The Secret of Ella and Micha(59)

I stop just in front of the car and turn to her and brush the pad of my thumb across her cheek. "Hey, who said anything about losing?"

She gathers some strands of hair out of her face and stares at the front end of the car. The glow of the fire highlights the worry in her eyes. "I know Ethan and you didn't get everything fixed. You were working too fast and I'm sure you didn't do that great of a job."

"The car's fine," I assure her. "But you need to sit this one out."

"No way," she argues, folding her arms over her chest defiantly. "I'm going to at least sit in the passenger seat and ride with you. "

I shake my head. "Not this time, pretty girl." She starts to fume, so I lean in and kiss her right in front of everyone, cupping the back of her head and grabbing her ass, letting people know she's mine. Her body trembles as she kisses me back, even when someone whistles.

When I pull away, she has this glazed look in her eyes. "Now take Lila and go sit over by the finish line."

She opens her mouth, then seals her lips shut and nods. Ethan and her trade places and she walks off with Lila over toward the line.

Once they're out of sight, Ethan says, "You sure you want to do this?"

I nod, my gaze tracking the line of the road and the trees next to it. "You sure you want to do this?"

"Absolutely," he says. "I have nothing better to do."

We bump fists and climb into the car. I rev up the engine a few times, then inch it forward across the dirt and through the crowd toward the lineup area in front of The Hitch.

"How's the steering?" he asks rolling down the window, and letting the night air flow in.

I veer it from side to side, testing it. "It's shaky."

"Left or right?"

"To the right."

"Make sure you do your turnaround to the left then."

I nod as we roll up to the lineup and Mikey's already waiting for us. Ella and Lila are just off to the side, near the trees, sitting on the tailgate of someone's truck. She has her eyes glued to us as Lila talks to her, swinging her legs. I thrum my fingers on the top of the steering wheel, eyeing the end of the road.

"Quit psyching yourself out," Ethan says and snatches up the iPod. "I think it's time for a little tunes." He scrolls through the music and "The Distance" by Cake flips on. He cranks it up so the base is bumping and we start nodding our heads. When it hits the chorus we start singing and Ethan taps his fingers on the dash, like he's playing the drums. The more the song goes on, the more we get into it. I catch Ella laughing and shaking her head at us, because she knows this is Ethan and mines thing, but usually she's in the car with us.

"Hey, are we going to race?" Mikey shouts, slipping out his window and looking at us from over the roof with his hands in the air. "Or are we going to sit around and listen to music?"

I floor the pedal so loud the sound rumbles through the night and his eyes widen slightly. He gets back into his car and throttles his own pedal. It's half as loud and Ethan and I laugh at him.

"Dude, quit wasting time and get your girl over here to start us off," he calls out over the music.

I turn it down a notch. "Get Chandra to do it."

"No man, you know the rules," he says with a smirk. "The girlfriend of the one being challenged has to start off the race."

I roll my eyes, knowing Ella's not going to like this, the old or the new version. I slide out of the window, cup my hands around my mouth, and shout over the roof at her. "Ella May, get your beautiful ass over here."

Lila has her distracted and she jumps. Her eyebrows furrow as I wave her over. She holds up a finger to Lila and hops of the hood, looking at me perplexedly as she makes her way through the crowd and over to me. I sit back in the car as she reaches the window and she lowers her head down, looking into the cab.

"You have to start us off," I tell her and she instantly makes a face. "It's the rules. You know that."

"Those rules are sexist," she says. "Let Mikey's slutty girlfriend do it."

"You know he's not going to let that happen."

"I could make him let it happen."

I press my lips together as her spitfire personality burns through all her fake politeness. "Can you just do it for me?"

She rolls her eyes, then leans in and kisses my cheek. "But only for you."

Then she backs out of the car, with an exaggerated sway of her hips, making fun of the ordeal, but still looking hot as hell in her little shorts. Ethan and I bust up laughing as she turns around with a big embellished grin on her face.

"Well, at least she's entertaining," he says, patting the side of the door with his hand to the beat of the music.

I pump the gas a few times, my gaze attached to hers as she elevates her hands above her head. She looks at me as she counts down. When her arms drop, the tires squeal as we peel out.

Ella

I walk back through the cloud of dirt and hop on the tailgate with Lila. I spot Grantford through the crowd and when he sees me, he hurries away, ducking into the crowd, knowing Micha's around.

Lila swings her legs, taking in the surroundings. "What was that about?"

"Rules," I sigh, leaning forward so I can get a better view of the road.