Fast & Wet (The Fast 2)

“Tell me about it.” I feel like I could write a technical manual on tough and stubborn at this point.

Thank god, Alessi only has bruised ribs, a concussion, and a compression fracture in his neck. They’re expecting him to make a full recovery, and he’ll be discharged in the next day or two. It could have been so much worse.

We’ve been back to the hospital every day, but we need to leave for the Russian Grand Prix. So, this is Cole’s final visit, for now. These races are back-to-back weekends. There wasn’t time to go home, we just extended our stay here in Singapore.

I let Klara know that Cole asked me to move in, officially, not just as an informal post-sex request. She’s thrilled for me and will be finishing her master’s courses up soon, anyway, so the timing is perfect. She has a few months left, so there’s no rush on her end, but I’m not waiting. As soon as we’re back home, I want to move in with him.

Enough time has passed between us. I’m not wasting more of it.

“Sometimes I think they have it right,” Mallory says, watching the guys through the door. “Just punch each other, get it over with, then move on.”

“Could you imagine how much easier life would be?”

“I have a list of people I’d like to test my theory out on,” she grins.

Lennox is trying to steal Alessi’s jello. The others are throwing plastic spoons at one another, laughing, and acting like this is a frat party. Even Jack, who was so enraged and upset after the accident, has his dimples on full display as he smiles alongside Alessi.

“Honestly, I don’t know how they do it,” I motion my hand at them. “Cole was absolutely beside himself, worried sick. When we heard Alessi would be okay, he said he got twenty-four hours to wallow, then that was it. Sure enough, twenty-five hours later, he snapped out of it.”

“Yeah, that’s an athlete thing, Lennox does it, too. They get one day to work through the issue, but then it’s time to let it go so they can focus and prepare for the next race.”

I don’t tell her that Cole actually set the alarm on his phone. The minute it went off, he stretched, cracked his neck, took a deep breath—and moved on. It was one of the most fascinating and disciplined things I’ve ever seen in my life.

“I need to learn that trick,” I sip down the last of my coffee.

God knows moving on past heartache, trauma, or even perceived slights has never been something I could do.

No, I am the girl who remembers random comments strangers made to me years ago or questions I answered in college. I replay them in my head, wishing I had said something different, wishing I had behaved just a margin cooler.

I am the girl whose thoughts and memories get stuck in my mind forever, kicking about and ricocheting into the still of the night.

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Except when I’m with Cole, and it all turns off.

“You and I, both. Girl, I can hold a grudge forever.” Mallory scans me out of the corner of her eye, wanting to say something but hesitating. We’ve chatted a lot the last few days in the hospital. I think we’re both surprised by how much we’ve shared so quickly.

Finally, she continues, “Lennox and I kind of broke up after the whole cocaine scandal. We were both stupid,” she shrugs. “I went back to New York, and it took weeks for me to come to my senses. Apparently, I should have just slugged him.”

“Weeks? Please. I have you beat by over five years.”

At that moment, Cole sees me in the hallway, and gives me a little wink that melts my insides, pulls me back from that time warp, hauls me into the present where he is. Where I am. Where we are.

“Years?” She gasps and points at Cole.

“Mmm-hmm, he was my first love, my high school sweetheart.”

“Oh, wow. I feel like this is a story that could take hours and multiple bottles of wine.”

“Ha, maybe. Boy meets girl. Girl falls in love. Boy leaves girl, breaks her heart.”

“And now?” She asks.

“Now, six years later, boy and girl still love each other. Boy wants girl to move in with him,” my face flushes from telling someone our very condensed, simplified version of events.

I’m surprised to find myself sharing as much with Mallory, too. It isn’t like me to talk about Cole with anyone besides Makenna, but there’s something about Mallory that puts me at ease. Like she’s been through this before, and part of me is eager to unload on an understanding ear.

“Damn, I hope boy is groveling.”