Downshift (Skid Row Kings #1)

by Winter Travers

“At the time it wasn’t for tacos, but that boob flash has been paying off since.” Leelee managed to snag a chip and pop it into her mouth. “Besides, I’m sure you were bangin’ in high school. You are now. That’s why Ginny hates you so much.”

  “I doubt the root of Ginny bullying me was jealousy. She’s just a bitch.”

  “I’ll give you that, but I know for a fact she’s jealous of you now. She had been after Luke for a year. He never gave her the time of day and then you swoop in and steal him away. I bet she’s shitting herself right now not knowing what the hell to do.”

  Ginny being jealous of me was absolutely ridiculous. “I think you and Luke are both drunk tonight. He told me I kept distracting him when all I was doing was standing there, and you think Ginny is jealous of me. Drunk, both of you.”

  “Well, believe what you want, but I know jealousy when I see it, and that girl has it written all over her.” We got pushed to the side as two guys started throwing punches at each other and Leelee almost dropped the box full of food. “Hey, watch it, jackass,” she yelled, righting the box before it tipped.

  “Hey, I see Mitch and Kurt over there. Do you think there is room for us?” Mitch and Kurt were surrounded by girls and it looked like they were eating up all of the attention. I looked around for Luke but didn’t see him anywhere around.

  “There’s plenty of room. Watch, girl. This is nothing compared to when they do actual street racing.” Leelee strutted through the crowd, everyone getting out of her way.

  “Wait, what do you mean by actual street racing?” I struggled to keep up because as soon as Leelee walked through, the crowd closed back in.

  “Luke just does the drag racing. Mitch and Kurt both do the street racing. You know, a track but the streets instead.”

  I had no idea that Kurt and Mitch drove. I thought they just helped Luke when he raced. “So, when do they race? Do they use Luke’s car? Where do they race? Can I watch them race? What does Luke do when they race?” I had hundreds of questions about Luke racing, now I found out Mitch and Kurt raced, too, I had thousands of questions.

  “Whoa, slow it down there with the twenty questions.” We had finally made it through the crowd, and Mitch and Kurt were right in front of us. There were two girls who were plastered to Mitch and three girls that were surrounding Kurt. Each of them had their hands all over them, trying to get closer and catch their full attention. “All right, skanks, go find some other guy to fawn over right now.” Leelee moved in, bumping a girl in a yellow tank to the side. She pushed the box of food into Kurt’s arms and crossed her arms over her chest.

  Three of the girls huffed and sauntered off, glaring at Leelee and I. Two were a bit more persistent. “Is this your girlfriend?” A girl asked who was hanging onto Kurt’s arm like she couldn’t stand up.

  “No.”

  “Oh, well, then I think I’ll just stay here,” she purred, batting her eyes at him.

  Leelee just shook her head and pulled a taco out of the box that Kurt was holding. She unwrapped it, taking one step closer to Kurt and the chick and ripped into her taco, lettuce and salsa dripping down her chin. “Mmm, this is so good,” she mumbled around a mouthful. Kurt gripped the box tighter, and he clenched his jaw. “You should really try one, Kurt. Although I didn’t buy enough for your little Barbie. You’ll have to share yours with her.”

  Barbie was an accurate description of the girl who didn’t have a death grip on Kurt anymore. I think she slowly realized that Leelee was not someone she wanted to mess with. “Um, you know what? Why don’t I go get my own food?” She stepped back as Leelee took a step towards her and stumbled backward.

  “I think that’s the best idea you’ve ever had. She deserves a cookie for such a good idea, Kurt.” Leelee shoved the rest of her taco in her mouth and stared Kurt down. She grabbed the box from his arms and handed him a taco.

  She walked over to Mitch and stood in front of him and the girl who had decided to stay with him. “My name is Leelee,” she said sugary sweet to the girl. She held the box out to Mitch, and he grabbed it, holding it under one arm.

  This was where I saw the difference between Mitch and Kurt. They may only be less than a year apart in age, but their personalities were complete opposites. Kurt had gotten pissed at Leelee, but Mitch just had a smirk on his face and shook his head. He knew where Leelee was headed with this. “I’m Kry.”

