MasonThe car was nicer than I’d expected. Way nicer. My brother Rick had called me that Saturday morning to tell me he’d found something he wanted me to see. After asking him some prying questions and being met with evasive answers, I’d driven over to his house to see what the hell he was going on about. He had a 1967 Mustang Fastback in his garage. It wasn’t stock. In fact, I doubted anything on the damn thing was stock. It was souped-up, and the metallic green paint glittered in the dim lighting of his garage. Specks of gold and silver shimmered as I walked around the car like it was winking at me. Promising me victory. “What do you think?” Rick asked as he slid his hands into the pockets of his jeans and rocked back on his heels. I paused behind the car and looked up at my younger brother. He had come a long way from a head injury six months ago. His blond hair wasn’t quite growing back properly on the right side of his head where a
Mason Showing up down at the docks would have repercussions. Everyone would know I was back. Mark Denning, Sid Paul, and Evelyn—people I wished I never had to see again. People I hated for what they had done to me. But I wasn’t a fool. I needed closure, and what better way to achieve that than to beat them at their own game? Surely Mark and Sid thought they were a shoo-in for victors of The Streets this year. The other competitors might show them a good time, but nobody raced as dirty as the pair of them. They would do anything to win. So would I. “I’ll race,” I said. Rick clapped his hands together with excitement. “Hell yeah! Glad I didn’t splurge on this green beast for nothing.” “Are you racing?” He shook his head. “Nope. I already qualified for The Streets and have a starting spot at the first race next weekend. I got in for free.” He winked. “How’d you swing that?” “I made
LainaI flipped the visor down and used the little mirror to line and fill in my lips with my favorite shade of red. Benji, my older brother, was in the driver’s seat drumming his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the rock song playing through the speakers. His head bobbed to the beat as his dark green eyes scanned the intersection as he waited for our light to change. My best friend Ginny Brown was in the back seat of his supercharged coupe. She glanced at me in the mirror and gave me a wide smile. “You look excited, Gin,” I said as I screwed the cap back onto my lip color. She nodded eagerly and then disappeared from my view as I flipped the visor back up. I twisted around in my seat to face her. “I am excited. I haven’t been to one of these races in months. Maybe even a year. Thank you for inviting me tonight.” “Of course,” I said before knuckling Benji’s upper arm. “Benji and I are happy to have you a
Laina When people told me stories about Mason, I always thought they were lying or exaggerating. I knew stories of fights he’d been in and the damage he’d inflicted on other men. I knew scary people who were afraid of him. I realized how wrong I’d been when I saw him angry and drunk those times after Evelyn had left him. It was enough to fill me with nauseating fear. Benji and Rick had both had to hold him down once when he went off. None of them knew what triggered it, but we were out having a couple of drinks when he tried to start a fight with a bunch of bikers who looked like the sort who would wipe the pavement with him. Mason didn’t care. He wanted the pain. If not for Benji and Rick, that night would have gone very, very badly. They managed to subdue Mason and get him out of the bar. Then, naturally, Mason wanted to fight them. And he did. It was bloody and terrible and one of the worst memories I had. But I still trusted him.
Mason“Holy fuck,” I murmured as Rick drove us beneath the overpass and to the clearing where all the drivers and members of the underground scene were gathered. There was a shit ton of people. At least two hundred and fifty. This was way bigger than what I’d expected, and a bit of anxiety started chewing at my insides. Rick slowed to a crawl as we drove through the swarm of bodies. People got out of our way for the most part, and I was glad the Fastback had blacked-out windows. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be recognized yet. Eyes were drawn to the green car like moths to a flame. People stopped and pointed, and Rick revved the engine a bit. “Knock that shit off,” I said. “What? I’m just giving them a show.” “I don’t want to tip anyone off as to what’s under our hood. Slow and steady.” Rick grumbled about how I was no fun at all, but I didn’t care. He found a spot to park and turned off the engine. He tos
Mason I cut through the crowd and drew eyes as I went. People were recognizing me and bowing their heads together in whispers they probably thought I couldn't hear. “Holy shit. Is that Mason Thomas?” “Who’s Mason Thomas?” “That’s the guy who won The Streets five years in a row. The one with the beef with Mark Denning.” “Hey, look. That’s Mason Thomas!” “He’s the one who married Evelyn Thomas.” “He’s the Street King.” I kept my attention straight ahead and ignored the attention. When I made it back to my car, Rick was there with another guy. They shook hands and bumped shoulders as I came around the hood. It was Benji, my best friend, and he threw an arm around my shoulders. “Mason! Shit, man, it’s good to see you. A little weird to be back, huh?” “A little bit,” I said, jabbing him in the ribs with my elbow to get him to release me. He grunted and rubbed
