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“Fine,” I concede, lifting my butt off of the seat and pulling the wad of cash from my back pocket. I slap the bills in his open palm, and he flashes me a wide grin before stepping out of the vehicle and weaving through the crowd toward check-in.
I roll my eyes before pulling away to find my place at the starting line. I’d like to think that being the first one there meant I had a better shot of pulling out in front, but unfortunately, that’s not how it works.
After just a few minutes, Bodhi slides back into the passenger seat with the all too familiar GPS in hand.
“I can’t say that this is bringing back any good memories,” Bodhi muses as he hooks up the device to the dashboard. I hum in agreement, silently watching him work. It’s almost methodical how his hands move around the device. So sure of what he’s doing.
“All right, that should do it,” he says, snapping me out of my thoughts.
He presses a few buttons on the screen and pulls up tonight’s racecourse.
“Eh, this is cake; you’ve got this.”
“Suddenly you’re so sure of my abilities?”
“Well, once you stopped driving like an eighty-five-year-old woman, it was easy enough to see that you, in fact, possess the skills to drive.”
“Oh,” I say, laying my hand flat across my chest, “well thank you so much for deigning to say so, your majesty.”
“It’s about time you acknowledged me for who I am,” he smirks.
I laugh. “You can think whatever you want, but they all know who the real royalty is around here,” I say, gesturing to the spectators lining the street.I think the title is silly, but it seems to get everyone pumped up, so what do I honestly care?
“Oh, you think so?”
“What? You don’t believe me? Go ask anyone out there. They’ll tell you who the rightful King is.”
I’m goading him. I know it, and so does he.
“Yeah, we’ll see.” An easy smile plays at the corners of his mouth, and for one brief second, my stomach squeezes and my heart beats out of sync.
Devastatingly beautiful are the words that play through my mind, but I quickly swat them away.
Get real, Keaton, you don’t even like this guy.
Though the longer I’m around him tonight, the more personable he becomes. Plus, it wouldn’t kill me to at least be grateful for tonight. He didn’t have to lend me his car to race, and I’d honestly be stupid to turn down the opportunity.
When it comes to my pride being bruised or having to deal with Mateo’s threats, I’ll choose my pride every time. Whatever keeps my mom safe. I’ve heard the rumors about him working for the Castillo outfit one town over, and let me just say, Santiago Castillo is one man’s radar I do not want to be on.
“All right, you’re all set.” Bodhi says, pulling me from my thoughts. He takes one last look around the interior of the car before slapping his hand on the middle console and directing his attention at me. “Haul ass, Princess.”
“Obviously,” I say, because there is no other option.
He waggles his eyebrows at me playfully before stepping out and joining the rest of the crowd along the sidelines.
In the following minutes, the remaining drivers pull up beside me and get into position. Drawing in a deep breath, I center my thoughts, pushing everything else out of my mind. The only things that matter at that moment are me and the road ahead.
When one of the street bunnies makes her way out to the starting line, she throws her hands in the air and engines around me roared to life.
THREE
TWO
ONE
Her arms drop and I slam the car into gear, pulling off of the line. I don’t worry about anyone around me, or whether they’re closing in. If I’m focused on them, I’m not focused on driving, and I’ve inevitably set myself up for failure.
I switch through the gears as I accelerate down the street, silently thanking Bodhi in the back of my mind for loaning me a car that at least handles well.
