by Jillian Ashe
Trent raised his arms, telling us to get ready. We all revved our engines in response.
I watched Kevin out of the corner of my eye and Trent with the other as my foot gunned the accelerator and my right hand caressed the stick shift. Trent's arms dropped and I saw Kevin lean forward. I dropped the clutch and jumped forward, immediately slamming into second and straight through to third.
Kevin inched ahead of me, but not by much. I glanced in my rearview mirror; Victoria was definitely keeping Newbie busy. She drove side to side with his motions, always keeping ahead and not allowing him to gain an inch.
I shifted to fourth and into fifth. My car broke even with Kevin's S2000. God knows what was under that hood, but damn he was fast.
I checked my monitor; everything was ready. The engine was performing just as it should. It was time to test the new NOS system. I pressed the red button on the right side of the steering wheel and shot forward. I had no idea how fast I was actually going.
The first thing I did with any car I was going to race was remove the speedometer. I found if I knew how fast I drove then the inclination to slow down would hurt me. Removing it got rid of that innate desire.
I glanced back again; Newbie was trying to get Victoria out of the way by slamming into her rear bumper. She let him, keeping enough speed and control that he wasn't doing any real damage. She swerved from side to side and prevented him from getting the lead on her. She looked pissed when he slammed into her again. Victoria accelerated forward and then slammed on her brakes.
Newbie crashed into the back of her car and his car flipped end over end. He landed on the nose of his car and slid into a cement wall. She whipped around him and sped forward to tail me. I flicked my attention back to the road ahead of me and my own personal kryptonite.
The computer informed me the second phase was complete. I noticed Kevin about half a car length behind me, but he easily kept the distance consistent. There was one thing that I remembered about his driving that allowed him to win so often: intimidation. It was that and his lack of concern. It was like he didn’t even try.
I felt a prick of fear. I couldn't lose to him again, no matter how much I tried to convince myself I didn't care.
I floored the accelerator and the engine screamed in protest, but complied. I knew the limits and the car could handle what I gave.
My vision tunneled and all I saw was the finish line. Anticipation made me tense and adrenaline ran through my veins with reckless abandon. It was my drug; what I lived for.
I blocked out everything but the speed and the track. I made sure Kevin was watching me as I pretended to press the other NOS button. He fell for it. I saw him smile as he used the last of his NOS to pass me by.
The finish line was close; I only had a few microseconds left. I pressed the button, and the third phase engaged. I flew forward, feeling exalted as I passed him and hit the finish line. Victory flooded through me, sweeter than any high.
I slowed and swung the car around in a fishtail, facing Kevin in his oncoming car while grinning in triumph.
The crowd slammed around us in excitement, cheering and yelling. I stepped out of my car and was immediately accosted by the spectators. I grinned again and accepted the money. I couldn't stop myself from raising my arms up in victory. It was exhilarating.
I handed the money to Trent and watched Victoria and Kevin. He came over, looking like a supermodel, and shook my hand.
"Good race," he said. His eyes held my gaze until he was all I could see.
Out of nowhere Victoria jumped on my back, laughing.
Newbie had gotten a ride with someone to the finish line. His car was too trashed to make it and he would have to get it towed later. He came over to us, boiling with anger and grabbed Victoria's shoulder. He yanked her around to face him.
"Hey!" I yelled. My voice snapped with a warning.
"You cheated!" he screamed at Victoria, pointing viciously. He was so mad his finger trembled. I stayed at her back with my arms crossed and glared. I silently dared him to touch her again.
"Technically, the only rule is to win," Victoria told him.
"Luke, forget about it," Kevin's deep, soothing voice said from behind me. Apparently newbie had a name.
"You're just mad you were beaten by a bunch of girls," Victoria said smugly, rubbing it in.
Great.
"You're just whores!" Luke yelled and slammed his fist onto the hood of my car.
I narrowed my eyes. He did not just do that. I moved forward with every intention of inflicting intense pain, but Kevin held me back.
When Kevin spoke there was so much rage laced throughout his normally sweet voice it gave me shivers. And it wasn't even directed my way. "You need to go home now, before I change my mind and beat your ass so bad you won't wake for days."
Luke still looked pissed but backed down, his eyes a telltale sign that he was terrified of Kevin’s threat. He turned and huffed through the crowd which parted silently to let him through. As soon as he was gone the crowd started talking in hushed voices.
"It's time to split, people!" Kevin yelled over the noise.
"That was my goddamn car!" All the rage still coursed through me and it didn't have an outlet any more. I turned to leave, unsatisfied, and was restrained again by Kevin's hand on my waist.
I pushed him away and started for my car, not wanting to deal with him at the moment and say something I would regret later. He turned me around and I was forced to look up into his eyes.
