Chapter 2
Chapter two
Three days ago
“Man, come on! We have shit to do!” I shout at my boys. They’re too busy messing around with the freshmen girls instead of having their head in the damn game.
Our last class finished about twenty minutes ago—finals are over—and I’m ready to get out of here.
There’s only so much of this school I can take, especially when I can’t stand being here in the first place.
College wasn’t my dream, it’s my mom’s. She wants more for me, preferably an education beyond high school unlike the rest of my family—and her, which she never points out.
”There’s more for you, mi hijo.” She likes to remind me, when side eyeing my two friends.
Don’t get me started on what she thinks of them.
I know they’re problem children too but you know what they always say, birds of a feather.
Not to toot my own horn but I’m the better influence, so it’s up to me to corral them like livestock when there are things to get done.
I gave them time to fuck around but now I want to be on the blacktop, not on campus. There’s asphalt and rubber to burn, spilled oil, high octane fuel, wind whipping past me ruffling my hair, a beautiful woman on my arm, maybe a little bit of fame? Life in the fast lane and nothing less.
Racing is my passion—the career path I’m aiming for with every ounce of effort. Not this collegiate bullshit; collared polos, khaki shorts, and seashell necklaces. I crave leather and fishnets, parties, and rock ‘n roll that never sleeps.
While I’m here to appease my mom, you bet your sweet ass I still get race time. Matter of fact, there’s a race in a few days I’m dying to join in on but it interferes with a much more important graduation party.
Hazelwood is a shit hole but it’s alright. Remember that beautiful woman I was talking about wanting on my arm? She’s who I’m really going home to see.
Nadia Rayle Pierce.
Miss resident bully-ass kicker who doesn’t take no for an answer, fights her way through people twice her size, and lets nothing stand in her way.
Could say she’s the full fucking package and I’d argue she’s more than that in every way.
I like to think no one has a clue how obsessed I am with her, not even the devil himself, but I am.
Every move I have made since leaving home has been to build a future with her—and my racing career, let’s be honest. It’s my job to provide for the both of us, especially now that she’s legally an adult aching to ditch Hazelwood for good.
Whatever it takes to get her away from her sorry excuse of a father—even if that means suffering through boring lectures and one hundred question final exams for my mom.
Nonetheless, college can suck it. There are better things to do, bags to pack, speed limits to break—all so I can claim the girl I’ve been after for years. As soon as these numb nuts figure out their head from their ass.
“Ahh, Kaleb. Buzz off!” Wesley blurts.
“Nah, you can chase tail when we get back. There’s plenty to go around.”
“Speak for yourself, bro. Not everyone has pussy sitting at home waiting around. Gotta get what we can, ya know what I mean?” He teases me this time.
Rubbing his patchy facial hair and still thin jawline.
Always trying to impress girls who want nothing to do with him.
Other than Nadia, Wesley’s my oldest friend; with half a brain, he gets half a name—Wes the mess.
He thinks he’s hot shit but he’s at the bottom of our class and usually last to the finish line too—only hanging around for the race-bunnies.
He’s a good dude though, I guess. If I ever need him in a pinch, he’s there.
Financial aid didn’t post? He covers my tuition until it does.
Assholes in one of my electives trying to start shit they can’t back up?
He’s there. Need alcohol and still haven’t turned twenty-one?
Whatever brand you want, he will supply it.
All of that loyalty and the dumb ass just got out of lockup. He keeps going the same route he will lose his scholarship and will have to go back to paying for school out of his gold-lined pockets. Trust me when I say college is expensive for no damn reason—it’s not worth the price tag.
The shithead next to him is Logan, an absolute genius.
He helps me with the Civic’s computer system and tuneups when he has time.
I installed a light-weight sound system a while back, which has done nothing but give me electrical issues since, makes me want to rip out my hair—the components too.
Just when you think reading the installation instructions were good enough to get the job done, the shit malfunctions. God forbid something be easy.
Now, put an engine in front of me and I’ll have it torn apart, problem found, cleaned, and put back together before the night’s done.
Zap, that’s what we call Logan, would have pieces falling all over the place.
Don’t get me started on his aversion to grease—he puts his electronics together with gloves on and hooked up to a grounding wire.
