#Junkie (GearShark #1)(45)

“That’s gonna buy me a lot of car parts,” I mused.

Lorhaven’s shadowy eyes snapped to my face. “You might own the speedway, but I own the streets.”

“Aww, are you mad your little puppy hasn’t been able to smoke me at the raceway?” I stuck out my lip in a pout.

His fists clenched at his sides.

“Are we racing or what?” Joey called.

Lorhaven forgot about me, and his eyes widened.

Joey might have a boy name, but that’s the only way anyone could mistake her for a man. Even her voice was all female.

The next thing I knew, the guy running the race was gone, and Lorhaven’s ugly mug filled my open window.

“Well, well,” he said. “Who’s this?”

Joey waved her fingers at him but said nothing.

I grunted. “I brought a date.”

Lorhaven was quiet a minute. “Do I know you?”

Oh shit. I never thought anyone would recognize her here. I hadn’t a clue who she was ‘til she told me and I looked her up.

“No,” she replied, terse, and turned to stare out the window.

“We doing this or what?” I intoned. “People are impatient.” I motioned to the crowd standing around on the side of the road.

He straightened out of the window and glared at me. “You’re on, Forrester.” Then to the man he put in charge, he demanded, “Let’s go!”

The crowd cheered and engines revved.

A girl in skintight jeans, lace-up boots, and a crop top stepped in front of the line with a large black-and-white checkered flag in her hand.

I gripped the steering wheel and pulled in a breath, letting my lungs expand as I welcomed the adrenaline into my limbs. My fingers were already tapping the leather on the wheel with anticipation. I was ready to do this.

I craved it.

I was going to fly so fast tonight, when I finally hit the brakes, I wouldn’t even remember my own name.

All my attention narrowed down into the road. My heart beat to the same cadence as the engine, and the smell of exhaust filled the air.

Someone wasn’t even going to finish the race judging by that smell.

Good, one place closer to claiming my cash.

The girl in the street raised her arms, and the crowd around us cheered. Her hands cut downward, and the flag fluttered with the motion.

All five cars squealed off the line and burst forward.

There wasn’t enough room on the road for all five of us to drive side by side, so we had to slide into places. Lorhaven was first. He was driving a Corvette tonight.

A green Mitsubishi bullied its way behind him, and I hung back, taking up third place. The Camaro was behind me, and behind him was the remaining car.

I didn’t concentrate on them. The way I saw it, they’d already lost.

The car behind Lorhaven was aggressive, way too aggressive this early. And he was getting more so with every passing second. Each time he’d try to get around to first place, Lorhaven would block him.

I cruised along, getting a feel for the streets we were on, which were all back roads close to the business district, so they were all empty at this time on a Friday night.

My headlights bounced off the road, and I kept focus on the yellow lines so I knew how steady to hold the car.

“There’s a wide curve up ahead,” Joey said, reading the route off the GPS. “About a quarter of a mile.”

I smiled and hit the gas, putting the pressure on my already irritated buddy in front of me. Now he was sandwiched between us and didn’t have many options.

The curve came up, and the driver in front of me went wide, trying to go around Lorhaven, who took the middle of the road to try and keep people from passing.

That left a narrow section on the inside of the curve completely open.

I slammed the brake and threw the Fastback into a tight drift, right around the curve. It wasn’t a very wide curve, so even as I slid, I had to prepare to straighten out the wheel and hit the gas.

Just when I slid parallel to the other two cars, I jacked the wheel again and slammed on the gas to shoot forward. My tires squealed, and the scent of burning rubber filled the air around us, but I kept going.

Seconds later, I took the lead.

“Yeah!” Joey yelled, and I glanced at her with a grin. She was holding on to the side handle and laughing. “They’ve got to be pissed!” she yelled.

“What’s next?” I asked, gesturing toward the road as I took a slight curve to the left.

“Straight and narrow through here. Then it opens up… looks like onto a bridge, and then narrows again. Finish line is just beyond that.”

I had a tank of NOS under the seat, but I wasn’t ready to use that yet. I was in the lead.

Headlights blinded me from behind, and I glanced up. Lorhaven was on my ass, and when I say on my ass, I mean he was threatening the paint job on my bumper.

I shifted and pushed the car even harder. We were flying now, so fast that if a cop got ahold of me, I’d do jail time.

But I didn’t care. This was f*cking amazing.

I didn’t have to think about anything in that moment. It was just me and the car. The road was my guide, but the destination was nowhere.

I knew a moment of euphoria, a single blissful moment.

Lorhaven swung out around me, trying to squeeze me over so he could get by. I refused to budge, and he was getting frustrated.