Need for Speed (The Elite Book 2) Read online

  “Oh yeah?”

  The smile on my face was so ridiculous that I was glad for the mask I wore. “Yeah. That was—”

  “The ride of your life?”

  Arrogant. “Pretty damn close.”

  Solo banked the plane to the right, heading back toward base. “Hmm. Stick with me and maybe I’ll get you there by tonight.”

  For the first time since I’d been back in the cockpit, I felt my body fully relax as Solo began the descent, and just as he was about to land the plane and we would be surrounded by our fellow trainees, I said, “Or maybe tonight, I’ll give you the ride of your life.”

  22 Solo

  “NOW THIS IS what I’m talking about.” I stretched out on the reclining chaise that overlooked the pool, where our fellow trainees were taking a dip on what was a scorching day off. I’d just gotten out, and already the droplets of water along my skin were beginning to disappear, not that I minded. Heat seemed to be in my blood, like attracting like.

  “Whose place is this? We crashing?” Gucci sat on the end of the chaise beside mine, a big glob of sunscreen in his hand as he covered every inch of his bulky body.

  “Nah, it belongs to a friend of Panther’s who’s overseas.”

  “Huh.” Gucci lowered his sunglasses and looked at me. “You been here before?"

  “No.”

  “Then how do you know this is his friend’s place?”

  “I overheard him telling Whiplash when she got here.” I reached over to the side to grab my beer, but when I picked it up, it was empty. “Go get me a beer.”

  Gucci wiped the rest of the sunscreen off on his board shorts and snorted. “What do I look like? Your bitch?”

  “You played the part well enough when I had you eating my dust the other day.”

  “Oh fuck you,” he grumbled as he got to his feet. “That was a lucky break.”

  “No luck about it. I’m just that good.” I grinned at him, my eat-shit smile clearly getting under his skin from the way he began to curse.

  “Am I interrupting something?” Panther said, casting a shadow over me and giving temporary relief from the sun. He looked between us before settling his gaze on me. “What’d you do now?”

  My mouth fell open. “Me? Why’s it always my fault?”

  “Because you’re trouble.” When Panther smirked, Gucci nodded.

  “Don’t act so innocent. Even Panther gets it, and God knows he’s had a front-row seat dealing with your shit.”

  “Oh, go roll around in some more fucking Coppertone, ass.” When Gucci laughed and walked away, Panther took up the spot on the chaise beside me and handed me a fresh beer. “I don’t know how we’re friends, I swear.”

  “Because he calls you out on your shit, and you respect that.”

  I hmphed and sucked down a long swallow of the ice-cold brew. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gucci raiding the massive cooler, and when he saw the full beer in my hand, he pointed at Panther and mouthed, “Who’s your bitch now?”

  Flipping him off, I sat up on the lounge and drank some more as Panther remained quiet and pensive beside me, though more relaxed than he’d been in a while. The week had started out rough, but after our tandem flying adventure, he seemed to have come back into his own. Like he remembered the sheer thrill of what we did and focused on that rather than the past. At least, I hoped that was it. The last few days he’d gone up on his own for the hops, and I hadn’t witnessed any anxiety. Not saying he was cured, because did you ever really forget? I sure as hell never did, and it was what pushed me every time I went up.

  “Another?” Panther said, his voice cutting into my thoughts, and when I looked down, I realized I’d finished off the beer.

  “Damn. Guess I was thirsty.” I set the empty bottle down beside my chair and noticed the way the sun glistened off Panther’s skin, making me want to lick every inch of him. Not that I could see all that I wanted to; he wore a tank with his board shorts to cover the remaining bruises, which, while faded, were still there to serve as a reminder he didn’t want.

  “I’m thirsty too,” he said, and when I looked down at the still-full beer in his hands, he shook his head. “Not for this.”

  Hel-lo. My cock woke up in an instant, and I had to scoot forward and put my elbows on my knees to cover the lust those words had ignited in me.

