by Ward, Kira
“Busy?”
“She’s over there,” Mason said and pointed.
I turned around to see Hector Garcia leaning against the railing at the track and Amanda standing right beside him, chatting.
“Are you kidding me?” I asked. “Why is she talking to him?”
“She had a date with Hector a few days ago. I guess they must like each other,” Mason explained.
“What the fuck?” I took a step down the stands, and I could feel my whole body growing tense. It felt like I was back in high school again. Once again Amanda had dumped me so she could run off with the captain of the football team, only to leave me behind for good. This time it hurt even more than prom, because we had actually done more than making out. We had sex. We shared feels.
My blood boiled. Did she not even realize that a guy like that was way more likely to lie and cheat on her than I ever was? She might have found a stupid picture on my phone, but she was more likely to walk in on Hector fucking some slut, or maybe he would even invite her to a threesome. I could see it in the way he talked—the guy was a womanizer.
Once again, I wanted to hit something.
I took a few steps back and found a quiet spot in the stands where I could sit and get my head on straight. I watched as Amanda laughed at something Hector said, then turned back to looking in Layla’s direction. For a moment, I thought that Amanda’s eyes caught mine, but she just turned back to Hector and leaned in, a smile etched across her face.
I clenched my teeth and slammed my fist hard on the bleachers. While I had been singing the blues, she had been going on dates—with him?!
My eyes glanced over as a yellow Toyota crossed the finish line of the track, and the crowd erupted into cheers and claps. I swiveled back towards Hector and Amanda and gritted my teeth.
I guess there was one big difference between the captain of the football team that Amanda took to prom and Hector—I was competing with Hector in the same sport. There was no way I could let Hector steal my girl and win the race—no fucking way.
I needed to beat him. No matter what, I needed to win the race that night. He stole my girl, and I was about to steal his undefeated record.
I was tired of being fucked with.
Chapter 26
Caleb
You shouldn’t race angry, but when I pulled up to the starting line, I was fuming. Every second leading up to the start, I just kept getting angrier and angrier. Amanda and Hector? She knew I was going to race him eventually. How could she?
Drifter was parked, but I pressed my foot in the gas several times, listening to the engine growl. Seconds later, Hector pulled his R8 up beside me and pumped his gas as well, looking out of his window into my car.
His cocky grin disgusted me, and when he pumped his foot into the gas a second time, he made a kissy face, purposely trying to intimidate me. I leaned my head back and turned towards him, but I didn’t say or do anything back; I just stared. I wasn’t about to stoop to his level. I’d show him what I was made of on the track.
The other cars in the race lined up, and the flag girls got into position on each side. Out of my mirror I could see Layla wave Travis’s hand towards me and Mason lift his fist in support. Amanda had joined them and was sitting there with her arms crossed, a distraught look on her face. I didn’t know why, but it suddenly seemed like she had a lot on her mind. Yosef stood by the railing near the track smoking a cigar.
I took a deep breath as the flag girls waved the flags above their head, and as soon as they dropped them, I slammed my foot onto the gas pedal.
My tires squealed, but after a moment, found traction on the track. Hector and a couple other cars jolted out past everyone, but I wasn’t too far behind. I focused, more than I had ever focused in another race, shifting gears at exactly the right moment, careful not to miss even the slightest second of perfect acceleration.
When we reached the first curve, I slowed and took it hard and safe due to the number of other cars in close proximity, but as we hit subsequent curves, I ran them a little harder, a little closer to the edge as everyone got more spread out.
Hector was in the lead, but by the time we were halfway through the first of three laps, I was right up against his tail. Everyone else was trailing far behind us, and when we hit another leg of the straightaway, he swerved furiously to make sure that I didn’t pass. I pushed the GT-R to the redline, but the R8 was just as fast and I couldn’t gain any ground.
But then we came up to the first curve after a straightaway, and with all the other cars well behind us, Hector slowed to take the turn responsibly, and I jolted the GT-R sideways and drifted around the bend, passing him and exiting the turn with more acceleration.
My baby’s name was “Drifter” after all.
I could hear through the sounds of engines that people were cheering and clapping loudly as I took each subsequent turn, growing my lead on Hector, and when we reached the last straightaway, I could see Mason and Layla exchanging high fives. Amanda sat there with wide eyes, her mouth partially open, no real reaction to what was happening.
Hector got to driving aggressively and managed to get right behind me, but making no attempt to pass. I didn’t even have to swerve to keep him from passing me; He just stayed right there, accelerating hard.
And I soon figured out why.
I stared in my rearview mirror as his bumper grew closer and closer. He winked at me through his windshield, and eventually I felt the hard jolt when the front end of his car cracked into the back of mine.
I immediately lost control, the steering wheel feeling like it was connected to jelly, and the tail end of my car rocking back and forth until finally, my car did a 180 turn and stalled with me facing incoming traffic.
Hector passed unscathed.
“What the fuck!” I yelled. There was no question that he hit me on purpose, and in all my years of street racing, I’d only seen Freddy Black race that dirty. He could have killed us both with that kind of play.