"Are you coming to the party?" he asked. He rubbed his nose along my neck, breathing in my scent and the rage dissipated like mist on a hot day.
"Yes," I whispered, unable to say much else.
"Good, I'll see you there." He kissed my throat and turned away with a grin on his face.
I couldn't move. My hand rested on my neck where he’d kissed me as I stared after him.
Chapter Two
We all headed down the streets to Kevin’s house in Little Tokyo. He lived in a rundown suburban area. You could tell where the party was from blocks away.
People poured out of the house with loud music and I could almost smell the alcohol from where I was.
I parked on the street behind the house and covered my car with a tarp. I liked to keep it as inconspicuous as possible; I had no desire to attract any unwanted attention, particularly from the police.
Trent and Victoria parked and then walked over to me. I handed Victoria three thousand for wingman, and Trent two thousand. We split the winnings every time one of us won. Winner got the larger portion and we switched that around to keep things copacetic. It was a team effort regardless who wins.
“So…Kevin?” Victoria asked, ensuring my mind was still intact.
“Yeah.” I shifted nervously. I didn’t want her to rag on me about this. She switched from supportive to thinking I was out of my mind all the time.
“We always got your back,” Trent reminded me and gave me a small hug.
I smiled, and Victoria nodded in agreement. There was nothing like good friends to keep you out of trouble, or to get you into it depending on the situation.
We walked up the front steps together and through the open door. I looked around the room where chaos reigned. It was the usual scene: club music loud enough to burst eardrums, couples hooking up all over the place, alcohol, and tons of people.
A girl came over and gave us all a beer. Victoria winked at her and the cute redhead put an arm around Victoria’s waist.
“I’ll see you around,” Victoria said to us, a huge smile on her face. That girl got around.
The look on Trent’s face was priceless.
“You know,” I said. “All you have to do is tell Victoria you want her and she would be all over you instead of that girl.”
“How can I compete with that?” he asked me, almost in despair. I took another look; he did have a point. The redhead was gorgeously exotic.
He sighed and headed over to the TV where a bunch of g
uys were watching videos of our races. They kept replaying Newbie’s crash. I smiled; karma always came around to bite you in the ass.
“What are you thinking about?” Kevin asked softly, his voice tickling my ear. I shivered, trying to tell myself it wasn’t because of him.
I turned around to face Kevin, a million answers running through my head so fast I couldn’t grab at one. I decided silence was better than making a fool out of myself, so I shrugged in reply.
“Come sit with me?” he asked, offering me his hand.
I debated for a second if that was a good idea. Then I looked into his eyes and my doubts disappeared. I could never resist his eyes.
“Sure,” I answered.
He took me outside to the front porch and we sat on the swing. It was a familiar place to me. I had spent many afternoons and summers here with him.
The air was cool on my skin. I enjoyed it after the long, hot summer months that finally seemed to be ending.
I sat back and tried to relax, but the memories were starting to make me nervous. If we didn’t work back then, why would it now? I kept my eyes down, contemplating the contents of my beer. One of my hands fiddled with the ends of my hair.
“You look nervous,” he noted. He didn’t touch me, but he was close enough I could feel him on my skin.
“A little,” I admitted.
“You always play with your hair when you’re nervous,” he said, a small smile on his lips. He tugged a lock of my hair playfully.
I let my hand fall to my lap. I took a deep breath and asked the question that had been nagging at me since he had first spoken to me that day. “What made you decide to change your mind?”
He looked at me, tracing my face with his gaze, and told me, “Every relationship felt so empty, it didn’t really have any meaning. When I saw you today I realized why. None of them were you.” He smiled softly and touched my face.
I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to believe him, I really did, but it sounded so cliché.
“I want to have more in a relationship than just the physical, and you gave me everything you had with no doubt; complete trust. I realized how hard that is to find. I was stupid and young. I could have ruined the best thing I ever had. I just hope you will forgive me.” Kevin pleaded with his eyes for me to understand, to perhaps give him another opportunity.
Well, when he put it that way, it was a lot more convincing. I couldn’t help but to give him another chance.
“Of course I forgive you,” I said, putting my hand on his leg to add reassurance. “I’m just glad you changed your mind.”
Almost two years before, when both of us were still in high school, we had an argument. Not unusual for a couple of three years, but for us it festered. It dug deeper in our minds and wouldn’t let go. He wanted me to be someone I wasn’t. He wanted me to quit putting myself in danger by racing, because he cared too much. I wouldn’t quit, and I hit rock bottom as I tried to find new and challenging ways to race.
The more danger the better.
Kris was dying and I needed to feel like I was living enough for the both of us. Kevin walked away from me then, saying he couldn’t stand by and watch me destroy myself.
