Page 33 of The Drag Race Debutante & the Detectives
“The day I stop worrying about you is the day I die.”
Her whole expression softened and her smile turned kinda goofy. “I love you too.”
And he just stayed there, crouched down beside her, basking in her love until his brother called out for him. “Derek, is she ready?”
Dane straightened and dusted his hands off on his jeans. “Are you ready, baby?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” she murmured, then gave him a thumbs-up.
“Just remember what we spoke about on the drive over. You’ve driven my car before, you know the timing. Trust your reflexes.” Dane closed the driver’s door and leaned in through the open window. “Kick his arse, baby.” Then he kissed her deeply.
Until a hand landed on his shoulder. “Move over.” A moment later Emily giggled as his brother took his place and kissed her too.
“We’ll be waiting for you, kitten.”
“You better be,” she said, then winked. “I was promised a good hard railing if I win.”
Eric growled. Dane chuckled. “That was the plan.”
“Good,” she said, then started the engine. “You might want to step back.”
Stepping away from the car was harder than it should have been. Emily knew what she was doing behind the wheel. Dane knew that, but his instinct to protect his woman was at war with his need to do his duty.
“Come on,” Eric said. “Em has it from here.” Then he tilted his chin at her. “Come back to us in one piece.”
She gave him a nod, then revved the engine, signalling she was ready to race.
Dane and Eric moved to the side and made eye contact with Detective Cross. He scratched his chin. The signal that everything was set.
Good.
The sooner they got this over with, the better.
Shane stood ready to get in his car and addressed the crowd. “You know the race. You know the stakes. If I lose,” —a chorus of booing and jeering filled the air—“I forfeit the Coyote. But if I win,”—he stared directly at Dane and Eric—“your bitch is mine. And I’m gunna fuck her up so good, she’ll never want to leave me.”
Dane took a step forwards but Eric grabbed his shoulder and held him back. They’d done that a lot in the last twenty-four hours. Stopped each other from doing dumb shit like punching people who really deserved it. Sometimes being one of the good guys sucked.
“Never gunna happen, Shane,” Eric said. “Our girl is gunna crush you.”
Shane’s only response was to laugh, then get in his car.
Emily knew the route she had to drive. It was on the note Shane had dropped off that afternoon at the dealership. A three kilometre stretch along Mount Cotton Road, between Ney and Redland Bay Roads. It was a hotspot for illegal drag racing and dangerous as fuck.
Curvy roads through semi-rural land, which meant kangaroos, wallabies and the occasional koala were potential hazards, especially at midnight. Concealed driveways on both sides of the road, not to mention the way the road curved and dipped, and oh, yeah, had single fucking lanes, which meant someone had to drive on the wrong side of the road for this insanity.
But they knew the drill. Shane’s crew had the area blocked off. The local residents knew the drill too and tended to steer clear of it all, but there would be at least one call to the local coppers about the hoons in the area. Thankfully the boys in blue had already been informed of what was going on and, barring any other major incidents, were on hand to help with the clean up.
Emily and Shane moved into position, both of them revving their engines and spinning their tyres, leaving rubber on the road for better traction and a cleaner take off.
Dane’s heart was in his throat. He didn’t want to watch but he couldn’t look away. He couldn’t let his girl out of his sight.
Even after they took off in a roar of heavy metal and a cloud of burning rubber.
“She can do this,” Eric said, then moved off to speak to Detective Cross.
As always, his brother was right. Emily had been racing cars with her family for years. She’d even raced them. She was amazing. And she was all theirs. A slow grin slipped into place as his pride for his girl made itself known. Emily Berringer was short, curvy, and owned more sass than Dane knew what to do with.
And she was about to beat Shane fucking Spencer at his own game.
