I hardly sleep that night. I know the plan was to get involved with Trent and eventually find something my father can use to get his revenge. Now I kissed him and everything feels different. My body is restless and my heart is beating chaotically in my chest. I want to turn my back on my father, while at the same time, I know this last job means freedom for eternity if I can manage to pull it off. I can’t be locked away by him for the rest of my life or, worse, end up dead. If I fail, I have no doubt my father wouldn’t hesitate in selling me off to the highest bidder. The more I prove my worth, the more I gain a modicum of control of my future.
The first signs of daylight and we’re all up and packed to get back on the road. Trent is insistent I ride with him today too. The kiss shifted something between us. The air crackles with a tension that makes me want to squirm in my seat. As if he is now in tune to my feelings, Trent gives me a knowing smirk. Even behind his sunglasses, I can feel his eyes roaming all over me. Once he pulls onto the highway, I play all his favorite songs today, and once again, he keeps my hand in his, resting it on his thigh. Every so often, he raises our joined hands to his mouth and grazes his lips over my knuckles.
When we reach California, my stomach drops. I’m so close to home and yet a world away at the same time. He doesn’t say it, but I know Trent feels the same way. Even when we talked about his family, he avoided saying anything about his home town of Araminta or what his life was like there. I was dying to know his past and how he got mixed up with my father. Raul Alverez is cruel and despicable. Everything I’ve seen and read about Trent tells me he’s the opposite. I can’t wrap my head around the person he was and the man sitting next to me.
The house Dean rented is, again, on the outskirts of where the races are being held in San Diego. It’s small, intimate, and has a pool and Jacuzzi in the back yard. The house is beautiful and totally something I would live in everyday if I could. We go about choosing rooms, and Trent eyes me when Evita pulls me with her to a room for us to share. My cheeks heat, while he watches us walk away. Part of me wonders what would happen if I stayed with him while the other part of me believes some distance is better.
The guys have two free days before the series starts and we make as many plans as we can. I let Trent take me to the USC campus the first day, while the others check out the zoo. We walk around campus and check out the science and engineering building, where the majority of my classes would be located. After a few hours, I’m not feeling it. It’s not calling to me like I imagined it would.
“I’m ready to go when you are.” I turn to Trent and give him a small smile.
“You don’t want to check out the dorms or anything?” he asks, his brow quirking.
I shake my head sadly. “I’m not really thinking this is the one. The campus is beautiful, don’t get me wrong, and the building is huge, but I just don’t have that ‘this is it’ feeling.”
“Huh,” he nods, and we keep walking, “I never thought of that about colleges, I guess.”
I turn my neck to look at him. “You didn’t look at colleges?”
He shakes his head. “Nope. I left home my senior year of high school and flew to Florida to live the motocross dream. I was already being scouted and AfterHours had already expressed interest in me. I signed my contract and the rest is history.”
“Do you regret not having the experience?” I ask. Trent is twenty-one now and easily could be graduating college in another year if he had gone.
“I don’t,” he says shrugging. “I’m a firm believer that it isn’t the path for everyone. My calling was riding, and I’m living my dream. If college is your dream, you should make sure that you’re at your dream campus. At least you can scratch one off the list, right?”
I nod in agreement, soaking in his words. I want to call him out about it. I can’t help but wonder if he stopped thinking about college because of what happened. If he hadn’t been involved with my father, would Trent’s life be different?
We leave campus and drive to a shopping mall close to the house we’re renting. I tell Trent it’s so I can find a few more casual tops since I’m stretching my vacation out. Really, it’s so I have a few minutes to check in with my father. I do end up buying two new shirts and then we leave. Driving around town, with Trent’s hand in mine, feels natural. I can almost believe we’re a real couple just out running errands or something.
When we get back to the house, the others aren’t home yet. I put my bags away and find Trent in the kitchen. “Want to help with the kabobs?”
“Sure.” I wash my hands and walk over to the makeshift cooking area he created. We each take a stick and he shows me how to assemble the meat and veggie kabobs. “When will everyone be back?”
“Sam’s text said they plan to leave around six,” he says shrugging.
I help clean up while Trent puts our finished products in the fridge until everyone gets home later. They already smell so good; I can’t wait to eat them.
“We have about an hour,” Trent turns to me, “want to go for a swim?”
“Yes, meet you out there,” I call, while dashing up the stairs. We haven’t had an opportunity since we’ve been here to swim. On our first night, everyone got in the Jacuzzi but that was it. I race to the room I share with Evita and put on my favorite white two-piece before grabbing an oversized t-shirt, throwing it on as a cover up, and heading outside. Trent beat me and is already swimming from one end of the pool to the other. I stop short when he makes it to the edge and his eyes find me. Water droplets slide down from his chin to his bare chest, grazing the tattoos sprinkled throughout, before they disappear back into the pool. His hair is darker from being wet, and he runs a hand through the top, making it look messy and wild. My heart rate quickens. That shyness tries to creep up and I shove it back down. Pulling the t-shirt up over my head, I enjoy the moment of power I seem to have over him, his eyes tracking every bare piece of skin I show him. I want to high-five myself when I manage to make it to the stairs leading into the pool, without tripping over myself. Somehow I manage to hold his gaze even while heat is flooding my body and settling in my core. It finally dawns on me that we have the house to ourselves and I have very mixed emotions about it.
Trent seems frozen in place, and once my chest is submerged in the water, I glide toward him. He still hasn’t taken his eyes off mine and the feeling in my chest is squeezing around my heart. I feel mesmerized by him and needy. I like him watching me. I love that I have some type of effect on him. The water is cooler than I expected, but it does nothing to take the edge off the heat sliding under my skin. When I finally reach him, Trent smirks and pulls me flush against his chest, grunting from the heat of my skin against his. My hands land on his shoulders. He uses his hands to guide my legs around his waist to keep me afloat. I look down and notice he’s standing. Damn, tall people. He laughs at the look on my face.
Walking us over to the edge, Trent turns me so that my back rests against the side of the pool. He looks relaxed, holding me there, while my body dangles weightless between his hard body and the pool. His hand comes up and cups the side of my face, almost adoringly as “you’re beautiful,” tumbles from his lips. Nervous, I duck my head before being able to meet his gaze again.