chapter 14

She could ride, there was no question of that. Halfway through the course it occurred to Two that if he were able to die, he might be a little bit afraid. He wondered if she did this to all her prospective lovers to see if they had as much guts as her? He felt her continue to pick up speed, the bike roared around the curves and had almost skidded out of control when it hit a patch of gravel on the last switchback. He'd felt her sort of flex, then saw the Matrix code alter slightly and the bike skid halt. That ought to be impossible for a plugged human, right? He checked her code, no, not part program, just human.

Finally they reached the end of the illegal course. Killa slowed to a stop then twisted around grinning evilly.

"So, how'd you like it? Fast enough for you?" She was taunting him! He could imagine some of the reactions she'd gotten in the past.

"It was adequate." He said with a smirk. "But we could do it faster."

"Really? With me on the back?"

"Yes."

She paused for a moment, then slid off the bike and offered it to Two, "Let's see."

He just smirked and moved down to the front of the bike and motioned for her to get on the back. She got on and put her arms around his waist. Since he was so much bigger than her, she had to hold him close to get a good grip. Fine with him.

"Are you certain you want to do this Killa?" Two asked, teasingly.

"You don't scare me Two." She said laughing, "I'm sure you wouldn't say you could do it if you couldn't."

Actually he could go a lot faster than she had, but he knew she could have gone faster too if she wasn't concerned about his safety. And she was human- -it wasn't a fair comparison. What if he did skid out of control? He'd survive of course but she wouldn't. Or if he managed to phase with her, there'd be a lot of explaining to do. Suddenly this challenge wasn't as appealing as before.

Killa felt Two pause, then felt his body tense. What was the problem?

"Killa, we would rather not do this," his voice sounded tentative, like he expected her to make fun of him.

"Okay, Two, you don't have to. I'll be happy to take us back to the dojo."

"If something were to happen we would regret it very much." He held her hands and gave then a light squeeze.

"It's ok." She felt him relax beneath her. Good. "Here, let's switch."

They switched and she rode around the course again, but went more slowly. She shouldn't have pushed it so much last time. She was as bad as them, pushing Two to try to outdo her in something she knew she was really good at. But he'd been really sweet about it, surprisingly.

Two held her closer as they neared the dojo, like he didn't want to let her go. He'd been so tender, that surprised her. Passionate she expected from him, aggressive, but not tenderly affectionate. She could feel him lean his head against her as they turned the last corner and the dojo came into view. Randall and One had already gone inside. She felt a slight pang of guilt that they had been gone so long, but Randall had said it was ok.

Two released her as they rolled to a stop and got off the bike. Killa rolled the bike inside the dojo; this area was a little dangerous after dark and Randall would kill her if she allowed the bike to be stolen before she had a chance to race it. And she needed it to make money.

She should call her friends about the tuition and see what they were going to do, and, shoot; she forgot she was supposed to go to a party with Liz. What time was it? 8:30? Holy cow, she'd have to call Liz and explain, she was supposed to be at Liz's house thirty minutes ago for Liz to fix her up. Liz needed her to go to a frat party for some reason. Killa was in too much of a hurry to listen to the whole explanation on the answering machine, just called back and said, "Yes." Whatever it was, she knew it would be fun; Liz was crazy.

"Thanks for the ride. We enjoyed it." Two said softly behind her. She'd been so lost in worrying about paying for tuition and her plans for tonight she'd forgotten Two!

"You're welcome Two. I enjoyed it also." She smiled at Two, who smiled back. He had a nice smile; she'd never seen him smile before. It wasn't a big smile, sort of a gentle up curving of his lips, but it was a smile and not his usual smirk.