5. Wilder
If PRI is the best racing league in the world, then the Underground is its illegal equivalent.
Caden acquired it when he was fifteen, and took it from an abandoned track to the number one underground racing spot in the entire country.
Officially this place doesn’t exist, not anymore, and Caden pays enough of the right kind of people to keep it that way.
Like I said, racing is in our blood. There are no rules or limits, especially not where my cousin is concerned.
He thrives on the chaos of pitting two top racers against one another and watching them fight to win.
People come here from all over the world, to compete with the best of the best and to win by any means necessary.
And the prize?
The simple pride of winning, and a whole lot of dirty cash.
This isn’t just a place to race though, over the years Caden has indulged everyone’s desires, and added multiple bars and a whole warehouse of fighting rings.
The Pits see more blood than I care for, but like I said, my cousin is fucking crazy, and it satisfies the empty space inside of him.
Tonight however, the whole place is spilling with people, all here to congratulate me.
According to Casper, a going away party was a complete necessity, but as I arrive and only recognize about a quarter of those in attendance, I’m sure the only necessity was him and his friends getting their dicks wet.
I ignore everyone who tries to greet me, heading straight to the VIP balcony where I know I will find all the guys.
Casper is the first to spot me of course, jumping to his feet and stumbling in my direction, clearly already half drunk.
“There’s the man of the hour,” he hollers, moving to toss one of his arms around my shoulders and collaring me closer to him, as he pulls me toward the rest of the guys.
“We thought you were going to bail on us,” he adds with a laugh, and I refrain from telling him he was almost right.
I spot Caden, Bobby, Knox, and Beckett, all relaxing and drinking with a few other guys we know. When Caden spots me with Cas, he rises to his feet, not caring for the girl who was draped in his lap, letting her fall to the floor without so much as a second glance.
“Wild,” he nods, knocking my fist, his cunning and assessing stare searching mine, and I tip my head in greeting.
He’s not stopped watching me since the morning he told me he killed my brother, like he expects me to snap or retaliate in some way, and I guess most people would, but I’m not most people.
Our family dynamic has always been different, and I consider Casper and Caden more like brothers than cousins, so the fact one of them killed my actual brother is something I’m still not sure how to deal with.
Jason wasn’t exactly a good person after all, but then again neither is Caden.
It leaves me with an unusual dilemma that I solve by drinking and getting stoned.
Bobby helps up the girl who Caden discarded, shooing her away, before moving over to greet me. “About time, Wild, we were beginning to think you got a better offer, superstar,” he muses, tipping his head at one of the bottle girls, telling her to grab me a drink.
Knox pulls his tongue from a random girl's mouth, that is sitting squished between him and Beckett, just long enough to scold him. “Excuse me, don’t forget Beck and I are starting our PRI season too, don’t we deserve a celebration?”
Casper snorts. “Yeah, but my cousin can actually race, it’s in his blood,” he smiles wide, tossing Knox a wink as he slinks back into his chair, and they start going back and forth like always.
Knox and Beckett might be the same age as me, a year ahead of Cas, but the three of them have been close from the moment Casper joined The Academy, the year after us.
They are always getting into trouble with one another, much to Caden’s annoyance, and I know Cas is going to miss us all while we are away for the season.
I flick my gaze to Beck, who rolls his eyes behind his black-rimmed glasses, more than used to their bullshit, just as the bottle girl arrives back at my side. “Drink up, Wild, you’re gonna need it.”
I take my drink from the girl and clink the bottle against Beck’s. “Don’t I always, when I have to put up with you three?” I toss back, taking the free spot beside him and surveying the rest of the party.
Beckett grunts, as the girl who was kissing Knox leans towards him and drags her tongue up his throat, in an erotic display that even someone like me can appreciate.
“Come on, you know you’re gonna enjoy being our third while we’re out on the road this season,” he jokes, gripping the girl by her throat and forcing his tongue into her mouth roughly, before pulling back and cocking a brow at me.
“Bet we could turn you,” he adds jokingly, giving me his signature grin, but all I do is roll my eyes.
