by CJ Adler
Before Nancy can reply, Grey, Jay, and Landon rejoin us.
“What the hell happened back there, Grey?” Nancy asks harshly, her tone suggesting her disappointment in him.
“I don't know what came over me,” Grey confesses, taking on a much softer tone with her, one that I've never heard him use.
Am I actually seeing Grey's nice side? Does that side to him even exist?
“Don't even.” Nancy scoffs, shaking her head at him. “I came here today for you.” She turns her back on him and pushes her way through the crowds as if to leave.
“Nance, wait!” Grey trails off after her like a lost puppy.
“And then there were three,” I whisper as I grin at Jay and Landon, slicing the tense atmosphere with my words of awesomeness.
“Make that two,” Landon corrects. “I'm out.” He also disappears into the hoard of people, probably in search of his little sister.
I glance up at Jay and shake my head before letting out an overdramatic sigh. “Racers, I tell you…” I pause for effect, “most aggro people on the planet.”
Jay flashes me a grin before shaking his head. “Not necessarily true. I race and I'm not aggro.”
I cross my arms over my chest and give him a flat look.
“What? I'm not,” he argues, blinded.
Someone is clearly in denial. He was just aggro like two hours ago.
I narrow my eyes at him some more.
“Stop giving me that look,” he says, exasperated. “Whatever. I'm not aggro. What do you know? Your opinion is just stupid,” he mutters before walking off, unintentionally proving my point.
I grin to myself. “And then there was one.”
Chapter 58
Forever Resilient
“Shouldn't someone stop him or something?” I ask aloud, glancing around warily. Everybody else seems unfazed by what I'm seeing, almost as if it's the norm around here. Judging by the last time I saw him doing this, it is the norm.
“Nah.” Emma waves off the matter as if her brother isn't completely insane in the head. “If people interfere, he only gets worse. It's better to let him vent. Besides, people around here know how Lan can be. We're all used to it. Nothing new. It's kind of an 'everyday thing' now.”
“So he's always like this?” I ask Emma as I point to Landon pummeling yet another person to smithereens.
Emma nods. “Unfortunately, but I never let him get too out of hand. He has a ridiculously short temper, hence the anger management classes. I have to continuously keep an eye on him,” she explains before shouting at him. “He's had enough, Lan! Drop your attitude before I come get you myself!”
Emma turns from her sweet nature to a more wrathful one like the flip of a switch. What shocks me, even more, is when Landon drops the guy to the floor, actually obeying someone for once: his little sister. He grumbles out curse words as he returns to us, looking sheepish as he meets his sister's deadly gaze.
“We've been over this, Lan! You can't hit people just because they get in your way, or because they don't have change on them!” Emma roars, lecturing her brother, her feisty side coming alive. She turns back to me with her sickly sweet smile back in place, the anger having diminished from her eyes. “Don't worry about him,” she reassures me, jutting out a finger at Landon. “He's practically harmless.”
Harmless my foot! He's been in like a bazillion fights within two hours.
I've been watching Landon (you can't not, he makes a scene like every two seconds), only to see that he starts off arguing with some random person before getting physical and starting a bloodbath. I've also noticed how most try to stay out of his way when he passes by. It seems he's made quite the name for himself. Everyone steers clear of him as if he's a hazard.
It's decided, I like the guy.
Landon nods at me, forcing a smile at his sister's command. “Yeah, I'm harmless,” he insists, cracking his knuckles, trying to convince me, but I'm not buying it.
“I see so,” I humor him as I gesture to the dusty ground tainted scarlet. Jay's already on the scene, helping the injured guy up.
“He was asking for it,” Landon growls, muttering more curse words beneath his breath as he waltzes off again, probably in search of another fight; it's like he gets a thrill out of slamming his fists into people's faces.
“Run! Turn the other way. 'Ruthless' is coming!” Some random guy calls out to his friend upon seeing Landon approach their group.
Emma definitely downplayed his intense temper.
I glance up to see Xavier shaking his head at me, his dark eyes analyzing me as if I'm stupid. “Kitten, everyone knows not to mess with Landon or question his way. His nickname is 'Ruthless Racer'. He blows up within seconds if you rub him up the wrong way. Most go out of their way to avoid him.”