  “Cry? Like cry, cry?” She asked, fisting her hands and twisting them over her eyes.

  “Um, no, with a K.”

  “So what’s your full name? Krystal?” Leelee grabbed another taco and slowly unwrapped it, waiting for Kry’s answer.

  “Yeah. Totally lame.”

  “No, it’s not lame. You want to know what’s lame? The fact you shortened your name, but you shortened to something that doesn’t even sound like your name. That’s like Violet telling me her name, but then asking me to call her Dick. Just doesn’t make sense.” Mitch covered his mouth with his hand, trying not to laugh and failed miserably. Leelee did have a point. Shortening her name to Krys would have made more sense. She took a huge bite of her taco, eating half of it in one go. “Hey Dick, come here. Meet Kry.”

  I had to assume she was talking to me, but I couldn’t help but snicker as I walked over to her. “Hey, I’m Violet.”

  “Also known as Dick.” Leelee grabbed a bottle of water from me and twisted off the top. Even Kurt scoffed at Leelee calling me Dick. “So, let’s do some girl talk. How old are you? I bet you’re super young,” Leelee said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. She was morphing into a valley girl as she continued to talk to Kry.

  “Oh, I just turned nineteen.”

  “Wow, that is awesome. Only one more year of being a teenager, high five!” Leelee held her hand up and high-fived Kry. Oh Lord, this just kept getting better and better. I didn’t know exactly how old Kurt and Mitch were, but I was pretty sure they were well past nineteen. “Mitch, did you hear that Kry is nineteen? Isn’t that amazing!” Mitch just shook his head.

  “I think I’m going to get something to eat with Steph. I’ll see you around, Mitch.” Kry squeezed his arm and slinked off in the direction that the other girl had gone.

  “That poor, poor, girl. Kry? Oy.” Leelee took the box out of Mitch’s arms and stepped back. “Taco?” She chirped, holding the box out to him. “Oh, and take a water before Violet’s arms fall off.”

  Mitch and Kurt each grabbed a bottle leaving me with one for Luke and I. “You think you could have been a bigger bitch to those girls?” Kurt asked, grabbing two more tacos from the box. I grabbed two realizing these weren’t going to last long.

  “Oh please, I was doing you two a favor, Kurt. You could tell how fake those girls were from a mile away.” Leelee set her water and the box on the ground and pulled a tray of nachos out.

  I stood next to Mitch and unwrapped a taco and savored it as Leelee and Kurt argued back and forth. “These two could go at it all night,” I whispered to Mitch as I ate the last bite and started unwrapping the other.

  “Tell me about it. I can only imagine how they are going to be once they start working together. I give it three weeks before they are sleeping together or one of them comes up dead.” Mitch grabbed three more tacos, devouring one in two bites.

  I looked in the box and saw there were only ten tacos left. By the time Luke made it back here, there was only going to be empty wrappers in the box. “How long until Luke races?”

  “Probably half an hour. He was one of the last to draw.”

  “Shit, by that time ya’ll have eaten all of this food.” I grabbed four tacos out of the box and a plate of nachos. “I’ll have to save this for him otherwise ya’ll will eat them all.” I looked around, wondering where the hell I was going to put them while I waited for Luke.

  “You hungry, Princess?”

  I spun around at Luke’s words and smiled. “I thought you weren’t going to be back until after your race?”

  Luke strode over and looked at all
the food in my hands. “AZ is lined up by me and all he’s doing is talking shit. I figured I could head back here for a bit instead of beating the shit out of him.”

  “Oh, well, smart decision.” I held out the food to him and smiled. “I already ate, I grabbed these for you before Mitch and Kurt ate them all.”

  His face softened, his eyes melting into mine and smiled. “Thanks, Princess.” He grabbed the tacos and leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to my lips. “These fuckers would have eaten everything if you hadn’t grabbed them.”

  “Hey, you would have eaten them all, too. They’re fucking Louis Tacos. It’s a sin not to eat until you’re full.” Mitch finished another taco, balling up the wrapper and tossed it into the box.

  “Eat up, Louis and I go way back. I can always grab more.” Leelee winked at me as she grabbed another taco from the box.

