“This coming from you?” I deadpanned.
Colt sniggered and rose to the bait. “I would still kick your ass.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
“Fuckin’ A,” he exclaimed.
Laughing around the neck of my beer bottle, I took a quick swig, then sat it on my thigh.
“There’s one that’s got potential, I suppose,” I reluctantly admitted.
“Yeah? Name?”
I scoffed. Of course he wanted a fucking name. “Not until I’ve put him through his paces. He’s an arrogant little fuck, but his driving skills are less piss-weak than all the others.”
“Reminds me of someone, eh?” Colton drawled.
I let out a dry laugh. “Yeah, you—you smug motherfucker.”
Colton’s chuckle mixed with mine, then eased into a serious tone. “Keep an eye on him. I’d be keen to see him in action on the track.”
“We’ll see, brother. We’ll see.”
I heard what sounded like a click of his fingers. “Oh, while I remember. Let me know when the next street meet is.”
“Why?”
“Might send Greer along again.”
“Don’t you fucking dare-”
My heated threat was cut short when Colton disconnected our call, leaving me with his snide laughter ringing in my ears.
“Fuck,” I cussed, and tossed the phone aside.
A second later, I reached for it again and ground my teeth as I pulled up a search.
Landon-Michaels PR.
Greer’s image immediately popped up; theLandonhalf of the Landon-Michaels partnership.
Seemed that she was quite the accomplished over-achiever; nominated for L.A.’s Businesswoman of the Year for two years running and propelling their firm into reputable business circles.
The more I read, the more I realized just how far out of my league Boss Lady really was.
Born and raised within a white-collar family, she evidently wanted for nothing during her childhood and had the money to chase her dreams as an adult. In other words, we were polar opposites in every single way.
That didn’t stop me wanting her, though; it simply kicked me back to reality. One where there were people like her, then there were people like me. The broken ones. The ones scarred and harboring darkness deep inside. Darkness that twisted into the crooked and wretched shapes of our nightmares.
Peace never settled for people like me. We were constantly running on the wind to escape our sickening memories. The only way to forget them completely, if only for a short time, was to drive until the streets blurred, drink until the world spun, and fuck until I couldn’t any longer. And preferably in that order.
I downed the rest of my beer and reached for another, justifying the action by telling myself it was to dull the actions of my past. In reality, it was to desensitize myself to the memory of Greer’s warm brown eyes calling me closer.
She couldn’t see shit, but it seemed as if all my insecurities and regrets became exposed and visible each time she looked at me. More disturbingly, Iwantedto stand too close and revel in the desires she tried, yet failed, to hide. Feel each and every reaction wash over me. Own me. Perhaps even calm a little splinter of my soul.
As the alcohol illuminated my system, I let my guard down too much thinking about Greer. My internal demons seized their opportunity to rise, sinking their poisonous talons deep into my psyche and blanketing my thoughts with darkness.
I was glad he was dead. That I took his life before he could take hers, but that didn’t mean I lived without his ghost rising to haunt me when I least expected. Seemed that Boss Lady cracked my armor just enough to give my father’s evil spirit a breath.