The crowd watching the spectacle was shouting, and I could see Layla and Mason standing up. Even Amanda had stood and her hands were on her head, looking terrified. I wasn’t sure if she was scared that her new boyfriend might have suffered damage from the hit or if she was just shocked to see an accident in general. Whatever it was, she didn’t look okay.
Cars zipped past me, thankfully being careful not to hit me head-on, and I could see outside that Mason was mouthing something toward me. I have no idea what he was saying… Maybe he was cursing the dirty racer, or maybe he was telling me drive my car off the track and get out of the way. But I wanted to imagine that he was telling me to get back in the race and beat Hector—to show him that I wasn’t scared.
That’s the way I always imagined Mason. He was never a quitter; he never gave up. Even when people said Layla was too young, even after she left him for 4 years and had Travis behind his back, he never gave up.
Even with me being a total fuck up, him bailing me out of my stupid mistakes, he never gave up on me. He never gave up on the people he loved.
I swallowed hard. Maybe I had given up on Amanda by allowing her to slip away so easily. Maybe love wasn’t something easy at all. Maybe it was time for me to quit coasting by on my charm and natural abilities and finally fight for what I cared about.
Starting with that race.
I turned the key in my ignition, and pulled the GT-R around until I was facing the right way. Again, I slammed into the accelerator, pushing myself back up to speed, and shifted the wheel from side to side to make sure everything checked out okay. It didn’t seem like I had suffered any major damage.
The crowd clapped in unison as I re-entered the race, and I eyed the track, seeing that Hector was almost halfway through the second lap. It would take every ounce of driving skill that I had to even get close to beating him.
My hands shifted the gearbox, and my foot pumped the clutch expertly as I drifted around every curve as fast as I could. I drifted even faster than I no
rmally would, coming dangerously close to the edges and railing. By the time I reached the first straightaway, I was already catching up to one of the racers.
I redlined Drifter down the straightaway, and through the rest of the second lap, I managed to catch up to all but 3 cars. Hector was still winning by a long shot, but I was certain I would at least be able to pass the other two cars by the end of the race.
On the first leg of the last lap, I passed one of the cars, and when we reached the straightaway I managed to pass the other. Hector was a good 10 to 15 car lengths ahead of me, and unless he made a mistake, even my fast drifting skills would probably not be enough to catch him.
But I wasn’t about to give up.
I drifted the last set of curves, gaining a little bit of ground on Hector, and when I slid into the final straightaway, I could see people in the stands cheering, everyone thinking that the race was over.
But there was still one more trick up my sleeve.
I looked down at the tiny red button, nestled on the side of my dash. Drifter was equipped with NOS—nitrous oxide—which would send me flying down the rest of the track. It was dangerous, and back when I raced at The Bluffs, I promised my brother I wouldn’t use it. I had kept to my word, but we weren’t at The Bluffs anymore.
I had only used NOS when I was out testing the cars in the desert with my friends and never in a real street race. I kept it there for emergencies only, and right then seemed like just as big of an emergency as any. I needed to win that race.
I reached under my dash and flipped the NOS safety switch off and braced myself for what I was about to do. There was just enough length on the straightaway that I could brake after crossing the finish line, but it would require everything I had to maintain control.
I took one last glance to my friends and family in the stands and pressed down on the tiny button. The turbo in my car hissed, and there was a loud, electronic zipping noise that filled the cabin, along with the sound of flames bursting from the exhaust.
My head and back slammed against the seat of the car, and everything rattled. It took all of my strength to grip on to the steering wheel and hold Drifter straight while the scenery outside passed in a blur.
It was only a second or so before I passed by Hector, and I wished that I could’ve seen the look on his face when I did, but all I could see was the finish line ahead of me. I was going to win, and both Hector and Amanda would see that I wasn’t afraid to fight.
But then I felt another slam against the back of my car, which seemed like it was impossible given how fast I was going. It jolted me forward and pushed me past the finish line, but as soon as I crossed the line, the force sent me sliding sideways. I could see Hector through his windshield, his eyes the look of a maniac.
Hector’s front end nuzzled against the driver’s side of my car and he pushed me down the track, sideways, at a breakneck speed. Even with my tires practically melting below me, there was no way we would stop in time, and before I could even process a solution, Drifter slammed against the railing that outlined the first curve of the track.
My head jolted sideway and then back, smashing against the driver’s side window. My body thrashed. The car door was pushed in far enough that I was squeezed against the center console. My ears were ringing, and I was seeing stars.
I smelled oil, and I thought that I could hear a hissing sound but I wasn’t sure. I felt pain everywhere, and my senses were so overwhelmed that I thought for sure I was going to black out.
Chapter 27
Amanda
“I’m glad to be spending time with you again, love,” Hector cooed. He reached his around my shoulder and pulled me close to him.
“Yeah,” I replied, leaning against the railing and watching the cars cruise around the track.
I really wasn’t looking forward to it. There was a lot on my mind, especially since I found out that I had a baby in the oven. But I knew Caleb would be at the race, and if I could make him jealous by being with Hector, then so be it.
“What do you think about this place?” he asked.
