Crash into You (Pushing the Limits #3)(99)

“I thought you were out,” I say to Logan. “And you were with your dad.”

“Dad works third shift,” he replies. “He asked Ryan to take me home. I’m out of driving. Doesn’t mean my mind stopped working.”

Ryan snorts. “That’s up for debate.” I throw him a questioning glare, and he earns a little respect when he doesn’t look away.

“Beth and Logan see something in you,” he says. “But know if you hurt either one of them again, I’ll kick your ass.”

Fair enough. “Noted. But good luck with that.”

“Now that the pissing contest is over,” says Abby, “how’s Rachel?”

I shrug. Rachel wouldn’t want her business discussed.

“Abby and I told them everything,” Logan says, unrepentant. “In detail.”

“Wasn’t your place.” Embarrassment thinly disguised as anger seeps into my tone.

“Wasn’t, but I did it anyhow.”

“I borrowed two thousand dollars from my brothers’ parents.” Noah jumps in, possibly to stop my anger at Logan from accelerating. Noah’s a proud guy, and that type of gesture had to kill his soul. “To cover rent for the semester. I hoped to buy us enough time until you got a job where you could support yourself. The money is yours.”

An understanding passes between us. If I accept the money, Noah moves into the dorms and I return to foster care. “It’s not enough.”

“More than half,” says Logan. “We still have that seven hundred.”

“Fine, twenty-seven hundred, but we’re still short.”

“I’ve got five hundred saved to buy a car,” says Beth. She winks at Ryan. “You’ll have to drive me around longer.”

Before I can tell her no Logan says, “Thirty-two hundred.”

Noah stretches his arms out to his sides. “And we race for the rest.”

We’ve entered the land of fantasy. “With what? Your piece of shit couldn’t beat a Yugo.”

Echo crosses the room and curls around Noah. “No, but I bet a ’65 ’Vette could.”

“No, Echo.” The Corvette belonged to her brother. It’s the only memory she has left of him. “The car is vintage and worth more than my sorry ass. Racing it could burn out the engine.”

“Could,” she says. “But Noah would win first. We can always fix the car. You’ve done it before.”

No. I shift my gaze to Noah. “Eric will find out that you helped. He’ll mark both you and Echo.”

A dangerous shadow crosses Noah’s face as he holds Echo tighter. “I can take care of what’s mine. Besides, Eric will back off once he’s paid.”

He may not be wary of Eric, but I am. I’m not sure I can allow the target on his back. I glance at the clock on the microwave. “I’ve got to get Rachel home in time for curfew. I’ll drive her car, but I need someone to follow to bring me home.”

“I’ll do it,” says Abby.

“You don’t have a car,” I say.

“I told Tom about the accident. He’s going to let you use one of his cars until you get your Mustang working again. I’ll get it, then meet you at Rachel’s.”

“Fine.”

Abby leaves and a second later I follow. She stalls near the front entrance, waiting for me to join her. “I know what you’re thinking, Isaiah, and I think you’re wrong.”

I place my hand over the door handle, keeping her there. “What exactly am I thinking?”

“The same thing I think when I look in the mirror every morning—that’s the face of someone living in pissed-off desperation.”

“A few weeks ago you wanted me to steal. A thousand dollars a car. I could make the money in one night and have Rachel on my arm by morning, remember?”

Abby rubs her hands over her face. “That was before.”

“Before what?”

“Before I met Rachel. Before she became my friend. Before I saw how happy she made you. Before I saw that you could be like Noah and get out of this part of town. You got your certification, a job waiting after graduation and a girl who loves you. If you steal those cars...” She stares at her feet. “It’ll change you. Once you go down that road, there’s no going back.”

Abby hates selling drugs, but she’s stuck. Her family has seen to that. So has her employer. “I’ll be in and then right back out,” I say.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that. You’ll be owned. Not as bad as if Eric owns you, but they’ll always hold what you’ve done over your head. You’ll never be free.”

I’m not free. The future I once dreamed of has crumbled into dust. “I don’t care about my freedom anymore. This is about Rachel.”

The door upstairs opens and closes. Rachel appears at the top of the stairs. I’ve got thirty-two hundred in seed money and only one night to race. If I take everyone up on their offer, I’ll go back to foster care and Noah and Echo will have targets painted on their backs. I would be wreaking all this damage in the hope I can win at the dragway.

Rachel holds tightly to the banister. Yeah, Abby’s employer will own me, but Rachel will be safe. “Make the deal, Abby.”