However just as this was beginning to feel like the right choice to make, Max looked up and saw Judd enter the bar. Judd wasn’t alone either.
Following closely behind Judd were two guys, both big and with the kind of slightly mangled faces you’d associate with down and out heavies.
This situation wasn’t going to run as smoothly as Max had hoped, that much was becoming clearer by the second…
‘I thought I said come alone?’ Max growled, not impressed by Judd’s henchmen.
‘You don’t call the shots,’ Judd replied. ‘Shouldn’t that be obvious by now?’
Judd sneered and flexed his tattoo-covered arms. He was thirty-eight, a few years younger than Max. Not only that, but with his grey eyes and greasy black hair he always gave off serious bad-news vibes.
Max was beginning to curse the day he ever befriended Judd.
‘Who says I don’t call the shots?’ Max countered, not wanting to give Judd an inch. ‘as far as I can tell, you’re the desperate one. Messaging me. Approaching my guy in a bar. You know what, screw it. You can keep my car. Whatever. I’m out.’
Max was making his play.
He wanted to show Judd just how little he thought of him. And by being so dismissive, Max felt like he had Judd right where he wanted him.
What Max wasn’t counting on though was the presence of Judd’s two sidemen. As Max got up from his barstool to leave, the two burly men stepped directly into his path.
‘I don’t think so, asshole,’ Judd said, a sneer on his face as he watched his two associates do his dirty work for him. ‘You’re staying until I’m done with you.’
‘You’ve got ten seconds to tell me what this is really about,’ Max said. ‘Don’t mess with me, Judd. This needs to stop.’
Max waited for Judd to speak.
Don’t blink.
Don’t show a single sign of weakness or doubt.
Judd hasn’t got anything over me…
‘Well?’ Max barked, his patience running low. ‘Are you going to speak or…’
‘Here’s how it’s going to go down,’ Judd said, a hint of a smile on his face. ‘I’ve got images of you asleep at the wheel. I’ve got yourcar. I’ve got evidence that you drove under the influence and ran from the scene.’
‘Asshole!’ Max said, momentarily losing his composure.
‘There’s a big drag race coming up,’ Judd continued, unperturbed. ‘You’re going to enter. And you’re going tolose. This will make me a shit-ton of money and in exchange I won’t forward all of my incriminating evidence to the police. How does that sound?’
Max felt enraged.
This was totally out of line and crossing so many barriers of honor and conduct. Respect and trust was big in the drag racing community. In fact, it was one of the things that Max loved most of all about racing.
But Judd was attempting to undermine every single aspect of what made drag racing such a vibrant, incredible community. Max was truly appalled.
‘You think you can blackmail me?’ Max said, his voice full of barely concealed rage. ‘Max Manchester doesn’t lose races on purpose. And I certainly don’t take orders from slimy, good for nothing pieces of crap like you, Judd.’
‘You’ll lose the race, or take your chances with a jail sentence,’ Judd replied, not looking like he was in the mood for backing down. ‘How will your corporate boyfriend react to that? And who will protect him when your locked up?’
The threat to Channing was the last straw for Max.
In a flurry of explosive action, Max took a swing at Judd and narrowly missed his chin. The two henchmen began to rain down punches on Max, and he knew that he had his work cutout from the second that the first heavy right-cross landed on the side of his head.
The scuffle was brief, but brutal.
No sooner than had it started, but theThe Lion's Roardoormen were over and breaking things up. Clearly, it was apparent who the bad guys in the situation were and Judd and his men left without too much pressure from the doormen.
