Breaking Out Š 2019 by Megan Lowe All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any written, electronic, recorded, or photocopied format without the express permission from the author or publisher as allowed under the terms and conditions with which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution, circulation or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly. Thank you for respecting the work of this author. Breaking Out is a work of fiction. All names, characters, events and places found therein are either from the author's imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to persons alive or dead, actual events, locations, or organizations is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author. For information, contact the publisher, Hot Tree Publishing. www.hottreepublishing.com Editing: Hot Tree Editing Cover Designer: Soxsational Cover Art Formatting: Justine Littleton ISBN: 978-1-925853-28-5
To those who know their heart and stick to it. To those who have the courage to break from the norm. To those who believe in love above everything.
Glossary Breaking Out is an Australian book, written using Australian English spelling and Australian terms that may be unfamiliar to some readers. Here’s a glossary explaining our oftentimes strange and unique language, I hope you enjoy!
Pavlova: A (disputed) Australian dessert. It has a meringue base, topped with whipped cream and an assortment of seasonal fruits. Maltesers: A small malt ball covered in chocolate, known as Whoppers in America. Phar Lap: A legendary Australian racing horse in the late 1920s, early 1930s. He won the Melbourne Cup (also known as the race that stops a nation; the race to win in Australia) as the shortest priced favourite in history. Solicitor: A lawyer. DNF: Did Not Finish.
El Classico: A football (soccer) game played between Real Madrid and Barcelona. It is a massive fixture in the Spanish league. FP 1/2/3: A Free Practice session. Over the course of a MotoGP weekend, there are three sessions which riders and their teams use to get to know the track, the conditions, and how best to handle them. Q 1/2: Qualifying. Used to determine which order riders will start a race. The times a rider sets over the three Free Practice sessions are used to determine whether a rider will participate in either Q1 or 2. Q1 consists of riders whose times are eleventh and below. The two fastest will move onto Q2. Desmosedici GP38: A model of Ducati motorbikes used in MotoGP racing. Pole: To start a race from the first position. Parc fermĂŠ: The area where the riders who finished first, second, third, and the first non-factory bike, park after a race.
Factory: Teams that are directly sponsored by a motorbike constructor. Smarties:
Small
candy-covered
chocolate
beans. Red Flagged: When a race is prematurely stopped. Flyaway Series: A series of MotoGP races held in Asia and Australia. They are held one after the other due to their distance from Europe. Hole Shot: To go into the first corner of a race in first place. CWA: The Country Women’s Association. The largest women’s association in Australia. Its aims are to improve conditions for country women and children and to try to make their lives better. Hot chips: Fries.
Chapter One
Christian When I was three years old, I literally saw my aunt and uncle fall in love right in front of me. I thought things would be the same for me: one day I’d see her and bam! We’d fall in love and ride off into the sunset. Only it wasn’t like that. The girl I love has had my heart since I was ten years old and today I’m going to ask her to marry me, to be mine forever. I know people might say we’re young, but I love her, she loves me, and I know we’re it for each other. Nia Matthews is… well, she’s my everything. When we were younger, she was my friend. Along with her twin brother, Ryder, she was my best friend. Her parents, Cole and Knley, have been part of our team basically forever. Cole was one of our Ryan Racing riders, then when an accident cut his racing career short he became our technical director.
They’ve always been around, always been an honorary part of the Ryan family. Then things started to change. We got older, I watched all of my uncles fall in love, then finally, my mum and dad. I was surrounded by love. One day I heard Nia and Aunt Knley singing, and I was struck. Maybe I did get my bam! moment after all. I heard her sweet voice and I was hooked. I knew that day I was going to marry her. We started dating after my last year of high school. Even though Nia was fourteen, it was never weird between us; shit, it wasn’t until two years into our relationship that we started sleeping together. I think our parents were wary, but they also saw how I looked at her, how I treated her, like she was the most precious thing on the planet, because she was. She is. And today I’m going to ask her to be mine forever. I’m twenty-seven, and not getting any younger. I want Nia to be my wife. I want to start a family with her and all that entails. Like everything in my life, I want it, and I want it now. I’m a racer, and as a racer, I can’t compromise. Compromising on safety means
I can get hurt or die. Compromising on speed means I don’t win. It’s the little things that you think won’t really matter that can make the most difference. That’s why I won’t yield. I won’t settle on the track and I won’t settle when it comes to Nia. That is, if my cousin ever leaves. “Hart, babe, I love you. You’re my favourite cousin, but I really need to be somewhere.” Hartley is Uncle Jax and Aunt Bentley’s daughter. Well, one of them. Aunt Bentley can’t have kids, so they applied to adopt one from South Korea. Only once they got there to pick up Emerson, Hartley wailed and wailed, so after a huge kerfuffle and a much longer trip than they anticipated, they adopted her too. It’s been a theme in Hartley’s life ever since. “Don’t make me go back there,” she begs as she lies on my couch. “My dad’s being a total caveman. I can’t take it!” “I’m sure it’s not as bad as it seems,” I reply. “He’s being totally unreasonable, not letting me go to Nicky Sims’s party.”