  As if he knew exactly what he’d done, Panther chuckled. “The house is mine anytime I want it. Nights…weekends…”

  “And you’re just telling me this now?”

  “He only left Wednesday.”

  “He only left… Just who is this guy?”

  “A friend from high school.”

  “Mhmm.” I reached for my beer again and cursed when I came up empty. “Was this a friend with benefits? An ex-turned-friend? A friend who wants to fuck you and asks you to sleep in his bed under the guise of ‘housesitting’ friend?”

  Panther laughed as if it was a ridiculous notion—which it was not, because had he looked in the mirror? There had to be a trail of broken hearts from high school to every place he’d ever been in his life.

  “I don’t know why you’re laughing.”

  “Because this jealous side of you isn’t one I’m familiar with. I like it.”

  “You still haven’t answered the question.”

  “There’s nothing to answer. I’m, uh, not exactly his type, and he’s definitely not mine.”

  “Oh?” My ears perked up. “So what is your type?”

  Panther shook his head and looked over to Phantom and Utah setting up a volleyball net across the pool. Yeah, okay, fine. Not really the conversation to have with a bunch of nosy fuckers around.

  Like that was going to stop me.

  I leaned a little closer to Panther, and he arched a brow.

  “Answer the question, Panther.”

  Panther’s eyes lowered to my mouth, and when I licked along my lower lip, he shifted on his seat.

  “And if I don’t?”

  “If you don’t, I’m going to pretend I didn’t understand your not-so-subtle invitation that you’d like me to spend the night—and leave.”

  Panther scoffed, stretched out on the chaise, and placed his hands behind his head.

  Then he glanced at me and said in a low voice, “You’re really going to give up the opportunity to have all this under you?”

  Jesus. It seemed Panther’s newfound confidence extended to all aspects of his life, and I had to say, I didn’t have one problem with that.

  Shoving to my feet, I turned my back, blocking both myself and Panther from the rest of the crew as I tossed my Aviators on the chaise I’d just vacated. Then I allowed myself the opportunity to give Panther’s body the once-over it deserved.

  “Answer the question,” I said again, and this time it was Panther who licked his lips.

  “What’s my type?”

  Fucker was enjoying teasing me a little too much. I’d make him pay for that later.

  “Hmm…” Panther eyed me as though trying to decide where to start first. “My type is tall, cocky, reckless as all hell, and has a tattoo on the back of his thigh that’s been making my dick hard since he walked out here in his shorts this afternoon.”

  Okay, shit, I hadn’t expected him to be that blunt.

  “Feel like turning around so I can take another look?”

  I looked down to my very visible erection and then back to him. “Unless you want to start explaining why I suddenly have a hard-on to everyone here, you need to give me that towel behind you.”

  Panther sat up and glanced at it before grinning. “You mean that one?”

  “Panther…”

  “I should make you come get it.”

  “And I should make you come and have to explain it to everyone standing on the opposite side of the pool.”

  Panther chuckled and twisted to grab the towel behind him. “Okay, you win. But I answered, so…”

  I held the towel in front of me and eyed him. “So according to you, that means I get all of that under me later.”

  Panther raised his beer and took a swig. “If you’re lucky.”

  As I backed away from him, I grinned. “Don’t you know by now? I’m the luckiest motherfucker around.”

  23 Panther

  “HEY, PANTHER? YOU gonna get your lazy ass up sometime soon? We need another body for volleyball, and you’re the only one left!”

  I opened my eyes just in time to see Houdini lobbing the volleyball in my direction. Catching it before it hit me square in the nose, I sat up on the chaise lounge where I’d taken a quick power nap, to find the guys had erected the pool volleyball net and were all wading in the water on either side.

  At one end, Alphabet, Phantom, Utah, and Solo were talking amongst themselves, and at the other Gucci, Whiplash, and Houdini were all looking in my direction like I was holding up the final game at the Olympics.

  “Hey, don’t be too harsh on him. Maybe the Panther needed a little shuteye to recuperate from this week,” Utah piped up. “You know, since he’s still recovering and all.”

