Chapter 44
“Holy cow! This place is packed!” I exclaim as Jayson parks his truck along a field furrow.
Jayson offered to drive us to the Fields tonight.
Julien is sitting shotgun in the passenger seat up front, while I’m in the middle of a Ryder-Fallon burrito in the back.
I’ve been thumb-wrestling the both of them and have beaten Ryder four times with my left hand and Fallon seven times with my right hand.
We get out of the truck and try to spot Elijah in the crowd. Someone shouts Fallon’s name from across the way.
“Looks like a lot of us are here tonight,” he says tilting his head at several guys from Highland High. “I’ll catch up with you guys in a minute.” He jogs across the long grass to where his friends are.
The revving engines of more cars coming up the dirt road has me looking to the right.
Two identical Mustang GT500s, both blue with white stripes down the middle, and a cherry red Camaro, make their way down the road.
The Camaro slows down to a crawl next to us, but the dark-tinted windows aren’t enough to hide Marshall’s face as he sneers at me.
He guns the engine, causing me to jump, and spins his back wheels so that they pepper my legs with dirt and small rocks.
Thankfully, I’m wearing jeans, boots, and a long winter coat which help protect me from the flying debris.
“Asshole!” Jayson yells at the Camaro’s taillights as it drives away.
“Babe, are you okay?” Ryder asks as I wipe the dirt off my boots with my gloves.
Seeing Marshall almost has me wanting my amnesia back. I hate him with the passion of a thousand suns. From day one, he has been nothing but trouble for me, Jayson, Julien, and Ryder.
When Marshall played on the Highland High soccer team, he purposely tripped Julien and rammed his cleats into Julien’s calf, shredding the skin and muscles below. Elijah kicked his ass the next day at school. Julien had to do weeks of physical therapy and still has scars on the back of his leg.
Marshall later tried to pick a fight with Julien at one of Fallon’s high school parties by saying some very nasty things about me. That night ended with everyone getting into a knockdown fistfight and Jayson beating Marshall unconscious.
Weeks later, Marshall tried to run Ryder off the track here at the Fields during a race.
That night, it was me who punched Marshall in the face and broke his nose.
Fallon arrived in the nick of time and stopped Marshall from hitting me.
So, seeing him here, tonight of all nights, does not bode well for our evening.
However, I’m not the timid, meek Elizabeth anymore.
I can hold my own against that douche-twat.
“It was Marshall,” I say with a small growl. Where Marshall is, my ex-bestie, Maria, is usually not that far behind. I didn’t see her in the car with him, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t here. She’s been as much trouble to us as Marshall has been ever since Ryder broke up with her.
Jayson huffs out a breath of disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me? Why tonight?”
“Just ignore him. He’s not going to ruin our evening.”
“Once he finds out that Fallon is here, he won’t try anything,” Ryder surmises, tucking his hand in mine.
“Let’s go find E,” Julien says.
Ryder peers down at me. “Elizabeth, we can leave. We don’t have to stay. I know Marshall is a sore spot for you.”
I love how Ryder always tries to protect me. I crook my finger at him to get him to bend down. “I love you,” I whisper, then I tiptoe up and kiss his lips. Our skin is cold, but our breaths are warm and the contrast between the two causes goose flesh to erupt across my cheeks.
“You better be glad we are in an open, public place right now.”
I wink at him, giving him a silent promise of more to come later tonight. A familiar profile catches my eye.
“There’s Elijah,” I say, pointing him out. “Wait,” I tell Julien before he can walk off to join his boyfriend.
I take out my phone and type.
Me: On your left.
I watch as Elijah takes his phone out, looks at the screen, then looks to his left. He finally spots us after a few seconds.
Elijah: Ha, ha. I guess that means I have America’s ass.
Me: The man next to me owns that title Thought you’d like the Captain America reference. Coming over.
“Hey!” Elijah’s grin widens as we walk over. Julien wraps his arm around Elijah’s shoulder and gives him a quick kiss.
“Son, the races are about to start,” an older man’s deep voice booms behind us.
“Hey, Dad. You remember Liz, Ryder, and Jayson?”
Mr. Barnes gives me a visual perusal and I notice his lips thin into a hard line of worry.
He’s a deputy sheriff for our county. Because Elijah likes to race his bike here, Mr. Barnes comes out to help supervise the races at the Fields and to make sure that things don’t get out of control or too rowdy.
“Yes, I remember Liz. How are you, sweetheart?”
By the tone of his voice, I know he’s referring to more than just how I feel. He was one of the first officers to arrive on the scene on the night of my and my parents’ car accidents.
“I’m good. It’s nice to see you again, sir.”
“Where’s Fallon?” Elijah queries.
I fling a thumb over my shoulder.
“Over there. Marshall is here, too,” Jayson says.
“Oh, crap.”
Mr. Barnes asks, “Do I need to be worried?”
“No, Dad. Unless he starts something. Marshall was the guy who messed up Jules’s leg, and the guy Liz punched earlier this year after he and Ryder raced.”
Elijah’s dad gives me an amused look of approval.
“I remember telling the guys back at the station about that one. Well, come on over and watch the races. I will say that there hasn’t been anyone nearly as good as you, lately,” he says to Ryder.
“But we do have some young up-and-comers. I’m sure having the legendary Ryder Cutton here will cause a stir among the crowd.
It’ll be like having a celebrity visit.”
Mr. Barnes walks off after another deputy waves him over.
Ryder hasn’t raced in over a month. Not since before I went with Fallon to Europe. I’ll need to make sure that changes very soon.
“What’s up, E?” Fallon says as he joins our little huddle.
“Not much.”
A roar of commotion heralds from a group of guys standing around one of the Mustangs. I try to see what’s going on by raising up on tiptoe when my gaze locks with Marshall’s. He’s leaning against his car and is staring at us. Maybe Mr. Barnes does have a reason to be worried about tonight.
