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“Insane,” I answer.
She rests her forehead against mine and braids her hands tightly on my neck. “That was close. He almost got you in the end. ”
I love the sensation of her body against mine. Tonight, I’m going to kiss her again and, if she’ll let me, I’ll explore a little further. “Were you doubting me?”
She smiles when she notices the lightness in my voice. “Never. ”
That’s right, angel. I’ll never let you down.
Rachel wiggles in my hold. “You’re strong. ”
My lips twitch. “Pure steel. ” Strong enough to protect you.
“Hate to break in here,” says Logan, “but I’ve got a game tomorrow and a full pocket. ”
I set Rachel on her feet while keeping her tucked beneath my shoulder. “Then let’s go. ”
Though I consider The Motor Yard safe, it’s still not a good idea to flash money—especially the type of money Logan and I banked tonight. Logan follows me back to my apartment, where we had left his car.
Logan hands me his wad of cash. “Have you ever thought of adding a nitro system? Those cars were flying. ”
I shake my head. “That’ll put us against a different class of cars, and in order to compete in that we’ll have to go bracket racing. Plus, nitro’s some crazy-ass shit. A lot can go wrong. ”
Logan flashes his not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity grin. “All the more reason to do it. What’s bracket racing?”
Leaning against her car, Rachel tunnels her hands into the sleeves of her black coat. She’s cold, and I crave to make her warm. “I’ll explain it later. ”
Logan’s eyes shift to Rachel. “Got it. See you. ”
He drives away and I head over to my angel. “Want to see how much we made?”
“Definitely. ”
Rachel allows me to open the door for her in the entrance and to my apartment. Once inside, she slides off her coat and rests it on the kitchen table. In a nervous gesture, she laces her fingers together and glances around the room. “Is your roommate home?”
“No,” I say. “He’s staying with Echo tonight. You sure your brother will cover curfew?”
She stares at her fingers. “I covered for him last night so he agreed to tonight. ”
Giving her space, I sit at the card table and begin counting cash. She sinks into the other folding chair and counts the other pile. For a brief few seconds, the only sound in the room is the scratching of dollars moving against each other, and thanks to the crazy bat downstairs, we get to listen to Elvis singing about shoes.
“Six hundred,” she says in awe. That would be my winnings.
“Four hundred and forty,” I tell her, holding Logan’s stash.
Rachel slumps in her seat as if in shock. “Off of your fifty and Logan’s twenty we made one thousand and forty dollars. ” She pauses. “That’s not possible. ”
“It is. ” Has it not hit her that in one race on the streets the pot was five thousand dollars? And that was a slow night.
She leaves the table and begins to pace. “We’re going to do this, aren’t we? We’re going to pay Eric off and be free of him, and my parents will never know what I did. I mean, we have over two-thousand dollars already. ”
My mind clears with that info. “How are you coming up with two thousand?”
Rachel repeats the endless loop she’s created from one corner of the couch to another. “I have a thousand. A little over five hundred in birthday and Christmas money. I pawned some jewelry for another five hundred. Oh, Isaia
h. ” Her face flushes. “We’re close to halfway there. We could pay Eric back before the six weeks. ”
She’s a mixture of anxious and excited, and those feelings become contagious. Knots form in my stomach and I think of the million ways I want to touch her and kiss her and let her know that she’s the only one in my life.