I scoff. “I'm surprised 'Ruthless Racer' hasn't knocked you out yet. You're by far one of the most annoying people I've ever met, and that's saying a lot considering all the annoying people I know.”
“He has tried but Emma over here…” Xavier throws a loose arm around Emma's shoulders as he draws her to his side, “always stops him.” He glances down and smirks upon seeing Emma blush. “She's got a soft spot for me.”
“Xavier,” Emma whines, shooting him a look to silence him. She carefully removes his arm from her shoulders.
“I thought Grey's the guy that people around here fear,” I express my confusion with furrowed brows.
Emma shakes her head. “Nah, Grey's chill. His bark is worse than his bite. Got sharp words and no filter, but other than that, he's cool. He has his moments, but he's actually got lots of friends—”
“This is a sick world I've stumbled upon,” I cut in, bewildered by what I'm hearing. I cannot process the fact that Grey has actual friends. “Grey is rude. How am I the only one that sees that?”
Emma chuckles. “Uhm…maybe it's because he says he can't tolerate you. I've only ever seen him short with you, to be frank.”
Xavier releases a laugh of his own. “Way to sugarcoat it, Em. Could never beat around the bush, could you?” he teases Emma for her bluntness—at least, you know where you stand with the girl.
“He's short with you too,” Emma reminds Xavier. “Way to flirt with the girl he has his eyes set on.”
“I didn't know. Jeez. Cut me some slack.” Xavier glares at Emma before rubbing at his nose as if remembering where Grey had punched him. “Okay, I did know, but Grey's a pest. The mutt caught me off guard.”
I hate it when people insult my friends. “I dare you to say that to his face, you coward,” I challenge the idiot before glancing back to Emma. “What about Jay?” I ask, changing the subject. “Doesn't he get irritated easily?” I ask, thrown off by the world of street racing. Everything here is different from the world I know.
Emma smiles at my question, shaking her head in reply. “JT's mellow. He's low-key, I'll give him that, but he's real easy-going—”
“Yeah right,” Xavier snorts, disagreeing. “JT is an idiot. I hate him,” he adds, his blood boiling at the mention of Jay.
He actually has the nerve to insult Jay in front of me, Jay's girlfriend. “Don't be so opinionated.” I scowl at him. “You just hate him 'cause you can't beat him,” I rile him up further, annoyed.
“I don't get why you're with him,” Xavier retorts before he shamelessly runs his eyes down the length of my body. “You could do so much better if you wanted to,” he says, offering me that flirty smile of his.
I roll my eyes at him. “If it weren't for Jay earlier on, Grey would have killed you,” I remind him.
“Yeah but that's JT's thing 'round here so it doesn't count. Obviously, he'd do that, it's a given,” Xavier remarks, trying to ignore the fact that Jay had his back. “Just look at him right now.”
I look to my left to see Jay laughing with the guy that Landon had just hurt, making sure that he's alright.
Emma sees my confusion and takes the liberty to explain it to me, “Your boyfriend has a cold exter
ior on the outside; on the inside he has a heart of pure gold. He's the peacemaker around here, always the one stopping fights, never starting them.” Her admiration for him clear in her voice. “You're lucky, you know.
You're lucky you found someone like him.”
“I know,” I assure her, proud of him.
Xavier rolls his eyes in jealousy. “I'm so sick of you always fawning over him, Em. He's not perfect.”
Emma's quick to shush Xavier. “I'm not fawning over him. I'm just saying that he's a decent guy,” she defends herself, but it's not enough to convince Xavier.
Xavier scoffs. “A decent guy, huh? That's not what you said—”
Emma stops him there. “I'm going to go find Landon and make sure he's not burying any bodies,” with that said, she's gone, leaving me alone with the devil.
“She has a thing for Jay, doesn't she?” I ask him knowingly, using the opportunity to get the truth out of him.
