Page 62 of Soulless Saint

The horn blasted the third time, the voices of the crowd around us shouting ONE swallowed up by the deafening roar of the engines and the peel of tires on the asphalt as I was sucked back in my seat, a girlish squeal ripping from my chest.

My vision blurred, unrecognizable faces whizzing by in a menagerie of color until there were no more faces, no more lights, just dark and dirt and sky and the road vanishing beneath Kaleb’s car.

He shifted gears again, and again, and again. The thud of his heavy boot on the gas pedal the same rhythm of my own heartbeat loud in my ears.

I strained to turn my head, the g-force keeping me plastered back into my seat, but I wanted to see where Grey and Toby were. There were no tail-lights ahead, which had to mean they were behind us.

I jerked back as Grey’s lime green car sped up alongside us, the whine of his engine like the warning snarl of an apex predator.

“Fuck!” I shouted uselessly, my stomach twisting. Grey was too close. His car only inches from Kaleb’s. Jesus fucking Christ. They all had a damn death wish.

I gripped the underside of the seat, straining my nails to the breaking point. Wanting to squeeze my eyes shut but being wholly unable to as I watched the road blur and speed ahead. Breaths sawed in and out between my clenched teeth, my lungs on the verge of collapse.

“Fuck,” Kaleb’s gruff curse somehow reached me through the cacophony of sound, and I flinched as his thumb and forefinger gripped my chin, screaming when I knew that meant he’d taken his hand off the wheel, until he drew my gaze to his face, knotted with intense concentration. His eyes met mine off and on as he jerked his gaze between my face and the road. “Eyes on me,” he ordered in a stern voice that had me paying sharp attention.

“Eyes on me, Vixen. Breathe.”

I did as I was told. Took a long shaky inhale even though it felt like the weight of the whole vehicle was on my chest. He released my chin and it was a challenge not to immediately look away, watch the road ahead, wait for what I assumed would be a fiery death, but somehow I managed to keep my eyes on him.

On his intent focus. The calm, reassuring way he slouched in his seat. His quick, sure movements as I was sucked into the passenger door as we whipped around a sharp curve in the road. My pulse evened out, still pounding fast, but steadily. The chaos in my head narrowed to a single pinpoint of uncertainty and then vanished entirely.

I blinked, feeling the vibrations of the strong engine. The solid steel boxing me in. The man next to me, warm and safe. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me.

When I was sure I had control again, I leaned the back of my head against the seat, giving in to the rush, closing my eyes. A euphoric ripple started somewhere in my belly, racing up my spine like an electrical current until it came tumbling from my lips in a broken laugh.

Kaleb looked at me like I’d grown two heads. I released my death grip on the bottom of the seat, letting that feeling grow until it was spilling over. My body a live wire, shooting sparks from every nerve ending.

Feeling bold, I rolled down the window and air gushed into the cabin, drawing another string of curses from Kaleb as I wolf howled out into the dark, the sound eaten up by the rushing wind.

Kaleb used the controls on his side of the car to roll the window back up, and I watched Grey pull ahead of us, cutting Kaleb off, making him tap the brakes to avoid hitting their bumper.

Reflexively, I gripped the holy shit handle above my window, using it to anchor myself, my skin prickling with goosebumps. “Go!” I shouted, slapping Kaleb’s thigh. “Go, go, go, they’re getting ahead of us!”

That made him smile, and I realized too late what I’d done. The admission that I wanted Kaleb to win, wanted us to win evident in my demand.

“Not so keen on losing now, are you, Vixen?”

I clenched my teeth, but I didn’t take it back, studying that dimple in Kaleb’s cheek. Tracing it to his strong jaw and the vein in his neck, running straight down to disappear into the collar of his black t-shirt. I bit the inside of my cheek, feeling hot and cold all over as Kaleb pushed the car to its limits, trying to catch up.

I realized what I was doing a second too late, clenching my thighs together to stop the ache that’d started between them.

It’s just the adrenaline.

We whipped around two more corners before setting into a long, winding turn and something told me we were coming back around the loop. It couldn’t be much further until we were back on the road we started on, and through the same starting line where we began.

That had to be the finish line.

“How much farther?”

The words were lost to the growl of an engine and my brows pinched, confused since it sounded like it was coming from behind us.

What the fuck?

White lights filled the rearview and I gasped. “Kaleb!”

“Oh shit,” Kaleb shouted, careening to the left to get out of the way as a third car joined the race, bullying its way past us like a black shadow.

Kaleb righted the car and shifted gears, shouting at the other driver as he fell into line behind it.

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