I know Nicky Sims. I also know his parties, and Uncle Jax is right not to let his eighteen-year-old daughter go, even if she is legally an adult. “Maybe he’s right not to let you go,” I say and brace myself for the shrieking to start. “What?” she demands on cue. “I know Nicky Sims, Hart,” I say. “I also know his parties. They’re full-on. You don’t need to be partying that hard, or with that crowd.” “Oh please,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest. “Like you and Nia weren’t going to worse. Plus, she was younger than I am now when you guys got together.” I sigh and run my hand through my messy mop of dark brown hair. “Yes, Nia was young when we got together, but our parents knew we were responsible and could be trusted.” I raise an eyebrow. “I can be trusted,” Hartley insists. “Really?” I ask. “Yeah, totally.”
“So you almost driving your mum’s car through the garage wall and into the house, that’s trustworthy?” “It was an accident.” “You were ten and couldn’t see over the steering wheel.” “Exactly. If my dad had taught me to drive, it wouldn’t have been a problem.” “You were ten!” I point out. “You weren’t allowed to drive. Lord only knows how you managed to get your licence now.” “Whatever, that was one time.” “Okay then, what about the time you almost set the diner on fire, or crushed Uncle Rome under a car at the garage, or the numerous times you’ve almost been run over at the track, not to mention the weekly occurrences where you lock yourself out of the house?” “All right, all right,” she says, holding up her hands. “I’m sure your dad won’t say no forever, but right now he is.”
“Have you met my dad?” she asks, sitting up and giving me a no-nonsense stare. She may not biologically be Uncle Jax and Aunt Bentley’s, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t inherited their mannerisms. “He’d be perfectly happy if me and Em stayed locked in our rooms until we’re fifty.” “Come on, he’s not that bad.” If anyone asks, I’ll deny until I die, but Uncle Jax has always been my favourite. He’s unapologetic in his thoughts and feelings; he just does what he feels. She glares at me. “He just loves you guys and wants to protect you,” I argue. “There’s
protecting
and
then
there’s
smothering.” I blow out a breath. “Maybe give him a bit of a break. You know what this family’s been through… growing up in and with it wasn’t easy.” “Yeah, yeah, I know, we’re cursed or some shit,” she says, throwing up her hands. “But that was ages ago. Nothing bad has happened in like, forever, unless you count Pocket and Hanky deciding they
wanted to eat a ball of wool,” she says, referencing their two cats. “Doesn’t matter,” I say as my phone chimes. “Some wounds cut deep.” Pulling out my phone, I see Xander’s name, followed by a text message, pop up. Xander is the son of Ryan Racing’s head mechanic, Rome. He’s also our current freestyle motocross rider, as well as my cousin—and teammate—Avery’s boyfriend. “Did you get this?” I ask Hartley as her phone chimes. “Why does Xander want us at the diner?” she asks. “Do you really want to start questioning why Xander does what he does?” “Good point,” she says, getting up. “Let’s go then.” “Look,” I say, grabbing her arm as she walks past me, “I know right now it feels like your dad is stifling you and he’s just out to spoil your fun, but he’s only trying to look out for you.”
“But I can—” “I know you can look after yourself,” I finish for her. “Your dad knows too, but Uncle Jax has a thing about people leaving him. You and Em are gonna go to the city for uni soon, and I think it’s probably sinking in you won’t always be around.” “Shit,” she says, running a hand through her jetblack-with-a-hint-of-pink hair. “I’m not saying you need to stick to your dad like glue, just cut him a bit of slack,” I suggest. My cousin nods. “Yeah, okay.” “Come on,” I say, tucking her under my arm. “Let’s go find out what all the fuss is about.”
