I squealed, and Riley fixed my dress, glaring at Ander who stood close by, leaning against his Supra. I hadn’t even heard it, which was concerning since it was a loud car.
“What the fuck, Lavaro?” she snarled, helping me off the hood with one hand as she sucked her other fingers into her mouth to lick them clean before adding, “Can’t you see I’m busy?”
He barely spared me a glance. “I can see that, but I’ve been trying to get hold of you. A race has been called.”
She snorted, but I could see her interest. “What race? You vs me? Slick’s been booted, Reid’s currently sitting in a hospital bed with no car, Logan’s only a passenger for Reid since he doesn’t have his own car, and I doubt you’ll run a race just for us and Blake.”
He cringed, his voice dropping. “Some prick from Kingslake called it. He’s just a rich dude with too much money and not enough brain. Him and his guys vs us and Blake. It’s a shorter race than usual, and it’s only from one end of Rawson to the other. Bring your girl if you want since you don’t have to worry about Slick anymore.”
“It’s still fucking dangerous, idiot,” she hissed, not even looking at me. “You have no idea what these guys want. It could be a trap and they’re working with the cops for all you know.”
“They’re part of the Kingslake car club. They’re legit. I’ve done background checks on them all too.”
I stepped beside Riley, hoping I sounded confident. “I want to come.”
“Like fuck,” she snapped, but I gave her a glare.
“Why not? I want to try and understand why you like it so much. If it’s that dangerous, then you shouldn’t be doing it either.”
“It’s not just the danger that worries me.” She scowled, her jaw tight. “We could get arrested if we’re caught, and both our parents would kill us. I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
“Let me come. I’m used to fast cars because we race here,” I insisted, motioning to the quiet track in front of us. “And I know you’re a good driver.”
She blew out a breath, eyeing me silently for a moment before nodding. “Fine. But you’re not going to like it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I fucking do,” she growled, turning her attention to Ander. “Where’s the meeting point?”
“Northern starting point.”
“We’ll meet you there,” she grumbled, turning and walking towards the driver’s seat with tense shoulders. I scrambled after her, getting into the passenger seat before she could change her mind, and she was surprisingly quiet for most of the drive, other than telling me to switch my phone off.
I was nervous when we finally arrived to find multiple cars parked close together, but I relaxed a little bit when I noticed Blake amongst them. She looked tense, so I assumed the others were the rich pricks. One of the guys was shamelessly flirting up a storm with her, not that she seemed interested.
We parked beside them and climbed out, my skin crawling as the rich pricks checked us out. Ander walked over and stood beside Blake, speaking for everyone to hear him.
“You’ll all receive the map once you’re in your cars and we’re ready to go. No deliberately running each other off the road, and if you’re arrested, that’s on you. No ratting each other out either.”
“You expect us to race a bunch of girls?” One guy scoffed, making Ander chuckle.
“You’re scared to race girls?”
“They probably don’t even know how to reverse park, let alone race,” he threw back, eyeing me with amusement. “And what about her? She looks like she’s on her way to fucking church. Hey, sweetheart. How about you come sit next to me and blow me while I drive?”
Ander was fast as he grabbed Riley’s wrist before she could lunge at the guy, his voice firm. “Donovan, don’t.”
“Why the fuck not?” she seethed. “You think it’s okay for him to speak to my girl like that?”
“It’s fine,” I said softly, not wanting them to fight. “Just do your race so we can go.”
The guy’s eyes lit up, and he tilted his head to run his gaze over me. “You’re a pussy licker? What a shame. I bet I could change your mind.” He grabbed his crotch and licked his lips, but Ander shot him a dark look.
“Shut your fucking mouth. You’re wasting our time.”
Riley was fuming, but I took her hand and pulled her back, keeping a tight grip on her. “Ignore them.”
Once everyone was in their cars and ready to go, we moved into position and Riley set up a tablet on her dash. It was surprisingly fancy.