money?” Tank looked me up and down again, a wicked grin creeping onto his face. “Mommy and Daddy? Are they gonna fork over the cash? Are you going to give them a sob story and cry at their feet until they spoil their little princess?”
That was unlikely.
A voice sounded from beside me. “I’ll get you the rest of the money.” My heart lurched in my chest. The muscles in my neck screamed in pain as I whipped my head in Ollie’s direction. His temples ticked along his sharp jawline as if he were grinding his teeth in between each word that tumbled out of his mouth. I could hear the nasty bite they left behind.
“Oh?” Tank shot a lethal glare to Ollie. “And how is that?”
“I’ll race every weekend for you until the debt is paid. You can keep my winnings and continue betting on me.”
“No.” I didn’t care that I honestly had no other legitimate plan in obtaining over fifteen thousand dollars for my brother’s mistakes. I could figure that out later. There was no way Ollie was getting involved in this.
“Yes.” Ollie didn’t even look at me when speaking, which only heightened my anxiety. I should have been thankful he just offered to help me, but I wasn’t. This was dangerous, and risky, and he was the last person I wanted knowing more of my secrets.
Tank’s menacing laugh shot through the air. “Now, this is just getting interesting.” He shuffled around the gravel, putting his back to us with tattoo-covered arms crossed in front of him. I shot an unwavering glare in Ollie’s direction, but he still wouldn’t look at me, and for some reason, that bothered me. Is he disappointed in me? Wait. Why did I care? And plus, what the hell was Ollie doing here in the first place?
My gaze raked around the crowd as it began to murmur and then out into the opening. A few cars sat side by side, one of those being Ollie’s maroon Charger. What is this place? Did he say he’d race? I didn’t think to ask my brother any details about where we were going to pay off his debt because I thought he’d be with me, and not to mention, I’d been too swept up in fear and nerves mixed around with guilt to even inquire more. I should have asked for details! I was making some seriously poor choices lately.
“You are not getting involved in this,” I whispered under my breath, waiting for Tank to turn back around.
“Too late.”
A steely glare fell onto both of our faces when we caught each other’s eyes. Ollie stared at me, and I stared at him. What are you thinking behind those blue eyes, Ollie?
“Here’s the deal.” Tank turned around quickly and stalked over to us. I fought the urge to grab Ollie’s hand and ignored the fact that I even had that urge. “You race right now, and if you win,”—he shrugged, a snake-like smile slithering on his face—“I’ll consider it.”
A mix of emotions rose up my throat. Anxiety clawed at my chest, threatening to burst. One part of my brain was begging me to accept this, to accept the help that Ollie was giving me, because I seriously had no other options, but the other part was yelling at me to stop this, to stop this before I drug another person into this fucked-up mess of things. I honestly couldn’t decide which side was the rational one; both seemed like terrible paths to go down.
“No,” I reiterated, taking my gaze off Ollie and placing it on Tank’s. “If you give me another week, I’ll get you the rest of the money.” How, Piper? How are you going to come up with that much money?
Tank growled. “Not many people talk back to me, sweetheart.”
“Ignore her.” Ollie stepped forward, blocking half of my body with his. He stood at least four inches taller than Tank, and if you paired that with his wide shoulders, he all but shouted proceed with caution, but Tank didn’t move even a fraction. He laughed and looked out into the crowd.
“This is just adorable.” He placed his hands on his hips and moved his head around Ollie to stare at me. “Here your boyfriend is, trying to help you, and there you are, trying to help Jason.”
I ignored the part where he said that Ollie was my boyfriend, because that didn’t really matter at a time like this. I straightened my shoulders again, reiterating Hayley’s advice in my head, and very calmly said, “No one else needs to get involved in Jason’s mess. I will get you the money next weekend. I’m good for my word.”
Tank clicked his tongue. “Oh, I’m sure you are, but shit... Jason has fucked-up one too many fucking times.” The calm and relaxed man in front of me started to change right before my eyes, and I was seconds from reaching out to Ollie and telling him that we needed to make a run for it. “This is your one and only fucking chance to get an advance on this fucking money. Take it.” I gulped again, swallowing my thick spit. It’s fine, Piper. Just breathe. “I’d let your boyfriend here race once and for all, because like I said, it’s your only chance.”
“Piper.” Ollie didn’t turn back to look at me. “I’m doing this whether you like it or not.”
“I’d listen to him, sweetheart, because to be honest, he is your guardian angel. Or maybe he’s Jason’s?”
One of the guys that was standing close to Tank snickered, and I flicked my eyes up to him. He winked at me, and I shivered. Needing to know more, I asked, “What do you mean?” My voice was no more than a whisper in the wind.
Tank smiled and pulled out his phone. He messed around on it for a second, and Ollie glanced back at me, meeting my eyes briefly. I looked behind me, and Cole stood along the crowd with a wary expression on his face. When Cole looked concerned, that was when you knew you were in trouble.
Tank talked into the phone for a moment. “Pan the camera over to our pet.” Then, with a conniving smile and sinister look in his eye, he shoved the phone in my face. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust, but when they did, my hand shot up to my mouth as I gasped. Jason. I almost yelled into the phone to ask if he was okay, but at the last second, Tank snatched it back.
“I’ll hold off on my plan until your boyfriend races. Then, we talk.”
He shoved his phone back in his pocket, and I couldn’t help the words tumbling out of my mouth. “What plan?” I thought back to last night when Jason was huddled in the bathroom. The fear in his eyes was evident, but Jason was known to blow things out of proportion so that I’d be more likely to help him. But after talking with this guy for the last few minutes, I wasn’t so sure Jason was exaggerating. And now, somehow, Jason was his pet?
The conniving smile was gone, the sinister look in his eye more evil than before, but he didn’t answer me. He looked out into the crowd as if he didn’t want to say it aloud.
“Well, what's the verdict, Princess? Are you going to let him race, or am I going to have to go through with it?”
My hand shot out, and I grabbed Ollie’s wrist before he said anything; the feel of his skin on mine soothed my fear for a moment. “What’s your plan?” I asked again.