#Swag (GearShark #3)

by Cambria Hebert

  I pulled the wheel and guided my car out and over. The driver who’d been trying to clip me was taken off guard by the sudden movement, and his front tire hit the grass. The change in pavement jolted his car and sent it into a spin, farther into the center of the track.

  “See ya,” I sang, refocusing on the car in front of me.

  “They’re coming up fast! Boxing you in!” my spotter yelled.

  Just as soon as the one car spun out, another replaced him, filling the vacancy I just left. On my right, another car was coming up, and I jerked the wheel, gliding over to push him out, and then hit the accelerator and pushed my car so I was driving parallel with Cannon.

  On the outside of the curve, my car had to work harder than his. My fingers ached from gripping the wheel as I pressed down the gas a little bit more.

  Pure hostility seemed to slam into the side of my car, and I glanced out my window into Cannon’s blue vehicle. His head was turned in my direction. Even though I couldn’t see his expression, I knew he was pissed I would try to pass him this way.

  “Back off.” My spotter warned me.

  “What! No way!” I yelled and powered on. I gained on the blue car. He sped up, trying to gain what he lost, but there was no way in hell I was going to let that happen. Up ahead, the curve was starting to straighten. It was now or never.

  I gave my car almost everything it had and went for it.

  I pulled ahead, barely clear of his car. Movement out of my mirror made my heart jolt when Cannon jerked his wheel toward my back end as if he were trying to shove me off the road.

  I cut the wheel sharp, cutting him off completely and taking up in front of him just as the track straightened out.

  “Asshole!” I spat and refocused in front of me

  I needed to concentrate on taking the lead, maintaining the progress I was making.

  Beneath me, the car started pulling a bit, like some bolts needed tightening.

  “Fuck!” I muttered and kept going.

  “Your car is pulling. You need to come in.”

  “I can go another lap,” I insisted.

  “You’re risking a whole hell of a lot,” he argued.

  “I know my car, dammit.”

  “Next round, come in,” he said. I heard his muffled voice yelling orders and demands for the crew to get shit ready. Then it seemed his voice got farther away. I only heard the rumble of his tone, not what he was saying.

  Cannon appeared on top of me, drafting hardcore, even worse than the guy who’d just tried to do it to me before.

  “Get off my ass!” I yelled.

  He pressed in closer, coming up on the inside of my left rear corner. I sped up, my car rattling a bit, but I knew she would hold. Cannon came right along with me.

  “What’s his position?” I called into the mic, jamming it back against my lips.

  No answer.

  “His position!” I yelled.

  I glanced back nervously. The back of my neck was tingling. Cannon was going to try something. He was going to try and nudge me enough to take me out.

  “You’re in trouble, Joey. You need to get some space. He’s drafting, and it looks bad.”

  Really? What the fuck was wrong with this guy? He was so getting fired.

  “Way to have some confidence,” I bitched.

  I ignored him, looking ahead to see what my options were. As I drove, a car moved past Cannon and up beside me.

  What the fuck?

  I looked over, recognizing the driver as someone Cannon was often photographed with. Even through all our gear and the windows, I felt our stares lock.

  This was an ambush. He was going to ride my side so I couldn’t move over and Cannon would have a better chance of taking me out.

  I knew these guys hated me, but what they were doing right now was downright dangerous. Life-threatening.

  Sweat dripped off my temple. I felt it trail down the side of my face. I pulled in a shuddering breath and forced my eyes off the driver and back ahead.

  I felt a whisper of a touch against my back left side…

  “Josie!” Jace’s voice flooded my ear, pulling me out of the panic starting to swallow me.

  “Jace?” I answered.

  “These motherfuckers are trying to take you out,” he growled, but his voice was rushed and sort of breathless like he’d been running.

  “No shit. Where’s my good-for-nothing spotter?”

  He made a fierce sound. “I punched him in the face.”

  Just like that, I felt stronger, more in control. “You got this?” I asked.

  “We got this.”

  I hit the gas, asking my car for a little more. The rattling got a little more intense; my car pulled.

  “Fight it,” he said. “Get through this. Then we’ll tighten your shit.”

  “That bank up ahead,” I said, surveying my options in front of me as the driver beside me slid in a little closer.

  “You’re gonna need that bank,” he said, his voice oddly void.

  “Jace?”

  “Focus, Josie,” he commanded.

  I wasn’t too far behind the two cars in front of me. All the push I was giving the car to get away from Cannon was gaining me a little advantage.

  “He’s gonna try to take you out. I see the way he’s forcing the car into position,” Jace said, flat. “Take that bank ahead, go low into it, and then use the way it slopes up.”

  “Got it.”

  “You need to keep that car in control, Josie.” Jace sounded almost desperate. In a weird way, it made calm wash over me.

  When I was a child and woke up from a scary dream, I asked my dad if he was ever scared. He smiled and said, Never. When I asked how come, he said, Because when the person you’re with is scared, you have to be strong for them. You have to give them strength.

  I felt the nerves in Jace. I was going to do this. Not just for me, but for him, too. Fuck these guys, my so-called teammates.

  One was already out because he tried this.

  Now here, two more were trying. They were working together to shut me out.

