Page 88 of Rogue Riders Duet

Me.

But I don’t need them, hell, I don’t need anyone.

Except Dane.

I’m here to ride, win, and finish what I started, and that’s it. I shouldn’t even talk to them or worry about them talking, not talking, or anything else, to me. I should stop letting them hang around me and only talk to Dane. Maybe Piper. But that’s it.

Piper chooses that moment to press into a knot just above my hip, and I actually moan. Like, out loud.

She laughs. “Thought you said this was hell.”

“It is,” I mutter into the table. “Keep going.”

Piper moves to my lower back, knuckles dragging heat into the muscles along my spine. I flinch when she hits a tight spot near the scar on my left side.

“Jesus,” she mutters. “How are you even riding like this?”

I grunt into the padded table. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s not nothing, Alaina,” she says hesitantly. “I… I watched your crash. On TV, when it happened.”

I hold my breath, my newly loosened muscles all tensing at once.

Oh. Oh.

I thought she just figured out I was a girl, not that I was Alaina Crews. Guess the missing dick was only half the giveaway.

“And I heard all about you and your injuries, what you went through. You’re like…” She pauses as her thumbs dig into a knot on my lower back, making me twitch. “You’re one of the ‘how bad can it get?’ examples we get in the med prep courses. Literally. When you apply to work on the circuit, they show you examples of what can happen if you don’t pull riders fast enough, or when someone keeps going with a ruptured this or fractured that. But here you are.” She presses a thumb into the side of my hip as she says it, like punctuation. “Alaina Crews. The cautionary tale. The ‘almost died on track, never raced again’ slide.”

“Wow.” I swallow past the lump in my tight throat. “Didn’t know I was famous.”

Piper snorts. “You are. I mean, you dethroned Delacroix last Sunday.”

I huff. “Raine dethroned him. I just showed up, and Luc had a bad race. It wasn’t about me being that good.”

“Well, Delacroix is off his game lately.” Piper rolls her shoulder as she moves around the table. “Apparently, he’s in love.”

My brain turns into a pretzel.

I wonder if she can massage that too?

I scoff, “Luc? In love?”

Just today, he was all over me. His breath, his hand, his body, hard against mine. His mouth was at my throat like he was starved for the contact. So if he’s in love with someone, why the hell would he do that?

“Sure it’s not just another rumor about him?” I add, trying to sound less interested in the answer than I am.

Piper hums under her breath. “Delacroix told me himself. He’s all moody and distracted. Apparently, he’s been trying to charm someone who keeps shutting him down.”

No. It can’t be me, can it?

Piper keeps working, but her voice goes soft. “He’s got a type, huh?”

My mouth is dry as I ask, “Does he?”

She laughs under her breath. “Looks like it’s quiet, broody boys with dangerous cheekbones and rage issues.”

I almost laugh. Almost.