“Can I help you, ladies?”
We all scream like banshees as the car owner—a man in his late twenties with a backward cap and stretched ears—pops up like a jack-in-the-box. At least, I assume he’s the owner. We scramble aside as he opens the trunk.
Rain backs away. “Aaaaaand, one.”
We run across the road, heels clicking, ponytails bouncing.
For someone who’s a tomboy at heart, I’ve let Rain play dress-up too many times lately. I feel out of my element running in heels. Okay, they’re nowhere near as tall as Rain’s, but they’re tall enough to make me stumble and almost get run over by a car.
What I wouldn’t do for my Nike Air Force right now.
“I’m sorry,” I call out to the driver, smiling apologetically as Summer drags me away.
We finally come to a stop a few minutes down the road. From here, we can see the starting line in the distance. Dark Lanes is a big place, with the main stretch of road where the cars race. Then there’s the circle where we nearly got caught by our jailers and grounded for life. As you can already guess, it’s popular for doughnuts.
“Who are we here to see, anyway?” I ask casually as Rain pops open her pocket mirror to assess the damage from our adventure back there.
She smudges her eyeshadow, her bracelets clinking as the revving engines in the distance grow louder. She’s gone for the rocker-chick look today, and now she wants more smudge.
“We’re here to see your boyfriend, of course.”
I suppress an eye roll. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
She snaps the mirror shut, gives me awhateverlook, then roots through her bag for lipstick while Summer looks around the crowd.
“We’re not here for Kane.”
Rain ignores me, applies her lipstick.
“You’re into someone.”
Done with the lipstick, she smacks her lips, pops it into her bag, and finally looks at me. She’s about to reply when her eyes slide past me and widen. I look behind me, but she stops me.
Her smile is shaky now as she grips me a little tighter. “Let’s just leave.”
“What?” Why would she want to leave? We only just got here. I try to look behind me again at whatever or whoever caught her eye, but she stops me again, making me frown.
“Come on. Let’s just leave.” She starts to lead me away, but I worm my arm free. Something is wrong. I don’t want to be in the dark.
But when I finally spin around, I eat my words.
Kane is across the lot. He’s not alone. A girl is seated on his hood, and he’s leaning over her, his hands caging her on either side.
And he’s smiling.
“I’m sorry,” Rain says, tugging uselessly on my hand. “You shouldn’t have to see this. Let’s just go.”
“No.” I pull free, ignoring the throbbing ache behind my ribs, and storm across the lot, right into his line of sight. Breathing feels harder than it should as I weave blindly through the crowd. A woman calls me a bitch as I shoulder past, but her voice is distant, like a faint echo. My heart roars like the ocean in my ears.
Rain and Summer run after me, but I won’t stop. Something that feels like rage, but isn’t, cleaves me open from the inside. Anger would hurt less.
“Whoa.” Cash straightens from his car when I come barrelling past, and Noah frowns and looks past me at the others.
“Kane?” My voice shakes as I come to a stop beside his car.
The girl giggles, grinning at me with her lip trapped between her teeth. When her assessing gaze falls down my body, I feel ten feet tall in Rain’s silly heels and this cheap dress.
A dress I wore for him.