  I was so very tired.

  But I couldn’t let them win.

  The light hit came seconds later. The car to my right drove in, forcing me off the side. I steered into the hit, feeling my back wheels fishtail as I fought to keep control.

  The bank came fast, and I took it. The car bounced and jostled, but I held strong, flying through the grass, ripping up the dirt as I sped up the slope of the hill.

  The sound of groaning metal behind me was so loud it pierced my ears; all the muscles in my neck went rigid.

  “Jace!” I yelled, wanting to know what was happening.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he urged. “Focus, right here. Stay with me.”

  “Always,” I said, forcing out the sounds and staying right there with the car and him.

  “Okay, move toward the track there’s an opening for you to slide back on.”

  “Got it,” I said, doing what he instructed. My heart rate, which had been so erratic it hurt, started to level out.

  “Up ahead, you’re going to transition back onto the road. The change in asphalt is going to jar you.”

  It was jarring, but not as bad as people trying to take you out. I made it back onto the track, taking up position right behind the two leading cars.

  Jace whooped with relief. “That was fucking awesome, baby! Goddamn, that was some hella good driving!”

  I let out a yell, relieved and happy at the same time. But I only had time for one moment. This race wasn’t over. “Where’s Cannon?”

  “The two cars trying to take you out? They crashed into each other and caused a pile up of metal behind you.”

  “What!” I glanced back, trying to see.

  “Eyes ahead,” Jace ordered like he knew. “It’s just a pile of metal. Looks like all the drivers are unhurt. The track will be clear when you make it around.”

  “The cars?” I asked.

  “Th
ey’re done. DNF all of the ones in the pile up.”

  So Cannon was out. Removed by his own hand. He deserved so much worse. “Karma’s a bitch, and so am I,” I muttered.

  “What the fuck is going on out there, Josie?” Jace said, a little less urgency in his tone. “This entire race has given me fucking heartburn. They’ve been on your ass this entire time.”

  “Welcome to my world,” I muttered.

  There was a pregnant pause. I tuned it out and focused back onto the track, on trying to gain on the cars in front of me.

  “Pit is coming up,” he said into my ear. “You need to come in.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered darkly. Pit stops. What a fucking waste of time.

  “C’mon the crew will have you back out in no time. You’ll make up anything you lose.”

  He was right. I’d already had enough close calls today; I didn’t need to take myself out by not maintaining my car.

  “I’m coming in.” I confirmed.

  “Hey, dickheads!” Jace yelled out. “Get ready!”

  I laughed. I’m sure the pit crew loved him.

  “Hey, Jace?” I said.

  “Hey, Josie,” he replied.

  “Spot me the rest of the race?”

  “You know it.”

  I downshifted as I pulled into the pit. Men swarmed around me, tools out, and chaos reigned. It was like being a popular exhibit in a zoo.

  I stayed strapped in, tapping my fingers on the wheel and bobbing my knee nervously. It was hard to come in, hard to sit at a full stop when I needed to be out there racing and my body was still in full throttle.

  “You hanging in?” Jace’s voice filled my ear.

  “They need to hurry up,” I bit out.

  His warm chuckle washed over me like a gust of warm air on a winter day. “They’re moving,” he assured me. “Just a couple seconds left.”

  I made an impatient sound, watching all the people move around.

  “If I wasn’t up here, I’d be down there at your window,” he said, a smile in his voice.

  “Wish you were. That would help pass the time.” I flirted. Yes. I flirted.

  “Few more laps,” he said, “Then I’ll make up for it.”

  My heart swelled a little, my lips curving up.

  One of the pit crew banged on the hood of my car. My eyes snapped up; people were rushing back.

  The man who’d banged on the hood made a gesture with his hand indicating we were done, and I hit the gas.

  “There you go,” Jace said. “Let’s win this thing.”

  I barely heard him. It wasn’t because I was so intent on speeding out of the pit, even though I was. It was because my stare locked on the crew member who told me I could go. There was something about the way he was looking at me, something about the way he seemed less than eager to jump back from the car even as I sped off.

  Something sinister.

  I forced my eyes away and gunned the engine, rejoining the race.

  Hopefully, the speed would dislodge the strange feeling his eyes had left me with.

  Lorhaven

  Disloyalty.

  Dishonor.

  Fucking turd burglars.

  I used to think the pro division was the cream of the crop. The top percentage of drivers. You know why I thought that?

  Because that’s what the pro division wants everyone to think.

  People only know the information they’re given.

  I’ve learned a whole hell of a lot in the past few years; most of it turned everything I thought about the world of racing onto its ass.

  When you’re on the outside looking in, things look a whole lot prettier. Once the door is open, though? You find the cobwebs in the corner, the dust under the beds… the trash that didn’t yet make it into the garbage.

  This wasn’t the first pro race I’d been to. It was the first time I’d sat in the pit. The first time I’d watched on with fucking rocks in my gut and my heart in my throat.

  Brutal.

  That’s what this was today.

  Only a few laps in, it became clear Joey was a target. It was like every car on that track worked against her. Driving wasn’t a team sport, but today, they all seemed to band together as just that and focus on getting her the hell out of their way.

