Page 37 of Speed Trap

“Where’d you go?” Sunny rapped the back of my knuckles with the stumpy end of a butter knife. That was one thing we’d discovered we both loved—cooking. Or food, to be more precise. We even followed some of the same social accounts. It was good to know we had something in common, apart from the track—and that was something I never thought I would say.

That, and cheesy as hell B-grade sci fi movies.

The regular argument was whether we watched Kurt Russell or Richard Dean Anderson. If fights were on important stuff like that, they were the sort I could live with, rather than the sort currently brewing in my head.

“I want you to come and work for me.”And fuck Benson right off.Any way I phrased it the words came out wrong. I winced. “Damn. I meant, what do you want to watch tonight, sweetheart?”

Sunny shot me an exasperated look tinged with amusement. “Something old. And you know my answer to the first one.”

“Thedon’t talk about it and it’ll go awayrule?” I groused, unable to hold my silence. “It’s bullshit, Sunny. He treats you—and the rest of the world—like his personal sandbox, and sprays everything he owns.”

“Stop, Hawk.” Sunny sighed. She placed the butter knife on the chopping board in front of her, lined up exactly to the edge of the bench.

“I’m sorry.” I dropped the rolls I’d cut open onto the breadboard and wrapped my arms around her, kissing the top of her head and squeezed my eyes shut. “I, hell— I’ll stop. I’m sorry.”

“Mmhmm.” She nestled against my chest. “Why do you hate each other so much?”

“Apart from the asshole factor?” I grinned as she rolled her eyes. “Nah, it goes a bit deeper than that.” I tilted her head back to stare into her eyes. “Are you sure you want to hear the dirty deeds your boss has done, Coops?”

“Are they dirtier than yours?” She held my gaze, arching up to press her lips to mine.

I gave into the kiss, let her play her game for a long minute, sinking into the feel of her before I ruined her outlook on her career.

“Yes, Coops. He’s dirty, and not in the good way.”

She huffed at me, turning in my arms. “Tell me.”

It was a terrible idea, sharing her driver’s history, but on the other hand…

“We used to share a mentor. Before I met York.” I swallowed. “Benson—we competed. Daily. In everything. There were six of us in a small program to fast track skills and career options, to get us onto the professional circuit faster. Two drivers stood out.” I gave her a lopsided grin. “It was like having a best friendor a brother—though maybe because I have neither of those, I had a somewhat skewed expectation. Like those based around trust.”

“Oh.” Sunny stilled, then twisted around in my arms, staring up at me with a breath of innocence in her eyes that I was about to screw right to hell. “What happened?”

“The usual. We competed to be the best. And there can only be one of those. Benson put everything into one race. Well, we both did but…he put in a little more than the rest of us.”

“He cheated, didn’t he?” Sunny said in a flat voice.

“Nailed it. You know him so well.” I dipped my head to capture her mouth in a quick kiss. “He had worked the track out in his head, found the perfect place for an ‘accident’.” I let out a hollow laugh. “An accident that wasn’t visible to anyone else except the drivers on that corner. An accident he initiated. He clipped the side of my car, pushing us both into a controlled spin. I was supposed to go into the barrier, and because of the angle he came in at it would look like I’d pushed past him and shoved him off the track, but… See, the thing is that on a track, you think you have it all worked out, where everyone is, what everyone is doing. Benson got so focused on his own plan that he forgot to cover his ass.”

“Ow?” Sunny held my gaze, not shying away and I admired her for it.

So much so that I didn’t soften my words, though maybe I should have.

“We had a young kid racing with us. Not young in age, just…you know how Benny appeared young when you were talking to him about your repairs?”

Sunny smiled. “He’s such a sweetie.”

“Yes, he is. And so was this kid.”

“Was.”

The warning signs were there but I either didn’t see them, or I ignored them.

Lying to myself had never been my strength.

“He hit the wall head on. Crumple zones worked for the car and against him. The whole vehicle folded in on itself. He came out of it in one piece but nothing worked right. Not his brain, not his body…he’s damaged, Coops. He can’t, he doesn’t function like he should.”

Silence reigned in the kitchen.

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