LainaThere was something about the way Mason looked at me that had me getting wetter by the second—and it wasn’t from the rain. His electric blue eyes lingered at my hips and tits and at the bare strip of skin between my crop top and leggings. I didn’t want to cover myself up. I wanted him to look. I was shocked by how much I wanted him to look. Had my brother not been there, I might have taken my jacket off and fallen into his arms and begged him to fuck me in the back seat of his car. The windows were tinted. It would be fine. Right? I shook my head. Get a grip, Laina. You’re not that kind of girl. You’re the kind of girl a man takes home to his family. The kind of girl who makes soup on Sundays and prefers jeans over dresses. But Mason was a whole other level of sexy. His blue eyes were just the start. He had sharp, square, masculine features and the beginnings of a five o’clock shadow forming along his jaw and neck. His
Laina “Yes.” “Good. Nice lipstick, by the way.” “Thank you,” I said, blushing a bit. Harley was the type of woman all men wanted and every girl wanted to be. She was hot as hell, and you didn’t mess with her. Her word was law, especially here, and any man or woman who opposed her had another thing coming. “Who are you pulling for?” Harley asked me. She didn’t look at me. Her eyes were trained on the cars pulling into their starting positions. I glanced over at the lineup. Mason had rolled his green Mustang into his place. Benji was coming up behind him in his coupe. I shrugged one shoulder. “My brother is racing. Aren’t I obligated to pull for him?” Harley looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “There are no obligations here.” “Who do you think will win then?” “Oh, sweet girl. Is that a question worth asking?” I smiled. We both knew who was winning this race. Mason Thomas.
Harley“I can’t believe it, man,” Rick said.“I couldn’t for a while either,” Mason said. “But this is something we’ve wanted for some time now. Now it’s happening. You picked a good time to go away. I was going to ask for your help building the crib and setting up the nursery.”Rick chuckled. “Well, you have Benji for that.”The men looked at Benji. His shoulders slumped. “Yay.”Everyone laughed.“Are you going to find out the gender, or let it be a surprise in the end?” I asked Laina.She lit up like a light bulb and instinctively put her hand on her belly, even though she wasn’t showing yet. “I think we’re going to wait.”I smiled. “Beautiful.”Within the next half hour, everyone migrated to the dining-room table, which Laina had set beautifully with a white tablecloth, gold chargers, and white plates. The candles were in gold holders, and even the cutlery was gold. She had an eye for detail.While we devoured the spaghetti and meatballs, we talked about life and babies and all the
HarleyTwo Months Later“Careful,” I said as Rick took a sharp righthand turn and drove the Jeep into Mason and Laina’s driveway. The appetizer I’d thrown together slid across the backseat and bumped into the door panel. I scowled at him. “I slaved over those for fifteen minutes. Don’t ruin them before we walk in the door. I want to knock everyone’s socks off with how much of a homemaker I’ve become.”Rick killed the ignition and arched an eyebrow at me. “A homemaker? Really?”I lifted my chin. “What?”He snorted and got out of the Jeep. “Nothing. I just doubt anyone is going to think ‘homemaker’ just because you’re showing up with a plate of—what do you call these?” He opened the back door and picked up the plate covered in three layers of saran wrap.Wrapping the plate had been more difficult than whipping up the food.“They’re caprese salad skewers,” I said.I’d spent the fifteen minutes before we left sliding cherry tomatoes, bocconcini cheese, and basil leaves onto toothpicks. I
RickThe corner of her mouth twitched, giving away the beginning of a smile. “A trip, huh?”I nodded. “We can narrow it down to some destinations and start mapping it out. There’s no better time than now, right? We can get out of the city, figure out what we want, and make up for lost time. Just you and me and beaches and sand and—”“Lots of sex?”I chuckled. “That’s not what I was going to say, but I assumed it was part of the package.”Harley nodded. “That sounds like a plan to me.”“Good,” I said. “Now stay still.”She opened her mouth to ask me why but promptly shut it when I ran my hands over her shoulders and then to her breasts, which I gently massaged, loving how they felt all lathered in slippery soap.“You’re such a guy,” she said playfully.I snickered. “I know.”She let me lather her entire body in the shower. Then we switched places, and she did the same for me. Having her run her hands all over me was heavenly, and it helped me forget about the tight pain in my bruised r
RickAll the aches and pains that had plagued me on Saturday night were still with me when I woke up on Monday morning. I was lying on my back, and Harley was tucked into my side. Her cheek was on my chest, and her left leg was draped over me. Her breathing was deep and slow and soft, and I didn’t open my eyes.I just lay there and listened to her. And felt her closeness.Yesterday had been dedicated to recovering and covering our tracks from Saturday’s race. I hired a tow-truck driver to come get the Saleen and bring it back to my place, where I got it in the garage so that if the cops came looking for it, the car wasn’t sitting out somewhere. It needed a lot of work, and the downside of street racing was obviously that it didn’t have insurance. I couldn’t claim a hit and run when the car was beat to shit on both sides and the rear end.Fucking Torq.But it was just a car, and I liked working on vehicles. The Saleen would be my project for the next year or so while I figured out what
