The first race went down and Jason’s pick won. It was great, and I could tell he was hooked. I would bet the rest of my cash wad that he’d want to come back. Shane couldn’t watch the second race, since he was working on his car. I didn’t really understand this. Why would you show up to a race and not be positive the car was in good shape? But apparently, this was a pretty common thing.
We were just starting to bet on the second race when I heard my name called. I whipped around, terrified, because I knew that voice. It was Rob.
He stormed up to me with a terrifying look on his face.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered to him, pulling him off to the side. If Shane saw him here, it would create a disaster.
“Christie, what are you doing? You could get in a lot of trouble. Are you trying to ruin our future?” he shouted in my face, leaning forward, wagging his finger like my father used to when I was a little girl.
“No, I’m here supporting my boyfriend. Not you. Rob, I don’t know how to make this any clearer. We are not a couple. I don’t want to get married in June. Please, just leave.” I tried to push him away, but he wouldn’t budge, and he’d put on at least twenty more pounds of solid muscle to his already peak form.
“Fine, we won’t get married in June. We’ll wait until whenever you’re ready, but let’s just move on and go home.” He reached out and took my hand, but I quickly jerked it out of his grasp.
“Rob, I—”
“Don’t fucking touch her!” Shane ran over to me and pulled me behind him. “Listen, dude, I get you’re pissed because losing her must suck ass, but she’s made her choice, and has asked you to back off. So do it.” Shane’s voice seemed to be dipped in venom. It was cold, and if words could kill, Rob would be on the ground with deep wounds all over him.
“Or what? You’re gonna get your boys to beat me down?” Rob asked, stepping up to Shane, barely whispering. For some reason, his quiet tone unnerved me more than Shane’s attitude. I’d learned long ago it’s the quiet that truly warns of danger. Well, I think I heard that on a cop show. Nonetheless, it stood true.
“I don’t need to get my boys to do anything. They respect me enough to handle business on my own.”
“We’ll see about that.” Rob cocked back and swung a punch at Shane’s face.
He ducked and threw a jab into Rob’s stomach. Then he kicked Rob’s legs out from under him and he fell to the ground. But Rob had been trained for this. He reached up and grabbed Shane’s leg, tripping him up as well.
“Guys, stop!” I screamed as Rob got on top of Shane and started to throw some punches.
Shane brought his arms up so Rob was hitting his forearms instead of his face, but Rob managed to sneak a couple punches around it. I tried to pull them apart, but I was nowhere near strong enough. I looked around and saw Max standing there.
“Max, get the guys. Do something!” I was terrified that Rob was really going to hurt Shane. But Max looked down and no one else moved.
Jason walked over to me and pulled me into a hug. “They need to do this. It’s a man thing. If it gets bad, I’ll jump in.” He let go of me and gently pushed me over to Annabelle.
She linked arms with me and stroked my hand. “Just don’t look. It will be over in a few minutes.” She tried to divert my attention, pulling me away, but I wouldn’t budge.
“I have to.”
“Then have faith in your man.” A crowd started to form around the guys and Annabelle and I were eventually kind of pushed into the middle of it. I felt like the referee in the middle of a boxing match.
There was some rolling and Shane ended up on top. He connected a punch with Rob’s face and blood started to spurt out. I panicked. What if Shane hurt Rob? He would definitely press charges. Here I was, fucking up Shane’s future no matter what I tried to do. I broke away from Annabelle’s grasp.
“Okay, that’s enough,” I said to Annabelle. I ran over to them, and awkwardly hovered until I saw an opening. Shane leaned back a little to dodge a punch and I grabbed his shoulders. “Please stop. Please, he isn’t worth it,” I shouted several times until it seemed my words made it through Shane’s head and he stopped hitting Rob.
Shane nodded his head and tried to stand up, but Rob took that moment to hit him hard across the face. His head twisted to the side gruesomely and I started sobbing loudly.
“Enough, guys,” I pleaded. This time, Frank and Jason rushed over, pulling the guys apart. I ran to Shane and hugged him, ignoring the blood dripping down his face. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, babe. Let me go, I don’t want this getting all over you.” He tried to shove me off, and after a second, I let him. Then I stalked over to Rob, feeling frustration rushing through me. Frank was helping him stand up, so I looked up at him, and fixed him with my most intimidating stare.
“I’m gonna press charges against that asshole,” he told me, pointing at Shane. The blood was still gushing through his fingers, which were clamped over his nose.
“Do it. You threw the first punch, so your case will be thrown out, and then Shane can turn the tables on you,” I reminded him.
“Really? You’d take that guy’s side over mine? After all we’ve been through?” he cried, looking down at me incredulously. Rob started shaking his head over and over, like he couldn’t believe what was happening.
“Rob, it’s not the same. None of it is. I want to finish school, and get a job, and maybe move to the city. I don’t know. But that’s the point. I want the unknown. Our lives are planned out to a T. It’s too much.”
“Excuse me for trying to take care of you. There was a time you liked it.”
“No, there wasn’t,” I replied delicately. “I just haven’t known how to tell you, especially after your brother.”
“Don’t you dare mention him.” He stepped closer to me, dropping his hands from his nose and standing tall.
