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“Definitely,” she said, her eyes firmly on my ass.
“I’m not a piece of meat,” I teased as I turned back around to face her, and she slipped beneath my arms with an effortless grace that had my blood running hot. I held her against me, wrapping my arms around her lower back to hoist her to my eye-level. I pressed my lips against hers in a semi-acceptable public display of affection.
Alex kissed me back, then moved her lips to the shell of my ear. “Take me somewhere,” she whispered, and the need in her voice had me half-hard in an instant.
I set her on her feet, suddenly not giving a shit what was next on the agenda. I interlocked our fingers, stepping away from the group—
“I see you’ve succeeded,” Doyle said, stepping in front of us before glancing at Gareth, who stood silent and stoic as ever, not even noticing a quiet Serenity lingering to his right. “Have you paid him yet?” he asked Gareth.
Gareth’s eyes narrowed.
“Look at her,” Doyle motioned to Alex. “She’s definitely in love with him.” He shook his head, a smug smile on his face as he focused on Alex.
I didn’t fucking like it, and every one of my muscles clenched in response to the way he studied her.
“Am I wrong?”
Alex furrowed her brow. “On this one instance,” she said, tone laced with fire. “No, you’re not wrong.” She looked up at me with need churning in her blue eyes. “I love him.”
“Ha!” Doyle said. “First Berkley loses the race, and now Gareth loses the bet. It’s my lucky day.” Then he focused on Alex again. “Not yours though, is it, sweetheart? Falling for someone who only cared about you within the confines of a bet?”
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Cross voiced the words I couldn’t. If I opened my mouth…no I couldn’t talk. Not when every instinct barreled inside me to use my fists to shut him up.
“What?” Doyle asked innocently. “She deserves to know.” His eyes twinkled with the possibility of a fight. Jesus, this guy. “She shouldn’t be left standing there looking stupid—”
I took a step forward, fist clenched and seeing red, but a burst of laughter cut through the adrenaline that begged me to break Doyle’s nose.
Asher stepped up to my side, his hand gripping my shoulder in case I launched into a fight.
But Alex’s laugh slowed me.
“You’re a piece of work,” she said, tilting her head at Doyle. “You thought I didn’t know about the bet and wanted…what? A reaction? A tearful fight? Maybe me slapping Ethan across his beautiful face?”
The color drained from Doyle’s face, and he spluttered his words. “Well, I…uh…”
“Well, you, uh, are going to be disappointed,” she continued, releasing my hand and stepping into Doyle’s space without an ounce of hesitation or fear.
Serenity gasped, moving like she could draw Alex back, but Gareth not-so-casually moved into her path.
“You should ask yourself why seeing other people’s pain or losses gets you off so much,” Alex said in a low almost understanding tone.
I moved closer to her, Asher and Cross following me like we were all connected. But I was breathing, and I was grounded. I’d already counted each of our helmets resting on a bench off to the side, and the amount of crew now checking on the cars. There were six of each.
“Watch your fucking mouth, sweetheart,” Doyle fired back. “Go back to the sidelines where you belong.”
Breathe. They’re just words. Breathe.
God, I wanted to punch him.
Alex smirked at him…she actually fucking smirked.
“That’s the thing about my mouth, doll,” she said, and Doyle turned a sickening shade of purple. “You’ve got no business worrying about it. You say what you want, then I do too. And trust me, you don’t want me to start analyzing you.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “It would be embarrassing in front of everyone if I laid out all your tells.”
Gareth snorted in what I could swear was an almost laugh, which was enough to shock me even more out of the spiral that was making my hands shake.
“You stupid bitch,” Doyle said. “You have no idea—”
“I have all the ideas,” she cut him off. “I’ve dealt with worse than your kind before. Take a breath and try to save your day before I ruin it.”
My lips parted, and Crossland cooed out a long damn before Alex spun around, grabbed my hand, and pulled me off the track herself.
“Holy shit,” I said once we were back in the stadium building.
“Are you okay?” she asked, nothing but concern shaping her features.
“More than,” I said, grabbing her off the path around the hallway and dipping into a private room. I locked the door behind us. “You’re fucking incredible,” I said before crushing my mouth against hers.
She gasped between my lips, but pulled away enough to look up at me. “Seriously,” she said. “That was a lot. How are you feeling?”
