grin. “So, you coming or what?”

His gaze swings to Finn, like he’s desperate for backup. “Are we going?”

Finn shrugs. “Sure.”

Ugh.

We pile out of the bus, and Dane goes straight for Piper, his eyes softer as he leans in with only a little hesitation. “Hey.”

She tilts her head up, smiling softly before whispering it back to him.

Oh, this is going to be interesting.

Luc glances over at Finn. “Well, look at that. Papi Greer’s coming too.” He tilts his head, eyes sparkling. “They let you out of the senior home for the night, old man? Or you gotta be back before midnight?”

Finn shoves his hands in his pockets and shrugs like he’s above it, but I can practically see him biting down whatever words he really wants to throw back.

With that, we head for the van, one of those smaller transport ones, and Otis claims the front passenger seat.

Piper and Dane settle in the middle row, their knees bumping and heads bent together like they’ve already forgotten the rest of us exist. Finn slides in next to them and then crosses his arms over his chest, fixing his gaze out the window.