Page 12 of Love Collided

“Probably an appropriate nickname,” I said, his eyes moving over each one of the girls until they landed on me.

Carly clicked her tongue. “Watch out, Scout, you’re sounding more like me every day.”

I leaned back, trying to ignore him, but he decided to sit down next to me, giving me a front row seat to the clean musky cologne he had on.

The girls were quick to scatter, mumbling things about the guys and needing to get another drink, leaving me alone with Chase.

I didn’t know what they thought they were doing, I had a boyfriend, and that wasn’t going to change because of some random guy showing up. It didn’t exactly help that Jesse wasn’t here with me.

“Where’s your boyfriend tonight? Too busy to come to your party?”

My eyes snapped to him, wondering how he knew what I had been thinking about.

I hated that Jesse was once again finding a way to embarrass me. He was probably out at aparty tonight, just one more wild than this.

“Where’s your girlfriend tonight? Can’t find one who wants to be around you that long?”

He smirked. “Something like that. Still hating me?”

“I’m not sure how to like anyone who cheats at a race.”

“For the hundredth time, I did not cheat. Stop being so mad I won. Who would have thought the tough little racer girl was such a sore loser?”

“You couldn’t beat me at a race without cheating.”

Somehow all the crew had a radar, and at the word “race,” they headed our way.

“We can take it out front and race, if you think you could beat me fairly,” he said, laughing. Like traitors, the rest of the crew laughed along with him.

His stupid charming face had won them over enough to laugh at me now.

“You don’t even have a car, and mine is waiting on a part.”

“I’m sure your friends wouldn’t mind lending us two. You all know I’m good for the money if I break anything.”

Kye walked over, slapping his keys into Chase’s hands. “Pay back damages with interest because I’ve had my eyes on a new set of seats.”

“Perfect. What do you say Fox? Would you let Scout use your car again to try and kick my ass?”

Fox beamed and handed me his keys. “Always. Actually kick his ass this time, Scout. His ego needs to be knocked down because he also beat me the other day.”

“What happened the other day?”

“Fox was nice enough to invite me out with them the other night,” Chase replied, the smug smile on his face making my hands tighten on the keys. “I kicked his ass and he’s a little salty about it, too.”

A burn of jealousy moved through me. Now he was hanging out with my friends, and they weren’t telling me? And not only that, but the guys were purposefully inviting him out to their guys’ night?

“To be clear, you may be friends with them, but you aren’t friends with me. Let’s race.”

He laughed and nodded, following me out to the cars. The entire crew filed out behind us, ready for the show.

The one I was going to win.

Twenty minutes later,we were both pulled up to the line. The warm engines rumbled next to each other, the sound echoing around us. The garage was in a more industrial area, leaving us alone on the road and making it easy to race down to where Kye was parked.

I looked over, both the windows tinted so I saw nothing, but I suddenly wished I could. I wanted to know if he was smiling at me, if this was secretly as fun for him as it was becoming for me.

Jesse never wanted to race me, I don’t think he wanted to risk losing against his girlfriend. Looking back now, I was almost glad, because I'm not sure I wouldn't just let him win so an argument wouldn’t start. With Chase though, even if he was mad if I won, I wouldn’t care.

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