“Well, yeah, if we’re keeping it real,” I answered honestly.
Zoey lowered her mask, rolled her eyes, and got out of the passenger side. I watched as she came over to the driver’s and snapped her neck, telling me to move. I pulled out of the cart and got into the passenger’s seat. Before she could finish telling me to get ready, she launched. Her take off was jumpy. She had to get used to the accelerator and steering wheel coordination, but she kept stride until she got it. Zoey started cutting short, swerving and busting U-turns before I felt she was quite ready…or maybe I wasn’t quite ready. On the low, she was scaring the shit out of me, but I would never whisper a word of fear to a woman. When she came to a smooth stop, I was relieved. However, my ease didn’t last too long because as I was wrapping up our rentals with the manager, I caught Zo staring across the lot at quads.
“No,” I spoke adamantly in her ear.
Zoey didn’t give me the startled reaction I was going for. Instead, she kept her eyes on the quads.
“We have to,” she murmured.
“Have to?”
“Yeah.” She turned to me. “You ever met that time in your life where you have this short period of insanity? That small stretch of time where you can do whatever crazy things you want without considering the consequences? It’s because you know you’ll likely never get the opportunity again. You may never feel the euphoria again, so you just go for it.”
I stared at her for a while, receiving so many revelations from the many metaphors she gave. Did she not think she would go away again? Did she not think she’d be with me again? Did she think this was a one-time thing? Or was it simply about riding quads?
“Never mind.” She exhaled and began to walk off.
I caught her by the hand and she jerked back to where we were joined, then her eyes traveled up to mine. Our gazes locked and something clicked. There was some crazy type of channeling and I found myself nodding my head, agreeing to the race.
I knew precisely what Zoey meant, far more than I would admit to her or anyone in that moment. I knew there were things I wanted to do with her, to her, and for her that she may not agree to because she was not ready for it. She needed time to grow and experience life without my influence. She was still young. But I knew. I had completely allowed reality to escape me while out there with her. Hell, I willed it to. I wanted everything I could take in that period of time in paradise with her. I wanted to do shit that I’d never thought of. Crazy shit. Selfish shit. Ill consequential shit. And I started with this high-speed race with her.
We spent the next three hours on the race course, riding Kawasaki KFX 700s where Zoey wore my ass out. She won all but two races against me. To say she didn’t walk off the lot that day with her chest out, talking mad shit wouldn’t be describing her gloat.
Zoey and I returned to the house for a shower and nap. That night for dinner Barry and Rob tagged along. We had dinner at a low key restaurant where we took shots and had a blast talking about nothing at all, but finding humor in everything. Zoey fit in like an old friend of ours. She didn’t appear uncomfortable being the only female, and so far from home. I didn’t mind her drinking, especially after the way she explained her private perspective on being here with me.