Thank, fuck.
All of this was a lot to wrap my brain around, so I took another sip of coffee while I processed. “So you guys are Delta now. Like, for real. How does it feel?”
Jasper and Evan exchanged another one of those infuriating looks, but didn’t get a chance to answer me when the door burst open and Dylan staggered in with Beck close behind him.
“Hey, you,” I greeted him, mustering up a warm smile. It wasn’t too hard given how much those few sips of coffee had cheered me up already. Oh, and the fact that they were all alive seemed to help too.
“Riles,” he breathed, his voice pained and his face drawn. “I thought...” he trailed off, shaking his head and dropping his gaze to the floor. Straight up, Dylan looked like shit. As far as I could tell, he hadn’t slept in days, and his suit was still torn and stained with blood.
“I’m fine,” I promised him. “Thanks to someone’s sneaky trick with invisible body armor.” I shot a look at Beck, who still looked totally unapologetic. “Same goes for you four.”
Dylan sucked in a deep breath, his brow furrowing as he looked back up at me. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. I waved at him to come closer, and his feet practically dragged as he made his way across to me.
“Hey, Dylan,” I said, my voice soft and private. “I’m okay. We’re all okay.” I reached out and took his hand with mine. In my peripheral, I noticed the other guys quietly leave the room. Even Beck.
When Dylan didn’t respond, didn’t even look at me but squeezed my fingers tighter, I tugged on his hand.
“Come here,” I ordered. “You look like you need a hug as badly as I need to give you one.”
He let out a short, bitter laugh but perched on the edge of my bed and wrapped his arms around me. We stayed like that for a little while, until I wrinkled my nose and whispered in his ear. “Now that you know I’m okay, it’s probably time to shower. You smell like death.”
Dylan started laughing then. A genuine laugh touched with an edge of hysteria and a healthy dose of relief. I laughed with him, until his turned into sobs, and then I just held him. He was Beck’s best friend, but he was quickly turning into one of mine too. I knew where he was at. The floodgates had opened, and he just needed to work through it. So I just held onto him and let him cry.
Through the window to my room—the one looking out into the hospital ward—I met Beck’s eyes, and he gave me a short nod of approval.
32
Epilogue
The engine in my brand new Butterfly purred beneath me as I rolled up to the starting line, her nose kissing the chalk mark. I caressed her sleek leather steering wheel before killing the engine and popping my door open to get out.
“Riley Jameson, as I live and breathe. When I got the call to say you were racing tonight, I thought someone was pranking me.” Rabbit whooped with excitement, smiling from ear to ear as he held out a palm for me to slap.
I grinned just as wide, unable to hide my excitement. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, Rabbit. You know that. No punk ass bitch is stealing my Widowmaker crown just because I was too busy pushing papers around a desk.”
Rabbit hooted a laugh and clapped me on the back before someone shouted his name from across the impromptu gathering of cars. “Gotta go schmooze the fans, girl. Gimme a sec.”
He started to leave, and I grabbed his arm. “Wait, where are the other racers?” I arched a brow at the chalked line with only my car—my new Butterfly—sitting on it.
Rabbit grinned broadly. “Only one other racer this time, Riley-girl. Everyone else bailed the fuck out when they heard you were racing.” He glanced at his expensive—probably stolen—watch and shrugged. “Dude’s got another five minutes to get here, otherwise I’ll have to take you on myself. And neither of us wants that.” He winked, and I laughed.
“Yeah, because that’d be embarrassing as shit when I leave you for dead,” I commented, and he just shrugged with another laugh as he headed over to the guy who’d called out his name.
For a quick moment, I was alone.
All around me, people were chatting, music was playing, engines were revving, and the air smelled of that heady mixture of gasoline, exhaust and beer. It was my happy place.
“What are you thinking about with that silly smile on your face, girl?” Eddy asked, slipping her arm around me in a hug as she arrived.
I hugged her back then did the same to Dante as he reached out to me. “Just excited,” I told her honestly. “It’s been too long, and this girl needs a proper run.” I patted the hood of my shimmering lilac Aston Martin Valkyrie. It was the first real expensive thing I’d bought for myself after inheriting the majority shares in both Militant Delta FinancesandHuntley Corp.
Turned out that Graeme had left everything he owned to Catherine, and she’d died without a will at all. Typical fucking Catherine, thinking she was invincible.
After Richard abdicated his seat on Delta board, it all passed to me. I was now stupid rich, stupid powerful, andstupidoverprotected. It’d taken freaking weeks of planning to sneak out for this race without my bodyguardsorthe guys finding out.
“You didn’t tell them anything, right?” I blurted out, giving Eddy a nervous look.
She gasped. “Of course not. You know my loyalty lies only with you. It’s on them if they got outsmarted into losing you for a night.”
