by Piper Reagan
“Move it girls! We’re going to be late.” Caleb’s already heading for the door.
I look at the clock and then at Honor in question.
“Caleb is like this every time Jarrett races. Just smile, nod, and roll with it. If you try to explain to him that we have more than enough time, he’ll pace and sweat, then look at you like you stole his toys.” She pats my arm. “As a matter of fact, just follow my lead.”
“Girls! Truck. Now.”
Honor wordlessly grabs her bag, and I trail her out the door behind a jogging Caleb. After loading ourselves into his truck, horns blare again as he makes his way down the driveway and leads the parade. The line of vehicles never stops honking until we hit the highway. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of, this show of support for my man.
My man.
I let his new title run through my veins and fill my system with happiness.
***
The suite is beautiful—and air conditioned, thank God. I guess normally just the guys come, and they usually like to get all up in the mix, going down into the pits when they prime the cars, getting spots in the stands so they can actually feel the rumble in their chests when the dragsters rip down the quarter-mile stretch. But since today is such a big day in Jarrett’s career, as he competes for the Southern World Nationals, he got the suite so the girls and the kids could come as well without having to sit in the baking sun or deal with the headphones everyone should wear at these events.
I walk up to the glass and have a perfect view of the track. It looks right over the starting line and straight out to the finish. When Jarrett’s Parks Oil Team car pulls up for its run, my pulse rockets, nervous sweat sheening on my skin.
“You can do this, baby. One more win and it's championship time,” I whisper.
And no sooner does he take off than it’s over.
“He did it!” The room erupts, everyone out of their seats. Even the girls.
“One more race and he’ll be the champion!” That was Greg. “Speedy Gonzales is going to bring home the championship!”
I laugh and take a moment to look around at the family Juice has made for himself. All these men and women from Hope Town have come to support him, pride on all their faces.
His dad, Marcus, is getting interviewed right now, so we all quiet down to listen. He’s Jarrett’s crew chief and, from what I understand, the greatest motor head around.
***
An hour later, it’s crunch time. I’ve got the nervous sweats again like it’s nobody's business, and I want to watch and not watch all at the same time. I can’t decide if I should plaster my body to the window or watch the TVs on the wall. Caleb is pacing like a caged animal, and when I look around, I find all the men doing something similar. Axel is tugging his hair, Beck is rubbing the back of his neck. Even Maddox is rocking back and forth on his feet. The girls all seem to huddle together to stay out of the boys’ way while entertaining the little ones.
Oh shit, he’s up. He’s the last one to go down the strip and he has to beat the current number one speed of 331.16. He does his last burnout and pulls his funny car toward the tree. Marcus lines him up with a precision I’ve never witnessed before. I’ve secretly watched Jarrett race over the years, but until you see it in person, watching those cars line up within a millimeter of the start line, you simply can’t image the perfection with which they line up that nose.
I don’t feel ready. I bite my nail. Faster than I thought possible, the tree lights up, then each light drops off one at a time. Yellow… yellow… yellow… green! Oh shit! My hands hit the glass and my heart beats wildly. Less than four seconds later, the men are jumping and hollering like lunatics. A speed of 332.85 lights up the jumbotron at the end of the track. Holy shit! He came in a mile per hour faster.
“He did it!” I scream. Excitement tightens my chest and I smile so big it hurts. Pride and tears fill my eyes.
His parachute is out and the car pulls out of sight. I run back to the monitor Honor, Dani, and Maddi are huddling around, and we hug each other and watch the screen. His dad flies up to meet him on a golf cart and all but pulls him from his car when the body is lifted up and off him.
The announcer has Jarrett off to the side already. “That was one hell of a ride you had today. You broke your PR and will be taking home the championship.”
“Dad has been tweaking this motor for the last few months and we’ve finally nailed the perfect balance.”
“It’s not just the motor. We’ve been watching you take this track for the last couple days and you’ve been on fire since you showed up. What’s changed since your last race?”
Juice’s full white smile pops out behind that blonde beard. “For the first time in nine years, my head is clear. Nothing left to slow me down.”
His words take hold, and I’m floating on a cloud. That is, until a half-dressed female comes up with Parks Oil Team stretched across her huge chest. She grabs his face and kisses him, right on camera. My chest constricts and I turn my head, unable to look for another second. Powerless to hide my hurt, I head off to go hide in the bathroom to try to regain my cool. I know he wouldn’t cheat on me, and certainly not on camera, but every insecurity I have is like an open wound right now. I feel like the girl I used to be, too afraid to tell him how I felt because of the other women I always figured were in his life.
The bathroom door slowly opens and I duck into one of the stalls before they see me.
“Gineva?” It’s Honor. She must have followed me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I sniffle. Even I could hear the lie in that response.
Her little Nike-covered feet come to the stall door, but she doesn’t try to open it. “Gin… I just want you to know that I understand exactly what you’re going through. And if you ever need anyone to talk to, I’ll always be here.”
“You do?” How could she know? The beautiful blonde on the other side of the door looks like she was sculpted from sunshine and married to her biggest fan.
