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Need for Speed (The Elite Book 2)
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NEED FOR SPEED
The Elite #2
ELLA FRANK
BROOKE BLAINE
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by Brooke Blaine & Ella Frank
www.brookeblaine.com
www.ellafrank.com
Edited by Arran McNicol
Cover Design: By Hang Le
Cover Photography: Roberto Viccaro
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Contents
Synopsis
Also by Ella Frank
Also by Brooke Blaine
1. Panther
2. Solo
3. Panther
4. Solo
5. Panther
6. Solo
7. Panther
8. Solo
9. Panther
10. Solo
11. Panther
12. Solo
13. Panther
14. Solo
15. Panther
16. Solo
17. Panther
18. Solo
19. Panther
20. Solo
21. Panther
22. Solo
23. Panther
24. Solo
25. Panther
26. Solo
27. Panther
28. Solo
29. Panther
30. Solo
31. Panther
32. Solo
33. Panther
34. Solo
35. Panther
36. Solo
Thank You
About Ella Frank
About Brooke Blaine
Synopsis
Need for Speed is the continuation of Solo and Panther’s story and should only be read after book one, Danger Zone.
They train to serve their country.
They strive to be the best.
But only a select few can be...
The Elite
* * *
MATEO MORGAN
CALL SIGN: SOLO
Reckless, arrogant, and bold, Solo is as known in the U.S. Navy for his bad-boy reputation as he is for his skills as a fighter pilot. It’s a surprise to his peers, then, when he’s chosen to train and compete at the most prestigious naval aviation academy in the world.
MISSION RULES:
1. Kick everyone’s ass.
2. Do whatever it takes to win.
3. Do your best to distract the competition.
4. Especially when that competition is a gorgeous blue-eyed perfectionist who makes your blood run hot.
* * *
GRANT HUGHES
CALL SIGN: PANTHER
Disciplined, smart, and confident, Panther can’t afford not to play by the rules. As the son of a top Navy commander, all eyes are on him, and being anything less than number one is unacceptable.
MISSION RULES:
1. Keep it safe in the air.
2. Prove you’re more than Commander Hughes’s son.
3. No distractions. Stay focused.
4. Don’t fall for your competition—especially not the rebellious heartbreaker with lips made for sinning.
In the heat of the hot California sun, tempers flare and desires ignite as Solo and Panther try to resist their attraction while fighting to be number one.
With passion this intense, the question remains:
Who’s gonna come out on top?
Also by Ella Frank
The Exquisite Series
Exquisite
Entice
Edible
The Temptation Series
Try
Take
Trust
Tease
Tate
True
Confessions Series
Confessions: Robbie
Confessions: Julien
Confessions: Priest
Confessions: The Princess, The Prick & The Priest
Confessions: Henri
Confessions: Bailey
Sunset Cove Series
Finley
Devil’s Kiss
Masters Among Monsters Series
Alasdair
Isadora
Thanos
Standalones
Blind Obsession
Veiled Innocence
PresLocke Series
Co-Authored with Brooke Blaine
ACED
LOCKED
WEDLOCKED
Fallen Angel Series
Co-Authored with Brooke Blaine
HALO
VIPER
ANGEL
An Affair In Paris
Elite Series
Co-Authored with Brooke Blaine
Danger Zone
Co-Authored with Brooke Blaine
Sex Addict
Shiver
Wrapped Up in You
All I Want for Christmas…Is My Sister’s Boyfriend
Also by Brooke Blaine
South Haven Series
A Little Bit Like Love
A Little Bit Like Desire
The Unforgettable Duet
Forget Me Not
Remember Me When
L.A. Liaisons Series
Licked
Hooker
P.I.T.A.
Romantic Suspense
Flash Point
PresLocke Series
Co-Authored with Ella Frank
Aced
Locked
Wedlocked
Fallen Angel Series
Co-Authored with Ella Frank
HALO
VIPER
ANGEL
An Affair In Paris
Elite Series
Co-Authored with Ella Frank
Danger Zone
Standalone Novels
Co-Authored with Ella Frank
Sex Addict
Shiver
Wrapped Up in You
All I Want for Christmas…Is My Sister’s Boyfriend
1 Panther
I HAD HIM.
As Commander Levy navigated through the clouds on the defensive, I saw my chance to win this thing. I moved in behind him, preparing to lock on to my target when I felt it.
Air. In the cockpit.
