by Nikki Wild
I shrugged, playing innocent. "Sorry. I just figured he was the man with the plan and you guys were the muscle. I mean, you guys will be back in the money once you win the Bentley and sell it for parts, right?"
"I suppose," he answered, exasperated.
"Well, I just heard Reed tell Dane that he'd already been paid for the parts, so you should be good."
Lachlan's mouth went tight, and I watched as he glanced not at Reed, but at the other two Reapers hanging out by their Harleys. He wasn't happy. It was pretty clear that he didn’t know Reed was already pocketing cash for parts he didn’t have.
"Wait here. And shut up." I knew that Lachlan wasn't supposed to be abandoning his post like this, but he got out of the car and went over to talk to the other bikers. Reed didn't notice. He was too busy monkeying around under the hood of Jimmy's car, getting ready for the race.
Did we even have a chance?
There’s always a chance.
The roar of an engine drew my attention away from Reed. Dane came tearing up the road kicking up a spray of dust and gravel as high as a house.
Chapter 33
Dane
When I got there, I saw what they were planning. I should have expected to be racing Jimmy's old record breaker all along, but my mind had been full of Kara and not focused on the task at hand. Besides, I hadn't expected them to get all the old kinks worked out of it in time for the race. Jimmy’s car had been sitting unused for a few years, but Reed had a whole chop shop and a few decent Reaper mechanics at his disposal.
I shouldn’t have underestimated them.
It didn't matter. Maybe I could win and maybe I couldn't, but there was no point worrying about that now. All that mattered was keeping Kara was safe. I roared up to them and slammed on the brakes, stopping on a dime amidst a plume of smoke from the tires. I saw movement on my right and looked over to see Kara in the backseat of the car Reed drove when he wasn’t on that fucking bike of his.
She waved, even giving me a thumbs up.
I wanted to make sure she was ok. That was all I needed…
I climbed out of the car and went over to Reed. It took everything I had not to smash his teeth down his throat, especially when he stood up from under the hood and gave me that shit-eating grin that seemed to be on his face in perpetuity.
I didn't though. I might not have had that type of willpower before I met Kara, but I clearly did now. She’d let me see that there was always a bigger picture, and I knew I had to get through this conversation without getting jumped in order to beat him on the track where it mattered.
"Let her go," I demanded.
As expected, Reed shook his head. "She’s safe, just like I said. Before you two lovers have your tearful reunion, you and I have business to attend to. Ten laps? Winner takes all?”
I wanted it to be more clear than that. I knew he’d try to wiggle out of any deal we made, so I spoke loudly enough for the rest of his guys to hear me. Maybe they’d have some honor in them, after this was done. "When I win," I said, making sure to say when and not if. Kara would be proud…"I'm taking back my cars. I'm taking back Kara. And I never want you to cross my path again. If you see me coming, you turn around and hightail it the other way. You leave my family alone and you don't darken my doorway. Agreed?"
Reed shrugged, “And what if I don’t live up to my end? What the fuck are you going to do about it?”
“I’ll end you and your little club. My mother has all the details to put you away. Every car you’ve taken. Every detail about your operation,” I said with malice.
“You do that, and you’ll go down with us,” Reed spat.
“Neither of us are going down, because you’re going to live up to your end of this. Now don’t sit there and try to change the terms.”
Reed smiled. "If you want high-stakes Dane, I'll give you high-stakes. Agreed. But, if I win, here's what I want." He started ticking things off on his fingers. "Your house, with your mother kicked the fuck out of it. Your garages. Both of them. That sweet ass ride you rolled up in and the Bentley too. And that's it," he said, as if he was being nice about it. "You don’t have to leave town or anything. I’d prefer it if you stayed, to tell you the truth. It’ll be good to ride past you on the street, knowing that I’m living in your house, sleeping in your bed, and eating at your table.” He looked past me at Kara. “And maybe I’ll give Kara a chance to fuck a real man for a change when this little race is over. That'd suit me just fine."
He’d crossed a line, and he knew it. I grit my teeth and growled, but I kept from putting my fist through his face.
"Agreed," I managed to say. I wrestled my anger under control and, even though it turned my stomach touch the man, I stuck my hand out for him to shake it.
We were men, after all. Honor among thieves.
Even if I wasn’t one of them.
Reed hesitated and glanced at the other Reapers. I could see from the corner of my eye that they were watching us intently. He didn't seem as comfortable with that as I thought he should have been, and for once I was glad they were around.
Reed shook my hand.
Without another word, I turned on the heel of my boot and went back to the car my Dad and I had built. Reed got into Jimmy’s old tried and true racer and started the engine.
The big, familiar roar of it took me back to happier times, but I couldn't afford to daydream. I had a race to win.
I started the Bentley engine hidden underneath my hood and Reed and I both pulled our vehicles up to the starting line. There was no time for ceremonies or bullshit. It was time to race. A Reaper named Lachlan stepped up, pulling a pistol from his belt and aiming it at the sky. He squeezed the trigger, and we were off.
