I say ‘hi’ to the other girls whose names I’ve completely forgotten as the last time we met; I was probably under the influence of who the hell knows what. Jackson comes forward and gives me a big hug and I watch as Noah stiffens.
Jackson hurt me in a way that I’ll never be able to forget, and Noah absolutely hates that despite the fact that I’ve managed to forgive him. He took my virginity when he should have sent me home. It wasn’t special and it wasn’t how I wanted my first time to be, but it is what it is. One day I’ll be able to look at Jackson and see the friend I grew up with, but until then, he’ll continue being the guy who took advantage of a love-sick teenage girl.
There’s so much history there I doubt I’ll hold onto the pain much longer. Especially now that I have Noah. He makes me forget all the bad things. I hardly think about mom anymore, I don’t dwell on the fact that Jackson and Kaylah took off and left me with nothing, and I don’t hate on the bitches who made my life hell at school.
Maybe I’ve done some growing up over the past few months, or maybe being with Noah has just opened my eyes to what’s really important.
All I know is that I don’t want it to change. I’m in a happy place right now and I’ve never felt so strong. To lose this would be a tragedy.
Noah practically takes my hand and rips me away from Jackson despite the fact that my feelings for him died a long time ago, but what can I say, I knew he was a possessive asshole when we first met, and to be honest, it’s kind of hot. We say goodbye to the Broken Hill crew and I promise Kaylah that I’ll ditch Noah and hang out with her tomorrow.
With all the eyes of the Broken Hill students still on us, we duck back over to our side of the track where we can continue being the rock stars that we are rather than the scum that the other side sees us as.
By the time we get back to where we were before, a new race is starting to take place and I look down at the track to see a very familiar black Charger. Pulling up next to a black Camaro. “Is that Nate and Jackson racing?” I ask with a gasp, having Déjà vu. After all, the last time I saw these two cars racing, one of them ended upside down and off the side of the track. I continue trying to make out the people in the cars and realize each car has a passenger too. “Wait. Are Tora and Elle racing with them?”
“Yep,” Noah says with a grin.
Shit. Those girls have balls to race with those idiots. I guess that’s even more of my respect those two have just earned themselves, and I have to admit, Tora’s doing pretty damn well for herself in my book. “Should they be doing this?” I ask Noah. “The last race didn’t end so well and I only just started liking them.”
Noah laughs. “I think Nate and Jackson are on good terms now,” he says. “It should be a clean race, but every fucker and his dog are going to be talking about this for years to come.”
I look up at the strange tone in his voice. “Why’s that?”
“You’ll see.”
Noah turns back to the two black cars down on the track as my attention falls towards Rivers. He’s still watching Tully but it’s almost as though he wants to watch the race too. Kind of amusing actually.
A hush falls over the crowd on either side of the track and it doesn’t take a genius to realize that the race of the century is about to start. My eyes snap down to the track to find a girl in a black string bikini walk between the Camaro and Charger and all I can think is that she must be cold. I mean, it’s deathly freezing out here tonight. If Noah was worried about me getting sick, then it would only make sense for him to be petrified for her.
The engines roar and the guys haven’t even taken off yet. Noah’s hand tightens around mine and not a second later, the bikini wearing girl drops her handkerchief, staring the most anticipated race this track has ever seen.
Dust flies up behind them as they each take off like bats out of hell. I can just imagine the girls in the passengers’ seats. Elle is probably shitting herself while Tora would be egging Nate on to go faster. Me? I’d probably be trying to straddle Noah while he tried to push me off.