  I tensed at the reminder of my accident, but Solo was slapping the water by Utah’s face, spraying him in his shit-talking mouth. I could’ve kissed him for that, but considering the audience we still had, I made a mental note to thank him later.

  Getting to my feet, I tossed the ball in the air and then caught it in hand as I sauntered over to the steps of the pool and took the first few down.

  As the water lapped around my thighs, Utah flipped Solo off. “It was just a joke. Fuck you, man.”

  When Solo lunged forward and it looked like he was about to come to blows with one of his teammates, I called up the pool, “You think I need recovery time, Utah?” And before he could respond, I pegged the ball in his dir
ection, landing it smack in front of him, again spraying his face with water.

  Houdini let out a bark of laughter and looked at me. “Nice shot, but your aim’s a little off if you wanted to hit his piehole.”

  My aim was spot-on. Utah wiped the water from his eyes. As satisfying as it might’ve been to knock the dumbass out, that wasn’t really my way.

  “All right, boys,” Whiplash said as she moved into position by the net, directly in front of me. “Now that we know whose cock is the biggest—”

  “Mine, right?” Solo called out from his position on the opposite side of the net.

  “I was actually thinking mine,” she said.

  Houdini kicked off the side of the pool and glided over to her. “I don’t know, Whiplash. I don’t think you got a good enough look at my equipment to make that kind of judgment.”

  “And I don’t think I need to see it to make an accurate assessment.” Placing her hands on his shoulders, Whiplash shoved off the bottom of the pool and put all her weight into pushing Houdini away, and as he slipped under the water, she started laughing. “Go back to your corner, little boy.”

  “There ain’t nothing little ’bout me. All you have to do is look.”

  “Right, because it’s so believable when it comes from the source itself.”

  “Okay, if you’re done shooting Houdini down for the five millionth time,” Gucci said from beside me, “can we start sometime soon? If we don’t, my balls are gonna end up looking like raisins.”

  “Fuck, TMI, man,” Phantom called out from the other end of the pool. He tossed the ball in the air and caught it. “All right, girls—no offense, Whiplash.”

  Whiplash shot him the finger.

  “First team to eleven wins.”

  We all moved into position. On my team, Whiplash and Houdini guarded the net while Gucci and myself took the back corners. Over on Solo’s side, Phantom and Alphabet took the back two corners and Utah and Solo stood by the net.

  I was grateful that I’d kept my Aviators in place, because with Solo standing only meters from me, his dark hair glistening with water and his tanned skin looking good enough to lick, I found it difficult to look anywhere but at him.

  The last thing I needed was for one of these assholes to catch me and call me out for staring, because I wasn’t sure I’d be able to do shit to deny it.

  Like he could feel my gaze on him, Solo glanced in my direction, and it didn’t escape my notice the way the water clung to those long lashes, reminding me of that day after the gym where he’d gone to his knees and—

  “Mine!” Whiplash called out in front of me, pulling me from the delicious memory, and when she launched herself out of the pool to smack the ball back over the net into the water between Utah and Solo, Houdini hollered out at the top of his lungs.

  “Fuck yes. Is there anything you can’t do?”

  Whiplash aimed a killer smile Houdini’s way. “No. I don’t believe there is.”

  As she turned away from him, Houdini clutched at his chest and mouthed, Sweet mother of God. He was a goner for her, not that she was giving him the time of day. If only she knew that made her even more appealing in Houdini’s eyes.

  “One. Zero,” Gucci called out, pointing at Solo. “Loser.”

  Solo narrowed his eyes on his friend, whose turn it was to serve. Then he raised his hand and gestured in a bring it on way.

  Gucci chuckled, then tossed the ball in the air and smacked it across the net. The hit was fast, and as the ball soared toward the back of the pool, Alphabet saved it from the water and then sent it to Solo, who managed to lob it back over the net.

  “I got it,” Houdini called out, and as he went for the dive—and missed—Gucci let out a groan.

  “Aww, man. Do you suck at all sports?”