Ten laps. No time to worry about anything except the wheel. The race took over my body. You had to get out of your own way before you could win at the track. You couldn't think about your girlfriend, or the wedding ring that was still in the jacket you’d tossed on your bed. You couldn’t worry about your mother. You couldn’t regret all the decisions that put your brother and father in the ground.
All you could do was run on instinct and adrenaline, and if you didn't trust either one of those, you had every chance of not making it back at all.
Reed had the inside lane. Normally it wouldn't matter, but with just ten laps total, it made a big difference.
Fine with that. He could have the advantage, but I’d be damned if I let him win.
As we headed into the first turn I could already see how this was going to play out. Reed was a real loose cannon. Instead of driving low and fast, he chose instead to pull dangerously close to me whenever I got near. It meant that he couldn't go as fast, but it made passing him nearly impossible. One wrong move and I’d be spun out against his fender. Every time I tried to edge past him in the first three laps, I had to back off or risk wrecking us both.
The fourth lap. The fifth. On the sixth I tried to get by him again, pretending to pass high and then tapping my brakes and ducking low and to the inside. It would've worked if he had a brain in his head. Reed either didn't care one ounce for his own self-preservation or thought that I had more to live for that he did, because he yanked the wheel to the left and cut me off.
I slammed on the brakes and dodged. He missed me by inches. As I throttled up again, trying desperately to close the gap that he’d just made, I felt my heart banging around in my chest. Reed was a couple car lengths ahead of me which was a huge distance to try to make up in just a few short laps. It would take everything I had.
You got this, I heard Kara’s voice say in my head, right on cue. Shut up and race. If you're so damn good at going fast, now’s the time to prove it to me.
I couldn't help but smile. It was exactly the type of thing that she would say, and as I stomped on the accelerator and brought the car up high on the next turn, I actually saw the confused look on Reed’s face as he looked for me in his rearview mirror. He couldn’t see me, and that must've thrown him because he actually
turned around in his seat to search the empty track behind him. Not much, just a little. He was scanning for me, but he wasn't a racer. If he was, he known that anything you can't see behind you is either ahead of you or to your side. His tires clipped the inside edge of the track and he swerved suddenly away from it, losing some of his precious speed.
I roared high along the wall, and when I glanced over again, our eyes met.
It was too late. I had the speed and a clear line to the finish. As we came out of the last turn of the final lap I was half a car length ahead of him and pulling away. My eyes locked forward.
Reed couldn't catch me now. Nobody could. I was gone. Kara and I were finally free of this weight that had been hanging over our heads by a fraying rope.
That was when I felt the jarring impact rock the car. I'd been right about him being dangerous. He wasn’t going to let me win, and he certainly wasn’t going to let me get away scot free. Reed had smashed Jimmy's car into mine, and by the time that fact registered in my head, our cars separated as we both spun wildly out of control.
I tried to steer into it the skid. I watched with a crazed mix of alternating despair and relief as our cars swapped positions a couple of times. It was impossible to tell who was ahead and who was behind, but at least as I drifted across the finish line my wheels caught the grass on the inside of the track and slowed me down.
Reed wasn’t that lucky. He was spinning in the other direction, and I heard the crash as he took Jimmy's car into the wall at high speed.
Chapter 34
Kara
It all played out in slow motion. When the two cars crashed together I broke away from the Reapers. They didn’t stop me as I sprinted towards Dane. The air was full of dust and smoke, and it took me a couple of seconds to work out where Dane’s car had come to a stop.
Big clods of dirt had been torn up in the wheel tracks of his car, and when I got to him I did my best to yank the door open to see if he was okay. To my surprise, Lachlan was beside me as well. "It's welded shut," he said, bumping me out of the way so that he could peer in at Dane for himself.
“Is he okay?”
“Looks ok. If you want to get to him, you’re going to have to climb in the passenger side,” he said before running toward what was left of Reed’s car.
That was just what I did. Dane wasn’t bleeding. He wasn’t battered or bruised, and his eyes were clear. The car had held up well, and I knew he’d be okay. "Just tell me I won, Kara," Dane said. “Please.”
No sooner had my butt hit the seat than my arms were around him.
"You won!" I whispered excitedly, my lips against his ear. "It was close, but you did it!"
As one, we ended our embrace and looked through the windshield at the place where Reed had driven his car going to the wall. The Reapers were over there, and they didn’t look happy. "He'll be okay," Dane told me. "The crash isn’t bad, and I know that car well. He should be able to walk away from it."
I could hear a mix of pride in his voice at the engineering that had gone into the car and disappointment when he realized, as usual, Reed was going to get away unscathed.
Except, I was wrong about that. As I looked on, Lachlan reached through the open window and dragged Reed out by shoulders. It didn’t look gentle, and the punch to the face that followed was even more aggressive.
"I'm not so sure he’s going to be okay, " I said.
I was horrified. As bad as Reed was, I didn't want to see this. Thankfully, before Lachlan could do any more damage the others had pulled him away.
"Looks like they're changing their leadership structure," Dane mused. "But I wonder what pissed them off."
