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“Fuck no. I’m looking forward to that part.” His eyes dart briefly to mine before dropping back to the can in his hands. “It’s just, you know, you’re helping me out with a place to stay, and I want to help you out with a job, if that’s what you need.”
“Offering you a place to stay was self-serving.” I pull his hand off his beer and thread our fingers together.
“So is me trying to help you with a job.”
“How do you figure?”
“I’d rather have you working close to me than at the spa.”
I drop his hand like a hot potato. “You wouldn’t trust me to work there?”
He snatches my hand back and tugs it toward to his chest, bringing our faces closer together. “I don’t trust other people not to hit on you—you’re too hot. But I didn’t say I don’t want you working at the spa. I said I want you working closer to me. If that’s an option.”
My heart thumps heavily inside my chest.Damn this is moving fast, but I kind of like it.
“So, you’re the possessive type?” I’m helpless to stop the grin from spreading across my face.
“Apparently.” He grabs the back of my head with his free hand and presses his lips to mine. “Now, show me where I’m gonna be sleeping.”
Chapter 10
Jace
“Thisisit.”Axelbeams proudly as I pull up to the address he gave me and step out of the truck.
Eyes hidden behind my shades; I spin around taking in the property. A large house sits directly in front of me, and there's a massive barn off to the side, slightly behind it. It's situated in a way that I doubt you can even see it from the house, since the attached garage would block the view, and the back of the house is angled away from the barn. Not that the giant horse house is an eyesore. It might be the general shape of a barn, with a pointy roofline that tapers down the further you get from the center, but it’s elongated rather than being strictly triangular, and it’s not painted bright red. It’s more of a modern-looking dark wood with even darker trim, same as the house. Not quite contemporary, but not full-on country either.
The land itself is sprawling, with wild grass growing over gently rolling hills until it meets the treeline at the edge of the property. It’s sort of ideal as far as location goes, because bikes are loud as fuck, and there’s not another house in sight. I wonder if there are any trails in the trees. And the barn looks sizeable enough from the outside, but that’s not exactly a green light.
“What do you think?” Axel’s voice is tinged with excitement.
“Seems like a great spot.” I turn my gaze back to the barn. “But we both know this was built for horses, not bikes. What do you have to do to get it ready?”
I follow Axel toward the large doors as he rattles a list over his shoulder. “Tear out the horse stalls, truck in more dirt, frame in a break room and maybe even a bunk area if we offer overnight camps—fortunately there’s already plumbing since there’s a bathroom inside—and hopefully there’s enough room left over to put in a foam pit to practice jumps.”
The massive doors swing open to reveal a mostly blank canvas of dirt. It wouldn’t be impressive if you didn’t make your living playing in it, but it’s hard not to catch Axel’s excitement now that I’ve seen it.
Aside from a corner in the back that’s framed in to house the existing bathroom, and some sort of small office, the entire space is not only wide open but tall.Tall enough to build a launch point where you could throw jumps. Even better, the exposed rafters might support a harness that would let us suspend a rider if it looks like they won’t land a jump they’re attempting. Between that and a foam pit, there’s no safer way to practice the complex tricks that win competitions.
“I haven’t had the electricity turned on yet, but hopefully, the windows let in enough light for you to get the idea.”
Axel follows behind me as I prop my shades on top of my head and venture inside. He can’t see the way my jaw drops to the floor as I envision what this place would look like finished. “Can you imagine if we had a space like this to train in growing up? We’d… Well, you’d still be you, only better, and I’d have probably mastered that Cliffhanger,” I refer to the trick that ended my riding career when I wasn’t able to land it.
“You didn’t master the Cliffhanger because you were more interested in your cameras than your bike.” Leave it to my de facto brother to give me a healthy dose of reality. He’s not wrong. Although we met in the sport and eventually started training together when he moved in with us to get away from his rough home life, Axel spent his free time on his bike while I spent mine fiddling with camera equipment. That’s why he’s the pro and I’m the cameraman. I’m not complaining—I love what I do. But I can’t help wondering if I’d have achieved more with more resources.
“And we did have something similar to this,” Axel interrupts my ride down memory lane. “You remember the place that used to be a gymnastics studio? I used to beg your dad to take us every Sunday to practice jumps in that foam pit.”
“We had to drive three towns over and rent time.” I point out as I walk the perimeter, mentally cataloging how to fit all the features on Axel’s list. “And it wasn’t a sleepover camp like you’re talking about.”
“So, if there was a camp like this when we were learning you would’ve gone to it?”
“Hell yeah.”
“Then you’re in? You’ll help me make it happen?” Axel shoots a smile that says he already knows my answer, and while it’s tempting to say I’ll build something the younger me would’ve loved, I’m not ready to say yes. Putting my initial excitement aside, I have no idea what this endeavor entails. Would it be full-time or part-time? Would I still have the freedom to travel to film, if I don’t want to give that up? Could I make a living teaching kids how to ride?
He must sense my hesitation because he plows ahead. “Wouldn’t it be cool to live in one spot for a while? I know you know how lonely it can get on the road.” He doesn’t add the part about him not being there, but we’re both thinking it. We’ve been traveling together for too long not to.
“You aren’t obligated to domesticate me just because you’ve taken the plunge,” I retort, even though my mind has already wandered in that direction with Blake. Normally, I wouldn’t hide something like that from my best friend, but since Blake’s still in the closet, it’s not fair of me to out him. “Besides, I don’t see how I’d be any less lonely here than on the road, considering you’ll be spending all your free time with Lennon.”
