We pull into the Fields and there are several other cars parked already. Things won’t really get busy until about seven, so we have over an hour to kill. Jayson parks his truck next to us.
“Come here, Liz.”
“No,” she sasses back even though she’s using me like a human shield to hide behind my back, head poking up over my shoulder.
Julien casually walks over and lifts Elizabeth into his arms. “Stop being a possessive ass,” he tells his brother.
“Fucking Christ. Will everyone stop manhandling my girl.”
Elizabeth is enjoying the game of “pass the girlfriend” if her giggles are anything to go by. Elijah shows up and Julien hands Elizabeth over to him. Jayson has had enough and strong arms Elizabeth away from Elijah.
“Hi,” she grins at Jayson when they are nose to nose.
Jayson just growls and attacks her mouth with a kiss. I turn to pop the hood of my car, feigning checking the engine. It gets harder and harder for me to watch Jayson kiss Elizabeth because, shit, I want to be that man.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” Elijah says walking over to me, “but word is Marshall is racing tonight.”
Both Julien and I release twin groans. “Elizabeth and I were talking about graduating in a month and it can’t come soon enough. I won’t have to see that asshole anymore for the rest of my life.”
“Speaking of Marshall,” Julien jerks his thumb to the side where Marshall and several others are getting out of their cars. He glares over at our group and we glare back. Fallon arrives next in a new Porsche 918 Spyder. I swear that guy goes through cars like he does women.
“Hey, there’s my man!” Fallon shouts out at me, three girls attached to his sides.
“Nice car,” I comment. The guys have walked off and are talking with a group of people from our school, but I notice Elizabeth lingers behind, her gaze watchful as Fallon approaches me.
“No shit, man. It’s fucking awesome. Want to give it a spin?”
“You serious?”
“You’re the only one I would trust with it, hoss.”
“Well, then fuck yeah. When and where?” I’m one of the first drivers up tonight to race so don’t have time for a test drive. I’m also not stupid enough to take an almost one-million-dollar car out on a dirt track in the middle of a field.
Fallon twirls his keys around his index finger and slips them in his front jeans pocket. “I’ll set something up for this weekend.”
“Sounds good. When did you get back?” For the past ten months after he graduated from Highland High, Fallon has been sailing the world on his family’s yacht. This is the first I’ve seen him at the Fields since he left.
“A couple of weeks.” Fallon removes the girls’ hands from the various places they are attached to his body. “Why don’t you girls go wait over there until I’m done.” He kisses each one and swats them on the ass as they teeter off, stumbling across the grass and dirt in their high heels.
“Fucking bitches,” he mumbles. “So,” he leans lazily against my car as I continue to look at my engine under the hood. “You’re up against Marshall tonight.”
My head jerks up and I almost smack it against the underside of the hood. “Now why the hell would you set that up,” I say not as a question but as an accusation.
“Part of the deal we made.” Fallon takes out a joint and then puts it back in his pocket when he sees Elijah’s dad. “He asked for a shot at you and I granted it. Why? You worried?”
“Fuck no. I can drive circles around that asshole with my eyes closed.” And I can’t really complain about it. Fallon did get Marshall to back off and not press charges against Jay after Jay put him in the hospital. Or the fact that Fallon was able to get the video down so quickly and made Marshall quit the Highland High soccer team.
“That’s what I figured,” he chuckles. Fallon tilts his head and stares at Elizabeth. She’s still watching us and cocks her head to the side imitating Fallon and stares right back. I frown.
“You keep staring at Elizabeth, you and I are going to have a problem.”
“She’s a fascination is all. Hot as fuck too.”
“Fallon,” I warn, my voice low and serious.
“Chill the fuck out, Ry. I know she’s hands off. We just have some unfinished business is all.” Before I can ask him what unfinished business, he slaps me on the back and walks off. “You’re up in ten, my man.” I close the hood of my car. Fallon stops in front of Elizabeth and leans in to whisper something in her ear. I see her tense up and then he walks off whistling.
She and I meet halfway. “Want to tell me what that was all about?”
