Revved & Reckless – By R. Snow #4
“Well then, cheer up, Tyler. The event is going great! In another couple of hours, we will be able to do the little competition, and maybe be able to go in and watch the concert, too!” Rosalie said as she took a big bite of her taco.
AJ chuckled as he leaned up and wiped some green sauce from the corner of her mouth.
Rosalie giggled as she took another bite and glanced back at him. They were so damn into each other; it made me jealous to watch them sometimes.
I wish someone would look at me the same way they look at each other.
Just as I thought about it, Avery glaring at me flashed through my mind again, and I scowled as my heart pounded faster.
I really needed to get this competition over with.
Then, I could forget all about her and just move on with my life.
The hours ticked by and the donations sky rocketed. We had well over the target amount by the time I was driving my car into the burnout box.
“Now, we have one of Flywheels’ younger generation rolling into the box. Tyler Maverick plans on giving us all a show in the new adult division today! Maverick, show us what your tires are made of!” Kayden’s voice said over the speaker system.
I gave him a nod and revved my engine, making the people around me whistle and whoop as excitement coursed through the crowd. A few people had already gone before me in my category, and the smell of rubber filled the air.
I waited for Kayden’s signal and then spun my tires.
They squealed, and the smoke slowly billowed out from behind my car.
I took off in the box, yanking my wheel.
When I approached one wall, I let the tire smoke pour out as my wheel struggled to gain any traction from the slide.
The crowd cheered louder and kids jumped up and down, waving their arms in excitement.
I smiled at their enthusiasm and went for my next corner, going harder than the first. I felt my car pull beneath me as I yanked my wheel.
My tires spun extra hard, doing a small doughnut before shooting off toward the middle.
I wanted to make this really count. I pulled off a figure eight right before my timer went out and it was time for me to exit.
The noise of the crowd was deafening as I rolled out of the burnout box, right next to Avery’s car.
I rolled down my window and winked at her.
“Beat that,” I said as I came to a stop next to her.
She pushed off the car’s hood and sauntered over to my open window, placing her hands on the frame on either side of me. She fluttered her eyelashes at me.
“Oh, Tyler, I will make you eat those words. Don’t come crying to me when you lose.” With that, she shoved herself away from the car and turned around.
As much as I didn’t want to look, I couldn’t help my eyes from traveling from her flaming hair, pulled back in a sleek ponytail, down to her ass.
The way she swayed her hips from side to side, I hated that I started to get hard from watching it.
I rolled my window up and clenched my jaw in frustration as I continued driving back to my parking space.
I got out, waved to some people walking by, then locked my car and turned my attention to the burnout box.
I could hear Kayden announcing her name and knew she would drive into the box any second.
Fuck, do I give her the satisfaction of watching her run? What if she wins? I know she will gloat so fucking much about it. But what if she loses? It would be so damn sweet to look at her and tell her ‘I told you so,’ and watch that smug little arrogant smile leave those red lips of hers.
I shook my head and jogged back over toward the event. I had to push through some of the crowd to get to the driver’s line-up area again. I got to the wall just as Kayden started the event and the smoke flew from the back tires of the car she was in.
I was so screwed.
She wasn’t a pro by any means, but all she had to do was pull the wheel in a direction and gas it.
Her burnout doughnut went on and on and the smoke was so thick you could hardly see the car in the middle.
Then, she was gutsy, driving toward a side and barely turning in time, spinning her wheels and flinging smoke and bits of rubber toward the crowd.
And they ate it up. Their cheers were ten times louder, and even Kayden was making callouts over the loudspeaker as she turned again.
Then, she drove straight toward me, yanking the wheel and doing her final burnouts next to me before she stopped, the driver’s side window facing me. The smoke cleared as she rolled down the window, flashed me a smile and winked.
What a bitch.
I turned my attention to Kayden, trying to not give her the reaction I knew she wanted. I tried to play it cool and acted like she hadn’t just blown my run out of the water. But hearing her laugh, I knew she wasn’t believing me for a second.
She drove the car out of the burnout box, and I stayed where I was as the last two challengers did their runs. Then came time to announce the winner of this division.
