Chapter 31
Atlas
Kor shakes his head as he comes down the stairs, signaling the top floor of Eve’s home is as empty as the bottom. We’ve already checked her backyard, and Wyld is checking his house, but there’s no sign of Eve, my son, or Roman.
Did Wade get to them first?
“Where the fuck are they, Kor?” I can hear the worry seeping through my voice and I have to remind myself it’s okay to sound worried here. I’m no longer trapped in my father’s home scared that he’ll stick a knife to my throat for any sign of weakness.
Kortez seems to realize the same thing, looking down at his shaking hands as they struggle to keep hold of the twin blades clenched in his fists.
Neither one of us are used to showing our emotions but only a few weeks here and Evangeline has cracked us open, allowing us to feel freely and without fear of repercussion.
The front door slams shut, Wylder walking through with his phone to his ear and water dripping from his hair. He never shaved during our weeklong search for Wade in the mountainside and his hand currently runs along the hairs growing on his chin.
“Yeah, Viv, I forgot. Tell Roman to answer his damn phone, would you?”
Kor shoots me a look at the mention of Eve’s new best friend – the one Kortez and Roman believe knows more about Wade than she should. The same as Eve. The same as Wylder.
“How long do we have?” Wylder’s voice makes me straighten. That’s never a good question to hear, but I walk a step closer as if that will allow me to hear the answer coming from the other end of the phone.
Wylder nods and hangs up, sliding his phone in the pocket of his jacket before he looks up to meet me eyes. “They’re at the races.”
“Races? What fucking races?” Kor sounds confused, angry even, but I smile. Of course she couldn’t give up the thrill of the race. I should have known she took my advice to heart and found every single race she could.
I’ve brought Kortez to quite a few street races over the years but none of them can beat the night I brought Eve all those years ago.
Seeing her sitting behind the wheel of my car with that wild look in her eyes and her lips pursed as she focused on the road…
that was a stronger aphrodisiac than it should have been.
“A buddy of ours has one every few weeks and Eve likes to participate. She wins most of them.” He shrugs and waves us on, “Let’s go, it’s starting soon and I promise this isn’t something you want to miss.”
It sure as hell isn’t.
“Where is she?” Kortez straightens, craning his neck above the crowd to try and spot Eve’s blonde hair. Downright impossible with all these fucking people, though. I swear the races I’ve been to have never been this crowded.
Someone bumps into me, spilling some of their beer on my shirt. My hand itches toward my gun, ready and waiting to pull it out and threaten everyone here to get out of my fucking way so I can find my woman.
I survived ten long years without her but now that I know she’s alive and still loves me…. I don’t have the patience to wait anymore. I need to see her.
I’m shoved backward as another person bumps into my side, my gun already leveled with their forehead before his face comes into view.
“Hey! Fucking chill with that thing, you could kill someone.” Roman shoves the gun away from his face and narrows his gaze until I slip it back into my waistband.
“I wouldn’t tempt me right now if I were you. Where’s Eve?”
My cousin smiles the same type of smile he made when we were teenagers and he stole some of my father’s whiskey. So, when he lifts his hand and points across the dirt lot, my eyes follow.
Bright headlights blind my eyes from the row of cars sitting in a line, ready to be called forward for their turn in the race. My eyes catch on Eve’s curly blonde hair, but they quickly widen when I see what car she’s leaning against.
Now, I’m the one shoving people to the side as I move toward the front of the crowd. Kor, Roman, and Wyld are right on my heels, and I hear Wylder bark a laugh from somewhere behind me as I breach the front line of spectators.
“That’s my fucking car.”
Kortez stops beside me; a hand lifted in front of his face to try and shield himself from some of the light. He laughs, the sound low and disbelieving as he sees the same thing I do.
Parked beside Eve with her ass leaned against the side, is my old Maserati.
The one I was nearly heartbroken to know would be gone when we left Florida.
I never put a tracker on the car because I didn’t want my father finding me so easily – not that it did me any good in the end – but no tracker also meant I couldn’t find it.
I thought for sure Eve had sold it for some cash or maybe it was stolen after she ditched it somewhere, but no.
