The Finish Line

by Leslie Scott

  Eric Marshall, the skeevy out-of-town, no-prep guy raced his way back in. There was something about him that rubbed me wrong. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one, most the bets were already against him.

  “Wanna go grab me a drink?” Jordan asked not long after those races, as he wiped sweat from his brow. He tuned the car as we waited on the track crew to get everything ready. Jordan would run second.

  I walked the small distance to the concession stand with a nervous tightening of my stomach. I really hadn’t wanted to leave him. The last time we’d been here, our entire lives had changed. I hadn’t expected to be this nervous, this frightened. A few tenths of a second and he’d have been swept up in the crash far worse than he was. If I knew these things, so did Jordan. And it wouldn’t be long before he’d be strapping in to race down the same track he’d raced when Devin had died.

  I worried for Jordan. I practically tossed the money at the girl behind the counter, I was so nervous and ready to get back to him.

  As I stepped away from the concession stand a familiar, sickening laugh slithered into my thoughts. At first, I blamed it on the nerves. My heart stopped when I heard it a second time. Some of Jordan’s soda sloshed out onto the pavement as I started to shake with fear.

  Frantically, I twisted my head to the left and right, searching. For a split-second, I caught a glimpse of my nightmare. I reached up and brushed my throat for the first time in months.

  Through the thick crowd that had gathered at the track, in part by the fall out of the crash, I fought to see Caleb again. My heart pounded a terrified beat in my chest, and I despised both him and myself.

  I was overcome with the unbridled terror of being alone in a crowd. I was vulnerable and reeling. It took everything I had not to sprint back to our pit. As it was, I was two stepping it as the crowds shifted to watch a few grudge races on the main part of the track.

  “You all right, Rae?” my sister asked when I practically ran her over as I rounded the corner of the trailer.

  “Yeah, fine.” I waved her off and gave Jordan his drink. For a long moment, I stood there, safe with him.

  “What’s up, baby?” he asked me after a swallow of soda.

  “Nothing, I…” I shook my head and took a steadying breath. Back in familiar territory, the entire thing seemed silly. Of course, I hadn’t seen Caleb here. This wasn’t his scene. That was one of the reasons I’d been drawn to him. He would have no reason to know I was here, either. He’d never really cared about my life back home. He wouldn’t have followed me, couldn’t have. “It was dumb.”

  When I tried to laugh it off, Jordan caught my chin and turned my face up to his. “Spill it.”

  “I thought I saw Caleb here.” I spat it out fast and instantly chastised myself for even saying it out loud.

  “Where?” His concern was instantaneous.

  “Over by the concession stands.” I pointed off in the direction I’d come from.

  “That’s where that asshole Marshall is parked.” He turned that way, never once questioning what I’d seen. So much taller than me, he could see over most of the crowd. I only saw a sea of bodies and cars. “Did you see what he was wearing?”

  “No, I thought I heard him laughing and then when I looked for a second I saw him. I glimpsed his face as he was turning the other way and walking off. I tried to see where he went, but he was swallowed up by the crowd. I thought about chasing after him. Then I panicked and ran back here.”

  “You thought about doing what?” His head snapped around. “Raelynn, what would you have done if you’d found him? If that was him? And if it is, do you think it’s a coincidence he’s here?”

  Jordan was pissed, his anger tainted his tone. He slipped his cap off to run his hand over his head and down his face in agitation.

  “Who?” Aiden asked walking around the side of the trailer with a hydraulic jack in his hand.

  Jordan’s eyes held mine for a long moment. Silently, I begged him to keep my secrets. There were some things I didn’t want my brother to know, even if my sister did. This was one of those things.

  “Nobody.” Jordan sent me an angry look of warning. The sort of look that told me if I even attempted to walk away from that trailer alone he’d embarrass us both.

  I didn’t need much convincing to stay put. The more time that passed, the sillier I felt. But if it had been Caleb I saw, Jordan was right. It wasn’t a coincidence.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  There were several tense moments when Jordan gazed in the direction of the concession stand. The look on his face as he did was beyond frightening. He gave the appearance of surveying his competition. Except, his lips thinned and his expression darkened dangerously. I’d stood across from him like that not long ago at the pool hall when he’d caught me there with Hunter.

