Turning to appreciate Stevie dancing to the heavy bass, I licked my lower lip and bent back to fully appreciate her never-ending legs. I had a good feeling about tonight; it seemed like a good night to earn an easy thirty-to-forty grand and then celebrate with not one, but two willing women.
The sea of people parted on demand for a revving engine, and a pimped-out late model Toyota 86 idled to a stop close by. It no doubt packed some serious heat under the hood, and while I was curious, I was more interested in the driver. He at least looked the part. His driving skills, however, remained to be seen.
The newcomer scanned the crowd, obviously searching for a certain individual. By pure luck, his eyes settled on Shades and recognition filtered over his face. Without looking around, he pushed through the crowd that had gathered around his car and stopped a few feet away from my boy.
“Shady Sam?” the kid asked, darting a nervous sideways glance at me when I stepped close to hear the conversation.
It was none of my business, but him interrupting my conversation with Shades just made it mine.
Shades barked a laugh. “Depends who’s askin’?”
Newbie pulled back his shoulders and stood tall with an air of arrogance that made my top lip curl.
“Arlo Linetti.”
“And just what do you want,Arlo Linetti?”I sneered.
His eyes narrowed on me and he puffed his chest further. “You are?”
He either had balls the size of eighteen-inch alloys, or he had a rod so far up his ass it penetrated his brain and took away his situational fucking awareness.
Sniggering wickedly and running my tongue over my lower lip, I took a calculated step closer and tilted my head to the side when I got up in his grill.
“Pretty little boy like you shouldn’t come here askin’ questions like that. If you knew who I was, you’d fucking show somerespect.”
“I’ll show some respect once I see a reason to give it.”
I lifted my brows at Shades and gave him anis this idiot for fucking real?look.
Shades pursed his lips and shook his head. “You ain’t riding this race, kid.”
“What?” he spluttered. “Just because ofthis guy?That’s fucking bullshit. I’ve got a car, I’ve got the buy-in, so it seems that this pussy is scared of some decent competition.”
I shot out my hand left and slammed my palm against Shades’ chest before his retort shut down the kid’s bullshit attitude.
“You know what? Why don’t we make an exception, Shades? Let the kid race. I’ll be glad to take his cash.”
A dirty smirk crossed Shades’ face at my suggestion, and my hand fell away.
“Sounds like a fine-ass idea, brother.”
Arlo’s expression immediately turned skeptical. “What’s the catch?”
Spreading my arms wide, I gestured to myself in a show that others around me knew all too well; cocky, arrogant, egotistical—I’d been called it all, and it was all true. I walked around like my shit didn’t stink, because that was what the crowd here tonight had hyped me up to be.
“Losing to the best,” I declared.
The cocky little prick laughed in my face. “Seriously, are you still here?”
I glowered in anger while Shades’ chuckle was close to dangerously unhinged. “Ooh, kid, you’d better check yourself before runnin’ your mouth, because what my man Raf wants, my man Raf gets.”
With my non-existent point proven, I turned my attention back to my two women dancing with each other, an arm’s length away.
“Raf,as in…?” I heard the kid ask.
“Ortiz,” Shades enunciated over the music with distinct amusement in his tone.
Arlo finally put two-and-two together. “Ahfuck.”