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The devil behind the wheel yanks the sunglasses off, leaning an elbow on the door. “You ever walk down a street before? The road’s not your fucking catwalk.”
His eyes are steel blue, fringed with dark lashes and narrowed in accusation. He’s striking, like the frozen river behind my house—cool and smooth, right up until you stick a foot through the ice.
I fist the broken pieces of headphone in my hand. “We’ll see what the cops have to say.”
“No.” It’s one word, a low command over the purr of the car, delivered in a voice even colder and more assured than the rest of him. “You won’t tell a soul. Not the police. Not your best friend. Not whatever townie hookup gets you off Friday night. Keep this to yourself as long as you live.”
I brush dirt off my jeans, which only makes the gravel burrow deeper into my palm. “So, not long if it’s up to you.”
His eyes narrow as he shoves the driver’s door open.
“You’re going to the academy?” My rescuer reaches for my book bag, which also wound up on the road, and holds it up. The “A” for Ashford Academy is embroidered on the front in white script.
The driver’s knuckles go white on the doorframe.
“I’ll walk you there,” Theo says, shouldering my bag as he leans toward my ear. “But let’s take the sidewalk.”
It’s only a few blocks to campus and its main building. I’m momentarily speechless as I lay eyes on the two-story wonder of glass and metal that’s every bit as unique as what’s inside.
“At least they’re not Bose,” Theo offers as we head past a front parking lot toward the doors. “The headphones,” he goes on at my blank expression.
“Right. Cheap to replace. Too bad I can’t get new hands,” I joke.
“I’ll hook you up with new ones.”
“Hands?”
“Headphones.” His eyes glint. It’s probably a trick of the light, because there’s no way Theo is flirting with me.
In high school, I was voted most likely to spend prom night covered in grease stains in her garage. I was never the person who joined sports or cheerleading or even band. Not the one who hot guys looked at like…
Well, the way Theo’s looking at me right now.
Attractive people walk in and out of the front doors in groups of two or three, the Ashford logo emblazoned on bags matching the name on the front of the building.
I bet they’re talking about important things. I bet their hands don’t look as if they were victimized by a cheese grater.
Ashford Academy is nothing like a regular college. This elite school training drivers, engineers, and mechanics for the global F1 circuit only opens its doors to a select group of prodigies: people in their late teens and early twenties who eat, sleep, and breathe cars. Nine out of ten applicants get turned down. If you’re accepted, it means Ashford Racing Inc. thinks you have a chance in hell of helping them do one thing.
Be the fastest on the planet.
“I’m sorry about my brother.” Theo’s words jolt me out of my head. “He’s…”
“A threat to public safety?”
“I was going to say charming.” He chuckles. “So, we’ve established that I’m Theo. You are?”
“I didn’t say.”
“Okay, New Girl. I like a mystery.”
More than a few passing students look over at us, whispering to one another as if the fact that we’re even standing together is news.
Theo doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.
“This is where I leave you.” He shields his eyes from the sun. “But you should get checked out by a nurse.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
