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When I arrived at the drivers’ meeting later that morning, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I still felt a little off. Holt had forced me to eat a couple pieces of dry toast, refused to let me have any coffee, and then handed me a bottle of Gatorade before we both left the RV. He had his own meeting, and I had mine, but we both left at the same time. I wanted to hold his hand. I wanted to put my arm around his shoulders and pull him tight to show everyone he was mine, that we were together, but I couldn’t. Not yet. Not until we had told our parents and sat down with Jenna so we could put out some sort of press release.
Bullshit.
I stepped into our meeting, and Mason waved me over. Shepard had a scowl on his face, his long legs stretched out in front of him. It was on the tip of my tongue to give him hell, but when his eyes shot up to mine, I changed my mind. He looked, well, beat down. I loved to give the guy a hard time, but today was not that day. I eased myself into the chair next to Mason and jerked my chin at his best friend.
“Eh.” Mason shook his head. “He’s not talking about it.”
Shepard grunted. “We talking about Watts puking all over himself yesterday? That was classy AF.” He shot me a smirk. “Or are we talking about—”
“Stop it.” Mason punched his shoulder. “Stop being such a fucking prick. I thought we were done with this ever so pleasant version of you, man.” He shot me a look that said, don’t engage.
Fat chance. I leaned forward. “You want to talk about Holt? Is that it?” I asked.
“You two together?” Shepard shot back.
“Maybe we are? You got a problem with that?”
Shepard’s brows dipped, and I watched as his face grew dark. “Are you fucking him?”
Mason stood up. “Go sit with Finn,” he exclaimed. “I’m not doing this. I won’t be the middleman because you’re jealous I have other friends. I have no idea what’s gotten into you the past couple of weeks, but I’m sick of it. Both of you. It’s like dealing with children, and I already have enough of those at home.” He spun around to face me. “Knock it off, Watts.”
“I wasn’t—”
“You were, and I’m not going to defend you either.” Mason sat down as Shepard shuffled into the back to sit with his teammate, Finn Houston, but not before I heard him grumble about fucking my stepbrother. I let it go because he was having a rough couple of weeks. I understood that.
Until forty laps into the race...
I’d had enough of Shepard’s shit. Clearly neither one of us was having a great run today, driving near the back of the pack, but he was using up my bumper, and I’d had enough.
“Tell him to back off, Miles,” I warned. “If he does that one more time.” Shepard slammed into the back of my car. “I’m going to beat the shit out of him.”
Miles sighed. “I’ve already spoken to Hutch. Shepard hasn’t said a single word over the radio since this thing started.”
I gritted my teeth. “What’s his deal? I know we don’t exactly like one another, but I haven’t done anything to him. He won’t get off my ass. I’ve moved over for him to go around, waved at him when I want to flick him off and.... Son of a bitch!” My car spun around into the wall, and I bounced back into Carson Carey’s car before I settled in the grass.
Oh, if Rand Shepard wanted a fight, that fucker was going to get one. I ripped my window net down before I climbed out of my car and yanked off my HANS device. I was going to throttle him. Did he have a problem with queers? Was that what this was? I was going to shove my foot so far up his ass he was going to feel what it was like to get fucked without lube. Then he could decide if he had a problem with it or not.
I had no choice but to climb into the ambulance, go get checked out by the EMS crew, again, and do the normal interviews about my car, what happened, yada, yada yada, but I wasn’t going anywhere. The second the race was over, I made a beeline for Shepard’s car, watched as he removed his helmet, then smashed my fist right into his face before he had a chance to see me.
“What the—Are you serious?” he roared before he swung at me.
I ducked, only for him to come at me with his right arm. That one I didn’t see coming, and when his hand made contact with the side of my head, I went down.
I grabbed at Shepard’s leg, pulling him down with me, and he hit the asphalt with a loud thud.
“Fucker, what is your problem with Holt?” I growled before rolling on top of him.
“Nothing, get off me.” Shepard’s eyes flashed angrily.
“Is it because he’s gay?”
“Of course not!”
I wanted to wrap my hands around his throat, but as soon as the thought ran through my brain, someone grabbed me by the armpits. “Let go!” I kicked my legs up as I was hauled back up to my feet.
“Are you crazy?” Miles hissed. “You’re both in serious fucking trouble.”