After we broke up I was devastated and felt betrayed. I never wanted to see him again. But the underground racing world was more like a family than I could ever imagine. He was everywhere I went, all the time. It took me a few months to stop losing and learn how to regain my concentration, because he just made me so goddamn nervous.
Then the wreck happened. We had raced against each other, just the two of us, and I lost it. I lost my control and my mind. I slammed into a wall so fast I didn’t wake up for days.
He never came and saw me, and that’s when Trent informed me of the new addition to his love life: Crystal.
Time did weird things. It confused, yet helped me. But the wound in my heart never left. It was just a familiar ache I learned to live with. I learned to forgive and move on. It took me forever, but I began to understand where he was coming from. I slowed down, and learned safety and skill.
And now, that fabled second chance was presenting itself to us, and I wondered if we would take it.
He brought me closer and kissed me softly, his arms wrapping around me so I was as close as possible. My fingers tightened on his neck. He kissed me harder; demanding. I pressed my body into his. It seemed to last forever and I never wanted it to stop. I lost myself in his kiss.
He pulled away with a low growl. “Damn it. I forgot how good you taste,” he said. “You’re still the only one who can make me lose control.”
I couldn’t speak yet so I touched his cheek and smiled.
“Dance with me,” he demanded.
“What —” he interrupted what I was going to ask and pulled me up and back into the house.
The music was throbbing and twisting slowly. It seemed to sneak its way into my body until I swayed with the rhythm. Kevin was a fantastic dancer. His hands were on my hips, directing me while his fingers trailed along my bare skin. I let myself go; let all my worries and stress fall away until all that was in my mind was the music and the feel of his touch. I leaned against him, resting my face in his neck and wound my arms around him as we twisted, spun, and moved. He slid his hands up and down my back, holding me.
Before I knew it, he was kissing me again and all I could do was kiss him back, trusting him to keep our bodies moving.
I was wrenched away and slapped so hard, my face whipped to the side.
I touched my cheek in shock and looked up. Crystal was livid with rage.
My answering anger was so hot it coursed through me and I lost control. I punched her hard. Her nose broke under my fist, and she dropped. All I saw was red.
“Sorry about the nose job,” I spat.
Blood gushed from her face and I noticed Victoria at my side.
“I would suggest you leave before I turn this into a real catfight, bitch. I promise, that’s not something you want to experience,” Victoria warned.
Crystal glared at us. If only looks could kill.
She got up and ran out the door. The room, which had been abnormally quiet during our scuffle, went back to the conversations, flirting, and drinking.
I took a deep breath and Victoria was smiling again. Two scuffles in one night weren’t even close to our record.
Kevin put his arm around me possessively, staring Victoria down.
“Oh come on, stud muffin,” she teased. “Let her dance with her friend. Just don’t forget, I had her first.” She led me away with a wicked grin on her face. I tried not to be so obviously embarrassed.
A new song came on. It had an exotic beat. It was darker, sexier, and slower. We twisted and turned, our hips shaking in sync with each other. I laughed as I saw Kevin’s eyes watching us, dark and unreadable. The corner of his mouth lifted a little, almost a smile. We seemed to be gathering an audience. I noticed Trent. His eyes were unrelenting as he watched Victoria.
When the song ended there was cheering and we were handed more beers. Victoria went over to Trent and whispered something in his ear, his face turned bright red.
I turned to Kevin. He grinned and started to cross the room. I went to move forward but the floor slid out from underneath me and I felt the blood drain from my face. My eyes went wide, and I felt terrified with no idea why. I tried to catch myself, but I couldn’t seem to be able to grasp anything, and the ringing in my ears drowned everything else out. My vision was shrouded by a grey cloud and everything tingled with an oddly numb sensation. Vaguely I heard someone yell my name. It sounded like it was through water; indistinct.
My body was caught before I hit the floor. I tried to hold onto the last shred of consciousness. There was yelling and muttered words. It was weird how nothing hurt but everything ached and twisted. I felt lost as the grey slipped into black, and I wondered if I would wake up.
What’s Next?
If you follow my blog, or social media pages, or even my newslett
er you will be pretty informed. But if you’re not really into that sort of thing you can find out here :)
The next installment in the Wolfegang Archives: Capt. Chase Wolfe will be released Sept. 2017. The short story is available for pre-order here.
About the Author
Jillian Ashe lives and works in San Diego, California with her husband and son. While writing the Wolfegang series she attended University in pursuit of a Master’s degree in English and Creative Writing. She has been writing since age twelve and has written for The La Jolla Light Newspaper. She is part of almost every fandom out there and tries every year to get Comicon tickets to no avail.
Jillian is working on finishing the Wolfegang series and has a dystopian science fiction series in the works called the Terra Trilogy.
She loves hearing from readers so feel free to contact her!
www.JillianAshe.com
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