Thantophobia

Chapter 6

"Really? Off roading in four wheelers?" I give a strange look to ransom.

"Hey, I don't like the usual and typical 'let's go to the movies' type of things." He finishes paying the worker in front of us, and sure enough, we have two rented four wheelers for the next two hours.

"Yeah, clearly." I roll my eyes as he holds out one of the keys for me to take, and I open my hand for him to drop it in.

We silently make our way out of the building and walk over to the company's garage to pick up whatever ransom rented out.

Another worker helped us find which four wheelers were ours, and sure enough, we were off.

Ok, but this was actually extremely fun. Ransom was right, it wasn't another cliche activity. Suddenly, I was sorta grateful for him thinking so out of the box.

But I'm not going to tell him that.

I just speeded around everywhere, but was careful enough and slowed down whenever I had to turn.

"Having fun?" Ransom caught up to me on his vehicle.

I shrug. "Maybe."

He just shakes his head in amusement. "You're hard to impress."

I slow down, just so I could communicate with him easier. "Are you trying to impress me?" I come to a full stop, and narrow my eyes suspiciously.

"Am I?" He stops just barely ahead of me.

"I don't know, that's why I'm asking you, stupid." I huff in frustration.

For someone who claims they aren't gay, they sure act like it.

"Ok, maybe a little. I like to show off." He admits, completely not ashamed though.

"Show off what?" I act clueless.

"Oh, you're a jerk." He throws his hands up in disbelief.

I continue to have no idea what he's talking about. "I'm being dead serious. There's nothing for you to show off." I laugh.

He looks at me for a moment, before giving a tiny shake to his head.

"Want to race? Maybe then you'll see what I'm trying to show off?" He circles around, to be at an even level with me.

"Is there going to be a prize and punishment?" I link my fingers together in front of me.

"Punishment to the loser...that have to ride on the back of the other persons four wheeler."

"Prize?"

"Uh, being the one to control the four wheeler?" He looks incredulously at me.

"How in the world is that a prize?" I scrunch up my nose.

He shrugs, and looks me up and down quickly. "It just is."

"But that's not-"

"Last one to the edge of the grass over there loses!" And he speeds off.

"Hey!" I growl, quickly speeding after him, obviously caught off guard and way behind. But that doesn't mean I don't floor it.

I speed up quickly, making good time for not having a great start. I slowly catch up to him somehow, and just as I about passed him, he hit the edge of the grass first.

"Yes!" Ransom raises a fist in triumph.

"Oh hell no." I mutter. I slow down to a stop, and send him a glare.

He laughs as he slows down to a stop in front of me, and pats the extra room behind him on the seat.

I shake my head.

"Come on, you agreed!" He pats the seat again.

"I didn't agree to anything." I narrow my dark blue eyes at him.

"You continued to race after me. That's a form of agreement." He makes a valid point.

Groaning, I hop off my vehicle, making sure to turn it off. I made my way over to his, and hit his upper arm.

"I'm going to kill you someday for this." I say as I reluctantly hop onto the back of his seat.

"Just as long as it's not right now," He shrugs. "Then I don't see a problem with it."

I slowly wrap my arms around his waist for stability and something to hold onto.

I gulp as the sparks I felt earlier from him grabbing my wrist intensify. I hear my heartbeat on the inside of my ears, and my breathing pick up slightly.

He obviously felt some sort of thing as well when I wrapped my arms around his torso, because he stiffened up, then relaxed.

Does he feel it too? The sparks?

I'll have to ask Jaden and Berkeley about this later.

"You good?" Ransom calls to me over his shoulder.

"Yeah. Just go." Was all I could manage to say.

All of this was still so much. How long had I known him?

Well, technically three weeks, but we've only seen each other a total of three times, and about 2 hours of total time together during those three times.

He carefully and slowly picks up the speed of his four wheeler to a decently fast pace.

As he drove, no words were really spoken between us. Just pure enjoyment for once.

I looked around at the environment we drove around in, and I subconsciously became more comfortable with my hands around his waist, and I even rested my head on his back because I was just that content.

Looking up so I could see his face, he was focused. I watched him carefully as he gave a small smile sometimes, looked down at the controls, or was focused back on the path he was taking.

I smiled softly. This was a new side of him that I liked.

Suddenly his eyes went wide, and I lifted my head off his back in concern to see if anything was in front of us.

There was a barbed wire fence that was quickly approaching, but Ransom seemed too caught up in his mind.

"Ransom, turn." I instruct.

He doesn't notice.

I barely look at him again. He seemed to be having some sort of flashback of some sort.

I suddenly remembered he had PTSD. He was seeing something traumatizing.

"Ransom! Turn!" I yell in his ear, but he's still caught up in his own head.

The fence was just a few feet away at this point, and I knew I had to take matters into my own hands.

I let go of my grasp around his waist, and grab the steering bars, quickly turning the four wheeler.

The sudden change of steering seems to knock ransom back into reality, but it's too late.

I had already done to sharp a turn going at a fast pace, and the vehicle toppled over on its side.

Ransom somehow manages to jump off in time and be okay, probably due to some crazy army life saving skill he has or whatever, but I'm too slow.

I groan in pain as I slide on the uncomfortable mix of sand and dirt, hurting my head and surely scraping my sides.

When the sliding finally comes to a halt, I try and stand up to get away from the vehicle on its side, but my leg is stuck under the damn thing, and clearly broken.

Fucking hell.