Crash into You (Pushing the Limits #3)(41)

Crystal. Because, for Eric and his crew, the beating is the payment. The taking of the car is for kicks. “No one touches her, Eric.”

Having accomplished what he came for, Eric pulls his keys out of his pocket and strolls toward the main parking lot. “As long as someone pays. But if you don’t...” He looks over his shoulder and slides his eyes over Rachel. My fingers curl with the thoughts of strangling him. “For you, pretty girl, I promise there won’t be baseball bats involved.”

I watch him until he drives off, then examine Rachel. She’s so beautiful it hurts. Golden blond hair flows past her shoulders. Those gorgeous violet eyes shouldn’t be so wide with fear. I’ve dreamed of being this close to her again. I ache to gather her in my arms and keep her safe from the world...to be her protector, but I can’t be that man.

“You okay?” I ask.

Rachel moves her head as a yes, but the answer’s no. After being touched by Eric, how can she be fine? I run my hand over my head. Just f**k. “Get in the car.”

Rachel fidgets with the oversize buttons on her black coat, then readjusts her skirt, drawing my attention to her bare legs. Her warm breaths billow out into the air as white fog. “I’m late for school.”

So am I. “You and I need to skip today.”

It’s difficult to discern her head shaking no as her body shudders from the cold. “My parents will kill me.”

I rub my eyes with both hands. “Eric will actually kill us both. My car—now.”

Without looking at me, Rachel retrieves her backpack and heads to the passenger side of my black Mustang. The driver’s side door hangs open and the engine still purrs. When I cut into the overflow lot, I saw his hands on her and my whole world went red.

She slams her door shut before I have a chance to go around and close it for her. I don’t want her to hate me. I don’t want her to fear me. But she witnessed who I really am, and now there’s no avoiding reality.

I slide into my seat and put my car into First. “Can your brother cover for you at school?”

“Yeah,” she barely whispers. “Maybe.” Rachel pulls a phone out of her pack. The screen brightens as she powers it on, and I notice her go completely still. “You called.”

A lot. Every half hour since Abby told me that Eric had found her. “You didn’t answer.”

“I turned my phone off.” An edge of hurt creeps into her tone. I want to reassure her that we’ll be okay. But I shouldn’t.

Rachel types into her cell. We drive in silence as she stares at the phone, possibly waiting for a reply. It chirps and she sighs with relief. “My twin, Ethan, says he’ll cover for me, but he wants to know why I’m ditching.”

Tell him I’m saving your life. I shift gears as I hit the freeway heading downtown. There’s only one place I can think to take her to guarantee her safety.

“Where are we going?” she asks.

I tug at my bottom loop earring. “To the police station.”

Her hair flies as she whips her head to face me. “To the... Where? No!” she screeches. “No. We can’t go there.”

Time to be honest with her. “We aren’t. You are. It’s the only way.”

One of her hands grips the edge of her seat. The other holds on to the door. The knuckles on both her hands fade to white. “There has to be another way. The police will call my parents.”

“Better grounded than in the hospital,” I mutter.

“Isaiah...”

I cut her off. “Do you have five thousand dollars?”

“No,” she says quickly.

“Do you own the papers to your car?”

She shakes her head this time.

“Look.” I force calm even though everything inside me writhes in rage. I want to fix this. Dammit, I want to fix us. “Go to the police. Tell them you made a mistake and street raced once. Tell them that the guy who took the bets threatened you if you don’t race for him again. And for Christ’s sake, don’t name names. Tell them you never learned anyone’s name. Tell them you were scared to death.”

We breeze by a row of tractor trailers, and I press harder on the gas. We’re cruising at seventy. My eyes narrow on the road. I itch to hit eighty and then ninety. I crave speed.

Her hands flutter in the air, signaling impending hysterics. “What will that accomplish, besides upsetting my parents?”

I shift down and reluctantly reduce my speed when I spot the exit. “The police have been after Eric for a year. They know who he is and what he’s capable of. The moment you say drag racing and threatened, they’ll put the pieces together. They’ll protect you in ways I can’t.”

She draws in several quick breaths. “He threatened you, too. Why aren’t you going to come with me?”

I flex my fingers then grip the wheel again. “Because I’m not a snitch.”

Rachel straightens in her seat and the spark of attitude that I remember from the night we met flashes. “And I am?”

Off the freeway, I turn the wheel sharply to the left, coast into an abandoned parking lot and cut the engine. “You don’t have to live by the rules I live by. Those streets you played in one time are my home. I don’t get to go back to a gated community when I decide I’m done slumming. You street raced and you got burned. I’m trying to make sure you don’t die from your mistakes. So what if you don’t get to go to a dance because you’re grounded. You’ll be safe.”