Not wanting to stick around longer than necessary either, I tossed my car keys up and down in one hand. “Hey thanks, man, for the bail out. I’ll drop the cash by tomorrow.”
Colton waved a hand again before shoving both into the front pockets of his jeans. “Dude, we need to talk.”
I swallowed hard, expecting the inevitable; getting fired after what went down last night. I swung my arms wide and nodded. “Level with me.”
“That was your last street race.”
My gut bottomed out; I hadn’t been expectingthat,and I was flooded with crippling panic.
“The fuck, man? Racing is my life!”
“And while I can understand that more than anyone, I need you to keep your ass clean from here on out. Sure, attend, but spectate only.Recruitonly. No fucking racing.” He punctuated the demand with three finger-stabs in my direction.
“Colton-” I began to protest, desperately grasping at straws as a part of who I was was stripped away. I’d been in the game for so long I couldn’t imagine being shunted to the sidelines.
Colt shook his head. “It’s not a request, Raffie. I’m sorry it has to be this way, I really fucking am. But, I gotta think bigger picture, and in hindsight, that was something that should have been stipulated earlier.”
I hissed a curse. Today had gone from shit to worse. Normally I took orders the same way I took sloppy seconds—with no fucks given, literally. But the one issued from Colt had me biting my tongue. Call it respect, call it dropping balls; regardless of what you wanted to name it, there was no work around for this. It was the penalty for the shit that went down.
“That’s bullshit,” I spat, and took a step toward him.
“But necessary,” he countered, with his own pace forward. “And non-negotiable.”
I bared my teeth and growled. It was either that or knock a couple of perfect teeth from his smug-fucking-mouth.
“I ain’t happy about this, Colt.”
“Neither am I.”
We glared, eyeing each other back and forth, laying down silent challenges and wordless ultimatums. It took all my willpower not to shove his chest before turning and stalking to my car.
“Just give me a fucking day to process.”
The door of his Ferrari opened and closed, and with a final nod through his front windshield, Colton boosted out of the vacant lot with me following hot on his rear bumper.
I purposely turned right when he turned left at the end of the block, not wanting to follow the reminder of everything I’d just lost.
Chapter 15
-Greer-
Flustered wasn’t a word I would normally use to describe myself, but ever since Rox announced that Raf had called an emergency meeting, my resting body temperature settled degrees higher than it should be.
I paced my office floor for the untold time, completely and utterly unable to sit still and concentrate.
“Sit the hell down, you’re giving me anxiety out here!” Rox called.
“It’s past two!” I hissed.
She gave me a sassy look. “Yeah, and the guy was arrested last night, so he’s probably going to be a little off-center today. And your hair isfine!”she added when I started to fuss with it.
“Right, yeah. It’s fine.” I waved her off and pressed my hands flat on the surface of my desk.
Inhale deep, lengthy exhale.
Inhale deep, lengthy exhale.
Inhale deep-