Page 178 of Twisted Trails
He lets out a short, bitter laugh. “If you can’t handle shit talk, you’re in the wrong sport, rookie. Ask your cousin, at least he knew how to throw it back. You’re more like his sister. That one couldn’t take it either.”
Fucker.
“That bullshit with Mason wasn’t shit talk. That was defamation.”
“You fucking dense?” Raine snaps, leaning toward me. He looks ready to finish what I started. “Herapedmy sister.”
The vinyl wall behind us rustles, and voices rise just enough to remind us we’re not alone. Raine clocks it, too, and when he speaks again, it’s quieter, but no less sharp.
“It’s a miracle I haven’t buried him already. Be glad I’m holding back. I could’ve done worse. Ishould have.”
I stare at him, and it’s not fury that’s burning anymore. It’sdisgust.
“You can drop the act. I know he didn’t do it.” Raine shakes his head like I’m the idiot here, but I don’t stop. “We all know. It was her. She wanted him off the circuit so you could claw your way back on top.”
“Isthat what Payne told you all to get you on his side? God, you’re all pathetic.”
“I’m saying it’s a pattern,” I bite out. “Same way you run your mouth at Luc every race, trying to get him riled up and disqualified.”
“Delacroix is just a fucking dick.”
“What about Finn’s fiancée?”
“Sheleft him.” His face tightens. “She was done with the idiot.”
“And Dane?”
“He’s been gone for years, but is still talking about me, huh?”
“Funny, isn’t it? And conveniently, Payne lost his sponsors. Just as convenient as Dane’s sister crashing, him disappearing, and suddenly, you win the overall.”
He glances toward the vinyl wall again. “Why the hell are you dragging Alaina into this now?”
I stand without meaning to, panic crackling beneath my skin at hearing him say my name. Even worse, he said it like he has a right to, like I’m just a girl he used to know.
My fingers twitch as my breaths shorten.
Not now,not like this.
I swallow hard, but adrenaline punches through me harder than before any race, and it feels like my body is trying to outrun me. I try to get ahead of it, but I can’t do shit to stop it as a hiccup slips out.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Raine whips his head toward me, but I spin away from him.
Shit, does he remember?
There is a rustle as he stands and steps around me, and I glance up at the exact second I see it click.
“What the?—”
Another hiccup slips out, cutting him off and making his eyes widen, disbelief blooming across his face.
“Hiccups?”
The room spins as my skin goes cold. He knows.
He knows.
