Wreck Me (Corrupt Legacy Series #2)

Maybe it will cure me if I see something that would butcher my heart. Like him with someone else. That would be the perfect thing for my messed up situation. But while I try to focus on the pros, my heart slowly cracks.

I collide with a chest, and Dane steadies me.

“You came with him,” he snarls in accusation.

What? Was this a sacred place I tainted by coming with my best friend?

“Have fun. Isn’t it your go-to response when life doesn’t happen the way you want?” I shout right back, stalking toward the forest.

“And I always seem to survive.”

I stop abruptly. “Yeah, for how long?”

“I have just one life.”

“Well, if you can’t be a true legend, then at least be the guy who died young and became one.”

Fire shoots from my eyes, and smoke billows from his nose.

We’re secluded behind a thick tree when Jessica’s high-pitched voice calls for him.

He turns around, and I grip his hand, panic wrapping around my neck, suffocating me.

“Don’t go.”

He pulls his arm away. “I have no reason to stay.”

He has his back to me so he can’t see that I have my arm outstretched, hanging limp between us. It’s strange how you’d like to hold on to someone while knowing you have nothing to offer them. Selfish, greedy. Maybe I am cold-hearted after all.

His back muscles strain, and my arm drops.

“Wrap it up,” I say, then I put my big, fake smile on and pass by him.

I came here to stop it, but now I am leaving, knowing it’s for the best. We’re not together, and we’ll never be. What right do I have to stop him?

The moon is a terrific companion as I keep walking toward the dorm, inhaling the crisp night air. I know this path with my eyes closed.

Closing the door, I call Bailey, but there’s no response. She must be at the IT department. I pack a small bag. It’s a ten-minute walk through the forest toward my favorite place in Greenville.

People never come here. Some say it’s a haunted mansion, uninhabited for a hundred years. But to me, it’s the quietest, most peaceful place.

I’d love to buy it, renovate it, and make it my own. Another impossible dream.

I place the fluffy blanket on the floor and light some candles. Pulling out my laptop, I fully intend on learning, but I end up watching one of Dane’s races.

He is a phenomenon on the track. He drives just like he lives: rash, taking dangerous turns. The number one is plastered on the hood of his car. Fitting because he’s the best out there. I watch enrapt as he controls all those hundreds of horsepower. Even though I am fully engrossed in the screen, I feel him. It’s my heart picking him up, my body lighting up at his nearness, the air around us charging with sparks.

“Stalking me again?”

“I can’t seem to stop.” His words say so much more, and emotions clog my throat.

“You’re fantastic out there.”

“I used to be…”

I lift my gaze. Dane leans against the door frame, hands shoved in his pockets. The dim light from the candles casts a glow on his gorgeous face. He appears almost ethereal.

For a moment, I imagine this is our home.