Page 70 of Your Fault

He smiled, but I saw something else on his face that gave me a weird feeling just before he turned and got into his car.

I walked to where the Lamborghini was parked, got in, and started the engine. Lion got in the car Luca had driven over in and pulled up to the starting line. A girl in a bikini top and tiny shorts was standing in the middle of the cars with two flags held high. The city shone brightly behind her, waiting for us to rip through its streets. Fast, no mistakes…that was the only way we could be sure of avoiding trouble.

Just then, right as the countdown started and my hands were gripping the wheel, the passenger door opened, and Noah got in beside me.

“What the fuck are you doing?”

The starting gun echoed, and the flags fell. The race was on.

29

Noah

When Jenna told me how the races were going to go, I was scared, and when I saw Nick’s car on the starting line, ready to take off, I ran toward it, forgetting the consequences, and got inside. Nick looked at me, first with surprise, then with fury. Terrified, I looked at his feet and reminded him what we were there to do:

“Step on the gas, Nick!”

With lightning reflexes, he tore off and caught up to the other cars before I even knew it, destroying their initial advantage.

“I’m going to kill you! Do you hear me?” he shouted. We were almost into the city, and I knew I needed to be quiet and let him concentrate.

For a split second, he looked over at me and shouted, “Put on your damn seat belt!”

After flinching, I did as he said.

I was going to pay for this, big-time, I knew, but I needed to be there with him. This race wasn’t like last year’s. It didn’t matter how many times I told him not to do it; Nicholas made his own decisions and sometimes left me out. Well, this was my decision: If he was racing, I would, too. If he put himself in danger, so wouldI, and I couldn’t care less what he had to say about it. I’d deal with the consequences later.

“I told you to go,” he screamed, punching the steering wheel. He was livid, but I was, too, and I wasn’t about to back down. This wasn’t the way to do things, and I wanted him to know that if he was still in that world, I would be, too, and if me being there helped him leave it behind, then it was worth the risk.

“Yeah, but I chose not to,” I said, staring at the road. His jaw clenched, the veins popped out in his neck, and I was so scared, I shrank back in my seat.

When we reached the first curve, my feet moved as if I were stepping on the pedals. I was enjoying myself so much, my body was pure adrenaline. I wished I were in Nick’s seat, gripping the wheel and showing him how damned good I was. Even if things had gone to hell last time, I had won; there was no denying that.

Nick was good, but at that moment, all I could see was a guy who hadn’t stopped to think about how much what he was doing could hurt us. No matter what happened, Nick kept turning back to the dark side, and when he did, he dragged me down with him. He had supposedly quit racing and doing all those things that reminded me of my father, but there we were, and I hated myself for doing something that could have destroyed my family—and loving it.

My brain disconnected from those problems and focused solely on the cars in front of us. In front, not behind. We were losing.

“You need to speed up, Nicholas.”

The vein in his neck swelled even more. I bit my lip; I was so nervous.

“I can’t believe I’m going a hundred with you in the car.”

This is a competition, goddammit, not a walk in the park!

“Well, this car can do two hundred, so step on it, or we’re going to lose.”

“Shut up!” he shouted.

I closed my mouth and left him to his own devices. My hands were quivering. By the time he hit 120, he had nearly caught up to the others. Lion was in the lead, the other two just in front of us. Either we took them on the next curve, or we’d never be in the lead. I prayed for Nicholas to get it right. If we lost, he’d kill me; he’d claim it had all been my fault.

But then things changed suddenly, and I watched with horror as we pulled ahead of one guy only to see other cars on the road. They must not have cut off the traffic in that section, so suddenly we found ourselves in the middle of a bunch of regular drivers. I didn’t like this at all; I didn’t want someone getting hurt… This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“Shit!” Nick hissed, hitting a curve and trying to dodge two cars that were going forty. With spectacular control, he veered past the car in third place. I couldn’t help but cheer.

Lion was the one person in front of us, and even though second place also got a portion of the purse, the competitive side of me wanted to win. Nicholas aced the next curve—I had to give him credit—and I had to press my hand into the dashboard to keep from getting jostled. We were hot on Lion’s tail, close but not close enough… I shouted when Nick pulled into oncoming traffic to pass a truck that deafened us with its honking. Not even I would have risked that, but it did help us get ahead. If we could shoot past him at the next intersection, we’d win.

“Come on, Nick! You’ve got to pass him!” I shouted.

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