Kayden walked out into the middle of the burnout box to address the crowd.
“Those were some crazy burnouts from our younger drivers, weren’t they?
Now, I’ve been paying attention not only to the skills and smoke each driver had, but also to which drivers you, the people, were most excited about!
And I think the winner was clear when this driver first came into the box, spitting out so much smoke I lost sight of them for a moment!
Our winner is Avery! Everyone give her a big hand! ”
Kayden clapped as she walked back into the burnout box, where Rosalie stood next to her dad, holding a trophy. The crowd erupted into cheers as Avery shook Kayden’s hand and accepted the trophy from Rosalie. Then she was handed the mic, and she turned until she was facing me before she spoke.
“Thank you all so much for your encouragement and support for the charity today! We will reinvest the money raised back into the community, and this wouldn’t be possible without each and every one of you!
To LA with love!” With that, she handed Kayden back his mic and waved to the crowd before sauntering right over toward me.
She walked out of the burnout box as Kayden announced the adults 25 and older class was going to start in fifteen minutes.
“Hey, Tyler, looks like the better driver won after all. Tough luck. Hope you enjoy eating your words, you absolute asshole.”
My blood boiled. It was bad enough to lose, but to lose to someone who had done nothing like this before was even worse.
And it just had to be someone who hated my guts.
I contemplated what I was going to say back, but before I could she flicked her hair over her shoulder and walked over to hand the trophy to the owner of the car she had driven.
It was after I saw her leave his side and walk over to the restrooms, that I made up my mind.
I was going to find out what her problem was with me, once and for all.
I followed her, leaning against the side of the wall next to the door she had entered. It was quiet over here as the next drivers started doing their runs in the burnout box.
After a few minutes, the door opened, and she appeared. I pushed off the wall and grabbed her arm, yanking her backward.
She yelled in surprise as I pushed her back up against the wall. I slammed my hands onto either side of her body, trapping her.
“Jesus, Tyler! What the actual fuck?!” she snapped as she shoved her hands against my chest hard.
I didn’t budge. Instead, I stepped closer into her space. Now was the time to figure this all out, once and for all.
“I’m so tired of your bullshit, Avery. Now, spit it out. Why do you hate me?” I demanded as I pinned her against the wall between my hands.
She glared up at me. Her lips looked so damn kissable, and it was pissing me off that I was getting turned on by her right now.
“Let me go!” She snapped at me, her fury building.
“Not until you tell me why you're so fucking angry at me,” I said, matching her glare. Suddenly, she exhaled a long sigh of frustration. “Fine.”
Through her anger I could see something else, an emotion I knew well. Sorrow. Shit, maybe I’m not ready to hear what it is after all.
But there was no turning back now.
“You really want to know why I’m so mad, Tyler?” She asked, her shoulders slumped forward in defeat.
“Yeah, it would be really nice to know why you hate me so fucking much, Avery. What did I even do for things to change?” I said as I looked down at her.
“Fine. You remember in senior year, how one dance was a masquerade theme?” she mumbled, staring down at her feet.
I thought back a few years. My senior year’s biggest high was that I was going to be graduating and going off to college soon.
I don’t remember a lot of the minor details, but I vaguely remember the dance she was talking about.
It was one of those things a bunch of kids went to because you didn’t want to miss out on core high school memory moments, and I was the one who decided to go because I had nothing better to do that night.
“Yeah, I guess. What about it?” I said as I leaned away from her and crossed my arms over my chest.
“You know how everyone had to dance at least a few times, and during one of the dances, the lights dimmed and it was a kiss moment. Kind of like on New Year’s Eve?”
As she spoke, my heart beat faster as my mind rifled through the memories of that night.
I remembered the dancing, especially with one person in particular.
Her hair had been pulled back into some sort of ponytail full of curls and it cascaded down the back of her neck.
She’d worn a dark blue dress and had a mask to match it.
She had been beautiful, and I couldn’t tear my eyes from her as she danced.
And she also put a complete newbie like me to shame with my two left feet, that’s for sure.