Revved & Reckless – By R. Snow #3
I reached over and grabbed it out of his hand. Pulling out a pen, I went through the names, ignoring his protest when I snatched it from him.
“So, who do you work for exactly?” I asked as I combed down the list of names.
“Zane’s. It’s a designer. I know for a fact he’s on the list. He’s literally right up the hill. I can see his car from here. It’s the light blue McLaren Artura Spider,” she said as she pointed past me.
I followed the direction and glanced up the parking lot. The vehicle she was talking about was barely visible, but it was there. So I quickly went through the rest of the list, saw the company name she mentioned on it, and added her name next to it.
“Hey, looks like your name is right here after all. Sorry about that. Why don’t you go on in?” I said as I stepped to the side and gestured for the other two to do the same.
She gave me a smug look and rolled her eyes. “Well, would you look at that? Just like I thought. Anyway, hope to catch you never, Tyler.” With that, she got in her car and drove up through the lot.
The guy I had grabbed the list from tried to say something to her, but I handed him back his list and shook my head no. “Trust me, the company she mentioned is on the list. Just let her go through. She’s way more trouble than it’s worth.”
I spent the next couple of hours helping the guys at the gate, directing people to their places to unload the items they needed for the concert and the other booths.
Every once in a while, I would glance over in Avery’s direction.
Her voice carried across the lot. Instead of finding it annoying, I actually found the sound of her voice comforting, knowing she was here working her ass off and taking something serious in life for once.
One time I looked over in her direction, our eyes locked, and I felt my heart pound in my chest again. I quickly turned my attention back down to what I was working on.
Why does it keep doing that? I’m probably still annoyed at the fact she hit my car earlier this week. Yeah, that’s got to be it. I should probably follow up with Kayden soon to see what else he needs help with.
But just as I was about to go back over to the Flywheels set up, I turned and smacked right into none other than Avery herself, knocking whatever she had in her arms to the ground with a clatter.
“God dammit, Tyler! These are designer! If they are damaged, I swear to God…” She quickly reached down and started picking up the items. They were clothes of different types and I grabbed one that had fallen away from the rest.
“Yo, my bad. Here. Why were you standing right behind me anyway? Next time, say something,” I said as I held the shirt I had grabbed out to her.
She snatched it from my hands and scowled at me as she smoothed out the wrinkles.
“Well, I was coming over to tell you that I hope your car is fixed for tomorrow. I remembered how important these things are to you because it’s all you could talk about back in high school.
But now, I hope your bumper doesn’t make it in time.
” She turned on her heel, flicking her hair back over her shoulder as she stormed back over to her space.
God, I can’t wait till this event is over, then I can leave any thought of Avery, her shitty attitude, and her sarcastic comments far behind in the dust of my tire smoke.
Man, if I thought the setup day was busy as shit, the event traffic was crazy.
There was a non-stop line of shuttle buses dropping people off from the moment they could enter.
The drivers for the meet had to get here super early to set up and the cars that had shown up today were on full display in all their glory.
JDMs were positioned at the front entrance, followed by classic cars, lowriders, and sports cars around the Flywheels stage, with muscle cars parked in the lot space reserved for a burnout competition.
People made donations on the driver they thought would make the most smoke in the short time they each had.
Surprisingly, only a couple of hours into the event, we had raised over eighty thousand just on that competition alone.
The event wasn’t until later in the afternoon, a couple of hours before the concerts started, so there was still plenty of time for that amount to at least triple.
And that’s exactly what this city’s people were all about, coming together to help our entire community heal from a catastrophic event.
I sat in a chair next to my car, close to the Flywheels stage.
My other friends–Rosalie, Freddie, and Hank Jr.–were all parked next to me as well.
Kayden had brought two cars to this meet.
He parked his black and red Viper on the stage next to Rosalie’s Skyline and his drag Dodge Challenger in the center of the burnout box, attracting passersby.
I looked back at my car and let out a sigh of relief as I admired it with its new front bumper.
By some miracle, it had arrived late last night, and Rosalie and Kayden insisted on getting it on my car and color matched its paint before this morning.
