Outracing Demons: The Streets Series

by Parker, Ali

  I knew the sort of pain that lay ahead if everything went south with Laina, yet here I was, preening my feathers and eagerly anticipating her arrival. What Evelyn had done to me hurt more than the crash on Saturday night. Way more. I had no interest in going through that shit again, but I was taking a risk here. Anxiety curled up in my stomach like a clenched fist.

  Was this worth that sort of agony?

  I folded up the shirt and jeans I’d plucked from the floor and straightened. I had to move slowly to keep the pain at bay, and as I put the clothes on top of my dresser, my doorbell rang.

  “Here goes nothing,” I muttered, walking out of my bedroom and gripping the banister at the top of the stairs. “Coming!” I called out. I wasn’t as quick as usual, so I had to take each step slowly. When I got to the bottom, a pulsing began in my left side, and I held my arm close to it. For some reason, that seemed to help.

  I padded over to the door and unlocked it. As I did, the anxiety suddenly evaporated, transforming into excitement to see Laina. This was going to be a good thing. It would be nice to have someone to share my house with who wasn’t my obnoxious brother, and the peace of mind of knowing she wasn’t in her condo alone would be worth it.

  I opened the door.

  And found myself staring into a pair of dark, cool, beautiful eyes.

  “Evelyn?” I breathed.

  Evelyn was standing on my stoop. She had a lock of black hair coiled around her index finger. The red nail poking through the dark strands matched the color of her full lips. “Hello, Mason.”

  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  She smiled at me. Her body was on display in skintight black clothes. She had on a pair of sky-high black heels, and a gold chain winked at her throat. “It’s nice to see you too.”

  “I’m not in the mood for this,” I warned. Which was more than true. I hadn’t seen Evelyn up close and personal since the night Mark shot my brother. Memories of that night played over and over again in my head, and one thing always made my skin crawl, the way she’d smiled after the gun went off. Like she was glad.

  Bitch.

  Evelyn shrugged and pulled her finger free of her hair. The curled lock cascaded down her shoulder. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. I saw what happened on the track on Saturday, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you. Mark doesn’t know I’m here.”

  “I don’t give a damn whether he knows or not. Get off my property.”

  “Oh, Mason. There’s no need to be like that. I’ll go. But I need to say what I came here to say first.”

  I crossed my arms over my chest and peered down my nose at her. “And what’s that?”

  “I came to warn you.”

  “Warn me about what?”

  Evelyn looked over her shoulder back at the street and her car parked at the curb. Then she turned back to me. Her full, red bottom lip was pinched between her very white teeth. “Mark and Sid have bad intentions. They’re planning something for the race this Saturday. It will be worse than the accident you—”

  “Accident?” I scoffed.

  She pursed her lips and amended, “Crash. Sorry.”

  I didn’t say anything.

  Evelyn sighed. “I just wanted to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. They’re not going to stop until you can’t drive again, Mason. Is that what you want? You got lucky last weekend. They won’t make the same mistake twice. I’m worried about you.”

  “Since when do you give a damn about me?”

  Evelyn wrapped her arms around herself. “I never stopped caring, Mason. I just…” she looked over her shoulder again, back to the street, and drew closer into herself.

  I narrowed my eyes. “What game are you playing?”

  Her eyes swept back up to me, and she shook her head. “I’m not—”

  “Liar.”

  “I’m not playing games with you, Mason. I came to warn you. That’s all. And if Mark found out I was here, he’d be furious with me, and he’d… he’d make sure I knew never to do it again.” Evelyn licked her lips and looked down at her feet.

  And I laughed. It hurt my ribs, but I laughed anyway, and I kept going until I was clutching my side in pain and she was staring at me like I’d been overcome with madness.

  “Mason?”

  I got a hold of myself and straightened up, my ribs aching horribly. “If you’re trying to manipulate me into feeling sympathy for you, you’ve come to the wrong guy, Evelyn. You made your bed. Now you can go lie in it.”