  I shook my head and giggled, not wanting to reveal her secret to taco hook ups.

  “It’s about fucking time,” Kurt mumbled. Two cars pulled up in front of us, both drivers revving their engines. They pulled up to the line and then backed up into the water in the staging area.

  “Malice and Jinks. Which one do you pick, Princess?” Luke asked, stepping close to me.

  They both revved their engines and smoke began to bellow from their tires. One car was dark blue, and the other was a light gray, and that was all I could tell about them. I knew absolutely nothing about cars. To say I felt like a poser being here was an understatement. Each car took off within seconds of each other going a bit down the road then backed up to the line. “Um, I’m going to go with the gray one. I like the color.”

  “You mean the Mustang?” Luke laughed.

  I glanced up at him, “Yeah. Of course the Mustang.” He shook his head at me, knowing I knew nothing about what I was talking about.

  “Don’t worry, Princess, I’ll teach you everything you need to know about cars.”

  I shrugged my shoulders and sighed. “I may be a hopeless case, Luke. How about I just watch you race, and when you’re working on your car I can bring a book and be your beer wench?” I felt being the beer wench was going to be the only thing I would be capable of doing. To say I wasn’t mechanical was an understatement.

  Luke just laughed but kept his attention on the cars. “By the way, that color is primer. Jinks just dropped a new body on his car and didn’t have time to get it in the paint booth before tonight.”

  “Oh.” To say I felt like an idiot for not knowing that was putting it mildly.

  Luke wrapped his arm around me and whispered in my ear. “Relax, Princess. You’ll learn. I get to be your teacher.”

  His lips brushing against my ear sent a shiver through my body, and I snuggled into him. “Should I just call you Teacher from now on?” I purred, looking up at him.

  “Hmm, you’re distracting me again, Princess,” he growled.

  At least, this time, I knew what I was doing to distract him. I decided it was probably best not to distract him, seeing as he would go speeding down the road in a couple of minutes. “I’ll be good.”

  “Just be good for now, Violet. As soon as I cross that finish line with the checkered flag, your distracting ways and I are going to get better acquainted.” He pressed a kiss to the side of my head and finished eating his food.

  I grabbed a chip covered in cheese and popped it in my mouth. Luke’s words ran through my head, and I hoped I hadn’t bitten off more than I could chew.

  The two cars lined up in front of us, and a scantily clad woman walked out in between both cars, stood in front of them and raised her hands up in the air. She looked at both drivers, nodding her head then drop her arms and both cars took off. The gray one, also known as a Mustang, was off the line first, but the other car caught up quickly and rocketed out in front. Everyone in the crowd cheered, as they crossed the finish line down the road. But for me, it was hard to tell who the hell had won. “Did my guy win?”

  “Your guy is standing right next to you,” Leelee called, a smirk on her face.

  Luke chuckled, and I rolled my eyes. “Not what I meant.”

  “Your Mustang lost, Princess. He was impatient and showed his cards too soon. Malice got him halfway down.”

  “Oh, well that blows. I guess I should pick the cars I want to win other than by what color they are.”

  “That might be a good idea, Princess.”

  “Although I am partial to this one white car. The driver’s not too bad to look at either.” I batted my eyes at Luke, and I swear I heard him moan.

  “Distracting,” he growled.

  I leaned up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You like it.”

  “Jesus Christ, go fucking race so I don’t have to watch you two fawn all over each other. I’d rather hang out with Leelee than watch you two.” Kurt had his arms crossed over his chest, and he was staring us down.

  “Alright, alright,” Luke said, pulling me into his arms. Well, as much as he could with the nachos still in my hand that was now squished between us. “Be good while I’m gone. No distracting anyone.”

  “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. I think you are the only one who thinks I’m distracting in a good way.”

  “Behave,” he mumbled, pressing one last kiss to my lips and sauntered off.

  “Girl,” Leelee mumbled sliding up next to me. “That man has got it bad for you.” She tossed her empty wrapper in the box at my feet and crossed her arms over her chest. Two more cars pulled up to the staging area, getting ready to do their burnouts.

  “I know. It’s beyond crazy.”

  “Ain’t nothing crazy about it. It’s about time that man stopped messing around and settled down.”

