Page 51 of Bending Under Pressure

My phone is vibrating like crazy on my bed from the alarm. Crap! It’s a little after midnight. I turn it off, see texts from Keelan and a missed call, but then I hear a tapping noise. I glance toward the sound and see Keelan standing outside my window. Scrambling off my bed, I rush over to open the window.

“Sorry. I fell asleep,” I whisper. “Two seconds.”

“Do you still want to go?” he whispers as I slip on my shoes. I throw him a look over my shoulder. Is he crazy? “Sorry,” he laughs softly. “Dumb question.”

“Very dumb,” I reply, climbing out. Keelan helps, even though I don’t really need it. I lower the screen and then we’re jogging to his car.

Once we’re safely inside, Keelan says, “Sorry about coming to your window. I could tell a light was on, but you weren’t answering my call or my texts, so I came to check on you.”

“It’s okay. I was tired, but I set my alarm on vibrate, so my mom wouldn’t hear it.” I want to ask him how things were once he got home, but he’s in a good mood, and I don’t want to ruin it.

“Yeah, I was kind of tired too. I’m too addicted to racing to fall asleep though. If I win, do I get a celebratory kiss?”

“Hmm.” I pretend to think about it. “Maybe.”

He grins. “I’ll take a maybe.”

We pull onto Dead Man’s Curve. There’s fewer people here than last time, but not too bad of a turn out. Cameron seems to be at the end already.

“Finn wants to do the best three out of five, so we’ll go ahead and start,” Keelan tells me.

You won’t hear me complaining about that! The same guy as last time motions for Keelan to come a little closer. Finn is driving a newer model car, a Charger, I think. Old versus new, I guess. My heartbeat speeds up as we’re counted down. Finn punches it and gets an initial lead. Keelan shifts effortlessly, and I wonder how long it’ll be before I can take off as smoothly as he can. Probably a long time.

Keelan is next to Finn after the first hill. My eyes have been glued to Finn’s car and the road ahead of us. Nerves hold my heart captive as I wonder who will end up on top. But then my heart thunders in my chest.

“Keelan, he’s getting too close.” Finn’s side mirror is within inches of mine. Finn doesn’t seem to notice. “Keelan!” I shriek when he gets even closer.

“Don’t freak,” he tells me just before our ride turns bumpy as Keelan moves toward the left as part of those tires hit grass.

“He’s still too close!” I shout, his mirror bumping ours. Oh, God. This is how I die. Some guy is going to run us off the road while we’re going way too fast. My chest heaves as my breathing increases. I grab the door handle as if it’ll somehow help to clutch something and hold onto it.

Keelan hits his brakes before Finn can continue to run us off the road. “What is he doing?” he mutters.

We quickly fall behind Finn, his car definitely coming into our lane before jerking back into his. He would have hit us. I fall back into the seat, the tension in my muscles lessening only a little as we slow to a stop behind Finn’s car. My hands are trembling with fear. I can’t make them stop. We would have crashed. We could have hit someone watching. Why did he come so close to us?

Before I can gather my senses, Keelan has parked, unbuckled himself, and has gotten out of the car, heading straight to where Finn looks to be slowly getting out of his. I’m frozen in place. Nothing has ever scared me as much as seeing that mirror touch ours and feeling the bumpy terrain under half the tires. I swear I can hear my heartbeat in my ears and feel the familiar rhythm in my head.

“What the hell was that?” Keelan yells, shoving him. My eyes widen with shock. I’ve never seen him mad, and he is seriously pissed. With his headlights shining on them, I see Keelan’s body go rigid. He shakes his head. “Good God, Finn, are you high?” He pushes him again.

“Take it easy, man,” he laughs.

“Take it easy? You could have killed us!” Keelan shoves him hard, causing me to wince for Finn as his back hits his car. “You’re an idiot!”

Cameron seems to appear out of nowhere. He grabs Keelan’s shirt and pulls him backward. His voice is too low for me to hear, but Keelan glances back at me. Whi

le he walks my way, I hear Cam say something about someone getting Finn home. Keelan opens my door, crouches, and takes my still shaking hand in his.

“You okay, Hales?” he asks, his voice soft and gentle.

“He’s high?” I whisper.

Keelan’s lips flatten, his eyes narrows with his fury, and he nods sharply once.

“Can we leave?”

“Yeah.” He stands, closes my door, says something to Cameron, and then finally gets back into the car.

Who gets into a car high? Who thinks they are able to race that way? Keelan was right. He’s an idiot.

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