  Houdini turned on his teammate, indignation written all over his face. “Maybe I do. But at least I don’t suck when it counts. You know, in the air, when I’m kicking your ass.”

  “Oh for the love of— Rotate!” Whiplash called out, saving us all from having to witness yet another alpha smack-down between mine and Solo’s BFFs.

  As we all shifted positions, I found myself in the server’s spot, and Solo was still in my eyeline opposite the net.

  Fuck he was gorgeous. Wet, dry, it didn’t matter. As long as he was there and I could see him, my mind automatically went there, and like he knew exactly what I was thinking, he slicked his tongue over his top lip.

  Tease.

  “You gonna serve sometime today?”

  I spun the wet ball between my fingers, then decided that two could play at his little game and nodded. “I’m just checking out my competition.”

  Phantom scoffed as though I was full of shit, but when Solo lowered his eyes over me in a similar fashion, I knew he got my message loud and clear.

  I tossed the ball in the air and smacked the leather hard, sending it flying between Solo and Alphabet and hitting the water.

  “Score, motherfuckers!” Gucci belted out, then turned around to high-five me. “That’s how you do it, my man. Recovering my ass.”

  I couldn’t stop the laugh, and fifteen minutes later, Gucci and Houdini finally found something to bond over—talking shit to the losing team.

  We all climbed out of the pool and grabbed our towels, then wrapped them around our waists and headed back to the loungers.

  Everyone settled in with a drink and a handful of chips or nuts, whatever was left over on the bar in the pool area, and once we were comfortable Houdini said, “So Whiplash, you got a hot date for this ball coming up, or what?”

  With a chip halfway to my mouth, I froze, as did everyone else, as we all looked in Whiplash’s direction. She was stretched out on her stomach, on the lounger at the far end, and had untied the back of her bikini top to avoid getting “lines.”

  Houdini had taken up the lounger to her left, and when she turned her head toward him, I winced, waiting for the inevitable crash and burn that usually came between these two.

  “I would, if you would get your head out of your ass and ask me.”

  “I’ll be fucking damned,” Gucci muttered, as Solo, who was sitting beside me, let out a bark of laughter and shook his head.

  “You finally wore the woman down, asshole. Better ask before she comes to her senses!”

  Completely ignoring Gucci and Solo, Houdini sat up on his lounger and swung his legs over the side to face Whiplash. “You mean it?”

  “I’m still waiting.”

  “Uh, umm…”

  I looked to Solo and wondered how it would feel to ask him to go to the ball, as simply as Whiplash had just done. Like he could read my mind, Solo gave me a half-smile and shrugged, because really, what the hell else could we do without telling everyone we were sleeping together?

  “That’s still not a question,” Whiplash said, and turned her head.

  Houdini slipped off the lounger and went to his knees. “Please, would you go to the ball with me?” When Whiplash said nothing, he added, “Come on, lady. I’m beggin’ here.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, because Houdini was literally down on his knees begging—something I’d never seen him do.

  “Okay.”

  Houdini shook his head and blinked a couple of times. “Sorry, what was that?”

  Whiplash laughed and shoved him in the arm. “I said okay.”

  A smile brighter than the sun took over my friend’s face. “Okay. Holy shit.” Houdini shot to his feet and looked at us all as though checking to make sure we’d heard. “She said okay.”

  “Yeah, yeah, we heard, asshole,” Gucci grumbled. “Now sit down and shut the fuck up.”

  As Houdini planted his ass back in the lounger with a foolish grin on his face, I cast another look toward Solo. He was stretched back on the chaise beside me, his hands behind his head, the sun making his skin all but glow, and I couldn’t help but think that if I were able to ask him to go with me, and he said yes, I’d look just as foolish as Houdini did.

  24 Solo

  “IS THAT EVERYONE?” I asked as Panther strolled back outside through the open sliding glass door. I lounged against the side of the pool, arms stretched over the edge, and finally got to do what I’d wanted to do all day—watch Panther strip.