  What the fuck?

  Is this what she faced on a daily basis?

  I’d rather have my leg hair pulled out one at a time with rusty tweezers than stand here and watch these guys try and run her off the road.

  I knew better than anyone driving got heated. It was dangerous. Tension and adrenaline ran high. But this was different. This was vicious.

  I paced. Drew and Trent stood by and watched with grim faces. Drew started yelling the first time someone got too close. Josie handled it like a pro and moved on like she didn’t even notice. Hopper yelled the second time it happened, and Trent stood there with anger in his eyes and veins bulging in his neck.

  About five laps to go, I noticed a car coming up behind her. I looked up at her spotter, and the fucker wasn’t even watching. He was supposed to be her eyes. Her ears… a partner.

  “What the fuck!” I yelled.

  Trent glanced at me. “They’re going at her hard today.”

  “It always like this?” I bit out.

  “I haven’t been to many of her races, but they’ve never been this bad before.” His voice was grim, restrained with anger.

  Hopper paced by, staring straight ahead. I grabbed him, pulled him around.

  “What the fuck is going on out there?”

  “I don’t know,” he spat, looking back.

  “Those are your guys out there! They’re attacking one of your own!”

  “I’m working on it!” he yelled back. I shoved him aside, and he put his ringing phone to his ear. “Tell him to back the fuck off, Grimes!” he roared as he swung back around.

  My eyes stayed glued to Joey’s car as it tore around the track. I wondered if she was okay, how tired she was. How mentally drained she was feeling and how bad these fuckers were messing with her head.

  “So help me God, if he doesn’t back off, he’s going to regret it.” Hopper ripped the hat off his head as he yelled into the phone and shoved at the messy dark strands of hair. They were damp with sweat as his eyes were glued to the race.

  It wasn’t good enough. Him calling the spotter’s mates and demanding they behave wasn’t enough. I glanced back up at Josie’s spotter. He was saying something to her, shaking his head.

  The sound of metal crunching on metal stopped my heart. A loud buzzing sound replaced everything going on around me. My hands shook wildly, and I felt unsteady.

  “Josie,” I ground out, glancing around, desperate to make sure she was okay.

  It was like I was suddenly blind. I couldn’t find her. All I saw was metal and cars piling on top of one another accompanied by the sound of brakes squealing.

  A hand hit the back of my neck, squeezing so hard it brought me back. “There, she’s fine, ahead of it all,” Trent said, steering my head in her direction.

  All the oxygen whooshed out of me in a great heave. Suddenly, I felt like a deflated balloon.

  “Thank God,” I rasped.

  Trent gave my neck a light squeeze and let go.

  I sprinted into action. I raced forward and rushed up the ladder taking me to where the spotter was posted up high. The platform wasn’t tiny; there was enough room to move around.

  There was a hard, annoyed look on his face. “You’re in trouble, Joey. You need to get some space. He’s drafting, and it looks bad,” he said into the mic.

  I saw red. How dare he talk to her like that, like he didn’t even care!

  I made a sound, and he spun. His eyes widened when I stalked forward.

  “Give me the headset,” I ground out.

  His eyes narrowed, and he shook his head.

  I laughed. Then I punched him right in the face. He folded like a house of cards. Fucking pussy. His nose was bleeding w
hen I bent and ripped off the headset.

  He made a sound, and I shoved his head away. “Shut up,” I told him and put it on.

  The relief in her voice when I came on was apparent, and it made me feel sick. She shouldn’t even be in this position to need relief. She should’ve had someone in her ear that wasn’t an asshole.

  Goddamn, I was so, so angry. My hands shook with it.

  I wanted to ask her if she was okay, if she was upset.

  I couldn’t.

  We had to do this. Races were run by the clock, driven by focused drivers. Right now, she needed guidance and confidence in her ear. Even if I did think this was a giant clusterfuck, I would do right by Josie.

  I knew even more fear when another driver started drafting her left back corner and another boxed her in. I felt helpless, completely out of control. I couldn’t protect her. She had to protect herself.

  But if this guy wrecked her… if she got hurt in any way… I’d be this motherfucker’s worst nightmare.

  “We got this,” I told her, forcing resolve into my voice.

  And we did.

  She made it out.

  The asshole who bumped her end could drive home in his scrap metal with a did not finish under his belt. Once they hauled it off the track, that is. I rather enjoyed the sight of him standing on the shoulder, staring at the mangled mess he’d been driving.

  The amount of relief I felt when Josie pulled into the pit made my knees weak. I leaned on the railings and stared down at her car. I flirted with her because, even though she seemed okay, I knew she was rattled inside.

  Too soon, she was ripping back into the race, and my heart rate was still so high I was pretty sure it counted as cardio for a day.

  “Let’s win this thing,” I said, getting back into the race. She was trusting me with this, with her eyes, her safety.

  I wasn’t going to be like the bastard who had at some point crawled away and down the ladder.

  I wasn’t going to be like the limp dicks out on the track, pissed off because she was kicking ass despite what the hell they were doing to her.

  How this shit even passed all the pro codes was beyond me.

  Fuck that. Fuck them.

  She had me now.