  “I’m afraid of him,” she whispered.

  “You knew who Mark Denning was before you spread your legs for him. Now he’s all yours. If you need saving, it’s not going to be me who comes for you. Fuck that. This shit?” I gestured back and forth between the two of us. “Is over. It was over a long fucking time ago. And you thinking showing up here, batting your eyelashes, telling me you’re scared is going to change anything is delusional. Now get lost. And don’t come back here again.”

  Evelyn’s lips parted to speak, but she was cut short when a car pulled into the driveway behind her. Laina. Fuck.

  Laina got out of her car and stood in the driveway looking up at us.

  I leaned out the doorway. “Leave,” I spat.

  Evelyn flinched but backed away. She dropped her head and put her back to me as she hurried down the driveway. Laina looked up at me and then watched Evelyn blow past her. Evelyn drew up short at the end of the driveway and slowly turned back to us. It was hard to ignore how good she looked in her slick black outfit. Her eyes locked onto mine. “I’ll be thinking about you Saturday night, Mason. About all of you.” Then she opened her driver's side door and slid behind the wheel.

  Laina and I both stood and watched my ex-wife get back into her car and peel away down the street, leaving nothing but confusion and anger in her wake.

  Laina popped the trunk of her car and pulled out a suitcase. I hobbled down the driveway and tried to take it from her. She positioned herself between me and the suitcase and shook her head. “I’ve got it.”

  I closed the trunk. Lifting my arms above shoulder height hurt like a motherfucker.

  “What was she doing here?” Laina asked as we made our way back up the driveway. She wouldn’t look at me.

  “Beats me. Pretty sure she was trying to bait me.”

  Laina nodded but didn’t look convinced. She pulled her suitcase up the step to the front door and then kicked her shoes off when she got inside. She rolled the suitcase down into the living room, and after closing and locking the front door, I followed her.

  Laina rested her hands on the extended handle of the suitcase. “How was she baiting you?”

  “She said she came to warn me. She’s just playing games, Laina. It’s what she’s good at.”

  “Were you playing too?”

  “What? No.”

  Laina nodded slowly. Then she looked down the hall. “I think I’ll set my stuff up in the guest room for now so I don’t intrude on your space too much.”

  “Laina, you don’t have t—”

  “It’s okay,” she said as she started down the hall. She paused in the doorway to the guest room. “I’m just going to put my stuff away.”

  “Are you hungry? I was thinking we could order dinner or something.”

  “I already ate, actually.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Okay.”

  I’d fucked up. Somewhere along the way, I’d let Laina feel intimidated by Evelyn. I didn’t want that toxic woman. I’d spent my time with her, and she’d nearly destroyed me in the process. I wanted something good and pure and kind. Someone like Laina.

  No. Not someone like her. I wanted her.

  I’d been looking forward to falling asleep beside her tonight and the following nights until it was safe for her to go back home. The other night had been a sweet reprieve from the bad memories. With Laina sleeping next to me, my thoughts were distracted by her, by the way she breathed, the way she nuzzled her cheek into
the pillow, the way she moaned softly in her dreams. She was like a barrier between me and the shit that happened six months ago.

  Laina slipped into the guest room and closed the door behind her. I raked my fingers through my hair and collapsed on the sofa in the living room. I stared up at the ceiling, wondering what the hell I could say or do to make her see that Evelyn was in my past and would never, ever get another shot with me. She was evil.

  She’d had a hand in nearly killing my brother. That was something I would never forgive her for. What she had done to me was bad enough, but being part of what Mark did to Rick was a whole other level of fucked up.

  I would never forget the sound of the gun going off. The spray of blood. The way Benji had yelled my name as Rick went down beside him outside Mark’s house.

  The way my heart had seized in my chest when I thought Rick was dead.

  Chapter 24

  Laina

  The handle of the guest room door was cool against my fingertips. I tightened my grip and almost opened the door to go back out into the living room.

