Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
ASTRID
Cars raced down the makeshift track, which was mostly the roads near the beach, abandoned during the winter and early spring months. I stood at the edge of the crowd, heart pounding inside my chest as I listened to the roar of engines.
According to a conversation that I overheard, the drivers drove around the track twice, and on Rush’s second pass, he was neck and neck with another racer, both whizzing past us so fast that the wind unraveled my messy braid.
The tension between the two cars was deadly. A game of speed and control.
And Rush must have a lot of control after what he had just done with me. If I were him, I would’ve lost the second I left my car. But Rush? God! Warmth was exploding through my legs right now.
One minute, they flew down the straightaway, and then the next, the other racer served to cut Rush off. I sucked in a sharp breath, my eyes widening, as Rush veered to the side and into a sand dune. For a split second, it looked like the car was about to spin out of control.
But somehow, someway, he straightened his car back out and jerked it into control, the sheer skill making me gush. How was he so good? He raced like his life depended on it, or maybe like he was trying to impress someone …
What an egotistical thing to think.
Though I couldn’t shake the look he had given me after I told him I wanted to make him jealous.
For a second time, Rush and the other racer were inches from each other while the others just passed by the crowd around me. I stood on my tiptoes, trying to see the outcome as the two drivers closed in on the finish line.
A rush of adrenaline burst through me, and I clutched my chest, heart beating rapidly.
Come on, Rush. Come on, Rush. Come on!
Suddenly, Rush kicked it up a notch, forcing the car to accelerate and braking past the finish line just a second before his competition did. I jumped into the air, breathless and cheering. Rush had won. He had really won! I stood back, trying to process it all.
“That was wild, wasn’t it?” Frasier said to my right, his arms curling around my waist.
“My God,” I whispered, staring as Rush’s car slowed to a stop. “It was.”
Out of all the guys in The Crew, Rush was the most mysterious to me. Yet watching him dominate like that, pulling himself out of what should have been a disaster, especially right after he had made me into a puddle … God.
“And my drink?” Frasier murmured, drawing his nose up the column of my neck.
My entire body shuddered in pleasure from all the sensations I was feeling right now, and I pressed my thighs together.
“Oh, um … right. I kinda … forgot about it. Got a bit … distracted.”
With Rush’s fingers rubbing me in places they shouldn’t have.
A crowd of race fanatics and girls hurried toward Rush’s parked car, one that he hadn’t gotten out of yet. I stared for a couple of moments, wondering if he would actually get out of it because as far as I knew, he didn’t like people.
Or maybe he had wanted to give off the impression of not liking me.
I waited, heart slowing as the adrenaline wore off. From inside the car, Rush scanned the crowd, and then he stopped when we made eye contact. I sucked in a sharp breath, faintly listening to something Frasier said. Rush’s face remained emotionless, but he didn’t look away.
One moment, he was staring at me, and then the next … the other driver was flinging Rush’s driver’s door open and hurling his fist into the car at him.