A knock on my window saw me fumbling my phone before I peered up at Eddy’s beaming face.
“Come on,” she shouted through the glass. “Stop being a pussy!”
I sucked in a huge breath and released it in a heavy sigh. Time for those metaphorical big girl panties. With shaking fingers, I popped open my door and waited for it to raise before I got out. People were whooping and cheering for me, and it reminded me of old times. If only Dante was here to see me...
My gut panged with guilt, remembering that I still owed him a car to replace my butterfly.
“Hey! I know you!” Some random dude called out, pointing at me. He was clearly wasted, but he squinted at me and nodded. “Yeah, you’re that chick.”
Eddy snorted. “She’s clearly a chick, that much is obvious.”
I smirked at her, and she laughed.
“Nah, nah, nah.” Drunk guy waved his hand in the air. “You’rethatchick. The one who used to race the butterfly car down in Jersey. Didn’t you get in a crash and like ... kill your parents or something?”
Shock ripped through me and my jaw dropped. “Excuse me?” I breathed in outrage.
“Yeah,” drunk guy carried on, slurring his words badly. “You were like some kind of racing urban legend and then you justpoof!Disappeared.”
My lips moved, but no sounds came out. This dude had clearly combined the crash that killed my parents with the crash that destroyed butterfly. But the accusation that I was responsible for my parents’ death left me utterly speechless.
I needn’t have worried for long, though. Seconds later, Beck’s fist met drunk dude’s face and sent him sprawling—unconscious—on the ground.
Shock saw me gasping, covering my mouth with both hands as I frantically looked around. Was anyone going to intervene? Beck couldkillthat guy! He was more than capable, given all his training.
But everyone was just staring like this was some sort of half time entertainment. Eager, fascinated, but not in the slightest bit concerned. Only one person wasn’t watching Beck as he stalked over to where drunk dude was sprawled.
“Hey,” I grabbed Eddy’s arm, “isn’t that...” My words trailed off as I searched the crowd again and came up blank.
“Isn’t that who?” My friend asked, peering in the direction I was looking.
I shook my head. “Nothing. I thought I saw that creepy guy from the mall filming us again, but maybe I imagined it.”
Jeering yells came from the crowd that had closed around drunk guy and Beck. They pushed me into action, and I shoved my way through the spectators until I saw Beck holding drunk guy by the neck of his bloody shirt, whispering something to him.
“Beck!” I snapped with as much authority as I could muster. He cast a look over his shoulder at me, then dropped bleeding drunk guy back to the ground and straightened up. He dismissed his victim without a second glance and grabbed me by the upper arm.
“What the fuck, let me go!” I shrieked as his fingers bit into me. When he ignored me and kept dragging me toward his Bugatti, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
Using a series of basic maneuvers that Dylan had taught me, I broke Beck’s hold on my arm and backed away from him cautiously. “You were hurting me,” I explained in a shaking voice as he glared death at me.
“Get in the car, Butterfly,” he ordered me in a low, dangerous growl. From the corner of my eye I could see Dylan and Evan hovering nearby looking ... concerned.
“No,” I replied, backing away from him a few more steps. “I came here in Jasper’s Lambo, and I’m leaving in it.”
Beck took another menacing step toward me, and I backed up three more.
“Riley,” he snapped. “Get in the fucking car.” His jaw was so rigid that his cheek was ticking, and his whole frame was strung as tight as a piano string.
“You don’t own me, Sebastian,” I said with a stronger resolve. “A couple of fucks does not give you the right to manhandle me and order me around.”
We had a huge crowd, everyone from the race was hanging off our every word like a reality TV show, and it was turning my stomach. These rich kids were fucked in the head.
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Beck bit back. “I owneveryonein this town, and in eight months that’ll extend to a significant portion of the world. Don’t embarrass yourself by pretending you have free will.”
He started to step toward me, probably to put me in his car by force, but Dylan and Evan intercepted him, forming a human shield between us.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Beck demanded, his fists clenching at his sides.
