Page 47 of Jackrabbit

All along the back half of the car, starting right behind the cage window, was a sharp, clean decal. It was a black, geometric jackrabbit, angled for speed with its ears back and its front legs extended. The back legs were pulled forward like it was mid-spring.

It was fucking beautiful.

Colt blinked, his eyes stinging.

“Oh my God.” Xavier leaned forward. “We broke him.”

“He’s gonna cry!”

“No, I’m not.” Colt scrubbed at his face. “Guys, this is—I—”

“I, personally, wanted to put something badass on it,” James offered as he patted the hood. “Like a reaper, you know. You’re dead on the track when you see her coming, yeah?”

“But Merc talked about how twitchy you are all the time,” Liam continued. He pushed his hat back on his head and scratched at his scalp. “Like a jackrabbit, he said.”

Beau was watching Colt with that dark, heavy gaze.

And Colt remembered weeks ago when Beau had looked at him and said,‘Calm down, boy. You're twitching like a jackrabbit.’

Colt smiled, slow and probably way too soft, but, fuck. He’d never felt so seen in his life. All he got from Beau was a subtle nod, but it was enough.

“And we started researching,” Camila piped in as she pulled Colt’s attention back with an arm in his elbow. “And found jackrabbits are, like, really fast. And scrappy. Kinda small, too.”

“I’m bigger than you,” Colt protested as he ripped his gaze away from Beau.

“That’s not saying much when you’re five six and I’m five three.”

“You're kinda mean,” Colt said as he extricated his arm and went to run his fingers along the line of the jackrabbit. It looked fast. In motion. “I love it. Thank you, guys.”

Xavier slung his arm around Colt’s shoulders and gave him a shake. “Make us proud, Rourke.”

“Or I'm replacing the rabbit with a dick,” James said from his other side.

Colt laughed and turned to glance at Beau, who was also quietly chuckling.

“Alright, let him go,” Beau said. “Got a lot of shit to do before qualifiers.”

The guys all took turns giving Colt aggressive hugs before letting Camila kiss him on the cheek and dispersing. He could hear them still ribbing each other about the dick joke all the way back to the shop.

Then it was just Colt and Beau standing next to the car that was going to change Colt’s life. The next step to achieving his dreams.

Beau stepped up next to him and Colt leaned toward his warmth, close enough that their shoulders nearly touched.

He couldn't wait.

Chapter 28

Beau leaned against the roof of Colt’s car on his elbows. Colt was sitting in the window with his arms crossed on the roof, grinning like a maniac. When Beau looked up at the board, Colt kept his eyes on Beau’s jaw, his throat, the way he examined the qualifier results.

The announcer was going wild, and Colt was thrilled.

“And folks, we've got a SHAKEUP in our qualifying results! In third position—that's RIGHT, THIRD—making his debut here at Udall Circuit, we've got Colt 'The Jackrabbit' Rourke in that number 42 Camaro! Some of you might recognize this young man from that viral video with three-point-five MILLION views, and let me tell you, he just put down a time that came within milliseconds of our own Tracker Kendrick, who's been DOMINATING this track for the last four months!”

Tracker drove the #25, a souped-up Fox Body with a camo wrap and a crosshair emblazoned across the hood in thick, white lines. Guy looked like a real douche, so Colt didn’t feel too bad when he caught Tracker glaring at him, and Colt tossed him his best shit-eating grin.

“Let’s see how that little TikTok princess does when he’s not the only pony on the track,” Tracker said loudly enough for Colt to hear. Intentional, probably, and when Colt wiggled his fingers in a little wave, Tracker sneered.

“Eyes on me, boy,” Beau rumbled. He didn’t raise his voice. Didn’t fucking need to—Colt’s attention snapped back like Beau had physically turned his head. “Don’t worry about him.”