  Jordan was ready to rip someone’s face off.

  At first, the mere thought of seeing Caleb again was terrifying. It would mean my nightmare had invaded the safe haven I’d created for myself. Now, my worry was aimed at what would happen if Jordan saw him. That sort of violence didn’t come without a cost. A cost I feared would be mine and Jordan’s to pay.

  “Stay with Aiden and Vic,” Jordan commanded gently as he leaned his forehead against mine. He wore black race pants and jacket made from fire-retardant material. Though he usually wore it, not all street racers did.

  I pulled the zipper up and then closed the throat of his jacket. “I will. I’ll ride down with Aiden after you win.” Needlessly, I smoothed the material across his chest and tried for my best cocky grin. “It was probably my imagination, I was just jumpy.”

  “I hope so.” He kissed me just before that dark look crossed his face again. “Or not. I can’t say I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on the bastard.”

  “Haul ass.” With shaking fingers, I pressed my lips to his before he slid into the car and cranked it up.

  Breanna drove the golf cart and my brother rode to the staging lanes sitting on the window of Jordan’s door like he was auditioning for the Dukes of Hazard. I sat beside Breanna and didn’t look over my shoulder for Caleb a single time. I was healing. I was safe surrounded by my family in our world. I wasn’t alone.

  Like I’d done dozens of time before, I lined Jordan up in the rubber he’d laid down with his burn out. My brother fanned the smoke from inside with the driver’s door. A sense of calm settled over me as I walked down the rubber streaked concrete.

  Home. Racing was home and I was safe here in this moment.

  I blew Jordan a kiss as I jogged past the car, with barely a chance to turn around before both cars shot out with a deafening roar.

  We all waited for the win light on the scoreboard as they raced backward toward the track. The crowd erupted into a deafening roar as the light in Jordan’s lane flashed, signaling the win. Two more races to go.

  Hunter made it to the next round as well. As they drew numbers, we all held our breath. If Jordan and Hunter drew the same number, that meant only one Street King had a shot at the final.

  “Ironic, isn’t it?” my sister commented as we propped up on the rail, the number draw happening in front of us.

  “Yeah, if it shakes out that way.” I still held out hope. If they didn’t race each other in the semis, there was a chance for an all Arkadia final race.

  “He’s cute though.” Breanna admired Hunter as the final four drivers formed a semi-circle around the event promoter. She was right, of course. But, there was always something about Jordan that I just couldn’t take my eyes off of, a magnetic attraction that called to me.

  “Not bad.” I laughed. “And single.”

  “Yeah, no.” She shook her head. “I don’t need that sort of drama in my life.”

  “Hunter isn’t dramatic.”

  “No, he’s not. But the fallout would be. Could you imagine Aiden and Jordan when I brought Hunter around to family stuff? Not to mention the whole, he’s already made out with my sister thing. I’ll pass.”

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nbsp; The drivers separated with a handshake. Hunter shot me a grin before he disappeared off in the direction of his team and his truck. He was charming, he was reckless, and I could look at him now without wondering what if.

  I had everything I ever wanted. What regrets I’d had, I was putting behind me. Imagining I’d seen Caleb shook me, brought back that cold creeping fear and burning shame. Yet here I was, watching Jordan stride up to me with an easy confidence that left me aroused and happy.

  When he dipped his head to kiss me, I was smiling. I’d been silly, amped up with nervous energy. It was gone now.

  “What’s that smile for?” He moved from my lips to place a kiss on my nose as he questioned me.

  “Because I love you.” My smile grew wider.

  “I thought it was because you realized I wasn’t going to drag lover boy’s ass just yet.”

  Playfully, I swiped the hat from his head, before laughing as he swept me off the asphalt to kiss me.

  We repeated the start line ritual again, though this time I had no trepidation. Fear had long since been replaced with the adrenaline-fueled excitement that made me love racing. I was grinning madly by the time we chased after Jordan and his second win of the night.