“Are you kidding me?” She laughs, and I let the sound calm me. “They used to call me Bug when I was a kid. Even Caleb.”
“What?” Surely that can’t be true.
“It’s a long story we can share over wine, but let’s just say I know what it feels like to be insecure. I also know what it feels like to watch women go blatantly after your man.”
I never thought about it until now, but Caleb is a UFL god. She probably has to deal with this sort of shit on a daily basis. I forget sometimes who all of these people are outside of their small town because there, they’re just good ol’ people. I forget that all of the women I’m surrounded by have probably dealt with their share of craziness.
I open the bathroom door, and she wraps me in her arms. “Like I said earlier, just follow my lead.”
“Thank you.” In that moment, I wonder how I’m ever going to pull myself away from this perfect little town filled with more people to love than I could have ever imagined.
***
It’s late when we finally get back to Caleb and Honor’s house. Jarrett had a lot to do and won’t be driving back to Hope Town until tomorrow.
When we get out of the car, I stretch. “Thanks for everything today, you guys. I’m going to head over to Sway’s house.”
“You can stay here, you know,” Honor offers again.
“I know, but my stuff is over there. It will just be easier.” I also want to swing by the shop and grab the money so that it’s not left there overnight, and make sure the day’s totals all balance out. “I’ll see you guys later.”
I head straight for the salon and enter through the back door. As soon as I step into the dark office, I notice a flash of light coming from the front.
“Who’s there?” I yell. “Hello?”
I follow the light, then suddenly I’m hit hard over the head. My hands and knees smack the floor from the force of the blow.
“Stay down.” A familiar voice sinks into my ri
nging ears. “I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
I turn my head to look, and before I can see who’s standing over me, a click sounds. Oh my god, she just cocked a gun.
“I said stay down!” She puts the gun to the back of my head, her hands shaking and making me more afraid that she’ll shoot me by accident rather than on purpose. She pushes the steel against my skull. “You aren’t supposed to be here!”
I can’t decide if I’m scared or angry. Who am I kidding? I’m fucking scared.
“Amy…” I try to soothe her, maybe talk her out of doing something crazy. I cannot believe how wrong I read the situation. “Please, don’t do anything stupid. We can figure something out.”
“Bullshit. You just had to come in here and fuck everything up!” The gun shakes harshly against my head.
I send up a prayer that I’ll survive this, and my mind goes right to Juice. How I might never see him again. How I’ve wasted so many years being stubborn, and now that I finally have him back, this crazy bitch is going to try to take it away. All for a little bit of money.
“Please, Amy, just let me go and I promise I won’t tell anyone.” Pleading my way out of this might be the only thing I can do. “Just please put the gun down. If you shoot me, your life will be over.”
“Not if I get away.” She seems to find some resolve, and the gun feels hard and steady against me now. “No one will ever guess it was me. Not in a million years will I be questioned. I can shoot you right now and no one will ever come looking at me.” Confidence fills her voice. “But if you walk out this door, I may as well walk myself straight down to the jail.”
Blood whooshes in my ears as sweat breaks out all over my skin. I think she’s really going to shoot me. “I promise, Amy, I won’t. Just let me go.”
“Quit saying my name!” she screams.
The metal is pulled away, and I decide in that split second that if I don’t try to get out of here, I never will. I whip my arm around and knock her off balance, then I scramble off the floor and hope that the darkness will hide me as I run for the back door.
“You bitch!” She’s a bigger, much taller girl, and her legs make up the distance before she tackles me.
My head hits the floor with a thump and stars burst behind my eyelids, but I don’t stop struggling. I keep trying to army crawl from under her, but it’s useless. She has me pinned, and before I even have a chance to catch my breath…
Click click click. “What the fuck!” Click click click.
I wait for the rush of pain that should come from the bullets hitting my back. The gun is pressed so tightly to my spine that it takes me a moment to realize it must be empty. Adrenaline fuels me and I try to move again.
“Get the fuck off of her,” I hear right before my head is pulled back and slammed against the floor.
Sixteen
Jarrett
Dad and I just finished locking down the last hauler when my phone rings. He’s a stickler about checking every piece of equipment before anyone on the crew takes off with part of his engines. It’s one of the reasons I have to stay back until morning, so we could load everything properly. I’m so damn tired, but I debate driving back to Hope Town tonight just to spend the last few sleeping hours with Gin. I don’t really want to wait for morning to head back to her.
I answer my phone, surprised to hear from my cousin. “What’s up, Caleb?”
“Hey, I don’t want to freak you out, but I think you’re going to want to get back to Hope Town.”
My stomach hits my feet. “What’s wrong?”
Dad must notice the panic in my voice, because he stops working to listen to my conversation.
“It’s Gin.”
“What the fuck happened?”
“She’s okay, man. I mean, I think she’ll be okay. Maddox just called and said they were taking her by ambulance to the hospital. I don’t know the full story, just that she’s unconscious.”
“Fuck!” I scream, running toward my Harley. “I’m on my way.”
“What’s going on, son?” Dad runs after me as I hang up.