Chapter Two
Christian My family is crazy. You may have heard stories about us. I’m here to tell you that and more are true. What was once solely a family of eight men has now quadrupled in size, but men still dominate. Just. All thirty-two of us, Ryans, Matthewses, and Thomases alike, cram into the diner my greatgrandpa, or just Pa, first opened after my nan died and my pop was just a baby. This diner has seen a lot. Weddings, funerals, births, fights, Aunty Bria losing her shit when her beloved Saints finally won another premiership, then going back to back to back. This diner is as much a part of our family as anything. Looking around I get a little warm and fuzzy having all my family in one place. Judging from the volume level, everyone is having a great time, laughing, talking, and socialising in general.
My parents are talking to Nia’s parents over by the large front window, my youngest brother, Levi, with them. My other brother, Noah, is talking to Nia’s twin, Ryder. Various groups congregate around the place, smiles on everyone’s faces. Well, everyone except my girl, who is nowhere to be seen. The door opens again and the breeze is thick with Nia’s signature caramel scent. I’m turning before I’m even aware of what I’m doing, a massive smile on my face. “Hey, sugar,” she says, slinging an arm around my neck and stretching up to kiss me. “Beautiful,” I respond, pulling her hips flush to mine and taking her mouth. It’ll always be like this. I’ll always search for her in a crowd and won’t feel settled until I find her. She’s the best part of my day, and I know I never want to be without her. “Ugh, get a room,” Hartley says, pushing past us and breaking our spell.
We chuckle and I rest my forehead on Nia’s. “I missed you,” I tell her. She rolls her eyes, but her cheeks heat, letting me know she likes when I’m soppy. “Come on,” she says, grabbing my hand and lacing our fingers together, “let’s see what’s so important we all had to give up our precious time to be here.” Despite her words, Nia’s in no hurry to find out why we were summoned, taking her time going round to everyone, greeting them with hugs and kisses, asking about what’s going on with them, laughing and joking. Pulling her to me so her back is to my front, I rest my hands on her hips and drop a kiss to her cheek. She turns and gives me a smile before resuming her chat with Aunt Bentley. I’m going to guess, seeing as the whole family is gathered, that something is going down, meaning my immediate plans of proposing are dashed. I’m not worried. We have our whole lives ahead of us. I’m not a patient man, nor am I one who’s willing to
compromise, but I’ll give it a try. Today. Tomorrow’s a different story. It will be happening soon though, really soon.
Chapter Three
Nia I love my family, really I do, but sometimes I feel like they’re cramping my style. Don’t get me wrong; I love the life I have in Booker. I love having my “cousins” and “aunties and uncles” so close, but sometimes it feels… suffocating, as if my future is already mapped out and all I have to do is go along with it. It could be so easy to do too. As I relax against Chris, the only boy, guy, man, I’ve ever loved, I forget why that’s a bad thing. I forget why I wouldn’t be happy living here for the rest of my life, doing exactly the same thing my parents did when they first got together. My dad raced, Mum watched and went down to Melbourne whenever she needed to. I could do that, but there’s always a yearning for something more. A yearning to be wild and reckless and crazy. I’m twenty-two. I want to stay out all night and roll into a diner with my hair wild and my make-
up a mess, to go swimming in the ocean while the sun rises, to get lost in a city where I don’t speak the language and no one knows my name. It’s not that I don’t want what I’m heading towards, I do; I want a life with Chris, I want a family with Chris, I just don’t want them now. If I talk to him, if I voice these fears, these doubts, I don’t know if he’ll understand. I know Chris, maybe even better than I know myself. He lives his life at warp speed and wants everything now. He’s a homebody; his feet don’t itch to travel to foreign places. He’s not like me. Maybe that’s why I haven’t brought any of this up. I’m scared of what his reaction will be. His whole life he’s known what he wanted to do. He wants to race and he is. He wants to be with me and he is. Everything he’s set his mind to, he’s achieved. How can I tell the man I love above anything else no? That the life he wants, I don’t? Telling him that is going to have to break his heart and that thought is killing me. Unfortunately, I don’t see another way. I know I sound like a spoilt brat saying this isn’t enough or it’s too much, but I can’t help it. Truthfully though, I don’t think I’m any of that. I
think I’m a coward and I’m looking for excuses. This boy, this man who has my heart and soul, is perfect in every way. He’s five foot ten inches of dreaminess, with deep brown eyes, perfect dark brown hair, and dimples so deep you get lost in them. He’s kind, he’s smart, he’s loving, he’s one hell of a racer, and he loves me and his family with everything he has. And I’m looking for excuses because I know what I want isn’t what Chris wants even though I hope with all my heart I’m wrong. My problem is I don’t think I am. If you loved what you read so far and would like more, please go to www.hottreepublishing.com for the buy links. Thank you.