“It’s nice. I really like the races. I didn’t get to go often when I was back in The OC.”
“Well, I hope you come to all of my races.” Hector stood up straight and pulled on his belt, adjusting his pants from falling down.
I turned around to see what Layla and Mason were doing in the stands, and when I did, my heart jumped. Caleb was there, wearing his usual tight fitting jeans and a print t-shirt that hugged against his muscles. God, he looked sexy as ever, and even then I had flashbacks of what he looked like without his shirt on.
I touched Hector’s arm and smiled, trying my best to look like I was having a blast. “So you like racing?”
“I like winning.” He smirked.
I bit my bottom lip. “You win a lot, right?”
“Yeah of course I do. I always win.”
“Tonight you better win!” I smiled my biggest smile, giggled, and playfully touched Hector’s shoulders again.
I glanced back in Mason and Layla’s direction and I could see Caleb sitting nearby looking our way—fuming.
It worked. He was obviously pissed, and I jerked my head back to Hector so that it wouldn’t be obvious that I had even noticed Caleb was there.
“So if I win tonight, do I get a prize?” Hector asked.
“A prize?”
“I was thinking that after the races tonight, we can go out and pick up where we left off on our last date. We still haven’t done Netflix and chill.”
“Ummm…”
“Or we can skip the whole Netflix and chill, and just… take a nap together.” Hector winked and stretched his arms. “I’ll be tired after all the hard driving.”
“Umm… I don’t know,” I said, still smiling.
“Are you still sick?”
“No, I just… I just have a lot on my mind.”
Hector rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, quit playing hard to get. Tonight. You and me.”
I sighed and then smiled again, not wanting to ruin the illusion that I was having a blast. “Let’s see if you win first. Ask me afterwards, okay?”
Hector snorted. “Watch me win, baby.”
* * *
I spent another 30 minutes or so entertaining Hector before they announced his race, and he ran off to get in his car. I joined Mason, Layla and Travis to watch the show.
“You and Hector seem to be hitting it off,” Mason said.
“Umm…” I groaned. “We’re just friends, really.”
“And did you see Caleb staring daggers at you?” Layla asked. “I told you that he would be pissed.”
I had no problem telling Layla that I wanted to get revenge on Caleb, but I wasn’t comfortable talking about it around Mason. I knew that they were way close, and I didn’t want Mason to get offended or anything. “Oh… Um… I didn’t see.”
Mason placed a hand on my leg and raised his eyebrows when I turned to him. “He really likes you, you know?”
“Hector?” I asked.
“Caleb. I’ve never seen him get jealous about another girl. And the look that he had in his eyes that night he showed up at the apartment—I’d almost say he was in love with you.”
“What? Love?” My heart fluttered a bit. Mason was one of the sincerest men I ever met. He wasn’t the type to say things without thinking them through.
He lifted his hand off my leg, raised his chest up and sighed deeply. “Well, what do I know? He’s Caleb after all.” He turned and smiled. “Besides, you’ve got Hector now… He’ll get over it.”
Except I didn’t have Hector. I didn’t even want to see Hector again after the race was over. And Caleb’s baby was inside of me.
I hadn’t told anyone that I was pregnant—not even Layla—and I had no plan on telling Caleb either. I was about 75% sure that I would get an abortion. Having a baby would put me out of work, and if being a single mom was hard enough, being a single mom who had no income would… I didn’t even
want to think about it.
I was scared.
I looked at Travis bouncing around in Layla’s lap and I wanted a little Travis in my lap as well. I wanted to have the baby inside me. But I just wasn’t as strong as Layla was; I couldn’t put myself through school and raise a child alone at the same time. Taking the baby out of me wasn’t what I wanted to do, but I felt like it was my only choice.
I crossed my arms and watched as the cars on the track pulled up to the starting line. Drifter arrived and then Hector’s R8.
I really missed Caleb, and getting my so-called “revenge” hadn’t been as satisfying as I thought it was going to be. I assumed that maybe by making him hurt, it would help me let go, but seeing that he cared about the situation only made me miss him even more. I was starting to feel childish about the whole ordeal and knew right then that I had gone about things the wrong way. If it hadn’t been for my fear of falling in love with him and getting hurt the same way I had with Rick, I might have given him a better chance.
I missed our taco dates, our banter, his kisses, and his wonderful, wonderful sex. Maybe I was in love—or starting to fall in love—with Caleb and was just too afraid to admit it.
But so-what if I was? Would Caleb even care after he’d seen me with Hector? What if I told Caleb I was pregnant? How would he react? He didn’t seem like the wants-to-be-a-daddy type.
“Uggggh!” I growled and threw my hands up in frustration. The whole situation was making me crazy.
“Amanda?” Layla leaned back and looked at me like I was crazy. “You okay?” Even Travis was looking at me like I had lost my mind.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about something. I’m fine.”
She eyed me suspiciously which made me a little nervous. She was a very perceptive girl and always seemed to find things out before I told her. Thankfully, both her and Travis turned their attention back towards the race.
The flags dropped, and the racers soared around the track. Hector took the lead, but soon after, Caleb was right behind him and then took the front position.