“Isn’t this a sweet reunion,” Marshall calls out, looking smug. My fist balls up at my side as I imagine punching him in the face again.
The crowd parts for Fallon as he strolls over to Marshall. Fallon glides his hand over the side of Marshall’s Camaro, slowly walking around it like he’s inspecting it for paint scratches
“Nice car,” Fallon says.
Marshall straightens, watching Fallon carefully and with a hint of apprehension, much like a gazelle would a lion.
This is the side of Fallon I love most. Dangerous, cocky, with a side of egotism thrown into the mix. I take great pleasure in watching Fallon make Marshall squirm. Marshall never seems to learn his lesson. Fallon has already warned him more than twice to stay away from me and the guys.
Completing his circle of the Marshall’s car, Fallon stops when he’s standing face-to-face with him.
I tense, waiting to see what Fallon does next.
The last time we ran into Marshall was in the parking lot right before the football game between Fallen Brook and Highland.
That evening, Fallon kicked Marshall’s car door in, leaving a huge dent.
I jump when Fallon shouts, “Hey, kitten! Feel up to a little race?”
“Against Marshall?” I shout back.
Fallon’s trademark cocksure grin appears and the little devil inside of me that loves it when he gets like this, starts egging me on and chanting for me to do it.
“Absolutely!” I yell.
Ryder reaches over and tugs me behind him in one of his protective moves. It’s something he seems to do on instinct. I glide my hand up his jacket-covered back in appreciation. He angles his head to look over his shoulder at me, his eyebrow cocked in question, and I give him my sweetest smile.
I silently mouth to him, “You’re so hot,” and am the recipient of his sexy-as-sin smirk.
Someone touches my shoulder. “Are you sure about this, Liz?” Jayson asks me.
I turn around and walk backwards towards Marshall’s Camaro, pointing fingers at Ryder and Jayson. “Trust me. I’ve got this.” I spin round to face Marshall.
“Where’s your car, princess?” Marshall asks, lacing his words with as much sarcasm as possible.
Fallon aims his frigid blue gaze at the guy standing next to one of the Mustang GT500s. “You know who I am?”
The guy swallows a few times, nods, and squeaks out a yes.
“Good. Give me your keys.”
Like magic, car keys suddenly appear in Fallon’s open palm. He tosses them at me.
“She has a ride. Let’s race.”
I will never understand how the heck he does that. It’s like Fallon has the power of a Jedi mind trick over people.
Marshall scoffs. “Much as I would love putting your precious Elizabeth in her place, I don’t race for fun. Make it worth my while,” he challenges Fallon.
“Fine. She loses, I’ll give you the Equus Bass that’s stored in my family’s garage. You lose and she gets your piece-of-shit Camaro. Fair enough?”
A smarmy grin crosses Marshall’s face. “Deal.”
He thinks he’s already got this race won. I’m about to show him how wrong he is.
Fallon yells out, “Get the track cleared!” and people scramble to do his bidding.
“Thanks for letting me drive your car. I promise not to wreck it,” I tell the poor guy who’s standing idly by, looking helpless at his car and getting a little green in the face.
I slide in the driver’s seat and the guy staggers back out of the way.
I should feel guilty about taking some stranger’s car without asking, but right at this moment, I don’t.
My hatred for Marshall supersedes reason at the point.
And I’m beginning to suspect that I have a little bit of Fallon in me.
The passenger door opens and the man himself hops in the back, all grins.
“Couldn’t be a bystander for this one,” Fallon says.
Ryder soon follows and sits down in the passenger seat, buckling himself in.
“You know you guys are just adding weight to the car? You’ll slow me down.”
Fallon leans between the front seats. “Shouldn’t stop you from winning. Stop bitching and let’s do this.”
There’s a knock on my window and Jayson, Julien, and Elijah are standing there. I roll it down.
“You remember everything Ryder taught you?” Jayson asks me.
“Yep.” I’m not nervous at all. I’m actually quite excited.
“Ry, keep an eye out for any dirty moves. I don’t have to remind you what Marshall did to your car last time.”
Fallon drums his fingers on the back of Ryder’s seat. “My head will be on a three-sixty. We’ve got her covered,” he tells Jayson.
Julien tries to nudge Jayson out of the way but Jayson shoulder-checks him and bends down so that he and I are eye to eye. “I know you won’t listen to me if I tell you not to do this. So, instead I’ll say, go be badass, princess, and show Marshall what you’re made of.”
I give him a thumbs up, and he flashes his pearly whites at me, then he moves out of the way so Julien can see me.
“You let him beat you and I’ll never speak to you again.”
Cue my eye roll. “Oh, please. This will be a piece of cake.
Julien gives me a quick peck on the cheek and taps the side of the car with his knuckles.
I roll the window up and hand Ryder my phone. “You know what to play.”
Ryder leans over the console and grabs the back of my neck, bringing me in for a hot, wet kiss. “I love you so much.”
Fallon sits back in his seat. “Stop with the front seat porn.”
Ryder kisses me one more time while giving Fallon the bird. Seconds later “Alive” by P.O.D. starts blasting from my phone. It’s the song we listened to when Ryder came and got me from the library so that I could be the first person to ride in his Hellcat.
As I make my way up to the starting line, I look over at Marshall. I touch my middle finger to my lips and blow him a kiss with it.
“Hey, Fallon. Does that mean if I win, I get your Equus?”
“Kitten, when you beat him, I’ll give you my yacht.”
“Alrighty then.”
Let me just add that after the race, I have to convince Fallon that I am not accepting his car, his family’s yacht, or Marshall’s Camaro. Beating Marshall by half a lap was reward enough.