Page 28 of One Night in Paris
“All right, all right!” I exclaimed, shaking my head. “No, Michelle was my assistant at the office, dumbass. You met her a million times.”
“Oh, right. The Barbie doll with the…” He held his hands out in front of his chest, mimicking large breasts.
“Is that the only body part you look at?” I asked him, moving my bike closer to the trail.
He followed. “No. I’m an ass man, too,” he said with a chuckle. “So hold on a sec. You hired this waitress that you fucked in Paris to be your assistant? In the office?”
“That’s right.” When he put it like that, it didn’t sound so great, but I knew the situation better than he did.
“Huh.” Trevor scratched his head before putting his helmet on. “Well, I guess if you really want to see her, you’ll have to pay her.” He smirked, and I chuckled, shaking my head at him once more. “But no sex? Did you kiss her goodnight?”
“We were kind of busy talking about the job, so no.” I had wanted to kiss Harper goodnight, but after the issue with her credit card and with her being embarrassed about her apartment, I just wanted her to get inside where she was more comfortable.
“You’re a loser,” Trevor told me, punching me in the arm.
“Fuck off,” I told him as he laughed. “You ready for this or what?”
“Hells yeah, I’m ready.”
Pushing down on our kickstarters, we balanced ourselves as the engines roared to life. Setting off down the trail, Trevor led the way. Always a thrill-seeker, he didn’t seem to care about taking precautions. Trevor was already going way faster than he should’ve been, considering the winding path we were on and the unusual amount of rocks and uneven surfaces covered with gravel. I tried to keep up with him, but it was hard to stay focused with the wind rushing past me and the rocks and branches flying by. I’d rather be alive when this was over than say I won, whereas Trevor tended to be more concerned about beating me.
As we rode further into the wilderness, the trail became more treacherous. We were both going at high speeds, though Trevor was taking risks that I wasn’t comfortable with. I didn’t want to back down and have him teasing me, saying I was a baby, especially after what he’d said about me not kissing Harper goodnight. My eyes looked from the path below me to my gauges. Damn, we were going fast.
Suddenly, I heard a loud crash and looked up to see Trevor’s bike flipping through the air. His hands came free of the grips,and he went one way while the bike went another. Holding my breath, I rushed to catch up to him without doing the same.
Trevor hit the ground hard and didn’t move. Skidding to a stop, I sped over to him, my heart in my throat. When his eyes met mine, I was relieved to see that he was conscious, but he was clearly in pain.
Stooping down, I asked him, “Trev, are you okay?”
“I’m fucking fine.” His voice was weak, like he was still grimacing. “Never fucking better.”
“Do I need to call for help? Is anything broken?” My eyes scanned over his body. I didn’t see any blood, but he’d landed on his back, maybe his head, though his helmet was strapped on, at least.
“Something’s broken,” he moaned, still not moving.
“What? What?” I asked, frantic.
In a weak voice, he replied, “My pride.”
Groaning, I leaned away from him. “Do you have any broken bones?”
Slowly, Trevor started to pick himself up off the ground, making all kinds of noises. “Nah, I’m fine. Just knocked the wind out of me.”
All I could do was continue to shake my head at him. “You seriously need to stop being such a dumbass,” I scolded. “It’s one thing to go fast and have fun but something else completely to kill yourself because you are being stupid.”
“Hey, man, you only live once,” he reminded me, pulling himself up off the ground.
“Yeah, and if you die because you’re a fucking moron, it’ll be a short life.” I stood up, too, both of us going over to check on our bikes. Miraculously, his was fine, having landed on its side a few yards off the trail beneath a large pine tree.
My bike was also okay since I’d just released it when I’d gotten off. Unlike Trevor’s, mine hadn’t gone shooting off into the woods on its own.
We got back on our bikes and began to ride again. This time, Trevor agreed to let me take the lead so that we could be more cautious. Still riding super fast, I led the way around hairpin turns and over large ruts in the road, but I didn’t ride the bike like I’d stolen it.
After several hours of riding, both of us were getting hot and hungry. We decided to turn back and head to the parking lot. Taking a shortcut that covered some of the shorter trails, I estimated we’d be back in about thirty minutes. We couldn’t go as fast because there were other, less experienced, riders on this trail, which had to be driving Trevor insane.
The end of the trail came into view ahead of us. I slowed down to a near crawl, and Trevor came up beside me. The scent of pine filled my lungs. One of the best things about riding in nature were the different scents and beautiful sights.
“So,” Trevor began, “you really like this Harper girl, brother?” he asked.