“No…I don't know…ask her,” Xavier answers with a dark glimmer to his eyes. “She sure has a thing in comparing me to him and stating how I should be more like him. It's damn annoying. Your boy isn't even that great. He shouldn't be running as poster kid for perfection.”
“Jay's got his own problems. He's got a lot going on so back the hell off.” I grit through my teeth, now aggravated. “You don't even know him.”
“I don't need to really know him to dislike him. He walks around here like he owns the place. People fall at his feet. It grates me at how perfect he acts,” Xavier states, frustrated.
“For the billionth time, Xavier, I'm not perfect.” Jay sighs, saving me from Xavier's disgusting presence. He obviously saw from afar that I was left alone with him and decided to swoop in and come to my rescue.
“I'm going to have to disagree. You are perfect,” I give my honest opinion as I glance up at him through my lashes.
Jay smiles down at me before leaning his arm on my shoulder. He glowers at Xavier before tugging me into his side. He proceeds by giving Xavier a lecture:
“I'm not perfect. I know I'm not. I don't ever act like I am. I make mistakes all the time. I'm the furthest thing from being perfect, so get that analogy out of your thick skull. I have my own problems to deal with. I don't have it all together. I'm a mess half the time, so cut me some slack. I'm only human. I do what I can where possible and make it good enough for myself. I do my best in everything that I do. That doesn't make me perfect, it just makes me hardworking. I work for what I want. Sometimes, my best isn't good enough. I can accept that, so why can't you accept the same for yourself and stop comparing yourself to me all the damn time? It's not helping you in the long run. You're not me and you never will be, deal with it.”
“Like I'd want to be you,” Xavier snarls, at a loss for words at having heard Jay finally lash out at him.
“Then stop comparing yourself to me all the time. It's annoying,” Jay replies, his hand resting on my waist curling into a fist as he restrains himself from acting out like Landon and Grey. I place my hand over his and instantly feel him relax, his fist uncurling. “I'm sick and tired of you always assuming like I get everything handed down to me on a silver platter—”
“Because you do!” Xavier exclaims, arguing back, the both of them exchanging words.
Jay lets out a humorless laugh. “You know nothing about me. If you did, you'd know that nothing in life has ever come easy to me. I've worked hard for everything I have and no one can ever take that away from me,” he replies, his jaw clenched tightly. “You know what your problem is, man? You're lazy. You expect everything to come to you. Heads up, you can't scrape through life in laziness. For once in your life, stop going on about your problems — something we all have — and actually give me a challenge on the tracks today.”
“Oh, I will!” Xavier sneers, Jay having struck a nerve. “I'll show you and Ferrot up. You can bet on it,” he says, a bold look to his eyes as he walks away.
“I know you said that last part in the hopes of pushing him to do better, but I don't think he got the hint that you were actually trying to help him out,” I tell Jay, looking up at him in unease. “He took it all the wrong way.”
He's not listening to me, instead, his gaze is trained on Xavier.
I tug on the sleeve of his jacket. “Jay?”
He tears his eyes off Xavier's retreating form and forces himself to meet my concerned gaze. “Yeah?”
I eye him suspiciously. “What's up?”
He shakes his head. “Nothing. Don't you worry your pretty little head over it,” he jokes, making an attempt to distract me from the issue at hand.
“Jay,” I say flatly, narrowing my eyes at him, “what's going on?”
He sighs, averting his eyes from mine. “I'm not sure, but knowing Xavier, he has something up his sleeve. When really infuriated, he tends to go overboard and take things to the extreme. He's unpredictable when he's like this. He needs to know that no one ever wins when the goal is to settle the score.”
***
“So, Nance, did you call Grey out for stuffing up and reacting like a deranged imbecile?” I ask her, Grey glaring at me for bringing it up again after he just resolved the issue. “Did you forgive him for being a loser?”
“Yes, Aqueela.” Nancy rolls her eyes at me, being intelligent enough to know that I'm pushing him for a reaction. “I forgave him for being a loser.”
“I suppose you have to forgive him for being himself.” I grin and send Grey a wink.
Nancy laughs at this, surprising me.
“You're unbelievable,” Grey grumbles, taking offense.