HarleyHe watched me like a hawk as I started going down to my knees, pulling his boxers down as I went.His cock sprang free, teasing and taunting me as I got comfortable below him. I gazed up at him and took his shaft in one hand, working him over softly and warming him up. His gaze was dark and heavy as I ran my tongue from the base of his shaft to the tip and then swirled it around his meaty head.I drew him into my mouth, suctioning my lips around his thickness. I worked him slowly at first, taking my time, easing him into it. I knew he was hurting, and I wanted to be gentle with him.If he’d let me.He had a way of taking over halfway through and showing me who was boss. Not that I’d be mad if that happened.I swirled my tongue around his length before taking him deep in my throat and holding him there as my mouth filled with saliva. Then I bobbed my head, sucking him off hard and fast and fitting as much of him in my throat as I could take.He let me suck his cock for a long ti
HarleyIt was a wonder that the Saleen had even started back on the track, and it was even more mind blowing that it made it back to my house without losing several more pieces along the way.I parked at the back of my building in the private parking lot. I didn’t want to leave it on the curb in case any police drove by. It would be easy for them to link the Saleen to the scene down by the docks, and then we’d be done for.After parking the car, Rick had to climb out of the passenger window again. Every move he made was gentle and controlled. I knew he was hurting and hated that there was nothing I could do to take the pain away.Once he was out of the car, I climbed across the console and slipped out too. He offered me his hand, and I took it but didn’t lean on him for support. I was pretty sure he wasn’t in much of a position to be offering it in the first place.We walked soundlessly across the parking lot, our footsteps drowned out by the sound of rain pinging off the metal garbag
Rick“Fuck me fucking sideways,” I said.I couldn’t afford to waste any time. Either I was getting his ass out of the car, or I was bailing.“You owe me, motherfucker,” I said as I leaned in through the driver’s window and reached up to unclip his seatbelt.Torq crumpled to the ceiling of the car, landing across my arm beneath him. Shattered glass from the windshield bit into my bicep and forearm, but I gritted my teeth against the burn and worked to drag Torq’s ass out of the car. He was a heavy motherfucker.He started groaning.I stumbled to my feet and hauled him backward. “Work with me you fat bastard. I’m getting you out of here. Your asshole buddies bailed on you.”He mumbled something incoherent.“Yeah, I know. They’re your friends, not mine. I guess that’s what you get for being a piece of shit.”I collapsed when I had him clear of the car. I struggled to catch my breath, and my side screamed with pain. I tucked my arms under his armpits, stumbled back to my feet, and kept dr
RickI landed heavily on the wet pavement after managing to climb out through the passenger window of the Saleen. My right leg was tender and bruised from Torq driving into me, and my chest ached from the seatbelt and being jostled around roughly as I’d lost control of the car.But I was alive, nothing was broken, and there was no blood. So, overall, things were pretty good.Aside from the approaching police.I used the car to push myself to my feet, slicking my wet hair off my forehead as I rose. Then I stood and waited for the dizziness to pass. I didn’t think I’d hit my head at any point, but it sure felt like I had. Maybe it was just severe vertigo from whiplash.It didn’t matter. I could figure that out later. I had to focus on getting the hell out of there and making sure Harley was safe, too.She had a lot to lose if this race got busted, and so did I. She was everything. If I lost her, I would lose my damn mind. After all this time, we were finally together, and there was noth
HarleyBenji and Mason took off for the registration table. I swung my attention toward Rick’s car. The whole passenger side was busted up. The damage looked pretty bad, and I had no idea what sort of injuries he might have acquired. I leaned forward to look down the road.The last drivers were only twenty or so seconds away. Maybe less.“I think his door is jammed,” Laina said, nodding at Rick’s car.I narrowed my eyes. She was right. He couldn’t get out. His car was too crumpled and too fucked up for him to get the door open. I wondered if it would still run.If we had to leave it behind, it was a sure-fire way for the cops to trace the car back to Rick. Then all our dreams of starting a new life together would be over. He’d be in jail for a long time.Charlie shook my arm. “What do we do, Harley? Tell us what to do!”I swallowed and took a deep breath. “Okay. Okay. We need to clear the area. Rick can handle himself. Help me get people the hell out of here. Send them off in differen