Cross My Heart & Hope To Ride

Chapter No.3

Roxanne Pierce:-

“Three... two... one... and go!”

The flag fell, and Bianca and I blasted off at the same time, our engines making the rest of the world seem to fade away. I was shifting gears and leaning forward, and the wind was pounding into my helmet as years of instinct took over before my mind could get in the way.

It was the only time I did not have to consider what Darius wanted from me, what the doctors needed from me, or how much money was still in my bank account. Riding was something which was all Roxanne Pierce's, and whenever I got onto a racing track, every problem in my life seemed to fade away behind me.

Tonight, even that freedom had been taken away from me.

Bianca accelerated beside me, keeping surprisingly close as we entered the first turn, but I could already tell she was pushing her bike harder than she needed to. She was good, definitely better than most women I had raced against, and I understood why Zane had introduced her as one of his best riders. But it was one thing to be good, and it was another to know how to make the motorcycle feel like part of their own body. For years I was learning all the sounds an engine could make, all the warnings that lay under a vibration, and how far I could push a bike until it became control vs stupidity.

Bianca was probably Vixen, but I was the Queen of Asphalt for a reason.

By the time we got to the second turn, I had just passed her. The crowd erupted around us, and even through my helmet I could hear them chanting my name. My heart responded instinctively to the sound, adrenaline rushing through me as I leaned into the curve and increased the distance between us. This is the one thing that I knew. This is where I was meant to be. So for a few seconds, I had forgotten the deal entirely and was on the way I'd learned to ride the bike, without fear, without mercy.

Then I saw Darius.

He was standing close by the barricade, surrounded by the Black Vultures, who were all cheering for me, but not him. From the corner of his eye he could see me as I went across the track, and even from the distance I could see the warning inscribed on his face.

Lose.

I held onto the handlebars tighter.

Emma.

I saw her, rather than the road, for a split second as she lay against those white hospital pillows with her phone in hand, as though she cared more about my racing than the surgery she sorely needed. The future cost me, and Darius had just offered to pay if I gave the one thing I had worked for years for myself.

“Damn you Darius,” I whispered under my helmet.

I slowed down and cut in the clutch.

Bianca caught up very quickly.

Then her bike appeared beside mine and for a split second she turned her helmet towards me and I knew she had noticed. Of course she had. A professional rider had his knowledge of when another rider intentionally slowed down, particularly when the other rider was comfortably in the lead seconds before.

I hurried up again without knowing it.

My body just didn't do what Darius wanted. All the instincts I had were yelling for me to win. I had been training myself for too many years not to take a shot, not to give up easy balls, and not to let somebody else get it. I got another lead over Bianca, and I curved so well that the crowd cheered once again.

“Roxy! Roxy! Roxy!”

These people believed in me.

I think some of them put money they didn't have into my name because Roxanne Pierce didn't throw races. Little girls would sometimes wait outside these illegal tracks to take photos with me, believing that there was a place for them in this world, too, after seeing a woman beat men twice her size. Those men who ridiculed me when I came into the circuit were now not willing to race against me unless the prize was worth the humiliation.

This is respect that I had earned with my own effort. Darius was asking me to put it in the dirt. The end seemed to be in sight. I was half a bike ahead of Bianca. I could win. I just had to keep my hand in the same place and let the machine under me do its thing, which we did a thousand times a day. With each tick, the finish line was nearing, and for one foolish instant, I envisioned that I would cross it first and deal with Darius later.

Then came the face of Emma to my mind again. I shut my eyes for less than a second and eased off the throttle.

I mouthed the word, "Sorry," but I didn’t know if I was apologizing to myself, to the crowd, or to the girl who once decided that no one would make her surrender on a racetrack.

Bianca flew by me. I didn't follow her. All my body's muscles wanted to advance. They twitched my fingers around the throttle as she got away, but I didn't push it and followed her across the finish line. For the first time in years, Roxanne Pierce lost.

There was no sound for just a split second, but it seemed longer than the whole race. Next, the Iron Reapers erupted in celebration. As Bianca slowed her bike, her side of the track erupted with shouting and whistles. The Black Vultures were quiet; the rest of the audience was confused. I could see people looking at each other, arguing, pointing towards the track as if trying to make sense of what they had just seen.

"What the hell just happened over here?" the announcer spoke in shock. "Did we just witness Queen of Asphalt lose?"

When I stopped, I put my motorcycle to a halt and took my helmet off, my eyes lowered, I could not look at the people who had been shouting my name few minutes ago.

“It seems the Queen had finally lost her crown.”

I lifted my head in response to the sound of Bianca's voice.

That annoying smile was on her face as she was walking off her bike and towards me with her helmet under her arm. The Iron Reapers cheered behind her, but Zane wasn't cheering. He stood a few feet off, his arms folded over his chest, his face expressionless as he watched me.

“Congratulations,” I forced out.

Bianca came to a halt in front of me. “That's it? No excuses?”

“Why would I make excuses?”

She beamed with a smile as she got nearer. “Because we both know I didn't really beat you.”

I looked in her direction. She laughed quietly, and then she walked away, and I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

She knew. Of course she knew I lost intentionally when I was close to victory. Before I could think any longer, Darius came up to me and placed his arm around my waist.

“There she is,” he said in a loud voice, with the kind face of a loving boyfriend. “You can't win them all, babe.”

I looked at him. The bastards even had the courage to kiss my temple. I wanted to push him away, but I didn't because people were watching us.

“I did what you asked for, Darius. I lost ,” I whispered, "Now transfer the money for Emma's surgery."

He never wiggled his smile. “Later.”

“No, Darius, you said after the race.”

“And I said later.”

I looked at him and started feeling panic rattle through me, instead of the humiliation. “Emma must have that surgery.”

His fingers gripped my waist.

“And you'll get your money, if you stop making a f*****g scene.”

I glanced around and noticed a few people were watching. By this point, phones were already being held up in the crowd, a few of them were levelled at Bianca, others were pointing directly at me. They had now begun to speak loudly enough that I could hear bits of it.

“She slowed down.”

"Queen couldn't be beaten by Vixen."

“Something was wrong, I told you.”

“Did she throw it?”

My stomach dropped.

This is the thing I'd feared. Victories over the years could be lost in one question.

"Did Roxanne Pierce 'fix' a race?"

I glanced over the track and saw Zane Cross still watching me. His face was expressionless, but I felt it in his eyes, as if he saw the exact second I took a conscious step back.

I turned away.

Darius gave my waist another squeeze. “Did I just witness you eye-flirting with Cross?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "What?"

"You want to f**k Cross?" he asked with gritted teeth. "Let's go, you f*****g slut. I am going to teach you a lesson. A lesson you will remember for the rest of your life."

"Darius, no...it's nothing like that." I panicked as he threw me on his shoulder in front of the crowd, making it look like an act of love when I knew better what came next.

Pain. Lots of pain.

"I am sorry, Darius."

"Oh, you would be after I am done punishing you, babe."