  Nobody had to tell us that Jordan could very well win it all. I pulled myself up on his well-muscled arm, excited energy filling me at the start line as Hunter and that skeevy Marshall guy lined up. I gripped Jordan’s bicep and swung playfully before dropping back to my feet, my imaginary run in with Caleb all but forgotten.

  “Do you see him over there, anywhere?” Jordan shouted in my ear as Hunter’s truck launched into a smoke pouring burn out.

  There was a sea of faces in the stands and surrounding the start line, none that I could see were Caleb. At nearly a foot shorter than Jordan, and at least a head shorter than everyone else, I wasn’t going to see much anyway. When I craned my neck for a better look, Jordan grabbed me and set me up on a concrete partition.

  I stayed there throughout the race itself. But I never saw Caleb again and further convinced myself it had just been my nerves all along.

  Eric Marshall was racing a Pro-Modified Mustang. Which meant that he’d stripped the original body and made everything on the car carbon fiber or some other lightweight material. It was an ultra-light, super-fast race car. Sure, our tires were bigger and got better grip, but this guy’s car was made to run fast just about anywhere.

  The entire race people had complained that it wasn’t a true steel body race car and thus not a street car. Drivers who hadn’t made the semis were especially vocal with their grievances.

  Jordan’s arms wrapped around my thighs as Hunter’s engine revved up beside the Mustang. The majority of the crowd wanted to see Jordan go toe to toe with Hunter in the final, which meant they wanted him to win this race. As did I.

  I’d known Jordan long enough to know that it didn’t matter to him who won, either way, he’d put the hammer down. In his mind, he wasn’t settling for anything less than winning the entire thing.

  Engines screamed as Hunter’s truck stood up on its wheelie bars. He’d put in too much power to the motor trying to go after the ProMod. He did some quick footwork on the gas pedal and launched like lightning. Even with the epic wheel stand, it was a close race. We didn’t have to tear all the metal out of our race cars to make them fast.

  But almost winning, was still losing.

  “It’s up to you, kid.” When Hunter lost, I teased Jordan from my perch on the elevated concrete. For me, knowing my guy would be the one that smacked the new kid all the way back to where he came from was the best part.

  I dropped from the barrier and let myself slide down Jordan’s chest. His eyes gleamed with excitement as the sun set behind us. He was ready for the race, the adrenaline already coursing through his veins in anticipation. His body was taut and his expression wild.

  The similarities for Jordan before a big race and when we made love were abundant. For him, there wasn’t much of a difference between those two heights of experience.

  I loved him even more for it.

  With Jordan, I would never be bored.

  “Driver’s meeting.” There was regret in his voice as he dropped a kiss on my lips.

  “I’ll see you back at the trailer.” I squeezed his hand one more time before making my way back to our pits.

  This was a different case of nerves. I could see them vibrating off my sister and Vic, and everyone that now crowded around the trailer. Just like them, I was swept up in the excitement for the final race.

  I was bent over in the truck to snatch my camera when a voice behind me sent a cold chill down my spine.

  “I thought that was you.” Caleb’s voice was the culmination of so many nightmares all balled up into reality.

  I froze, fear slipping into my very being and wrapping its icy fingers around my heart. I swallowed back that fear, allowing it to quickly be replaced by anger. Anger that he would violate my world, interrupt my life like this. It had been him I’d seen. The emotional violation that Caleb was here, spread a traumatic, cold sweat across my skin.

  His tone was patronizing and arrogant. “When I saw your picture in the paper, balled up and crying after that wreck, I figured I’d find you here when they raced again.”

  “Why are you here?” I fought in vain to keep my trembling in check as I slid from the truck. Only a few feet away was my safety, my sister and the others. Yet, they could have been a million miles away for all the good it served me. None of them had any reason to think anything could be wrong. Only Jordan would, and he was at the driver’s meeting.

  “Turns out one of my frat brothers has a cousin who races and was entering into this thing. Maybe you know him, Eric Marshall? We thought it would be a great idea to tag along, and I thought maybe I could catch up with my girlfriend who just ran off without a word.” He was sneering, like the villain of a bad comic book.