I didn’t know if he was trying to scare me, but at that moment. I wasn’t sure how he was going to react. I never should have mentioned his brother.
“You know better than that shit.”
“Rob, I just—”
“No. Christie, you just need to get your act together. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Rob,” I shouted at him as he walked away. “If you call, I won’t answer.”
“Whatever you say.” He waved at me and then pointed at Shane.
I ran back over to Shane. He was getting seen by the EMT they usually have on call. His nose wasn’t broken, and he didn’t have a concussion.
“Are you all right, babe?” Shane asked me when I stopped beside him.
“Am I all right? You’re the one with blood all over yourself.” I grabbed one of the gauze pads from the EMT’s bag and started wiping some of it away.
“I know. I look pretty rugged and handsome right now. I’m sure of one thing, we’re gonna have some great sex tonight when you thank me for defending your honor,” he said, smiling up at me through the marks all over his face.
“Oh, yeah. It will be straight up medieval.” I rolled my eyes and looked at him with concern again. His face was swollen under his left eye, and he had another big welt on his right cheek. I closed my eyes and gently kissed him, trying to will the pain away. It was all my fault he’d been hurt again. But this time, the guilt was even stronger. He said it himself, he was fighting for me. “Are you sure you’re doing okay?”
“Absolutely. I’m just gonna steal a shirt from Max, throw my fireproof jacket on, and get ready for my race. I’m lucky that they’re even letting me race, since it’s been more than the ten minutes since it was supposed to start.”
“Um, I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to race. What if something happens, or if you’re not really okay?”
“I don’t have a concussion or anything. It will be fine, and I need to do something to get my mind off this before I go run that guy over with my car for grabbing your hand.”
“Please don’t.”
“Just give
me a moment with the guys to get the car and everything. I’ll be fine.”
I gave him a kiss, a deep meaningful one with as much passion as I could muster. It wasn’t long before we were attracting cat calls from the other guys, but I didn’t care. At that moment, Shane was all I wanted, needed, and cared about. As I ended the kiss and looked into his dark eyes, it was my turn to be there for him. He trusted me and I needed to trust his word. If he said he as okay to race, then he was. Shane knew the dangers, if he thought he’d put someone in danger, I didn’t think he’d do it. I headed over to Annabelle to wait for him to pull up to the starting line and win his race.
Shane pulled out in front of the other racer almost immediately and he never looked back. I loved watching him race. It was an almost primal experience and it excited me every time. I couldn’t wait to make it back to his car and show him just what it does to me when he wins. Not that he needed anymore motivation.
I started to head over to him when my phone started buzzing from my clutch. It was too late for Violet to be calling and my friends, well except for Mindy, were all here. Which meant…
“Hi, Mom.”
“Christie Margaret,” she shouted on the other end. “You get your little tail into Annabelle’s car and come back to this house within two seconds.”
“What are you talking about? I’m just at…”
“Don’t you dare lie to me. Rob is here and I’m trying to fix this black eye that the hoodlum gave him. I know you’re at a street race, and right now, your father is driving around in your Uncle George’s police cruiser until he finds you. I don’t think you want your friends to get arrested, do you?”
“Mom, that’s not what happened! Rob came here and wouldn’t leave, so Shane asked him to go because he was causing a scene, and then Rob hit him first.”
“Christie, why would Rob lie to me?”
“Why would I lie to you?” She was really going to take his word over mine. I was crushed.
“Because you’re trying to defend that boyfriend of yours.”
“Mom…”
“Christie, we can continue this conversation at home. Now, get in Annabelle’s car and come home.”
She hung up the phone and I looked around. I needed to get home. Dad and Uncle George would definitely throw everyone in jail because I was being selfish.
I sent my dad and mom a text, telling them I was on my way and to call off the search party. “Annabelle!” I called, grabbing her arm and motioning for Jason to follow us.
I pulled her over to Shane as he got out of his car.
“So, Rob lied to my parents and told them Shane started the fight. Now my dad and his friend are out looking for me, and my dad’s brother is a police detective. They said if I go home now, that they’ll turn around and no one would get arrested,” I told the three of them.
“Let’s go,” Annabelle insisted, dragging Jason back to her car.
“Annabelle, wait,” I called after her. “Can you give me a ride?”
“What the hell? Christie, I’ll take you and explain to your parents about what happened,” Shane assured me.
I turned to him, placing my hand on his chest. “Right now, I think it’s best if I just have Annabelle take me home. I don’t want to make them even angrier.”
“How will it make it worse?”
“Because Rob is there right now.”
“Hold on! You’re telling me that you’re going to go back to your house with that asshole and I’m not allowed to come with you?”
“What, don’t you trust me?”
“Yeah, I trust you. I just don’t trust that guy.” He ran his fingers through his hair and paced in a circle a couple times. “This is my fault. Let me help you fix it,” he said, taking my hand.
“I can’t right now. I’ll call you later.” I walked away before he could see the tears escaping down my cheek. “Let’s go, Annabelle!” I shouted.
