Page 23 of Love Collided

“Are you coming to my race at Holt Racing in two weeks?” I asked, hoping if I reminded him now, there would be no missing it.

“What day?”

“Friday afternoon. I’ll be there all day, though.”

There was no missing the small way his lips tightened or how he looked away from me before answering. “Yeah, I’ll be there. Are you trying to win and move into the nationals?”

My eyebrows furrowed. “Why else would I be driving in a qualifying race if I wasn’t trying to win and move into more professional races? I’m trying to make this a career.”

“You race down random streets. You aren’t suddenly professional because Holt asked you to try out for his team.”

“No, but I have the potential to be. Ash agrees. Her dad agrees I could do it. Why wouldn’t I try?”

“I just think it’s dumb. You already work at the garage. Why change it now? Are things not going too good there?”

“Yeah, they are going great, but there’s enough of us that I can step away a little more to work on these races. Everyone is fine with it, and I’ll still be there to work every chance I can.”

He nodded, but I looked past him, the man walking through the front door catching my eye immediately.

The dark hair and dark hazel eyes. Eyes which seemed to burn into me. My heart beat picked up and I willed it to stop. He looked good tonight, wearing a more simple suit than the one he had on at the races, and he seemed a little more disheveled tonight. There was even one perfect curl of hair that fell over his forehead, completely out of place and making me lose my train of thought.

It made the urge to run my hands through his hair and mess it up more almost unbearable.

Chase.

His eyes roamed over everyone in the restaurant, stopping at me. His eyebrows jumped up, probably surprised I could be at such a nice place.

I shook my head, silently hoping he would get the hint tonotcome over here. Jesse didn’t know he was coming around the garage and I didn’t think he would like finding out.

Not that I was doing anything wrong. I was helping a customer. It’s not like I was trying to hang out with him.

Of course, Chase didn’t get the hint and rounded the corner to us, smiling when he saw Jesse.

“This was the last place I was expecting to see you,” Chase said, the deep tone making me give him my attention as hesidled up to the table. His eyes ran over me and I felt like I could read his thoughts.

What was a girl like me doing in such a nice dress in such a nice restaurant?

Or maybe I was jumping to conclusions.

Chase was calm when he looked over at Jesse, the run-in nothing to him, but I knew Jesse was already sizing him up.

“Yeah, out for a date for my birthday,” I said, grabbing my water and taking a nervous sip. “Jesse, you remember Chase? And Chase, my boyfriend Jesse.”

“Oh yeah,” Chase said. “I remember you from my party.”

“Really?” Jesse asked. “I’m surprised you remember anything from that night.”

Chase smiled down at me. “Oh, I remembereverydetail.”

Jesse stood up, the chair sliding back. “What does that mean?”

Chase didn’t step back, his smile not even faltering. “Exactly what I said. While I was drunk, I’m aware of all of it. I was glad to finally meet you, though. The crew talks about you so much, but you never appeared. I was starting to wonder if they'd all made you up, or if Scout just preferred hiding you.” There was an innocence in his tone now, but I was too busy turning red to intervene.

The air charged, and I was about to push between them when Jesse finally took a step back.

“She wasn’t hiding me,” Jesse said, sitting back down. “Some of us work for a living.”

“Don’t worry, I know she calls me rich boy. You can say it to my face.”

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