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“The nerve of those two,” I grumbled to Tayia as I waited on the sidelines. I woke up this morning feeling better, and my brain finally locked back into place. I was infuriated over the bet Mack and Drew had made. I wasn’t some piece of property they could trade whenever the mood struck. Luckily for Mack he was already gone when I opened my eyes, and Drew didn’t answer his phone, but I was sure he got my angry text messages.
I got where my brothers were coming from. Mack wasn’t the kind of guy most families would give their blessings. He was trouble in every sense of the word, and no one in their right mind should want to be associated with him. Except I didn’t think my mind had ever been right, so it figured that he would be the one to make it to the place deep within me nobody else had even gotten close.
“I know, but I guess this is something they have to do. It’s up to you what happens afterward.” Tayia squeezed my arm. “If you want to be with Mack, then do it. The outcome of the race doesn’t have to decide that.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It is, Jonna. God, you have no idea how easy it is for you to choose to be with the one you want. All you have to do is make up your mind.”
If only she were right. I wanted to tell her about Detective Rollins and how Mack’s days of freedom were numbered. I was also certain that Woody would somehow tell Rollins about this race, and my eyes scanned the area. I knew Mack had guards placed in various locations to prevent cops from showing up, but I had no doubt that if Rollins wanted to be here, he would be.
Blake came up and handed Tayia the sweater he went to get from the car.
“How’s it looking?” I asked Blake nervously. He’d been down helping Drew prepare his car earlier.
“Good. The Viper is ready. Fox is feeling confident.” He shifted from one foot to the other and took a sip of his energy drink. His gaze was fixed straight ahead at the action in front of us. Both crews were moving around the cars while Mack and Drew were preparing to do their burnouts.
“Blake, I know you saw me with Mack. Why didn’t you tell Drew or Woody about it?” It had been a little over a week since that night, and I remember Drew saying that he’d heard rumors. If he’d heard the story came from Blake I was pretty sure he wouldn’t have considered that a rumor. Blake was silent just long enough for me to think that I wouldn’t get an answer.
“We all have secrets,” he said in a low voice. He shifted his eyes to Tayia and walked away. I furrowed my brow as I stared after him. When I looked over at Tayia, she was walking in the opposite direction.
“Tayia?” I called out and started to follow her when Harley appeared in front of me.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hi,” I replied and looked away.
“How’s your head?”
“Fine.”
“Good. The bruise on your cheek doesn’t look that bad.”
I shrugged.
“So you and Mack, huh?”
I twisted my mouth and looked at the ground.
“Well, I’d be lying if I didn’t think the whole situation was weird.”
“Harley, I had no idea that you and he used to—”
“I know that.” She cut me off. “You drove me to his place and you had no idea that he was my ex-boyfriend. So I guess you and he were already?.?.?.?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know why I care, but I have to ask, did he know?”
“No, not the first time. After I told him Drew was my brother, he’d gotten angry. He said he didn’t need the trouble, but things still kept on between us. Maybe he thought I knew about his connection to you, but I swear I didn’t know until that night at his house.”
“God, I
wonder what you must have been thinking when you saw it was him. I’d noticed you were quiet on the ride back, but I thought it was because you were freaked out about witnessing some of the drama that has been a part of my life for so long. Sometimes I forget that it’s not the norm for most people.”
“No, I just didn’t know what to say to you. I knew you would try to convince me to not see him anymore, and I guess I wasn’t ready to hear it.”
“There are so many reasons I needed to steer clear of Mack, but it was a result of my history with him. Not yours. The craziest thing about all of this is, the old me would have been trying to rip your hair out, but now that I have Drew, I don’t feel that way. It’s like any sort of jealousy I would have felt over the situation is gone. I guess being in love changes the balance of emotions we keep stored in our heart.”