  “It’s funny how you wait to say anything to me until my boyfriend is noticeably absent.” I tried to shoulder past him, but he blocked my way.

  “Who? Oh, that big oaf?” He snickered. “Come on baby, you know he can’t do the things I do.”

  He had no idea what Jordan was capable of. The scary part was that Caleb wouldn’t care. “Fuck off, Caleb.” I sidestepped him and rushed back to where my sister stood. Frantically, I searched for Jordan and Aiden, hoping they would be making their way back by now and that Caleb hadn’t followed me. Even being with Breanna and Vic didn’t feel so safe now.

  Jordan and Aiden were close, maybe thirty feet away. Jordan took one look at me across the broken pavement and was instantly there, pulling me against his chest and tilting my face up. “What happened?”

  “Rae?” Breanna was beside me, her face anxious and filled with worry. “You look like you just saw a ghost.”

  She had no idea how right she was. I reached for my throat, the air suddenly too thick to breathe. I was safe now, Jordan was here, and yet Caleb was squeezing the breath out of me again.

  Jordan’s features changed, he grew cold and hard. “He’s here, isn’t he?”

  I managed a terse nod as my legs went weak beneath me. Jordan never missed a beat, sweeping me up before I could hit the ground. He carried me to a chair and said something I couldn’t hear to my brother.

  Everyone backed away except Jordan and my sister. Aiden pushed people from us as Jordan eased the mouth of a water bottle to my lips.

  Cool, wet relief pushed through my throat and calmed me. I swallowed the water and managed a few gasping breaths before my world started to right itself. Sound rushed back in, the thundering of my heart slowing.

  Still holding my hands Jordan turned to grill my sister. “Was anyone here? Did anyone talk to her? Touch her?”

  “Yeah.” Breanna’s face went white and she swallowed. “Some guy stopped by and talked to her just before—”

  “What did he look like?”

  “Um, like Aiden’s height maybe? Blondish, wearing a
white polo and jeans? I can point him out to you.” Fearful realization had changed to anger, her movements grew sharper and purpose driven.

  I clutched Jordan’s hands. “He’s here…came with Eric Marshall.” The driver Jordan was about to race in only minutes.

  I already knew how easily you could lose everything you loved, how quickly life could rip apart at the seams. Nothing else we’d survived compared to the cold dread that filled me when Jordan spun away. He barked an order to Vic, who walked up and put an arm around me. Seconds later, Jordan, Breanna, and my brother were storming off.

  “Vic, no.” I struggled against his arm. “Vic, we have to go after them.”

  “No way, Raelynn, Jordan said for me to keep you here until he got back. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but he was pretty serious about it.”

  I tugged frantically at his arm, but he held fast. “We have to go after him!”

  Vic wasn’t listening and panic was clawing at me. If Jordan touched Caleb, he’d kill him, and I’d lose Jordan forever. Nothing was worth that, not ever, not even if it meant Caleb would feel something akin to what I’d suffered.

  “What’s up, Rae?” Hunter and his friend Matt, who had been dating my sister until recently, interceded when they saw me tussling with a very confused Vic.

  “Jordan’s going to do something stupid, because of me, and we have to stop him!”

  Hunter only raised an eyebrow in Vic’s direction.

  Vic cursed under his breath before letting me go. I didn’t wait to see if they followed. In truth, I didn’t care. I ran through the crowd of people as fast as I could, paying no attention to the race cars or the crews. I ignored the shouts, dodged obstacles, mobile and immobile alike, and found my way to Jordan.

  He was almost a head taller than anyone else, so it made it easy for me. I could hear him over the din, demanding to know where Eric’s “little friend” was. It wasn’t blistering anger on his face, but something far more sinister.

  Jordan Slater was eerily calm, a cobra ready to strike.

  “Jordan!” About the time I reached him, Vic and Hunter reached me. My brother, as confused as Vic, stood ready at Jordan’s side. Breanna was whispering frantically in his ear. Rage and hurt flashed through Aiden’s cobalt eyes. He knew my secret.