Hate Me Like You Love Me (Serena and Caleb) novel Chapter 40

The high from winning doesn’t last. Shane hands me my share of the earnings—a thick envelope of cash that brings me one giant step closer to freedom.

But when I look for Serena in the celebrating crowd, her expression has already shifted from exhilaration to something harder. Something that makes my stomach clench with dread.

“We need to talk,” she says, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the other riders who are comparing scars and planning the next meet. “Right now.”

She leads me to the edge of the airstrip where the floodlights fade into darkness, far enough from the crowd that no one can overhear whatever’s about to detonate between us.

“Explain to me what the hell that was about,” she demands, crossing her arms over her chest. “Why are you doing this? Why are you risking your life for money when you could just…”

“Just what?” I interrupt, already knowing where this conversation leads. “Ask my mother for help? She’s working double shifts just to keep us fed. Ask your father? Trade one debt for another?”

“There has to be another way!”

“There isn’t.” The words come out harsher than I intended, but I’m tired of explaining what should be obvious. “You want the whole story, Serena? Fine. Here it is.”

I tell her everything.

About the debt my father left behind like a poisoned inheritance, about the collectors circling my mother with threats disguised as friendly visits, about the racing circuit as my only solution to a problem that’s been choking us.

“Two more races after tonight,” I conclude, waving the envelope of cash for emphasis. “Two more, and I’m free. We’re all free.”

Serena doesn’t offer sympathy. Doesn’t reach for my hand or tell me she’s sorry I’ve been carrying this alone. Instead, her jaw sets with stubborn determination that I recognize all too well.

“Stop racing,” she says simply. “Right now. Tonight was the last time.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“Find another way. Accept help from Dad, let Catherine know what’s happening, take out a loan, get a second job—anything but this!” Her voice rises with each word. “I won’t watch you destroy yourself.”

My laugh is sharp and bitter. “You won’t watch me destroy myself? That’s rich coming from someone who’s still entertaining phone calls from her attacker.”

Serena’s face flushes. “That’s different.”

“How? How is it different?”

I take a step closer, anger building in my chest like pressure in a boiler.

“You want me to stop racing? Fine. I’ll consider it when you turn Lucas down permanently. Reject the engagement. Cut him off completely.”

“That’s not the same thing at all.”

“Isn’t it? You’re asking me to give up the one thing standing between my family and disaster, and you can’t even give up a man who tried to assault you.”

The accusation lands like I meant it to, and Serena’s eyes flash with hurt and fury.

“I can’t just blow up my relationship with Lucas without a good reason,” she says through gritted teeth. “Not without destroying my father’s happiness, not without explaining things I’m not ready to explain.”

“And I can’t just abandon the racing circuit without putting my mother in danger.”

We stare at each other across the space between us, both breathing hard, both demanding the other surrender something they’re not ready to give. An impasse disguised as negotiation.

“This is insane,” Serena finally says. “We’re both being idiots.”

“Yeah, well, welcome to my life.”

The drive home passes in suffocating silence. I grip the steering wheel tight enough to leave marks, thinking about how Serena has no right to forbid me anything.

She’s still considering engagement with Lucas, still playing the perfect fiancée while demanding I abandon everything I’ve worked toward.

I also can’t stop thinking about the empty house waiting for us. Our first night completely alone since our parents left for their romantic getaway.

“Don’t slam my damn door!” I shout, following her across the driveway.

She whips around when she reaches the front entrance, eyes blazing. “Or what? You’ll add it to my bill?”

I grab her wrist, spinning her around just as she turns back toward the house. Her back hits the door and suddenly we’re inches apart, both breathing hard, fury bleeding into something infinitely more dangerous.

The space between us crackles with electricity that has nothing to do with anger and everything to do with the want we’ve been fighting since the moment I pulled her onto that bike.

We move at the same time—Serena’s hands fisting in my leather jacket as I surge forward, our mouths colliding in a desperate, furious kiss that tastes like rage and gasoline and everything we can’t say out loud.

Her lips part beneath mine with a gasp that sends liquid fire straight through my bloodstream, and when her tongue meets mine, every coherent thought dissolves into pure need.

She kisses me back with matching desperation, teeth grazing my bottom lip hard enough to draw blood, her nails raking down my chest through the leather.

All the accusations and ultimatums pour between us in the slide of mouths and the clash of tongues, neither willing to pull back first, neither able to stop this collision that’s been building for weeks.

I press her harder against the door, one hand fumbling blindly for the handle while the other tangles in her hair, angling her head so I can kiss her deeper, harder, like I can consume every word she used to push me away.

Her body arches into mine, soft curves molding against hard planes, and the sound she makes, half moan, half surrender, nearly destroys what’s left of my control.

The door gives way and we crash inside, stumbling over the threshold in a tangle of limbs and desperate need.

I kick the door shut behind us and push her deeper into the dark hallway.

Her back hitting the wall as my mouth moves to her throat, finding that spot that makes her breath catch and her fingers dig into my shoulders like she’s drowning.