Page 5 of Love Collided

I swung my car, cutting the guy off before he could leave the makeshift track. There is no way I was going to owe him money when he left before the light.

He jumped, which in the rules around here, meant you lost the race.

And while I came to bet money, I had none to lose, so him winning after he cheated wasn’t going to work for me.

I stomped over as his door opened, already prepared for a fight about this, but one glimpse of him was making me trip over my own feet.

I had been around a lot of good looking men, but none of them so…perfectly handsome. His dark hair laid flawlessly, complementing his tall and visibly well-muscled frame. The crisp, unwrinkled button-up stretched just right, rolled up to reveal toned forearms. With the top two buttons undone, his broad chest was on display, creating an absolutely flawless image.

I wanted to ruffle up his hair or add a smear of grease somewhere on him, anything to make him look more normal when the perfection seemed to come so easy.

Even his face was perfect, a sharp jaw, high cheekbones, an arrogant gleam in his dark eyes, and each sure step he took towards me only made me more nervous.

This wasn’t a reckless confidence, it was wildly contained, and I wasn’t sure what to do with that.

A storm of emotions rolled through me, but I shoved them down. Now wasn’t a time to swoon over a hot man. I could do that later.

Maybe when I saw Jesse again. My boyfriend.

My mouth fell open at the sight of his pants.“You wore dress pants, and those shiny dumb shoes to a night of street racing? Do rich boys not have jeans and a T-shirt?”

He glanced down at his clothes like he had forgotten what he had on before his eyes roamed over me.

“I didn’t realize there’s a dress code. Next time I will wear leggings and, apparently, a dirty old hoodie,” he said. He was calm, and I didn’t like the way he so easily bit back. There was no way he would be able to know I was self-conscious about my clothes ever since I had been bullied back in high school, but somehow, people like him always knew what to go after to cut you wide open.

This was the exact type to bully me – rich, perfect, and ridiculouslyunbullyable.

I had been wearing this hoodie when I fixed my car, the dirt stains making that obvious. Unlike him though, my outfit was a little more appropriate for a race night.

It didn’t stop me from feeling as small and poor as I used to feel when people commented on my less than expensive clothes. And even though I could afford better clothes now, I didn’t need to show up at a race night in my best dress.

“Can you buy these pre-dirtied now?” I asked, pulling at my hoodie. “Maybe you could get one for yourself. A thousand dollars and you could look like you worked on a car one day in your life.”

The words were clipped, and rude. I tried not to be mean to anyone but something about him brought me right back to those days when I was younger and couldn’t find my voice. Between that and everything else I was dealing with, no part of me felt like giving him the benefit of the doubt.

His eyebrows shot up. “Oh, a temper.” The smile that came over his face unnerved me. It was wicked and perfect, like therest of him. “Did you cut me off to insult me, or did you want to pay up now?”

My mouth fell back open. “Pay?I’m not paying you for cheating.” My heartbeat thundered in my ears, drowning out the rest of the cars around us. I couldn’t pay him. I couldn’t lose money when I came here tofindmoney.

Not when they were threatening to come for me and the crew if I didn’t settle my dad’s debts in less than two weeks.

“I don’t cheat,” he said, the deep tone and unwavering confidence making my temper flare more. I could bet he was so confident because he always got what he wanted in life, and now, he wanted to win this race.

“You jumped off the line before she clicked the light, you cheated.”

He smirked, the curve of his lips bringing out a dimple on one side.

“Just because you’re too slow, doesn’t mean you can call me a cheater.”

“You jumped. That’s an automatic loss for you. And there is no way I am too slow. You jumped and I still caught up to you,” I said, pleased there was no way he could deny that. My hands went on my hips, trying to stand tall and wait for an answer, but he only rolled his eyes.

“If you don’t have the money, I honestly don’t care. I just want to go race again.”

“No, you want to go cut in line to cheat again. I have the money,” I lied. “But I prefer getting paid when I win.”

I could see the crew noticing the commotion now, and they headed this way.

Good. Maybe they would scare him, and he would pay up.

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