Page 155 of Ruthless Reign

I laughed and felt Becca’s eyes on me. Curious. Like she’d never heard me laugh before. I wasn’t sure if she had. Not really.

I half forgot what my own laugh sounded like.

Which was so fucking ridiculous that I laughed louder.

“No, Aodhán, go! He’s going to get around you!”

Not yet.

I kept him pinned back as we drove, but he was so close in speed and skill that I was truly impressed. And as we veered into the final straightaway, I knew what I needed to do.

I allowed him to pull up beside me. Becca waved to him madly as the lights from the party came into view in the bottom of the canyon floor. Half a mile ahead.

Kaleb’s face was red through the driver’s side window of his car as he bared his teeth, pushing with everything he had. We agreed no NOS for this race since I wasn’t hooked up for it, and I could tell he was itching for it.

Becca squirmed in her seat. “He’s getting ahead of us!”

I pulled ahead of him, the pair of us trading the lead as we raced toward the finish line.

Six hundred meters.

Four hundred.

Two.

“Yes! Yes, Aodhán, we’re almost?—”

I eased off the gas, just enough to be sure.

“No!”

Kaleb zipped past the finish line with me no more than a few inches on his tail and the crowd roared, people lighting off fireworks and roman candles in celebration of his victory.

The victory of the rightful race king.

“Damn,” I said as I let off the gas and allowed the car to coast for a bit before I started to brake. “That was close.”

As the car came to a stop and I glanced over at Becca, I found her staring at me, a knot between her brows that softened as understanding dawned on her. She really was so much smarter than she ever gave herself credit for.

She would know why I did it.

It was in my best interest for Kaleb and his brother to like me. This was step one, and if it meant I got to keep mo mhuirnín, I’d take as many as I needed to.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “That was kind of you,” she said in an accusing but playful tone.

I kept a straight face and shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, love.”

She let out a scoffing laugh but smiled at me incredulously.

In the rearview, I saw the crowds of Uni students swarming Kaleb’s car to congratulate him. Saw him pull himself out the passenger window to sit on the sill with his arms raised in triumph.

Becca pulled my face to hers, crushing her lips against mine in a kiss that somehow managed to be both brutal and soft. The sensation of it went straight to my chest, finding a home there as I parted her lips with my tongue and claimed her mouth.

She moaned into me, and the sound went straight to my cock.

Biting her lip as she pulled away, she gave me a devious look and said, “I forgot to tell you what the prize was for runner up.”

Fuck. This girl was going to be my complete and utter undoing.

“What’s that, love?”

She opened her mouth to tell me, but I kissed her quiet. “Actually, let's keep it a surprise, shall we?”

“As you wish,” she trilled, unbuckling her seatbelt as she shifted her attention to the riot of women standing between her and Kaleb and sighed.

“Go on,” I told her. “I’ll clear a path for you. Let’s go see that the winner gets congratulated properly.”

---