#Junkie (GearShark #1)(44)

I smiled at him. “Hey.”

“Hey. What’re you drinking?”

“Whatever the bartender handed me.”

He laughed, genuine.

The bartender stopped in front of him and winked at me as if to say, Told ya.

“Bud Light,” the guy said.

Seconds later, the dark longneck appeared on the bar.

“What’s your name?” he asked, turning back to me.

“Trent.”

He nodded. “Max.”

Max had some scruff on his jaw, a little lighter than the hair on his head. It reminded me of Drew. I’d often wondered what it would be like to kiss someone with facial hair. I wondered if it would feel rough or silky.

Stop thinking about Drew.

“You like sports?” Max asked.

I smiled a little. “Yeah.”

“You look like a guy who plays sports.”

“How about you?” I asked, relaxing a little. It was just like having a conversation with anyone else, but maybe slightly different. In the sense it was okay to really look at him when I looked at him. I didn’t have to pretend I wasn’t taking in his features.

“I watch them on TV?” He laughed.

“Close enough.”

He was telling the truth, because we started talking about some teams and he knew enough to hold a conversation.

When he started flirting, I flirted back. I liked it.

But I didn’t love it.

Apparently, that emotion was reserved for someone else.





Drew

Four cars were lined up at the starting line when I turned onto the otherwise empty street.

I felt rather than saw heads and eyes turn in the direction of my headlights.

“There’s a lot of people,” Joey said.

I grinned. “Welcome to the dark side.”

There was a spot just big enough at the end of the row of cars for the Fastback to pull up. I stopped, making sure my front end was in line with everyone else’s.

Some of the people standing around cheered. Some of them didn’t.

It was all good. Haters made things interesting.

The car beside me was the black Camaro I’d raced at the Speedway. I couldn’t see if it was Arrow or Lorhaven behind the wheel, though.

I slid my window down and looked through the passenger side. Several seconds later, the window on the car slid down.

“Oh my God, it’s Justin Bieber!” Joey gasped.

The kid scowled, and I howled with laughter.

“Arrow,” I said around my laughter. “Good luck!”

He rolled up his window without a word.

I glanced at Joey. She gave me a sidelong look. “I take it he isn’t a fan?”

I chuckled again. “Trent and I said the same thing.”

“Trent and you, huh?”

“What is it with women?” I growled. “If you got something to say, just say it already. Quit beating around the bush with talk only other women would understand.”

“Prickly,” Joey sang.

I sat there and tried to decide if it would be wrong to give a girl the finger.

There was a knock on the window. I rolled it back down, and someone I’d seen around before but never met lowered his face so he could look inside the car.

“Got a passenger tonight,” he said.

“I can handle the extra weight,” I said, knowing that’s where he was going. The weight in the car would only make it harder to win.

That’s okay. I liked a challenge.

He shrugged. “She’s a lot lighter than your usual passenger.”

Joey made a sound, and I ignored her.

“You running this show?” I asked.

He nodded. “Four grand.” He held out his hand.

Joey pulled a black leather bag with fringe on it out of the back and plopped it on her lap. The next thing I knew, she was handing me four grand in cash.

I raised both my eyebrows. “Just pocket change?”

She shrugged. “I am my father’s daughter.”

I turned back and handed the money over. In exchange, I was given a GPS preloaded with the route of the race. All we had to do was hit start.

I stuck it to the dash and glanced up. Lorhaven was standing near the hood of my car, staring in with a darkness to his features.

“You weren’t invited,” he demanded.

I hitched my arm on the door of the car and leaned out. “Aww, what’s the matter, Lorhaven? You afraid you might lose now?”

“It was only one time,” he ground out.

“One’s enough.” Winning one race against him was all it took to get in his head.

“Go home,” he spat, his face darkening.

“Someone isn’t very liked around here,” Joey observed from her seat.

“No one likes a threat,” I said mildly.

“My money’s just as green as everyone else’s,” I called out to Lorhaven and glanced at the guy collecting. He nodded.

Lorhaven frowned and stepped forward. “Where’d you even get the money? Who’s in the car with you?”

“We here to race or gossip?”

“You invite him?” Lorhaven stopped right beside the other guy.

He nodded. “You told me to put it together and load the pot. Five drivers makes it twenty grand.”