There it sits in all its beautiful glory.
“Who is he?” Kortez’s voice changes from disbelieving to murderous, making my eyes swing from my car over to the man Eve is talking to.
She tilts her head back in a laugh, her curls swinging, and the man across from her leans in to brush a piece of hair away. He fingers it, rubbing the single curl between his fingers as he leans in a bit closer. It’s then I realize I’m just as murderous as Kor.
A hand lands on my shoulder as I reach for my gun, Wylder pulling not only me, but Kortez back toward him. “Easy, he’s not a threat.”
Kor is bristling beside me, his hands clenched into fists as if he’s about to hit Wylder for even laying a hand on him. “Who is he?”
“Markus. He runs the races.” I turn to see Wylder looking over at Eve with curiosity instead of worry. “He’s practically harmless.”
My jaw is tight as I watch Markus walk to the hood of my car, opening it up and pointing to a few things as Eve nods. “Practically?”
Wylder lets go of my shoulder but keeps his hold tight on Kor. “He’s the ex-pres of my old club. It split up about four years ago and a few of us followed him over to Denver.”
I…don’t know how I feel about that.
Roman’s head pops between Wylder and me, his eyes wide as he looks across the dirt field at the man in question. “I can understand why. That man is….jacked. And hot.”
Jacked is a fucking understatement. None of us are small men and it’s clear we’ve spent our fair share of time working out, but Markus does more than that.
He’s got more tattoos than even Kortez, making his arms look almost completely black from the amount of ink covering them.
The tattooed artwork disappears under his shirt and appears back on his neck, but I have no doubt it continues on where the eyes can’t see.
As if he could read my mind, Wylder gives a small nod, and a look of appreciation shot the man’s way. “Everywhere. He’s too caught up on his past or Evie and I would’ve snatched him up years ago.”
Roman lets out a dramatic sigh. “That’s such a shame.”
Oh, Jesus fucking Christ.
“I’m going to talk to them.” As soon as I begin to walk forward, a voice comes over an intercom attached to the one and only light pole in the whole area.
“Will Evangeline and Markus please make their way to the starting line?”
The hood of my Maserati closes and Markus tosses a dirty rag over to Eve, a smirk on his face as he makes his way over to the car parked beside them – a brand new McLaren covered in spray painted images that make no sense to me in the dim light.
Eve slides into my leather seats, pulling her hair up in a messy ball on the top of her head as the McLaren roars to life beside her. I see her shoot Markus a look as she starts the Maserati, its engine easily overpowering the sound of the newer car.
“Has she updated it?” I nod my head towards the car as the crowd behind us starts to yell. I hear bets being placed from the people behind us, thousands of dollars being bet on my girl – although many think Markus is the one that has this in the bag.
“I mean, it’s an old car. She’s updated the engine and put some turbos in it.”
I turn and shoot Wylder a look, “Careful, that car right there is my first love.”
He rolls his eyes, and we both turn back to watch Eve and Markus make their way to the starting line, a messy spray-painted line drawn in the dirt. A girl in leather pants and a rolled-up t-shirt makes her way between the cars, a bandana clasped tightly in her fist.
Her voice is barely audible over the roar of the engine mixed with the chants of the crowd, but I hear her warning Eve and Markus of the muddy spots in the track from today’s rain, the one that’s still drizzling down in a slow downpour.
Both of them give her a nod and she backs up, her t-shirt beginning to stick to her from the rain.
“Ready, set, race!” The bandana flies in the air as Eve takes off, staying just a foot ahead of Markus as he follows close on her trail. Mud flies and slings onto the crowd as the cars pass, and I realize I should’ve changed when Wylder mentioned a race.
Kortez breaks from the crowd, standing in the middle of the track as Eve races towards the first turn. “Does she have this?”
I snort, following behind him and smiling at the view of the Maserati’s taillights. “Oh, she has this. She was a natural.”
“She still is.” Wylder joins us in the middle of the track as Eve flies around the turn, kicking mud on Markus’s McLaren. The car slides a little from the loss of traction, but Eve handles it like a pro.
“I’m so fucking hard right now.”
