—

A girl wearing a plaid skirt and a white shirt with the ends tied in the middle of her very impressive cleavage steps in front of our cars. The headlights shine right on her as she flashes a seductive smile.

Her hands shoot up into the air. “Ready?” she shouts.

Tony guns his engine, his maniacal laughter louder than anything. The sound makes my skin crawl. Actually, Tony himself makes my skin crawl. He’s twenty-nine years old and still hangs out with the high school crowd—that’s fucking weird.

“Shut the fuck up, Johnson,” Jase shouts, flipping the other driver off. Then he turns to me. “Two turns left, then a hard right, before a quarter-mile stretch.”

I flex my fingers and nod. Jase cranks up STP’s “Dead and Bloated.”

“Go!” Plaid skirt girl’s hand drops down.

I hit the gas and manage to break out in front of Tony’s Camaro.

“No braking in the turn,” Jase shouts.

I nod. My knuckles are white as I grip the steering wheel. Adrenaline pumping, I shift gears, and the Mustang shoots forward.

Jase bangs on the dash. “Two car lengths ahead. You can do this, O’Connor.”

I’m equal parts exhilarated and terrified I’ll screw this up. What if I lose?

“Get out of your head, Seth. Nothing good in there right now.”

I slice my gaze to Jase, and then back at the road. The hard right is up next. “I got this.”

“Don’t say shit like that,” Jase grouses over the music. If I hadn’t been driving, I’m pretty sure he would have smacked the back of my head to emphasize his point.

Tony suddenly pulls up beside me, and I blink. “Where in the hell did he come from?”

“Pay attention.”

Tony edges ahead of me. The right turn is only a few hundred feet away. I let up on the gas a little and Tony surges. His taillights are in my peripheral now.

“Why the fuck are you slowing down?”

Because Tony’s speeding up, and he’s going to spin out on the turn. “Trust me.”

Jase blows out a hard breath, and I can practically hear his teeth grinding. If this doesn’t work, then Jase will hand me my ass. And I like my ass; I like sitting on it. More specifically, Rowan likes my ass. I like it when she digs her fingers into my cheeks when I’m inside her.

“Fine,” he bites out.

Tony and I make the hard right. His car spins out, making a wider half circle than needed. That’s my cue.

“See. Ya.” I downshift and stomp on the gas pedal.

Jase’s Mustang rolls across the finish line, engine purring. I barely pull up the e-brake before jumping out. Banging the roof of the car, I let out a yell. The crowd goes wild, some groaning because they didn’t bet on the rookie.

While Rowan collects the money we won, I do a little victory shuffle.

Jase joins me, his smile as wide as mine, but he doesn’t celebrate like I do. That’s fine with me; I don’t care how damn goofy I look or sound right now.

I just fucking won my first race. And Tony Johnson’s Camaro is mine.

Mine.

I don’t bother to pay any attention to Tony as he parks his Camaro a short distance away. He probably needs a little time to find the pink slip to sign over to me and cry.

Poor bastard.

Rowan jogs to me, looking fine as hell in her tiny shorts and tank top. There’s lace at the top, highlighting the best-looking pair of tits I’ve ever seen. And by the way she’s smiling at me, I know I’ll be getting up close and personal with them tonight.

“I’m so proud of you,” she squeals, launching herself into my arms.

I bury my face into her hair. She smells and feels so damn good that my skin gets all tight. “Does this mean I can sneak into your room tonight?” I whisper in her ear.

She nods. “I’m gonna show you such a good time, lover boy.”

I straighten, taking her gorgeous face in my hands. “You know I love you, right? I’d do anything for you.”

Her nose wrinkles, freckles dancing across it as she does. “I love you, too, Seth.”

I know she does, but sometimes it feels like the love I have for her is like air or water—something I can’t live without. I have no idea what I’d do if I couldn’t have Rowan in my life.

Die, most likely.

“Fuck you, Tony. I’m not a cheat.”

Rowan’s head turns and so does mine. A few feet away, beside Tony’s car, he and Jase are shouting at each other. Fingers are pointing and Tony’s shoving against Jase’s chest.

I start to go and join in, to see if I can help diffuse the situation, but Rowan grabs my arm. “Don’t. Let Jase handle it.”

I frown.

“Not that I don’t think you can handle it,” Rowan quickly adds, mistaking my frown for displeasure at her words.

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, then kiss her forehead. “I’ll stay right by your side until Jase needs me.”

Rowan steps closer to me, wrapping her arms around my neck. She grinds slowly against me, barely moving against my hardening dick. “I need you. We could find a dark corner.”

Picking her up, I head in the opposite direction, away from the crowd and the argument. Rowan’s legs wrap around my waist. She kisses her way up my jaw, stopping at my ear to nibble. My eyes start to water.

“Slow down, wildcat.”

In response, she starts sucking on my earlobe. Rough brick bites into my hands when I hit the wall of an abandoned factory. Rowan tugs at my shirt, helping me pull it up and over my head. I cup her breasts, feeling her nipples harden.

“You looked so hot driving,” Rowan breathes. “I want to ride you while you drive us around. I want to feel you so deep inside…and the vibrations from the engine will make me come so hard.”

My heart slams against my chest. This girl…God, she knows how to amp things up. “Tomorrow,” I promise. “You wear that skirt I like and no bra. I’ll let you do whatever the hell you want while I drive.”

Rowan giggles and I smile, then stare into her eyes. “I really love you.”

“Why do you keep saying that?” She tilts her head to one side. “I know you love me.”

“Because after my conversation with your brother, I—”

“FIGHT!”

“Oh my God,” Rowan says, shoving at me. “Put me down.”

I let her legs slide down, and turn. Jase and Tony are going at it. Punches are being thrown and there are grunts, curses, and shouts. It’s too dark and the guys are built too much alike to see who’s whaling on who the most.

“I need to—”

Rowan hands me my shirt, and I kiss her. Hard. “Don’t let that perv hurt my brother, Seth.”

Pulling the shirt on and letting it fall, I stride in their direction, my heart slamming against my chest. “I won’t.”

Suddenly, one of the guys falls to the ground. I break out into a run, shoving my way past the crowd that’s forming around them.

Jase is on the bottom, arms up to protect his face as Tony pummels him.

“Pretty boy like you needs a lesson,” Tony grunts.

“I can’t help it if your girlfriend liked walking sideways so much, that after one night with me, she came back for more.”

Yeah, that’s going to help. But that’s Jase. He doesn’t give a shit and will taunt the hell out of anyone—including a cop.

I grab Tony’s shirt, yanking him away from Jase. Tony swings wildly. Pain bursts from my lip and a warm liquid trickles down. Obviously stunned, Tony freezes, his eyes all wild.

“Stay out of this, kid.”

“Shit.” I swipe the blood away and glare at Tony. “What the hell’s your problem?”

Jase tackles Tony from behind, and they both go sprawling in the dirt. I jump into the fray, trying to pull Tony off of Jase. Suddenly, everything speeds up.

“He has a gun,” someone shouts.

Who has a gun?

I catch a glimmer of metal in Tony’s hand and I pause, but that tiny second gives Tony enough time to hit me with the gun and shove me away. Dazed, I roll to my back, stars sparking in my eyes. But I don’t let that keep me down. I lunge for the gun again, and the three of us wrestle for it—Jase and I trying to work together.