‘I’ll even get a Bessie for you.’ I release him, nudging his shoulder.
He sheepishly avoids eye contact. ‘I still have her in the garage.’
‘Well,’ I say, heading to the door before he changes his mind, ‘be sure to bring her by.’
I twist the brass handle, opening the door with a creak.
‘And Gia?’ he calls after me. I peek my head back through the doorway. ‘I’ll see what Dellenty can do to revisit your brother’s case.’
Chapter 28
Gianna
PRESENT
The last few days have been as much of a blur as a quarter-mile race. With the mayor’s blessing, Ryker’s started helping me clean up the rest of Hammer Time Circuit.
If someone had told me a month ago that Ryker would be back in town, let alone become a doting boyfriend, I would have called the psych ward.
I love the smile that takes over Ryker’s entire face when he takes his bike or one of his cars for a lap.
It feels like the old him again.
I thought he had turned into an emotionless monster. Instead, it turns out he feels things deeply, so hard, that they consume him from the inside out. The last four years have been a black hole of guilt for him. Earlier this morning, as we pored over the piles of newspaper clippings and old photographs in the speedway lobby, he told me about the text messages and the images of Jace’s silver mask, and though they’ve stopped, Ryker still believes Erik is a threat.
Right now, we’re in the Fernando Garage, installing new anti-theft mechanics on the Mustang while analysing this whole Erik situation. There’s been no movement at Midnight Spares; the boys have been keeping an eye on it.There have been no more whispers of another race. He’s just disappeared. Again.
‘We should go find the fucker,’ Renny says, wiping his hands on a shop cloth.
‘What do you think we’re fucking doing?’ Ryker snaps as he leans over the engine bay. ‘Tyler’s out there now.’
From the garage creeper she’s lying down on, Monique rolls her eyes. ‘So let me get this straight.’ She sits upright. ‘Erik has been running from you guys, putting on a rip-off Lost Tropics, and you guys have just been following him? For four years?’
‘Vermelhinha—’
‘Stop calling me that!’ Monique glares at Renny then mumbles, ‘I don’t know what it means.’
Ignoring Monz, Renny hikes a thumb at Ryker.
‘The Grim Reaper here,’ Renny continues, ‘has been looking for Erik since that night four years ago. After Jace was taken away, we all got interrogated by the cops but Erik had already gotten his money into their pockets. They claimed he had an alibi. They weren’t going to help us, but Erik had to pay. We all left, hunting down different leads. After the second year, I stopped chasing. I couldn’t do it anymore myself, but I kept an ear out. But, yes, over the past four years, Erik’s been hustling racers for money at the same time as sending us texts of Jace’s mask.’
Monique frowns as she strings together the story. ‘I don’t get it. Why would he continue to antagonise you guys?’
Renny sucks his teeth and shrugs.
‘It doesn’t matter why,’ Ryker says. ‘The point is, he has. And he’ll continue to.’
‘How can this have gone on for so long?’ Monique shakes her head. ‘Gia, you really didn’t recognise him?’
I fiddle with Jace’s necklace, now hanging around my neck, my thumb tracing the grooves. ‘No. I really only got a proper look at him the morning I saved Chuckie. That was four years ago.’
Her lips pull down. ‘I guess I didn’t recognise him either. It was dark that night of the fight.’
‘Besides, he’s stacked on the weight,’ Renny tacks on.
‘He’s also good at hiding,’ Ryker grumbles, sifting through an assortment of tools. ‘He’s on the move constantly and we’re always a step behind. Which reminds me, I still don’t know if the person in the trench coat was Erik … Like Renny said, he’s put on a few pounds. That person was slim and really fucking agile.’
‘God.’ Monz rolls her eyes. ‘Another person to worry about?’
