Chapter 140\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was right. Under his guidance, I found myself improving rapidly, gaining confidence and skill I hadn\u2019t known I possessed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This routine continued for days. Training sessions that left me breathless and exhilarated, rides home where the tension between us grew thicker by the day. and mornings that started with flowers and ended with barely restrained desire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Derek and I still talked, but something had changed. He was more distant, more professional.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I suspected it had something to do with the new rider he was training, but I didn\u2019t pry. The dynamics between the three of us were complicated enough without adding more drama.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I\u2019d decided to follow Sarah\u2019s advice about giving Tristan a chance, but that didn\u2019t mean I was going to make it easy for him. Mate bond or not, he needed to\u00a0<\/p>\n
earn my trust again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And he was earning it. Every day, he was melting my defenses a little more, making me fall deeper despite my best efforts to maintain some distance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today was my eighth race since I\u2019d started, and I was more nervous than I\u2019d been for any of the others. This wasn\u2019t just about proving myself anymore. This was about proving that Tristan\u2019s training had been worth it, that his faith in me was justified.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The competition was fierce tonight. I could see it in the way the other riders moved, the aggressive confidence in their posture. These weren\u2019t amateurs looking for a thrill. These were serious competitors who didn\u2019t appreciate some newcomer winning race after race.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I ran through my pre\u2013race ritual, checking Claire\u2019s engine, adjusting my gear, centering my breathing. Tristan stood nearby, not hovering but present, ready\u00a0<\/p>\n
if I needed anything.\u00a0<\/p>\n
*Remember what we worked on,\u201d he said quietly as I pulled on my helmet. \u201cTrust your instincts, but don\u2019t let emotion override technique.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded, feeling more focused than I ever had before a race.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The starting signal echoed across the track, and we were off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This race was different from the beginning. More aggressive, more dangerous. Riders were taking risks they shouldn\u2019t have been taking, making moves that prioritized winning over safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By the third turn, I understood why. There was money on tonight\u2019s race. Serious money, the kind that made people desperate and reckless.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I held my position in the middle of the pack, waiting for my opportunity. Tristan had taught me patience, had shown me that sometimes the smartest move was to wait while everyone else exhausted themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As we approached the final section of the track, I made my move. The gap I\u2019d been waiting for opened up, and I shot through it like Claire had been launched from a slingshot.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The crowd was on their feet as I crossed the finish line, but something felt wrong. The other riders weren\u2019t celebrating good sportsmanship like usual. There was an ugly energy in the air, something dangerous that made the hair on my armys stand up.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I parked Claire and pulled off my helmet, immediately looking for Tristan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t find him but I saw Derek and he was walking toward me with what looked like pride shining in his eyes, but there was something else there too. Something that looked like concern.\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/2\u00a0<\/p>\n
15:19 Sat, Jan 10\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 140\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGreat race,\u2018 he said when he reached me, but his voice was tense.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong? Where\u2019s Tristan\u2018 I asked, reading his body language.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said I should stay with you for a while, he needed to take care of something.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018What is going on?\u201d I asked through gritted teeth. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d he said nothing but looked at me with pity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I hated that look of pity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Memories Drifted Intao Soft Silence by Kyx Frost 140 Chapter 140\u00a0 He was right. Under his guidance, I found myself […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-second-gear-of-love-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}