Chapter 433: Try Not To Roll It
I looked from the helmet in Chenghai’s hand to the little off-road vehicle waiting in the field.
"You brought me here to drive that?" I demanded, my eyes going wide as I stared at the thing in front of me.
"Yup," he replied, a bright smile on his face.
"The thing with no doors," I continued. Two lifetimes, and I had never been on anything that even remotely looked like that, and that was saying something.
"It has a roll cage," he shrugged.
"That doesn’t answer the door problem."
Chenghai stepped closer and placed the helmet over my head before I could decide whether I was offended. It was slightly too large until he tightened the strap beneath my chin. His fingers stayed there for a moment, checking the fit while I stared through the clear visor.
He had brought me into the middle of nowhere, put a helmet on me, and expected me to drive over a pile of dirt.
This was considerably less romantic than Zhenlan’s storm.
But it also suited me just fine. What could I say? I was complicated.
Chenghai carried the extra shoes around to my side of the SUV. He crouched in the mud and changed them for me before I could bend down. The boots were old, heavy, and already dirty enough that nothing I did could make them worse.
When he finished tying them, he rested one hand on my knee and looked up at me.
"Have you driven one before?"
"No."
"Do you know how to drive?"
I hesitated.
That was apparently enough of an answer.
Chenghai stood and held out his hand. "I’ll go first."
The vehicle had two narrow seats, a steering wheel, and almost nothing else between us and the field. Chenghai climbed into the driver’s side and waited while I pulled myself into the passenger seat.
The seat belt crossed over both shoulders and locked around my waist. It looked strong enough to keep me attached even if the rest of the vehicle rolled away without us.
That was comforting.
Probably.
Chenghai started the engine.
It was louder than I expected. The whole frame shook beneath me, and the baby vehicle sounded far too pleased with itself for something that didn’t have proper windows.
Chenghai drove slowly at first. He followed the track through the grass, showing me where it turned and which parts of the ground dropped without warning. He didn’t explain every movement or treat me like I would break if he drove too fast. He only pointed out the ditch, the steep hill, and the pile of tires near the far end.
Then he pressed harder on the gas.
The vehicle jumped forward.
I grabbed the bar beside my head as we hit the first curve and slid through the mud. Grass and water sprayed past the open side, missing my face but covering the outside of my arm.
Chenghai glanced at me.
I could see the beginning of a smile.
"Don’t get smug," I warned him.
He drove directly through a puddle deep enough to send muddy water over both of us.
The bastard had planned that.
I wiped my cheek with the back of my hand and looked at the brown streak left on my skin. Chenghai was still watching me from the corner of his eye while pretending to focus on the track.
I reached over and wiped my hand across his face.
Mud covered one side of his jaw and a bright smile finally appeared on his face.
The track climbed sharply ahead of us. Chenghai shifted his grip on the wheel and drove straight up the mound without slowing. My stomach dropped when the front wheels left the ground at the top.
We landed hard enough to rattle my teeth.
A laugh came out of me before I could stop it but Chenghai heard it anyway.
He took the next turn faster.
The vehicle slid sideways through the grass, caught again, and shot toward the shallow ditch. I held the side bar with one hand and Chenghai’s arm with the other as we dropped into it.
Mud sprayed over the front.
The engine growled.
Then we climbed out the other side.
I was laughing too hard to complain by the time Chenghai brought us back to the beginning of the track.
He stopped the vehicle but left the engine running.
"Your turn."
I looked at the steering wheel.
Then I looked at him.
"I don’t know how."
"I’ll show you."
He unfastened his belt and climbed out. I expected him to walk around to the passenger side.
Instead, he held one hand toward me.
I took it and stood awkwardly in the narrow space between the seats. Chenghai sat in the driver’s seat again, then pulled me down onto his lap.
My back pressed against his chest. His thighs held mine apart, and his arms came around me to reach the steering wheel.
Apparently, this was the lesson.
I settled deeper against him. "There’s another seat."
"I know."
He put my hands on the wheel and adjusted my grip. His mouth stayed close to my ear while he explained the pedals, although it became difficult to listen when one of his hands slid down my leg to show me where to place my foot.
The engine vibrated through both of us.
Chenghai moved my foot onto the gas.
"Slowly," he said as I pressed down.
The vehicle lurched forward hard enough to throw me against him.
His arm locked around my waist before I could bounce off his lap.
"That was slowly."
"No, it wasn’t."
"It moved."
"That part was expected."
I could feel him laughing behind me even though almost no sound came out.
Chenghai kept one hand around my middle and used the other to guide the wheel. We moved along the flatter part of the track while I learned how little pressure the gas needed.
Once I stopped trying to throw us into the nearest tree, he let go of the wheel.
I drove around the first curve.
The vehicle wandered toward the grass, and Chenghai corrected it with one hand before returning that hand to my thigh.
I looked down. "Are you teaching or touching me?"
"Both."
That sounded fair.
The next turn went better. I kept the vehicle in the track and only clipped one pile of tires. They scattered across the grass behind us.
Chenghai didn’t make me stop.
I glanced over my shoulder. "Aren’t we fixing those?"
"Later."
That was the correct answer.
By the time we reached the ditch, I had almost convinced myself I knew what I was doing. Chenghai told me to keep the wheel straight and give it more gas.
I did.
We hit the bottom too fast.
The front of the vehicle slammed into the far side, and the entire frame tipped high enough that I saw more sky than grass.
Chenghai grabbed the wheel with one hand and pulled me hard against him with the other.
For one long second, we hung there.
Then the wheels dropped back to the ground.
The vehicle bounced twice and kept going.
I stared ahead.
Chenghai’s chest shook against my back.
"You’re laughing," I choked out.
"Yes."
"We almost rolled."
"We didn’t."
"That doesn’t make it funny."
His mouth brushed my temple. "You wanted more gas."
"You told me to use more gas."
"I didn’t tell you to put your foot through the floor."
I tried to elbow him, but there wasn’t enough room.
Chenghai caught my wrist and held it against my stomach while I drove one-handed around the next curve.
That probably wasn’t safe.
Neither was anything else we had done since arriving.
I kept going.
The sun had moved lower by the time I completed the track without hitting anything. Mud covered my arms, legs, and most of the front of my tank top. Chenghai looked worse because I had wiped both hands on him every time he laughed at me.
When we finally stopped near the farmhouse, I tried to climb off his lap.
His arm tightened around my waist.
I looked back at him.
Chenghai turned my face with one hand and kissed me before I could ask what he was doing.
His mouth was warm and tasted faintly like peaches. He didn’t rush the kiss or pull me closer than I already was. He only kept me on his lap, one hand spread across my stomach while the engine rumbled beneath us.
When he lifted his head, his thumb moved across the mud on my cheek.
"You missed a spot," I said.
He kissed the same place.
That didn’t clean anything and I decided not to complain.
Beyond the field, something moved inside the broken farmhouse.
Chenghai noticed it at the same time I did.
His arm stayed around me while we both watched the dark doorway.
A man stepped into the light, stared at us sitting together in the vehicle, and slowly raised both empty hands.
"Please don’t run me over," he called.
I looked at the track behind him, then I looked at Chenghai.
The man had chosen a very unfortunate place to stand.