My heart stopped as I realized in that split second what I had to do. In a matter of heartbeats, the air pressure would drop, and the rush would send the jet into a free fall I wouldn’t be able to recover from.
“Air in the cockpit,” I said over the comm. “Ready to eject.”
I didn’t have time to think or panic as I readied myself for what I had to do. I’d never ejected before, but we’d all been trained thoroughly for emergency situations, knowing what risks we took every time we flew. With my brain on autopilot, I couldn’t dwell on how dangerous ejecting could be, not when the alternative was crashing along with the plane.
At that moment, the instrument panel went haywire, the jet dropping so fast that I had to act, and act now.
“Altitude dropping. Controls lost.” As soon as I uttered the words, I positioned my body so that when the rockets under my seat shot me out, I’d have a chance of coming out of this alive.
It all happened so fast. I remember reaching for the handle to eject, the canopy flying open overhead, and then suddenly, I was rocketed up into the sky with a force that felt like it was breaking every bone in my body. I’d never felt so much pain before in my life, and for an instant I wondered how bad the damage was.
As the seat detached from me, the parachute automatically opened, slowing the force of my fall,
and it was then that I saw the jet below me, hurtling toward the ocean. I couldn’t take my eyes off it as it crashed against the water, shattering into pieces.
I’d been inside only seconds ago. If I’d hesitated, I wouldn’t have had time to eject…
The room was too bright as my eyes struggled to open. White and sterile and smelling strongly of alcohol, my room at Mesamir Hospital greeted me once again, a welcome alternative to being six feet under.
Awake now, I struggled to sit up, but when blinding pain shot through my head, chest, and shoulders, I moaned and collapsed back into the pillow.
How bad off was I? I didn’t remember much after being airborne. It was like my brain had shut off, shielding me from the trauma. I vaguely remembered hitting the ice-cold Pacific Ocean, but everything else was a blur.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
I opened one eye to see a nurse wheeling in a cart, stopping by my bedside. She scanned the band on my wrist and smiled at me.
“Welcome back, Mr. Hughes. How are you feeling?”
“I—” My throat was raw and aching, like I’d swallowed gravel.
“Sore? One moment.” She left the room and came back a minute later with a plastic cup full of ice chips and water. “Slow sips. You’ve been out for a while.”
God, the water tasted better than anything, and in my greed, I took in a bit too much and nearly choked.
“That’s probably enough for now,” she said, setting the cup on the stand beside the bed, and it was only then that I felt another presence in the room. Houdini stood quietly by the windows, a mixture of relief and worry on his face.
“H-hey,” I rasped.
He started forward as the nurse began to take my blood pressure, and when he stopped by the bed, I saw that he looked like shit warmed over—and told him so.
A faint chuckle left him, and then he shook his head. “It’s not every day your friend projectiles out of a plane.”
I went to sit up again and winced at the movement.
“Use this,” the nurse said, handing me a remote. Then she pushed one of the buttons and the bed began to rise so I was in a sitting position. It hurt like hell, but I wasn’t about to complain.
“Good to see ya awake,” Houdini said, falling into the seat beside me.
“How long was I out?”
“Couple days. But don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything. They’ve postponed classes for at least two weeks while they investigate.”
Damn. I’d lost two days? Classes had been shut down?
Pain lanced through my body as I shifted a bit. I didn’t want to ask what I was about to, but I needed to know. “How bad is it?”
“No hope for the Hornet. Dead and gone in the Pacific. You, on the other hand, aren’t missin’ any pieces, so that’s a plus.”
I looked down to see all my limbs were indeed intact, no casts to be seen.
“If I’m okay, why do I feel pummeled to shit?”
“Just because you didn’t lose an appendage doesn’t mean you’re okay, Mr. Hughes,” the nurse said, as she pushed a syringe of drugs into my IV. “You’re badly bruised and need to take it easy.”
“You’re saying I hurt this bad from a few bruises?”
“More than just a few. Take a look.” Houdini pulled up the camera app on his phone and handed it to me, and…holy shit. I didn’t even recognize myself. There were streaks of purple all over my face, and blood vessels in both eyes had burst, which was enough to scare anyone looking my way, myself included.
Curious about the way my upper body felt like it’d been hit by a train, I pulled down the neck of my hospital gown, and when I saw the massive black bruises across my shoulders, I could only stare.
“I heard your doc say you’re lucky you didn’t break your collarbones from the force of the straps pullin’ on you when you ejected,” Houdini said.