“Please, you let me be your third for the night and the only thing that will be turning is you two whores at the sight of my cock,” I reply, sipping my beer and making Casper groan from my other side.
“Please stop, I don’t want images of my cousin's cock thank you very much,” he complains, watching fiercely, as Knox slips his hands delicately beneath the girl's skirt in front of all of us, making her gasp.
“What’s up, baby boy, I thought you liked watching?” I turn toward him and ruffle his dark hair so similar to my own, and he shoves me away roughly.
“Just don’t tarnish the Miles name this season, huh? Not until I get there and steal the top title out from under you that is.” His smirk is insufferable, but his words are the first thing to make Caden smile since I got here.
“We all know if anyone is going to tarnish the Miles family name, it won’t be me.” I glare at Caden with a pointed look, taking another sip of my beer, as his wicked grin gets even wider.
“Yeah it’s always Jason who does that, right?” Caden replies with ease, and Bobby chokes on his own drink beside him.
Only the three of us know what Caden did, but I’m sure the others suspect something, they all know what he’s capable of. It doesn’t exactly take a genius to know why Jason hasn’t come home even without me telling them, but I return his smirk.
“Careful, cousin, secrets spill faster than blood sometimes.” My words don’t wipe the smile off his face, in fact, I’m pretty sure he gets off on the idea of riling people up. If he had the ability to feel anything that is.
Caden only lets his gaze travel over the four of us before he replies, “Not if you know where to make the cut.” Then he flicks his wrist for another drink and slinks back to his chair, effectively ending our conversation.
This party is going to be fun.
An hour later I am nursing my second bottle of beer, wishing I was anywhere but here.
Casper now has two girls sitting on either side of him, both battling for his affection, probably not realizing he will happily bed the two of them at the same time.
Beckett and Knox disappeared into the woods a little while ago, with the girl who was sandwiched between them earlier, and Bobby is trying to manage the hoard of girls vying for Caden’s affections, as he ignores all of them and the bottle girls in favor of his phone.
And me? I’ve already turned down three guys, before I told Bobby to stop letting them up into the VIP section we reserve for ourselves, because I am in no mood for them to fawn all over me.
It’s always the same thing, they compliment my racing ability, make some joke about being taken for a ride, and then complain about how rough I like it.
I can’t remember the last time fucking someone was anything but.
Okay, that’s a lie, I can remember exactly when it wasn’t like that, and it was last weekend with the blue haired little liar, who has now been hired as a member of my fucking team.
My hands flex at the reminder of the way he bucked beneath me, taking every harsh snap of my hips and choking around my fingers while begging for more.
Fuck he was a good lay, probably one of the best I’ve ever had, and it was over far too quickly.
I don’t know if I am more mad about that fact, or that he managed to conceal who he was until after I was done.
I can still see his smug fucking face smirking at me, as he got one over on me while my dick was still hanging out.
Mix that with the fact my father has now hired him to ‘fix my image’, it’s safe to say I’m fucking pissed.
I’m not sure if it’s because I’m thinking about him and my mind has just conjured him, or if karma has a sick sense of humor, but when I see a flash of blue hair across the track, I am out of my seat instantly. I shove my way past Bobby so fast that I manage to knock the drink from his hand.
“What the fuck, Wild?” he scolds, calling out to my back, but I don’t even spare him a second glance.
I stalk my way through the hoards of people, ignoring the cheers and chants for the race currently happening, focusing only on my target. I don’t stop until I reach him, gripping him by the hair and pulling his head back.
“Fuck you doing here?” The words have barely left my mouth before I realize the texture of the hair is completely wrong, and I meet the wide green eyes of a stranger. Green not blue.
I release the stranger instantly, cursing myself for not only reacting to the sight of his hair, but also being able to tell instantly that it wasn’t Prescott.
The guy must see something in my stare, because he smirks as he turns toward me. “Well I don’t know who you thought I was, handsome, but I bet I could take their place.”
Rolling my eyes, I step back and let my gaze trail over him, noting he’s just as hot as Prescott is, but it does nothing for me. “That’s a bet you’d lose,” I reply boredly, before turning on my heel and storming away without waiting to hear his response.
What the fuck is wrong with me?