“It’s Gineva. I need to get back. They’re taking her to the hospital.”
“You’re not driving.” He grabs my arm. “Get in my truck and I’ll take you.”
“But—”
“Arch!” he yells to his second-in-command. “Finish up the check. I’m taking Jarrett to Hope Town.”
***
We pull up to Grady Memorial Hospital in record time. When the rush of what is happening leaves my body, I’m going to ask Dad how many laws he broke to get us here so fast. Caleb and Liam are waiting by the curb when we pull up, and I jump out before we even come to a complete stop.
“How is she?”
“She’s getting an MRI right now, but she’s breathing on her own, so just try to relax.” Lee tries to calm me down, but until I know what the fuck is happening, I will be doing no such thing.
I follow them to the waiting room, only to falter when I get there. The room is full to the brim. Axel and his entire family. Greg, Beck, and Asher. All their wives and kids. Sway is in the corner, being calmed by Davey, and Honor is tucked in next to Izzy, her face a picture of concern. But what puts ice in my veins is the look on Maddox Locke’s face. A frantic Emmy is trying to calm him down, but I see the pulse pounding in his corded neck and his black eyes cut me with an angry stare.
“Outside. Now,” is all he says to me, and panic fills my head.
“Mad, you need to fill us all in on what the hell happened back at Sway’s.” Axel demands from his side of the room. “We respected that you waited for Jarrett to get here, but you need to let us know what happened. We’re a fucking team.”
“Christ.” He scans the room, finding no strangers amongst the crowd. “I’m sorry, Jarrett. This is my fault.”
The room erupts in a burst of “What the fuck?” and “How can you say that?”
“Let me talk!” he bellows, silencing the room. “Gineva came to see me earlier this week. She needed me to help her figure out who was stealing money from Sway.”
Sway gasps, but it’s Axel whose face completely changes. “She was the kid? The one I brought to your office?”
This is making no sense at all.
Maddox gives a curt nod, and Nate curses.
“I told her I’d take care of it. To let me handle it,” Maddox says. “I put cameras in the salon, and when I slipped in one afternoon and found the gun in Amy’s purse, I pulled all the bullets.”
“Someone pulled a gun on her?” I shout.
The room erupts again, but Maddox keeps talking. “We’ve been in touch, but I didn’t give her any information because I had it under control. I was just waiting to collect enough surveillance to have the girl arrested. I never imagined she would be in there last night and that Gin would go in like that. Fuck!” His fists ball into knots. “I told her I had it handled.”
“You did, sweetheart.” Emmy tries to soothe him. “You saw it happening on the surveillance and got over there in time to save her.”
“What if I hadn’t looked? What if she had checked her gun? That crazy bitch tried to unload the entire magazine before she realized it was empty. Gin would have been fucking dead,” he seethes through clenched teeth.
I fold over at the waist, unable to hear another word about how my girl could have been murdered tonight had Maddox not been there to save her.
“Mr. Dean?”
“Yeah?” My dad, Caleb, and I all respond at the same time.
The doctor scans the three of us before smiling. “Does she call one of you Juice?”
“Thank fuck.” Knowing that she’s well enough to call me that gives me the smallest amount of relief.
The room fills with messages of concern to pass along, but I don’t even give them a chance to finish their thoughts. I’m following the doctor, anxious to see my girl.
“How is she?”
“Well, she was good enough to sign a paper insisting you have
access to her medical information.” The doctor laughs. “That girl is a spitfire.”
“You have no fu—flipping clue.” Relief that my Gin is good enough to gripe up a storm has my feet back on solid ground. “Is she going to be okay?”
“She has a small concussion, and I’m concerned she hit her head again so soon after the last one. But for such a tiny thing, she’s amazingly strong. We’re going to send you home with a checklist of what to look for in case she needs to be brought back. But otherwise, she’s just banged up good.” She leads me to Gin’s room, and all her other words fall away.
Gin is sitting up in bed, a nasty bruise already forming on her forehead and cheek.
“How fast did you drive to get here?” She looks at the clock on the wall, and I know right then that my feisty girl will be just fine.
Seventeen
Gineva
One week later
Axel and Izzy are throwing me a “get out of the house” party in their backyard. The name is a joke at Juice’s expense since he refused to let me out of Caleb and Honor’s place for the last seven days. The only time I got to even go outside was when he would carry me—yes, carry me—across the road and down to the lake. Not only has he not let me sleep for more than a few hours at a time, even though I was cleared by the doctor days ago, he also refuses to have sex with me, saying I need to keep all the blood in my head.
Yeah, I don’t think it works that way for women.
“I still can’t believe you snuck into Corps Security.” Nate laughs while his dad, Axel, shakes his head.
“How was I supposed to know?” Axel shrugs. “I can practically fit her in my pocket.”
Juice gives my shoulder a squeeze as we settle into the comfort of friends and family. And even though I’m having the most amazing time at the cookout, there’s something I need to do before I can fully enjoy this party. Someone I need to apologize too.
“I’ll be right back.” I head over to where the grills are all fired up and hope now is an okay time. “Could I talk to you for a second, Maddox?”