“Sure thing, boss,” he called and my stomach lurched as the cart started moving.
I stood upright and laughed as we began to move uphill. The carts had a top speed of about thirty miles per hour, but they needed to build up to that and be heading downhill to achieve it too.
“Winners get the glory,” I called as we began to move faster and my boots slipped on the slick roof. “Losers get to jump in the lake butt naked before class tomorrow!”
Danny whooped excitedly as he put the pedal to the floor and the electric motor whirred as it fought a battle against the hill.
I managed to stay upright until we crested the hill, but as we began to pick up speed and we descended on the other side, I almost slipped and fell, dropping into a squat and grabbing the edge of the roof to save myself just before I did.
I laughed as adrenaline rocketed through my veins, burning through my grief and letting me forget. Just for a little while. Just long enough.
We were ahead of the other cart but Chad was grinning ferociously and as he nosed it up beside us, he swung the wheel around, ramming us hard enough to make the cart wobble precariously.
I probably should have bitched him out about it but my heart was leaping and pounding in the best fucking way and as we sped up the next hill, I couldn’t help but laugh at the feeling of the icy wind tangling through my black hair and messing it the fuck up.
We rounded corners at breakneck speed, the carts almost toppling more than once as they lifted up onto two wheels before slamming back down onto the path again.
This was going to end badly, I could fucking tell. And yet I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to bathe in the manic laughter tearing from our lips and soak it all into my soul so that I could sleep well tonight, knowing that there was more to my life than fucking pain and sorrow and regret.
Up and up the mountain paths we climbed, the carts topping out between fifteen and twenty miles an hour as they struggled with the ascent, but I didn’t care. Because around the next bend was the steepest damn hill on campus. And I was willing to bet we could push these little beauties up to fifty miles an hour if we free fell down that.
Toby was taunting me as Chad managed to pull his cart up level with ours and I ducked even lower so the wind resistance wouldn’t cost us the race as I fought to make my body as small as possible.
The carts rounded the bend and the path dropped away before us, a yell of excitement passing my lips as we shot over the top of the hill and suddenly found ourselves flying downhill.
I yelled in exhilaration and more than a little fear as we rolled faster and faster, the library appearing through the trees up ahead and students diving off of the path before us as they saw us coming.
Chad and Danny started ramming the carts into each other, making me rock and sway wildly on the roof and Toby even shouted out for them to slow down.
“We’d better fucking win this, Danny!” I commanded because if I lost then this whole damn thing would be for nothing. My mood would drop faster than a whore’s panties on pay day and I’d be back to goddamn moping all over again.
We sped up but Chad did too, ignoring Toby’s protests as he swerved away from us and we raced towards the library. We were inching ahead, but not by much and I started cursing beneath my breath as desperation clawed at me. I had to win. It wasn’t a fucking option to lose. There was no way I could accept being anything but the best. It was my defining fucking feature.
We shot towards the library at high speed and I whooped in victory a second too soon. Chad swerved back towards us with a howl of defiance and the front of his cart took out our back wheel.
Our cart spun out wildly and I clung to the roof for dear life as the world blurred and my fingers cut into the metal as I fought to cling on.
We were going way too fast as we shot straight towards the wooden doors which fronted the library, the finish line spurring us on.
There was a horrible sound of grinding metal and Danny cursing and then all of a sudden the cart hit something, the back end lurching skywards and bucking me off of it with the impact.
I flew through the air with a shout of panic for several achingly long moments where all I could think was this is really going to hurt.
My back hit something hard but it gave way and I was falling again, cursing as I slammed down onto rough carpet and rolled so many times that I couldn’t have counted if I’d tried.
I finally crashed into a desk and I wheezed as I flopped down onto my back, my entire body crying out with pain as I dragged in a shuddering breath.
“Holy fuck, Blake! What happened?” Tatum’s voice found me and suddenly I was looking up at her beautiful face as she stared down at me in concern.
It took me another moment to figure out what had happened. I’d crashed into the library doors and they’d burst open at the impact, allowing me to keep falling and rolling
