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I chuckle softly. “No, but he did really well.”
I recall the events of yesterday and smiled fondly at them.
“What is that look?” She asks, looking at me as if she’s caught me in the act, and I do my best to shelf my anxiety for the moment.
“I don’t have a look,” I say.
“Something happened,” she says it as if she already knows.
I sigh and shake my head. “Nothing happened, Ma.”
“Uh huh, sure.”
“Oh, my goodness, I’m going to go lay down before my shift tonight.”
“Yeah, yeah, you do that, silly girl. Don’t think I won’t find out what it is you’re hiding.”
“I’m not hiding anything,” I call over my shoulder as I head toward my room.
“And I wasn’t born yesterday,” she calls back.
I smile softly to myself and head into my room, dropping my overnight bag at the foot of my bed and reaching up to cover my mouth, smothering the sobs that bubble to the surface.
I don’t know what I was thinking. How selfish do I have to be to think that for one second, I can just run around, acting like I don’t have a God damned gang lord threatening to kill my mom if I don’t cooperate? And then to go and drag Bodhi into my life, knowing full and well that he already has a rough history where Mateo is involved.
I can’t do this.
I swipe the tears from my eyes and straighten.
As much as I want to pursue things with Bodhi… as much as it hurts my heart to have to stop things from going any further, I know that this is what needs to be done.
I can’t keep seeing him.
No matter how badly I want him in my life.
This has to end.
Part 2
The Races
Three Years Ago
I always believed that nothing would bring me the same kind of thrill as cheer competitions. However, stepping out into the heat of the summer sun in the middle of south side Sancte Alto, moments before a race was supposed to start, was as close as anything had gotten. Add in that this was an illegal race, and the police could show up at any minute, and my body hummed with excitement.
“Keaton,” my brother, Elijah, called over his shoulder. “Keep up.”
I hurry over, weaving through the crowd and checking out all the surrounding cars. Engines shining and paint jobs like nothing I've ever seen before.
“Don’t make me regret letting you come out here. If something happens and you aren’t where I can find you, we’ll both be in deep shit,” he says, his tough guy exterior in place.
I roll my eyes and follow him as he heads toward his friends.
Eli started racing with these guys a few months ago, but he’s always been behind the wheel of one fast car or another. Ever since we were kids. Whether it was go-karting, or just riding our bikes through the neighborhood as kids, Eli wasn’t happy unless he was going one hundred miles an hour at all times.
Our mom almost had a heart attack when he passed his driving test and got his license. She threatened to knock him clear into the next week if he ever did anything stupid enough to get hurt. Even though we knew she wouldn’t, he still behaved to the best of his ability.
However, racing in an illegal street race with his friend’s car was not to the best of his ability.