I had a feeling I’d see the same marks around my ribs, since it hurt to take a good breath, but I’d look later. I was alive, and that was what mattered.
I stayed silent while the nurse finished up what she was doing, and then she left to let the doctor know I was awake.
“Wanna talk about it?” Houdini said once we were alone.
“It all happened so fast…” I picked up the cup and took a small sip of water, and that small move felt like it took a massive effort.
“We were all watchin’. About gave everyone a heart attack when you made that call. Man, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Solo lose it like that before.”
“Solo? Why? What happened?”
“Well, we didn’t see ya at first, and I don’t know what happened. He went apeshit, tried to leave the room like he was gonna go rescue you himself.”
“That’s crazy.”
Houdini nodded. “I know. Rescue got to you fast, though. And almost everyone’s been by while you were out, so that’s where all those came from.”
I looked around the room at where he gestured to well over a dozen get-well and fighter jet balloons hovering around the ceiling, as well as one massive bouquet of tulips on the stand beside me. “Who are the flowers from?”
Houdini reached for the note, and when he flipped it open, both eyebrows shot up.
“What? My parents?”
“No, they brought the roses over there when they came.”
“Then who?”
Houdini didn’t say a word as he flipped the card around.
Panther,
I’d appreciate it if you tried harder not to get killed. I can’t beat you if you’re dead.
~Solo
I laughed, the vibration fucking my chest over, but I couldn’t help it. That card was about as sentimental as anyone would ever get from Solo, but that’d been part of my attraction to him, hadn’t it?
“Guess he felt guilty about not comin’ by.”
“He didn’t?”
“Nope. Funny how he freaked so hard and then didn’t even bother comin’ by to check on you. Guess that’s Solo for ya.”
Huh. There was something peculiar in that statement, and had the drugs not kicked in and made my head fuzzy, maybe I could’ve pointed it out. As it was, I was drifting slowly, my eyes flickering shut as Houdini kept up a rant about our fellow trainee.
Just before I knocked out, one question lingered in my mind: why hadn’t Solo come to see me?
2 Solo
IT WAS AMAZING how long a day could feel when you had nothing better to do than stare at a clock. But for the last two days that was exactly what I’d been doing.
Sitting. Staring. And waiting.
In fact, I’d become a damn expert at waiting. Ever since Panther’s voice had come over the comm stating there was air in the cockpit and he’d have to eject, it felt as though my life had shifted gears. From fast-paced, where everything was go, go, go, to slow motion, where nothing was happening, and I was left in this bizarre holding pattern where not even sleep could free me. I was in a waking nightmare, one that seemed determined to go on and on and on.
I stared at the adjoining wall of my room that I shared with Panther—correction, that I used to share with Panther—and threw the tennis ball so it would hit the floor, rebound off the wall, and make its way back to me where my ass was planted on the ground. It wasn’t the most productive thing I could be doing with my time, but hey, at least it was passing it.
The steady thump thump of the ball before it came back to me reminded me I was still alive, that I was still here, and considering what we’d all witnessed two days ago, it seemed like the safest option for me.
The night Panther had gone down, some of the guys had chosen to hit the bar just outside of the base. But I was not in the mood to sit around and dissect one of the most terrifying sights of my life.
Watching Panther catapult out of his jet as it nosedived to the ocean below had shaken me to my very core. Sure, we all trained for it. That moment where everything went to shit and you had to make that life-and-death decision, not knowing if choosin
g life would ultimately save you. But standing there safe and helpless on the ground, bearing witness to someone’s life hanging in the balance, brought home the danger of the move fucking quick.
Add in the fact that my brother died doing the exact same maneuver, and I was skirting around feelings and emotions for Panther that I hadn’t yet identified. Suddenly that moment I had trained for seemed like the last thing I could mentally handle.
So what had I done? Nothing. Since the moment Panther hit the water, to when they’d pulled him free and we’d been told he was alive but unconscious. I’d somehow made it through the debrief, headed back to my room, and hadn’t left since.
Several of the guys had stopped by, Gucci included, trying to convince me to come down and see Panther. But I still hadn’t been able to work up the nerve to see him in person.
Fuck. Why him? No, that wasn’t right, because I wouldn’t wish this on anyone. But the idea of Panther’s strong, lively body lying on some hospital bed made my stomach revolt. Especially when I thought of the last time I’d seen him stretched out on a mattress.