Apparently, you can kill a motherboard if you have static on your person, who would have thought.
After going through all the trouble of installing things, shorting out the computer system would send me off the deep end.
“Where are we going again?” Zap inquires, angling his head where he can look over the rim of his glasses to get a better look at the group idiot.
“Hazelwood, fucker. Those barely eighteen girls out there are ripe for the picking.”
“That’s disturbing. Don’t talk about them like that; that’s a good way to get your teeth knocked in.” I snap.
“Chill man, your girl’s newly eighteen. What’s the difference?”
“I’ve known her for years, there’s history there.”
“Mmmmhmmm. In that case, they’ve been waiting for me. Hah!”
The girls he was attempting to swoon narrowly escape when he starts paying more attention to me than them—you’re welcome ladies.
Hearing the way he talks about Nadia is one thing, but to talk about other girls?
Unacceptable. At least mine can fight and would black both his eyes if she heard him speaking this way.
Snapping an arm out, my hand fists the neck of his shirt until the cotton burns my skin, then I yank him to me.
Our noses are a hairs breath away as I invade his precious space, about as uncomfortably as he makes other people.
He’s a few inches shorter than me, along with being a pig, that makes it easy to bully the shithead when needed.
At this proximity, I can almost taste the mouthwash he used this morning, from how hard he breathes—akin to a panting dog.
I guess when you call it ‘chasing tail’ you tend to embody one.
What an embarrassment. Snarling, I hold him in place since guys like Wes don’t understand the concept of decency unless it comes sandwiched between two slices of violence.
“Mind what you fucking say about her. Nadia’s mine and always has been.
You’re talking about picking up girls simply because they’re newly eighteen.
That makes you sound like a predator. Is that what your new paint job needs to read?
I like my girls groomed? If that’s the case, we can always put your head beneath a rear wheel and see how long it spins before I accidentally lose control and rip your fucking face off. ”
“Woahhhhh, Rey, that’s excessive. Come on. He’s just a dumb shit. Don’t put him in the hospital.”
I tilt my head a fraction and watch Wes’s eyes snap over to Zap—almost like he’s thanking him for stepping in.
There’s no way around it, keeping Nadia’s name out of their mouths has been a vital part of my tenure here. They don’t typically say anything but now that I’m able to finally be with her they’re getting ballsy. Can’t have that, not when I’m so damn close to having her in my hands.
Shoving him, Wes stumbles back while Zap crosses his arms over and stares at him unimpressed.
Me though? I straighten my jacket, the one I wear too often for it being late spring.
Call it my safety blanket if you will but it still gets a little chilly when I’m running the roads.
It’s become a permanent piece of my appearance and until the temperatures reach eighty and above, I’ll keep wearing it.
Wes gives me the dirtiest look, throwing both hands up in exasperation as other classmates filter by unaware of the intensity flaring between the three of us.
He’s red-faced, obviously pissed off for getting man handled in public for one, two…
I hurt his ego. There’ll be a day where he catches another charge and it will come from shit just like this; saying the wrong thing to the wrong girl in front of the wrong man—idiot.
“You’re an asshole, bro. Why you gotta say it like that?”
“What, call you out on your shitty behavior?”
“It was just a comment!”
“That’s how it starts. Next you’ll be in private messages with little girls.”
“Fuck you!”
Zap intervenes again, stepping between us when Wes tries to charge me up. His larger hands land roughly on Wes’s shoulders and preventing him from making another dumb ass decision that gets him laid out on the fucking ground.
“Relax, he made his point. Want to prove him wrong? Then do it. Stop saying piggish-things.”
“Fuck you too, Zap! Always siding with Rey.”
“Not siding with anyone. I don’t want to scrape you off the sidewalk. I don’t have spare gloves on me and the cops will look at me weird.”
Wes bows up and shoves Zap, the last buffer before possibly getting his ass handed to him like he deserves. Stepping up to the plate, I’m ready to go a few rounds with him if he’s really itching for a fight. Lucky for him he backs off and waves me off, thinking better than to go down this road.
“I’m out of here—my own crew throwing me under the bus like this? Fuck that.”