Page 13 of Broken Promises

“What’s this one worth?”

She eyed me for a second before answering, and I knew she didn’t care about me knowing, it was just that she knew I could never even think about having that kind of money. She didn’t want to seem like she was bragging.

“I haven’t loved a car since I lost my Corvette forever ago. I like cars a lot, but I get a feeling that I can’t describe when I really love it. I got that feeling while sitting in this car, and just knew I needed to bring it home last month. It’s a 2024 Maserati MC20 Cielo. It’s worth almost three hundred thousand.”

I almost didn’t want to get in with my shoes on.

“It’s gorgeous,” I admitted, moving to open the door, but she grinned.

“You want to drive it?”

“Absolutely not. I can’t afford to fix it if I break it,” I said instantly, and she rolled her eyes and walked around the car to me.

“I can afford to fix it. Go on, get in the driver’s seat. My kids grew up with fancy car privileges, so it’s refreshing to see someone appreciate it for what it is. I’ll explain how the fancy buttons work.”

“Promise you won’t bury me in a shallow grave if I dent it?”

“I’d never do that. I only dig deep ones,” she joked, giving me a nudge to get me moving.

I walked around to the driver’s door and climbed in, glancing at her as I tried to figure everything out.

The guys had always had older muscle cars, nothing like this.

She explained how everything worked, then she put the garage door up with a button so I could slowly back it out into the driveway, the sound of the engine screaming money.

I put it in drive and carefully made my way out onto the road, relaxing the more I drove.

I glanced at Rory, finding her already watching me with a smile on her face.

“What?” I asked, flicking my eyes back to the road.

“I think this is the first time I’ve seen you react to something with this much excitement.”

“It’s not every day I get to drive a super sports car,” I said as my face burned a little, but she just smiled wider.

“My kids take for granted that they can have whatever they want. I wouldn’t call them spoiled, but they always got nice things like cars for their birthdays. Don’t be embarrassed for enjoying something, Raven. I think you personally need to find more things to enjoy.”

“I enjoy lots of things.”

“Like what?”

“Like, sitting on the old school roof with the guys and watching the stars while we throw random shit over the edge, or when we practice shooting there. I love spray painting things and fighting too, but I don’t really fight anymore unless I have to,” I explained, steering the car onto the road that led to the Shed. “Some nights, we’d stay up late watching movies, while other nights, we’d stay at the Pit until the sun rose. Well, we did all of that when there was a we.”

“You can still do all those things on your own.”

“It was the company that made it fun,” I sighed, parking in front of the Shed and switching the engine off before turning to her. “Thanks for trusting me with your car.”

“You’re welcome,” she replied as we climbed out, just as Beckett arrived with Jett in her passenger seat, and for a second, I panicked that Logan would be in the back.

“Hey,” Beckett smirked as she joined us, nodding towards her mom’s car. “She let you drive it? She won’t even let me do that.”

I gave a surprised look to Rory, who rolled her eyes and replied in a dry tone. “You want to race it. That’s why I told you no.”

“I didn’t think you wanted to rub shoulders with the crews?” Beckett teased as she turned her attention back to me. “Changed your mind?”

“Your mom said you were fighting, so I thought it might be cool to watch,” I shrugged, following them as they all started walking inside. It was a little nerve-wracking being in the Psychos’ Shed, I couldn’t lie.

“Emerson,” Beckett said to Jett as she went to walk off, pointing at me. “Stay with Raven.”

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