  “No one said anything about settling down. Luke and I have only known each other for a few weeks, and hated each other for most of that time.”

  “Oh, from enemies to friends. It’s like that song by Zayn, ‘Pillow Talk’. It’s a paradise, and it’s a war zone.”

  Leelee looked at me like I should know what she was talking about, but I had no clue. “Uh, sure.”

  “Holy hell, you don’t know that song, do you? I’m telling you, on the ride back to your house or wherever you two are going, listen to that song.”

  The two cars in front of us took off, and I didn’t even have time to decide which one I wanted to win. “What was the name of it again?” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and pulled up my Spotify app.

  “Zayn, ‘Pillow Talk.’ You can thank me the next time you see me.” I typed the song in, finding it right away and saved it to my driving music playlist.

  “Are you two going to talk all night or actually pay attention to the races?” I leaned forward, looking past Leelee at Kurt, who had his arms crossed over his chest and looked like he had just sucked on a bag of lemons.

  “I’m just here to watch Luke race. My car knowledge is a one on a scale of one to ten. The last race, I picked which one I wanted to win by the color.” Leelee busted out laughing, tossing her head back. “I think it’s safe to say I’m paying attention as much as possible.”

  “Well, Luke is up after Zero and Snake. Pay attention.” I seriously had no idea what the hell was up Kurt’s ass. He was being a complete jerk to Leelee and me.

  I opened my mouth to tell him where to stick it when Leelee grabbed my arm and shook her head. “Forget about it. He’s not happy I’m here, don’t take it personal, Vi. It’s all directed at me.” Leelee shrugged her shoulders, and I could tell Kurt being an ass to her hurt more than she showed.

  I laced my arm through hers and watched the next cars pull up to the line. “He’ll come around, Leelee. Don’t worry about it.”

  She shook her head, not wanting to talk about it and kept her eyes on the cars as they did their burnouts. “He can say whatever he wants as long as I have a job come Monday morning. Today was my last day changing oil for a living. Monday I start working at SRK garage, and I can’t wait.”

  “New beginning, Lee
lee. You’ll do awesome.” The next two cars took off, and, again, I had no clue who won because the finish was so close.

  “New beginning for you, too, hun. You and Luke.” She nodded her head at the road and Luke pulled up to the staging area, revving his engine. “I know you like him, and I know he likes you. Just let it happen, Vi. Don’t let your doubts ruin a good thing.”

  “I like him, but the one thing I’ve learned is nothing is as good as it seems.”

  We both watched as Luke rocketed out of the staging area, smoke bellowing from his tires. “He’s good, Violet. Just go with it.”

  Just go with it? I guess I could do that. Luke backed up on the start line and glanced over at me and winked. I gave him a little wave, a little giddy just from his wink. I’d be a fool not to see where this played out between Luke and me.

  As the gorgeous woman once again walked between the cars and raised her arms over her head, I held my breath. Even when Luke had raced at the track last week, I wasn’t as anxious as I was right now.

  My breath whooshed out as she dropped her arms and Luke took off before the car next to him and he was just a white streak down the track.

  “Whole shot,” Leelee yelled, jumping up and down.

  “He won?” Leelee nodded her head at me, a huge grin on her face. “He won,” I shouted, jumping up and down with her.

  “And by a whole shot, that’s freakin’ amazing!”

  “What’s a whole shot?” Was I ever going to know what was going on? I had at least gone a couple minutes without feeling completely clueless.

  “He beat York off the line and stayed ahead the whole race.”

  “That’s good, right?”

  “It’s fucking awesome,” Leelee laughed.

  “Alright, we’re going to go see how the car ran. The turnaround from the first to second round is much shorter. Save our spots.” Kurt and Mitch took off, heading in the direction of the staging area.

  “Three more races, right?” I asked.

  “Yup. Two more rounds and then he is in the finals. This is where everything starts going fast. AZ won his round, too, and I’m betting it will be down to him and Luke in the finish.” I clasped my hands in front of me, wringing them, worrying over Luke winning. Leelee draped her arm over my shoulders and laughed. “Relax, hun, Luke has this in the bag.”