I shrugged, unable to hide the chirpiness in my voice that was pretty much a confession. "I told Lachlan that Reed had already sold the Bentley’s parts before the race was even won. I overheard him talking to you on the phone. Looks like they aren't all that happy about the news."
"Kara?"
"Yeah?"
"Have I ever told you that I love you?"
His face was flushed with the excitement of the race and I could see the veins standing out on his neck. The muscles in his forearms were rippling too, and all I want to do was run my hands over his chest.
I didn't know what to say. A silly part of me wanted to thank him for everything he’d done, and even dumber part of me wanted to run away. Finally, I had the sense to open my mouth and say, "I love you too… but hang on to the ring for a while, huh?"
I punched his bicep playfully to soften the words. “After all, we just met. What kind of girl do you think I am?”
He grinned, and I could see that was a relief as well. He’d have gone through with it, but we didn’t need that sort of pressure now. The ‘L’ word was enough.
"When you came running over here, did you get a good look at my car?”
I nodded. “It’s not too bad. The bumper will need to get screwed back on or whatever, but that’s it…”
"That's just what I wanted to hear," Dane said as he turned the engine over and the roar of it filled the cabin. "Because we’re going to need this car."
"Yeah?"
He nodded. "This thing can get us to Orlando in six hours, so long as the cops don’t catch us along the way. There might still be time for you to be the belle of the ball…”
“As nice as that sounds, there are things I’d rather be doing for the next six hours.”
“And what might those things be?” Dane asked, casting me a sideways glance.
“Use your imagination.”
Chapter 35
Kara
“So, what do you think?” I asked with a bit of premature confidence.
“I think it’s fantastic,” the man replied, stretching and moving his arms and legs in the white padded jumpsuit. “How did you get it to breathe so well? Are you telling me this is fireproof?”
“Fireproof, and air conditioned,” I replied, reaching forward and flipping a switch on a small metal box. Cool air flowed down a short umbilical line that attached to the man’s helmet, spreading out through the suit through small pathways within the fireproof weave. He let out a little happy groan.
“So how many units can I put you down for?”
“Sixteen for the organization,” the man replied, “and if you don’t mind, I want to show this to the boys back in Daytona Beach. Nascar is going to want a suit like this in every car. These things could replace the water cooling systems…”
“And they’re twenty pounds lighter,” I offered up with a smile. “On the track, every pound counts. It’s the same suit prototype worn by Dane Carson when he won last year’s Cup Series.”
“No shit… You know Dane?”
“Know him? I’ve been married to him for five years,” I laughed.
We talked a bit more as I finished wrapping up the deal with Johnston Racing. Sixteen fireproof driving jumpsuits at four thousand dollars apiece meant I’d just earned more in an afternoon than I used to make in a year when I was still in the fashion business. Dane had been damn surprised when I walked away from my dreams in Orlando, but my talents weren’t going to go to waste. If he thought I was just going to be a Susie Q Homemaker he had another thing coming. Fashion design goes further than pretty skirts and crop tops. It can be functional too.
And that’s how I ended up stitching together his new racing uniform from the collar right on down to the socks. It didn’t take long before people took notice. Dane’s racing suit was an incredible piece of fashion engineering, and the man wearing it was just the cream on top.
But maybe I’m biased… after all, we’ve been through a lot together.
I still remember the days after that race against Reed. Dane managed to get the Bentley engine back in its rightful home and we drove the car down to Orlando together a few days later to drop it off. The agency seemed more than a little relieved when we arrived, but they took the car without complaint and my little encounter with Reed and his bikers went unnoticed.
And as
for Reed, Dane told me he ended up ‘out bad’ with his club. I guess that means they kicked him to the curb, because his boys sent him packing without his patch or his leather. Without Reed’s influence, Lachlan approached Dane for new work. They shut the old chop shop down, and Dane brought the biker mechanics on board to work with him as he started up his dad’s old racing business. In no time at all they were turning out new engines based on the design in Jimmy’s old car, and it wasn’t long before people were knocking on the door looking for their performance fix. Dane’s engines were some of the best in racing.
He’d proven that on the track. Two years of hard driving finally put him behind the wheel as a NASCAR driver, and he’d kept on winning ever since. With a little of his mechanical creativity sprinkled under the hood, nobody could touch him.
Except me…
Touching him was something I did plenty of. My attempt to get him to hold off on his marriage proposal lasted all of seven lust-filled days. We were already expecting our second child. A girl this time. She was going to wrap poor Dane around her little finger and the thought of it made me smile.
I closed up shop, taking time to run my fingers over the racks of shirts and hats that made up my small line of racing inspired clothing. It was time to go home. Dane would be waiting, fresh from his garage with oil under his fingernails. He was always down there making just one more tiny adjustment to his car, squeezing out the tiniest fraction of an advantage. That was fine by me. It gave me a reason to throw him in the shower and have my way with him.
I stepped outside and took a deep breath of the clean countryside air, locking the door behind me. This was my life. This was my home. I thought I was destined for skyscrapers and fashion shows in Paris, but fate has a funny way of taking you off course when you least expect it. I wouldn’t trade this life I found for the world.