“You good?” Anniston asks.
“Yeah. I’m good,” I tell her confidently.
“Good. Get the fuck in the car.” Theo shoves past me with a growl.
Anniston rolls her eyes and turns back to me. She wiggles her eyebrows, which makes her look silly, and I laugh. “Let’s do this shit, Gorgeous. You’re on my team.”
Ah. That’s why Theo is pissed.
Anniston tells me our channel and turns on my mic inside the helmet. It’s weird but really cool. Once in the driver’s seats, Wes checks all of our belts, ensuring we are properly strapped in, and then steps off the tarmac.
“When the light turns green, go,” comes through my mic. “Whoever crosses the finish line first after ten laps is the winner.”
I look over at Anniston in her car. Her eyes are facing forward. She is in this. She is totally going to kick Theo’s ass.
I focus on the stoplight in front me. When it signals green, I floor it. And my engine completely chokes and dies.
“Double-clutch it, Cade,” Anniston barks in my ear. “Now!”
I start up the engine again with Wes’ help and try to remember what the fuck she means by double-clutching. Eventually, it comes back to me but not before Theo zips past me, Anniston trailing him by an inch. Thad races past me, attempting to catch them.
Picking my balls and confidence up off the ground, I drive the fucking car like I stole it. The wind ripping through the window is like freedom. I won’t ever catch Theo and Commander, or Thad for that matter, but this moment of blasting down the track faster than I could imagine feels like everything. Everything that I fucking wanted. Everything that I missed. Everything that I’m not. And everything that I am. In this moment, I feel free.
“Block him, Cade!” Anniston is shouting into my headset.
I look over my shoulder and see Theo gaining on me.
“Block him. Do not let him pass you!”
I glide over and obstruct his way as he swerves to the right. I swerve in front of him, never giving him the chance to pass. He’s pissed, banging on his steering wheel, hurling obscenities at me through the windshield.
A big fucking smile graces my face as I give him a pageant wave. He fucking loses it. Guns his car and goes into a tailspin, slinging himself off the tarmac before recovering and getting back on the track.
“I’m behind you, Cade. Keep Theo busy and I’m going to pass you on the left. This is the last lap.”
“Ten-four, Commander.”
I swoop in front of Theo, brake-checking him a couple of times. His driving has become erratic. It’s fun fucking with people who are sore losers.
Anniston slips past me on the left, Thad hot on her heels. Theo sees her, too, and I can practically hear him roar as he yanks the wheel hard and floors it, maneuvering around me like a pro. Fuck. Can’t he suck at something?
I floor mine, too, even though I have no chance of winning. But the thought of Theo’s face as Anniston crosses the finish line is enough to keep me pressing the gas, just to see him throw down.
Closing in on Thad, I see Theo and Anniston neck to neck approaching the finish line.
“Oohrah, Commander!” I yell into the mic, my excitement getting the better of me. Fuck. Where did that come from?
Anniston returns my “oohrah” as she crosses the finish line a hair in front of Theo.
“Suck it, Von Bremen!” she hollers from her window as she coasts to a stop.
Theo slams down on his brake and spins his car to a halt, the dust swirling around us like a tornado.
Anniston is doubled over in fits of laughter.
Theo looks fucking pissed. He marches her way, hurling his helmet across the raceway with brute force, looking like he’s capable of bodily harm. His behavior makes me uncomfortable. I’m struggling to get out of my car, intending to intervene, when a hand closes over the door.
“Come on, let’s go change and get a drink.” I look up at Thad, who is crowding my exit. He shakes his head. “You don’t want to see this.”
