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The Demons were now gone, all of them dead thanks to my family with the help of a few other crews, but that didn’t take the pain away. I hadn’t been as close to Lloyd as Beckett or Mikey, but that accident would haunt me forever.
I could still hear his screams as he’d burned to death in his car, right there in front of my eyes while Ryder had held me back.
“Riley?” Hunter murmured, giving my shoulder a gentle squeeze to draw my attention, and luckily I didn’t swing my bat at his face in response. I hadn't realized I’d zoned out, or that he’d walked around the bar to stand beside me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said quickly, pushing thoughts of the accident away and plastering my usual smirk on my face. “Now. Where’s the vodka?”
He sighed and reached over the bar to grab a bottle for me, keeping it firmly in his grasp until I met his dark brown gaze, his voice low with warning. “I mean it. If you’re drinking this at the track, call me and I’ll pick you up. Donotfucking drive.”
“I promise.” I nodded, taking the bottle in my spare hand once he let it go, and giving Penny a wink across the room as I left, one of the Devils opening the door for me. I didn’t know his name, I didn’t bother learning them unless they were at the house regularly.
I drove straight to the track, parking beside Beckett’s purple RTR Mustang. I rolled my eyes when I climbed out and noticed Zane Evans’ black Super Snake Shelby beside it. He was technically our cousin, his father, Rage, being the leader of the Shadow Kings crew.
Zane had never spent much time in Ashburn Valley, usually too busy back home in Stoneleigh, running around doing Kings’ business for his father. He probably kicked puppies or burned down orphanages just for fun in his spare time. He was the Devil.
Somehow, the asshole had wormed his way into being besties with Beckett, so he stopped by all the fucking time now, much to everyone’s annoyance.
He was leaning against his car, deep in conversation with Beckett while Maddox and Jett glared at him. The air was full of tension, just like it always was when he was around. No one liked Zane hanging around at all apart from my sister, and it probably wouldn’t have been so bad if he stopped trying to fuck her.
We knew Skeeter was Beckett and Ryder’s bio dad, there was no mistaking the resemblance, but it was still weird to think that Zane was our cousin and shamelessly tries to get in her pants.
I grabbed my bat and the bottle from the passenger seat and joined them, leaning against Beckett’s car to give Zane the side eye as I uncapped the vodka, resting my bat beside me. “Evening. What brings you to town?”
“What? I can’t just drop by to hang out without a reason?” He scoffed, his muscles bunching as he crossed his arms tightly, and I was surprised his black T-shirt didn’t rip from his fucking biceps. “Believe it or not, I needed to see Beckett about something important.”
“More vigilante justice? You guys need capes to match your side dish of saintliness,” I deadpanned, glancing at Beckett from under my hood. “You need better friends if you’re that lonely.”
“I take it you’re not racing since you have a bottle in your hand?” she replied bluntly instead, but it wasn’t a question, it was an order. She’d caught me driving drunk once before, not long after I’d gotten my license, and she’d slashed my tires. My sister was reckless, but there was usually reason and calculation behind it.
Cars weren’t toys, and just like our parents, she’d been hounding me about being a safe driver ever since we’d lost Lloyd. I couldn’t blame her, but everyone acted like he’d done something stupid to cause his crash. That wasn’t the case.
“Nope. Landon’s coming, so he’ll probably drive me home,” I said tightly, not wanting a lecture. “Are you racing?”
“Yeah. Reid’s coming to race and wanted a challenge.”
“You know, considering you don’t refer to them as friends, you sure do spend a lot of time with them,” I teased, taking a swig of the vodka, the burn sliding down my throat and warming my insides. Reid Barron lived in Hawthorne Heights, the next town over, and he and his friends regularly came to the track to race. We’d never had much to do with them until a recent situation where Zane had kidnapped their friend, Zavier Lopez, giving him to Beckett to do what she wanted.
His brother had been the one who’d killed Lloyd, and Zane thought it was useful having him. It turned out Zavier wanted nothing to do with the Demons, and he’d been running from them most of his life too.
We were all really surprised when Beckett became good friends with him and let him go home to the Heights, which was how Beckett met Reid and the others. She’d driven Zavier there herself so she could question Reid on an incident he’d been involved with at the track.
Beckett hated us calling them her friends, because she was so shut off from most people that she wasn’t used to having people around her that weren’t family. Whatever they’d done, they were weakening the walls she’d erected. I was kind of impressed they’d managed to get as close as they had.
I personally couldn’t stand Zavier. He was cocky, and it was obvious he wanted to bang Beckett’s brain out.
Well, I guess I was lying about not knowing them well, but I couldn’t tell Beckett or my family that I’d met Reid and Logan first. That would open up the question of where I knew them from, and I couldn’t tell anyone that.
“They’re hardly my friends.” Beckett’s nose crinkled with distaste, but there was no heat behind her tone. She knew she was full of shit.
Maddox rolled his dark blue eyes, used to the argument, and he moved beside me to gently jab his elbow into my ribs. “How are you? Where’s your girlfriend?”
“Don’t piss me off then cry when I beat you to a pulp with my bat,” I snarked, pinning him with a frosty look as he snatched my vodka and had a long drink, handing it back with a grin.
“You’re so touchy. So, where is she?” He was lucky I didn’t grab a fistful of his messy, dark brown mop of hair and yank his face down to meet my kneecap. He knew he was pissing me off.
“If you’re referring to Luna, Archer told her she had to be home tonight. Lexi wanted to have a family dinner thing. She’s not always glued to me, you know?”
“Of course not. She spends so much time with her boyfriend,” he taunted, trying to get a rise out of me. He was going to get more than he bargained for if he continued to be a dick.