  Almost.

  But something held me back, and I let my hand fall to my side.

  Seeing Mason talking to Evelyn had been a curveball. I’d felt physically ill when she walked past me in the driveway, and the feeling of rolling nausea hadn’t passed since. Why did it suddenly feel like the ground was falling out from under me?

  I went to the bed and perched myself on the edge. I rested my elbows on my knees and leaned forward, staring down at the plush gray carpet beneath my feet.

  Mason’s guest room was nice. Simple, but nice. The cool gray carpets and white walls provided a calm, soothing environment that wasn’t cluttered with stuff. All that was in the room was the bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and a chair in the far corner with one pillow. Sheer navy curtains hung in front of the window, which would hopefully block some of the morning sun that would shine in. The bed was soft and the sheets were blue and gray plaid. It was a masculine-looking room, but I liked it anyway.

  It was safe, and that’s what mattered.

  But I hadn’t seen myself sleeping here. Up until seeing Evelyn, I’d been planning on spending the nights in Mason’s bed. In his arms. Wrapped up around him, naked, feeling his warmth as a part of me and falling asleep listening to his heart beating.

  I rubbed my forehead and shook my head. I had a tendency to get carried away and be a bit too idealistic. Expectations only ever led to disappointment.

  I glanced at the clock. It was only eight in the evening. There was still time to kill, so I left the bedroom and found Mason sitting on the sofa. He glanced sharply at me and his eyebrows lifted a little. “Hey.”

  “Hi. Is it rude of me to have a bath before bed?”

  His expression fell, and he shook his head. “No. Not at all.”

  “Okay. I’m sorry. I’m just tired and want to relax and settle in. You should probably get some sleep soon too. The more you rest, the quicker you’ll heal.”

  Mason nodded.

  Then I slipped back into the bedroom, collected my bathroom bag, and locked myself in his bathroom as I filled up the tub. It was a shallow tub and nothing like the soaker I was lucky to have in my apartment, but I didn’t care. I just needed to sit and calm my thoughts, and there was no better place for me to do that than in the hot, bubbly, lavender-scented water.

  The bath wasn’t as relaxing as I wanted it to be. I spent the whole time thinking about Evelyn and wondering why she was really here when I showed up. What did she want? Did she want to get back together with Mason?

  If that was the case, would he take her back?

  I sank lower in the water until the bubbles whispered beneath my earlobes, popping softly every so often and fizzing whenever the water was moved by my limbs.

  I knew how much he loved her. Or did love her. I had no clue where he stood on the Evelyn front now. They’d been together for a long time, and their breakup had nearly killed him. If she wanted him back, would he really be able to say no to her, the woman he’d loved more than anything in this world?

  To the woman who had ruined him?

  I wasn’t sure. I wanted to believe he’d tell her to take a hike, but if I were in his shoes, I wasn’t sure if I’d have the strength to turn down the person I used to be in love with.

  I got out of the bath when my thoughts only made me feel worse. I dried off, brushed my teeth, and coiled my hair into a bun for bed to avoid tangles. When I left the bathroom, I was hoping to find Mason still on the couch, but he wasn’t. I peered up the stairs to his half-opened bedroom door. The lights were off.

  Disappointed, I went back into the guest room, pulled the blankets down, and slid beneath them. I fluffed up my pillow and got comfy, staring up at the ceiling.

  Mason would have died for Evelyn a mere six months ago. Could a man really stop caring? Just like that?

  * * *

  Morning brought two things with it, sunshine and clarity. Sure, Mason might still care about Evelyn. Hell, he might still be in love with her. I couldn’t control that. It scared the shit out of me, but I couldn’t change it, so I had to gain some perspective.

  I stayed in the guest room for almost an hour pondering the situation before deciding that he and I needed to sit down and talk about it. I cared about him too much to let him fall back into being with her. This had nothing to do with me and my feelings about him.