Honestly, the Wells felt more like family than just friends, especially after my dad passed away.
I will always be grateful to have them in my life, and helping as much as I have with this event is just one small way for me to repay them for all they have done for me over the years.
“Hey, are any of you guys hungry? I was going to grab some food at the taco truck. I’d be happy to bring some back,” I said as I stood up from my chair.
Rosalie’s hand instantly shot up in response. “Yes, please! I’ll have two, and if you could get three for AJ, too? He should be swinging by in a few minutes! And Tyler, make sure you tell them to put it on the Flywheels tab!”
I nodded as I went around the circle of people to get orders. Hank Jr. passed and Freddy said his boyfriend Sam was dropping something off for him to eat later. I decided to pick up a few things for Kayden and his wife, Rose, as well before I went over and got in line for the taco truck.
I was only a few spots away from ordering but I had some time to kill, so I started scrolling my phone, liking as many posts talking about the benefit concerts and car meet that I could find on
social media. There were a lot of posts from people in the car community, and I even saw some famous people sharing those posts on their socials as well.
Glad to see the event is getting the attention it really needs. We’re going to rebuild this city piece by piece, as long as it takes until it gets done. I smiled to myself. It was a pretty damn good day. The only thing that could put a dampener on it would be…
“So, I see your car got fixed in time after all.”
Avery.
Great, here we go again. Wonder what bitchy, sarcastic thing she was going to say next.
“Yep. Got here last night. Sorry to disappoint you, but not only does my car look exceptional, but I also get to take part in the burnout competition after all. No thanks to you,” I snapped at her as I turned in line to face her.
Instead of glaring at me, she just smiled and batted her eyelashes innocently. “Oh, no, I’m actually glad your car is fixed because I’m entering the burnout competition, too.”
“Wait, what?” I had to hold back a laugh at her ridiculous statement.
“You heard me. You might be a little slow to pick things up, Tyler, but I know I didn’t stutter.” Her little smirk that curved the ends of her lips looked so funny I couldn’t help it.
I laughed loudly, “You’re going to enter your broken Audi RS 3 into a burnout competition? Yeah, okay.” I gave her an aggressive thumbs up.
“I never said it was my car. Oh, no, a friend is letting me borrow theirs. He even showed me how to do a proper burnout last night, so I think I’m going to do just fine.
Don’t worry, when I raise the most money for the donation fund, I’ll be sure to forget to give you an honorable mention.
” She winked at me before she left the line to walk up to the taco truck’s pick-up space, grab some food, and sauntered away down the parking lot, her red hair flowing behind her in the breeze.
This chick drives me fucking crazy. What’s the odds she actually has a car to enter the burnout competition?
I couldn’t help myself. She had piqued my curiosity, so once I got my food, I made a quick, minor detour up the parking lot and looked over to where the designer she worked for was. When I saw the car parked next to their space, my eyes widened in shock.
“There’s no fucking way,” I muttered under my breath.
Avery stood next to a lime green 2010 Camaro SS with a livery of white and gold flames along the fenders.
It was heavily modified. I knew who owned that car.
I followed him on social media. He was actually a pro drag racer who’s won a ton of competitions nationally.
Then I realized. They shared the same last name.
Avery caught my gaze and waved wildly at me.
My heart thudded in my chest.
I might actually be in trouble.
I am so fucked.
I stomped back to where my Flywheels crew was hanging out and started to hand out everybody’s food before I plopped down into my chair, annoyed.
“Wow, did your taco burn your tongue or something?” Rosalie asked from her seat which, while I was gone, had become AJ’s lap.
“Nope, not even hungry anymore. So, if anyone wants mine, have at it.” I folded my arms over my chest as my mind thought back to how smug Avery looked as she waved at me.
Even if she doesn’t actually know how to do a burnout properly, a car like that, with tires like that?
Shit, it wouldn’t even matter as long as she could get some smoke.
Plus, there was no rule against anybody sitting in the passenger seat of people’s cars.
No doubt the owner of the car would be in there with her, giving her directions the whole time.