LainaThe handle of the guest room door was cool against my fingertips. I tightened my grip and almost opened the door to go back out into the living room. Almost. But something held me back, and I let my hand fall to my side. Seeing Mason talking to Evelyn had been a curveball. I’d felt physically ill when she walked past me in the driveway, and the feeling of rolling nausea hadn’t passed since. Why did it suddenly feel like the ground was falling out from under me? I went to the bed and perched myself on the edge. I rested my elbows on my knees and leaned forward, staring down at the plush gray carpet beneath my feet. Mason’s guest room was nice. Simple, but nice. The cool gray carpets and white walls provided a calm, soothing environment that wasn’t cluttered with stuff. All that was in the room was the bed, a nightstand with a lamp, and a chair in the far corner with one pillow. Sheer navy curtains hung in front of the wi
Laina I got out of bed, changed into a pair of sweats and a crop top, and padded out into the living room and then into the kitchen, where I found Mason standing in front of the stove frying up some eggs. “Morning,” I said. He looked up at me and smiled. He looked more and more like himself every day. “Morning. How’d you sleep?” “Better than I thought I would. You?” “As well as I could. There’s fresh coffee in the pot there.” He nodded at the coffee maker on the counter. “Help yourself.” I did. I found cream in the fridge and sugar in one of the cupboards. After fixing myself the perfect cup of coffee, I went over to the stove where he was mixing the eggs around. He gave me an apologetic look. “They started out as omelets. And then I fucked them up.” I smiled. “Scrambled is just as good.” “Would you like toast as well?” “Sure. What’s the occasion?” “No occasion,” he
Mason“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Laina asked. She was sitting in the passenger seat of Rick’s Jeep—his daily driver—and had twisted around to look at me in the back seat. We were slowing cutting through the crowd gathered for the last race before the final showdown of The Streets. This was the biggest turnout so far, and there would only be more and more people coming over the next hour and a half leading up to the start of the race. I nodded to her. “Everything will be fine.” “You don’t think we should have come a little later?” she asked, looking out her window at the people outside. “We won’t be able to keep it a secret that you’re here. We’re basically handing over the opportunity for Mark and Sid to concoct their master plan.” “Master plan?” Rick chuckled. He had one hand resting lightly on the top of the steering wheel as he put the Jeep in park with the other. “You make them sound like movie villains.” “They m
Mason I cut through the crowd to find Harley sitting at her table. She had her feet up and was picking the black nail polish off her fingers. When she spotted me, she swung her feet down, stood up, and walked around the table to wrap her arms around my shoulders. “I’m so happy to see you,” she said. I hugged her back. She smelled like cinnamon and apples. “It’s good to see you too, Harley. Thanks for what you did for me on Saturday. For Laina.” She pulled away but held onto my shoulders. “That girl is going to get herself into trouble if she doesn’t get a grip on that temper of hers. She reminds me of someone else I know.” She winked. I smirked. “Yeah. I won’t say you’re wrong.” “Good.” She patted my cheek before walking around the table. “What are you driving?” “A Boxster.” She arched an eyebrow at me and held her pen above the registration paper. “I know,” I said. “It’s not mine. But it’s
Laina“Where the hell is everyone?” I asked as I craned my neck to peer above the heads in the crowd.Rick had his arms crossed and leaned up against his Jeep, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. “They’ll be here. Relax.” “I can’t relax,” I said, pacing back and forth in front of him. I must have crossed this same patch of gravel sixty times as I waited for Mason to come back from registration. I was also waiting on Benji and Ginny. They were supposed to come and be his backup. Well, Benji was. Ginny was my backup, I guessed. “You’re wound up tight like a jack-in-the-box.” Rick chuckled. I stopped pacing and glared at him. “I don’t know how you’re staying so calm right now.” He shrugged. “I’ve been in this scene longer than you have. It makes sense. Besides, there’s nothing we can do other than wait. So why get your panties in a knot about it?” I sighed and resumed my pacing. Rick rolled his eyes, rea
Laina Benji looked over his shoulder at me. His jaw was tight, and although he didn’t speak, I knew what he was trying to tell me. Stay put. Don’t do anything stupid. Ginny shuffled up tight to my side. I thought for a moment I could feel her pulse in her grip when she took hold of my hand, but I realized it was my own quickening heartbeat I was feeling. It fluttered at my neck, my wrists, my fingertips. Benji tipped his chin in a get-the-hell-out-of-here sort of fashion. “Mason’s not around, Sid. You should get back to your car. The race is about to start.” Sid chuckled and his boys followed suit. Sheep, I thought bitterly. Sid took a few swaggering steps forward. “You know, Benjamin. Of all the fools who hung around with Mason, you were always my favorite. You’re good at keeping your hands clean. You know? You’re a problem solver. A practical man. It’s a shame you’ve aligned yourself with scum.” Benj
Mason“Bastard,” I growled. Sid Paul was standing over Benji, who was cradling one arm across his stomach as he leaned over and spat blood out on the gravel. Rick came to a skidding halt beside me. Sid splayed out his hands, chuckling. “Well, look who showed up to the party.” Rick cracked his knuckles. “I’ll hold them off. You get Sid. Deal?” “I just need thirty seconds.” “You’ve got them.” “Deal.” We didn’t need to exchange more words than that. As soon as I moved for Sid, all of his boys, including Mark, came at me. Rick threw himself between us and fought dirtier than I’d ever seen him fight. He kicked groins and kneecaps, and I didn’t notice until I was stepping over Benji that he was laughing while he did it. Sid lifted his fists to fight me. But I wasn’t interested in a fight. I was interested in inflicting pain. Sid swung first. His fis
Mason “The point is, you’ve shown your hand, Sid. You’re a transparent, foolish jackass, and everyone knows it. Your time here is done.” Sid threw his head back in manic laughter. Laina was slipping under Benji’s arm and helping him to his feet. He staggered, and Rick went to her aid, sliding under his other arm. They walked him toward the Jeep and away from Sid and his band of not so merry men. I could hear Laina whispering to her brother that he would be all right, and I hoped Benji wasn’t too banged up. How long had the beating been going on before I got there? “Let me guess, Mason,” Sid said as he began pacing back and forth. He commanded the attention of everyone in the vicinity. “Are you going to be the one to get rid of me?” I smirked. “I’m here. Aren’t I?” The crowd rippled with laughter. Sid narrowed his eyes at me. He was losing his edge, and he knew it. The crowd favored me. He was scum. Sid lifted his
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