  I got out of bed, changed into a pair of sweats and a crop top, and padded out into the living room and then into the kitchen, where I found Mason standing in front of the stove frying up some eggs.

  “Morning,” I said.

  He looked up at me and smiled. He looked more and more like himself every day. “Morning. How’d you sleep?”

  “Better than I thought I would. You?”

  “As well as I could. There’s fresh coffee in the pot there.” He nodded at the coffee maker on the counter. “Help yourself.”

  I did. I found cream in the fridge and sugar in one of the cupboards. After fixing myself the perfect cup of coffee, I went over to the stove where he was mixing the eggs around. He gave me an apologetic look. “They started out as omelets. And then I fucked them up.”

  I smiled. “Scrambled is just as good.”

  “Would you like toast as well?”

  “Sure. What’s the occasion?”

  “No occasion,” he said.

  I watched him skeptically but didn’t say anything.

  It was only a few more minutes before we were both sitting at the kitchen island. My plate was full of scrambled eggs with onions and peppers and topped off with salsa, and I had a piece of sourdough toast on the side. I sipped my coffee and dug in and then caught Mason watching me. I peered at him out of the corner of my eye as I chewed and covered my mouth. After I swallowed I asked, “What?”

  He turned his bar stool toward me. “I wanted to talk to you about last night.”

  “Okay. Good. I wanted to talk to you too.”

  “Let me go first.”

  I sat back with my coffee and gave him the floor.

  Mason held my gaze as he spoke. “Evelyn came by wanting to warn me about Sid and Mark. At least that’s what she claims she was doing here. Evelyn has always been the sort to play games, even when we were married. She likes keeping men on the hook. She likes outsmarting everyone and coming out on top. I don’t think she knows how to have a relationship where she’s not plotting her victory.”

  “That’s insane.”

  “Tell me about it. But the mystery of her… I can’t deny it sucked me in. And now she’s trying to use those same behaviors to trap me again, but I assure you, Laina, I have no interest in getting caught up in that. Evelyn nearly killed my brother. I want nothing to do with her. I swear.”

  “You don’t need to defend yourself,” I said.

  “I’m not defending myself. I’m explaining myself. Because I want to. I want you to know the full scale of things. You should be aware of what you might be ge
tting yourself tangled up in. Evelyn won’t stop simply because I want her to. She’ll keep at this shit until she gets what she wants. Whatever that is.”

  I nodded. “This aligns with what I wanted to talk to you about.”

  “Oh?”

  “I smell foul play.”

  Mason gave me a crooked smile. “Then you have a good nose.”

  “I’m sorry I overreacted last night. It just startled me to see her here, I think. I don’t trust her, Mason, and I don’t want her hurting you again. She’s up to something, and you need to be careful.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Are you worried about me?”

  I blushed but kept my chin up. “Yes.”

  Mason chuckled. “You don’t need to be. I can take care of myself, Laina. I swear. I’m not going to fall for Evelyn’s bullshit. I told her off loud and clear. She’s not welcomed back here.”

  I didn’t realize how tense I was until he said those words. My muscles relaxed, and I looked down at my lap. “I’m glad to hear it. I think I let my imagination get a little carried away, and I thought—” I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. We’re on the same page.”

  “Evelyn’s a snake.”

  I giggled. “Yes. That page.”

  “But,” he said slowly, staring down into the contents of his black coffee. “I’m not sure what to make of her coming and warning me about Sid and Mark. They’re going to try something else. Why bother coming to tell me something so obvious?”

  “Maybe it’s a smaller move on a bigger board,” I said.

  “What are you? A wise wizard?”

  I giggled again. “I just mean maybe there’s a bigger picture here, and we can’t see it yet. She’s taking small steps to make it all fall into place. You said she likes playing games. We should consider everything she does as a strategic move on the board if we want to stand a chance of staying above water.”

  Mason’s eyes flicked back and forth between mine. “Since when did this become a ‘we’ situation?”