Until You (Fall Away Series)(80)

Just really, really pissed off, and I brought my hand up to my lips to cover my smile.

I shouldn’t be this proud of her for picking a fight.

But she was jealous, and that was turning me on.

She was also reacting, too.

Big time.

And I immediately looked to the crowd, foolishly thinking that they may not be watching every second of this.

I liked a low profile, and Tate was broadcasting loud and clear that I was hers.

That I was hers.

“You bitch!” Piper snarled. “What the f*ck is your problem?”

And my heart skipped a beat when Piper charged Tate. About to reach out to grab one of them or both of them, I stopped short.

Tate swept Piper’s foot out from under her, and my eyes widened as Piper fell flat on her ass on the dry dirt track.

Yeah, Tate’s doesn’t need help. I shook my head in shock.

The crowd was going crazy, chanting for a fight and celebrating with whistles and cheers. I didn’t think they knew who they were cheering for. They just wanted a fight.

Tate bent down, clapping twice in Piper’s stunned face, and spoke loudly. “Now that I have your attention, I just want you to know—he’s not interested in you.”

I folded my lips between my teeth.

Such a handful.

Turning to me, she let a deep breath, and her eyes calmed down.

She walked up and was the only thing I saw. Piper was forgotten.

“I’m not wallpaper,” she said quietly, and I knew I’d hurt her feelings in the car before.

Tate wasn’t casual.

If she was in, she was in. If she was out, she was out. And I needed to man up.

She took out the fossil necklace and pooled it in my hand. “Don’t hide from me, and don’t ask me to hide,” she said for only me to hear.

I tightened my fist around the necklace.

She was in.

Tipping her chin up, I kissed her lightly and nearly choked on the urge to take her in my arms right here and now.

“Good luck,” she whispered, and her warm eyes leveled me as she walked back towards the crowd.

“Tate?” I called out before I even climbed back into my car.

She turned around, raising her eyebrows as she stuck her hands into her hoodie pocket.

“You’re with me, baby,” I told her. “Get in.”

Not waiting to even see the look on her face, I slid into my seat and leaned over to open the passenger side door.





After my win, I forwent the traditional bonfire after the race and dragged Tate out of there, never before in such a hurry to get back home.

Not many people were going to be clueless as to what we were going to go do, either. Immediately after crossing the finish line, I’d taken all of two f*cking seconds to snatch off Tate’s and my seatbelts and drag her into my lap for a kiss.

The race had kicked up my blood pressure. Feeling the energy of excitement as she sat next to me got my muscles and nerves pumping with adrenaline.

Racing had always been enjoyable, but with my father bleeding me for every bit of cash I had, the thrill of it had long since worn off. Now I raced as a way to make money, and Tate had changed that tonight.

As I raced, I had a hard time keep my eyes on the track. Her delicious little gasps as we rounded turns were addicting.

My blood finally ran hot for this again, and I never wanted to go back to the Loop without Tate.

“Jared?” she piped up from the passenger seat as we made our way back to my house. “Where do you go on the weekends?”

The weekends.

I narrowed my eyes. A jumble of thoughts swirled in my head, but I couldn’t grab onto just one. My stomach hollowed out, and with every breath I wanted to bolt from the car.

My father in prison. I couldn’t tell her about that.

Jax in a foster home, and his mother some barely legal teenager that our father had preyed upon. My mother, too, for that matter. What would she think?

The beatings. The basement. My betrayal, leaving Jax behind.

The bile crept up my throat, and I could barely swallow it down much less tell her the whole disgusting story.

“Just out of town.” I kept my reply short and simple.

“But where?”

“What does it matter?” My bite wasn’t a cover. She needed to shut up.

The past was embarrassing and dirty, and no one except Jax knew what had gone down that summer. If I could erase it from his memory, I would.