We climbed in the car, and I tried not to let it get to me, but I couldn’t help it. This had been one of the worst nights in my life. I’d managed to infuriate my parents, get my boyfriend beat up, put my friends and all the racers in jeopardy, and cause even more problems with Rob. I felt myself shaking uncontrollably as I went over the night in my head. I thought about the message I’d sent to Rob, and I thought about his fist connecting with Shane’s face.
“Do you want to talk about it, Christie?” Annabelle asked as Jason spun off and headed to my house, breaking me out of my trance.
“Nope. Not just yet. I need to talk to my parents and deal with this crap. I just can’t believe this. Rob is just not giving up.”
“Can you blame him?” Jason asked. “If Annabelle dumped me all of a sudden, I’d be heartbroken. I wouldn’t just let it go when she started dating someone else.”
“Well, what happened with Janice? Isn’t that exactly what went down with her?” I asked a little harsher than I intended. “Sorry, uh, I didn’t mean that. I just meant…” I tried to back pedal. I didn’t need to take this out on my friends.
“No, it’s okay. Yeah, but we weren’t in love anymore. Janice wanted to end things too, but she didn’t know how. She’s dating one of the guys from her Earth Club now.”
“I just don’t know how I can make it any clearer that I don’t want to be with him. And my parents are no help. They have an issue with the fact that Shane’s Korean.”
“Seriously? Aren’t we supposed to be past that kind of thing?” Annabelle commented.
“You’d think. I don’t know. I’ll just talk to them all at once, and fix this.”
We drove the rest of the way in silence. I was mentally rehearsing what I’d say, and steeling myself for the disaster that was sure to come when I walked into the house.
Chapter 20
My dad wasn’t home yet when I walked in the door, but Rob was sitting on our couch with an ice pack on his eye, and my mother was fawning over him.
“Sit down, young lady,” my mother commanded when I closed the door.
“Mom, you have to let me explain.”
“No, darlin’, your time to talk is done,” she insisted, holding a finger up to me. “That boy got you involved in that horrible life of crime and I won’t stand it. On top of that, you were lying to me. What kind of boy encourages you to lie?”
“I’m nineteen and you control my life. Of course I had to lie. You give me no leeway, no time to try and figure things out for myself. What do you want from me?”
“I want what’s best for you. And some boy on the wrong side of the tracks dragging you into the underbelly of delinquency is not what’s best for you.”
“Oh, let’s just calm down the dramatics. The underbelly of delinquency? It’s just street racing. What do you think happens? They don’t deal drugs or run guns!” I started pacing. There was just too much inside me to sit still. I felt like I was almost vibrating with energy.
“It’s illegal for a reason. What if someone crashed and you were hurt?”
“I’m nowhere near the cars when they race and Shane would never let me in the car with him while he’s racing.”
“Oh, because you know this kid so well,” Rob interjected. “You just met him and he’s violent.”
“Rob, stay out of it. You hit him first, and now you’re here lying to my mom.”
“Christie, in this house, we treat people with respect. Now go to your room. I’m going to take Rob home. Your father is getting a much needed drink with Uncle George, so you’ll be here by yourself. And I expect you to stay that way.” She gave me a harsh look and then pointed toward the stairs.
I growled a little in frustration and just went up to my room. This was a disaster and I didn’t want to deal with this tonight. Tomorrow, I’d see if I could get my dad on my side. Maybe if I promised to stop going to the races, they’d calm down and actually try to get to know Shane. In the meantime, I wanted out of this dress and into some leggings immediately.
***
I heard the front door close
and I assumed my mom and Rob left. It was nice that he didn’t come in and try to talk to me. I could barely stand the thought of him in my house. Frustrated, I slumped onto my bed and tried to sleep. Maybe in the morning, everyone would calm down.
It was maybe five seconds after I closed my eyes when I heard a noise. It was a weird clacking sound near the front door. I ran to the hallway, and quickly keyed in the code to my dad’s gun closet and grabbed my handgun. Then I went to the door and braced myself for whoever was on the other side. I slowly opened the door and pointed the gun.
“Easy, Barbie, don’t shoot,” Shane shouted, throwing his hands up.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him, lowering the gun. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Apparently, but I’m not going to lie, this is quite possibly the hottest you’ve ever looked.”
I rolled my eyes and put the gun on the table. I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a light kiss. “I’m happy to see you, but I told you not to come here. If my parents see you, they’ll flip. They already think you’re corrupting me.”
“You just came at me with a gun, and I’m the one corrupting you?”
“I’m serious, Shane.” I felt bad enough about tonight and getting him hurt. I didn’t want him in any more trouble. God only knows what my father would do to him.
“Look, I followed you. I wanted to make sure everything was all right. Then I saw your mom leave and I figured you might like some company. Was I wrong?”
“Where’s your car?”
“I parked it two houses up.”
“Yeah, that’s no good. My parents know all the cars on the street. If you want to stay, I’m gonna need you to park around the corner and then jog back.”
“All right, give me a minute.” He left the house and I quickly put the gun away in the safe, glad I didn’t have to use it. Then I rushed to my room, brushed my hair, and put on a pair of skimpy underwear on under my leggings. Now I just had to wait.
Third Wheel (Elton Hall Chronicles Book 3) Page 18