I hear Roman grunt as someone slaps him in the back of the head, no clue if it was Wylder or Kortez that did it this time.
Eve loses control of the wheel for a moment, and my heart skips a beat in my chest, but she’s able to straighten herself out.
The few seconds she lost, though, is all Markus needs to slide in front of her.
They make the last turn with Eve still a few feet behind him.
Markus cuts his wheel to the side to miss a deeper hole, and Eve uses that as her chance to slip between him and the water barrels marking the side of the track.
Her face slowly comes back into view as they get closer to the end.
Rain begins to fall harder as the sound of engines become deafening.
Wylder grabs me and Kor with Roman at his side, pulling us back to the safety of the crowd as the two cars come up on the finish line.
Eve flies by, mud once again hitting everyone close enough as she passes us.
Both the cars stop a few hundred feet away, the low traction and high speed making it harder for them to stop.
People who bet on Markus begin to grumble at their lost money while the smarter one’s cheer and count their winnings.
Idiots. I would never bet against my little ghost.
We begin the walk over and I watch as Eve gets out of the car laughing, shaking her finger at Markus as he joins her on the track.
She stops talking when she sees us, running over and jumping in my arms. “You came!”
I squeeze her tight, placing a kiss on her temple as she slides down my body. “Of course we did, Reginetta.” I lean down and leave another kiss on her nose as Kortez wraps his arms around her from behind. “You little minx. You had my car the whole time.”
Wyld leans in and gives her a kiss, groaning as he pulls away. “I didn’t know tonight was champ night.”
“Champ night?” I look up at Kortez to see if he knows but he’s just staring at Eve, the darkness in his eyes from this past week starting to recede now that he has her in his arms.
“The two racers with the most wins going head-to-head, it’s more for bragging rights than anything.
” Markus stops beside Kortez and Eve, his eyes shooting from them over to Wylder as if to make sure he’s okay with the display.
When he doesn’t see any anger on Wyld’s face, he continues.
“Evangeline here has won the last three years. She stole the title right out from under me, and I haven’t been able to steal it back. ”
She smiles and shoots him a wink. “You never will, Markus. Learn to love it.”
He smiles back at her, and Kor practically growls, tightening his hold on her as he pulls her away.
I see Markus’s face fall for a moment before he collects himself. “I’m sorry, I should’ve introduced myself. I’m Markus Rivera.” He holds his hand out for Kortez to shake but quickly turns to me when he sees the look on his face.
I shake it quickly and Markus keeps it up long enough for Roman to step in and take it. “Nice to meet you, man. I’m Roman, this is Atlas and the beast with his arms around Evie is Kortez.”
Markus nods and clears his throat, looking around the track at the people beginning to disburse now that the final race is done. “Are you guys coming to the party? I’m having it at the garage this year because of the rain.”
Eve looks around at us; her bottom lip trapped between her teeth as she thinks. “Um…”
Kortez begins to kiss a path up her throat, his teeth coming out to nipple every few kisses. Her face turns beet red as my arms tighten around her, effectively trapping her between Kor and I.
“Of course we’ll be there!” A thin arm snakes between where I have Evie caught, a red-haired woman sliding between us and causing Eve to laugh.
“Of course you want to party, Viv. Where’ve you been?”
So, this is Vivianne. She’s more petite than I expected with long straight hair falling down her back, barely soaked from the rain.
She’s dressed for the races in dark jeans and a bomber jacket, but something doesn’t feel right with her.
I’m finally beginning to feel the same sort of alarm that Kor has had the last few weeks when it comes to her.
“I was up in the watcher’s tower. The crowd tonight was insane, and I didn’t feel like dealing with everyone.”
Eve’s eyes narrow but she quickly shakes the look away and shoots Markus with an apologetic look. “Next time, Mark. I’ve got some…things I want to do.”
Roman barks out a laugh from beside me. “Us. She has us to do.”
The surprise in Markus’s eyes is short lived as he quickly shakes his head and gives a chuckle. “You guys have fun, then.” He walks over and claps Wylder on the shoulder on his way back to his car. “Keep my man out of trouble for me, Evie.”
Eve gives him a snort, “I am the trouble, Markus!”