“Thank you!” I chirp happily, taking it for the compliment that it is.
Grey runs a hand over his face in exasperation. “I'm done with you,” he groans. “Just go jump off a cliff or something—”
“Been there, done that!” I interject with a victory grin fresh on my lips. “It's actually a lot more fun than you'd think.”
“Of course, she's jumped off an actual freaken cliff,” he mutters to himself, shaking his head, seemingly not surprised.
“All racers to report to their cars,” some guy says, rounding up all the racers.
Grey visibly stiffens, clearly nervous. Emma gulps. Landon places his hands deep in his pockets. I can tell that they're all ridiculously anxious. Jay, on the other hand, seems unfazed. His mind is elsewhere. He's staring out at nothing, almost like he's not even here right now.
Xavier is nowhere in sight.
The racing crew begin making their way to their cars. “Good luck, guys!” I call after them. “I'll be rooting for all of you! Even you, Grey, you unlovable son of a gun!”
Grey responds by flipping me the middle finger as he continues walking, not even bothering to look back at me.
When I see Jay still stuck in space, I nudge him gently. “Hey, your big shot at winning championships is up. Your dream has arrived, now take it and own it,” I tell him. “You got this,” I encourage, hoping to break his faraway stare.
Jay snaps out of it and nods quickly. “Yeah, yeah. Okay,” he breathes out quietly, distracted.
Before I can even question him on his odd behavior, he's already heading over to his car.
“What's up with him?” Nancy asks, having noticed his off-like attitude. He's usually 'amped' for races. However, he's been fairly quiet this past hour.
“Only he would know,” I answer. “So, Nance, you rooting for Grey?” I ask her, making conversation even though I don't really care for her answer – it's an obvious 'yes'.
“Shut up. I want to watch the race,” she mutters.
There she is! I knew she couldn't be nice for very long. Grey wouldn't be able to put up with her otherwise.
The noise of the engines captures my attention. All the cars are lining up at the starting line. Then, before I know it, the lady waves the flag and the racers immediately take off on their first lap.
“They have like fifty laps to do, I'm sure you won't miss much,” I say in resp
onse to Nance's snippy attitude.
She rolls her eyes at me and places her hands on her hips. She finally turns to look at me, reluctantly giving me her full attention. “Why are you so keen on talking to me anyway?” She asks, her gaze skeptical. “Is this about my cousin?”
I scoff at that. As if it's about Mason. The world doesn't revolve around his gigantic head.
“I know I said that I was angry that you ditched Mase for Jay and all that, but I'm over it,” Nancy confesses, taking me by surprise. “Honestly, Jay is a pretty cool guy. I see why you chose him. I take back all that nasty stuff I said about him. He's civil. I feel awful that I misjudged him. I love Mason and all, but Jay is great. He's really—”
“This isn't about Mason or Jay,” I cut her off. “I'm talking to you because you're Grey's friend, I mean, housemate,” I quickly correct, trying not to get too ahead of myself.
Nancy raises an eyebrow as if catching on. “You're talking to me in relation to Grey?”
“Uh-huh,” I nod eagerly. “You two close?” I interrogate, genuinely intrigued by the topic.
Nancy furrows her eyebrows. “Yeah,” she answers, now suspicious of me. “I guess,” she concludes. “What's it to you?”
I frown at this. She's onto me. “Psh, nothing,” I say, trying to evade her questions. I'm doing the questioning here. “So…” I trail off, wondering how to get this across without sounding like a complete weirdo, “you're single, right?”
She pulls a face at me. “What's going on with you? Why would you care if I'm single or not?”
“Just so I know in future not to wish you a happy Valentine’s Day but a happy Single Awareness Day,” I lie. “These little things are important, Nancy,” I tell her. “I don't want to offend anyone.”
She gives me a flat look in return. “Since when do you care if you offend people or not?”
“Since…like…always,” I reply smoothly like a skilled conman.
Nancy watches me a little longer, waiting for me to crack under her intimidating gaze. “Right,” she drawls, making it rather obvious that she doesn't believe me. “Grey wasn't kidding, you really are weird.”