14- Remy
1211 Words
“Smoking in an Aston Martin? Astonishing. Almost. If you weren’t trying to get us to lose,” Blake’s voice next to mine wasn’t calming. “This isn’t you trying to lose, is it?”
The quarry road was a death trap even on a good day.
Two lanes of cracked asphalt hugging the edge of a cliff, no guardrails, just a straight drop into water so deep they'd never find your body. The locals called it The Drop.
I’d dreamed about jumping off it once.
“We could both be his b***h. I’d like the company,” He gave me a look. revved the engine and the V12 purred. I looked out the window. “Best two out of three?!”
Carl was already at the starting line in his beat-up Dodge Charger. He didn’t look at me as he spat on the ground. “One and done, Princess. A grown-up has got places to be,”
Yeah. A grownup.
A girl I didn't recognize walked between the cars, her arms raised. She was one of the club girls, Chrissy's friend, maybe, with a red scarf in her hand.
She dropped it.
Carl's Charger pulled ahead immediately, his tail lights mocking me as we hit the first straightaway. I stayed on his bumper, my hand on the steering wheel and the other on the gear.
“You look hot.”
“Shut up.”
The first turn came up fast. Carl braked too early. I didn't brake at all. I downshifted, cranked the wheel, and the Aston Martin slid sideways through the turn, my door inches from the cliff edge.
Blake laughed. “This is more fun than I expected.”
The straightaway after the turn was where the Aston's horsepower mattered. I floored it, the V12 screeching as we ate up the distance between us and Carl.
I didn’t look at the bastard.
Then he swerved.
Deliberately. Right into my f*****g lane.
The Aston’s front bumper kissed his rear quarter panel and the whole car shuddered. Blake’s hand shot to the dashboard. I yanked the wheel left, felt the rear tires hiss on the ground and corrected.
“Remy—”
“I’ve got it.”
Carl’s brake lights flared ahead. He was slowing down. Trying to box me against the cliff edge on the next turn. I’d seen that move before. It was a dirty move. We didn’t do dirty moves.
He was gonna walk around naked when I f*****g won.
I dropped to third, swung wide, and took the outside of the turn instead of the inside. It looked insane from the outside. It probably looked like I was driving off the edge.
But Blake was grinning, looking at me. “Oh, I’m f*****g giving you my baby.”
I didn’t want to laugh but the sound left my lips before I could stop it. “That’s never going to happen.”
“Never say never.”
I watched his smile fade just a fraction as I threw the car into the next turn, tires screaming against the asphalt.
The finish line came up faster than I expected. Carl was still ahead, but only just. His Charger was fighting for traction on the loose gravel near the quarry's edge, and I could see him fighting the wheel.
One chance.
I downshifted again, pushed the Aston past what any sane person would consider the limit, and aimed for the gap between Carl's bumper and the cliff.
“f**k yes,” Blake whispered.
He… he couldn’t be touching himself right now, could he?
We shot through.
The Aston crossed the finish line a full car length ahead, and I didn't slow down until I could see him out of his car then I got out. “You cheated. You f*****g cheated, you b***h—”
I threw the phone from the dashboard at his head. Motherfucker didn’t duck, thank God. He grabbed his eye, cursing.
I reached him and kicked him in the knee. He buckled. Before he could recover, I grabbed his ear and yanked his head down to my level. “You tried to run me off the road, you f*****g coward. You think I didn't see that? You think anyone here didn't see that? The rules are don't kill anyone. Everything else is fair game.” I twisted his ear. He whimpered. “Now. What do you call me?”
Silence.
I twisted harder. “What do you call me?”
“Sir,” He gasped. “I call you sir.”
“Damn right you do.” I pulled his face closer to mine, my voice low. “You're my b***h now, Carl. That means you do what I say, when I say it. If I tell you to scrub the toilets with your toothbrush, you say 'how many times, sir?' If I tell you to kiss my boots, you ask which one first. Do you—?”
“Prospect.” A voice pulled me out of my thoughts. “Let him go.”
Decker Kane walked to us. A crowd had formed but I hadn’t noticed. “Now.”
I did. “Decker—”
“Sir.” He corrected. He didn’t look angry and got a second, I was sure he would pull me over his shoulder but he was facing Carl now. “I saw that by the way.”
“Boss—”
The punch was fast, like a blur that I almost didn’t catch if Carl wasn’t already on the ground, doubled over. Then he turned back and looked over me. “You shouldn’t be here, Benson.”
Blake was now at my side. “I came to visit my fiancée.”
“Will ending the engagement keep you off our turf?”
Blake’s smile died instantly, his eyes cold. “What?”
I quickly stepped between them. “None of you fuckers are taking my glory, do you understand?” Then faced Blake. “And beat it. You shouldn’t be here.”
His eyes stayed on Decker. There was something in them that instantly had me going in front of him, standing on my tip toes. “Eyes here.”
He looked down and the smile returned. “I want to take you out on a date. I’ll leave after I get your number.”
“I don’t do phones.”
“Then I’m not leaving—”
Decker moved behind me. My hand shot out before I could stop myself, holding him back. He stopped. “You leave and I’ll find a way to reach you. Take your car with you as well, okay?”
Blake stared at me, then ever so slowly, a smile crept through his lips. He leaned down, his eyes looking at my hand on Decker before he picked up the other one and placed a kiss on the back of it, “I’ll hold you into that then,”
I felt Decker’s hand form into a fist but he said nothing until Blake had returned back to his car and driven off.
I turned, my voice cracking slightly, “Decker, I—”
“You won.” He said this calmly, placed a hand on my shoulder. “So go celebrate.”
- Writer
