“You want to race me or what?” he challenged, the same defiant and cocky attitude in his expression that I hated and loved in high school.
My heart picked up pace, and I crossed my arms over my chest, inching toward the crowd.
“You know I do,” I replied with sass. “Why are you acting like you have better things to do all of a sudden?”
“With you?” he shot back. “We definitely have better things to do.”
The crowd buzzed with laughter at Jared’s clear innuendo, but I smiled, unembarrassed. I’d learned to fight back a long time ago.
I looked around at the crowd. “I think he’s afraid I’ll win, don’t you?” I asked my rhetorical question and heard the amused crowd turn to him for his reaction.
He jumped down from his car, and we walked toward each other through the parting crowd.
He jeered, “You win? I’ve raced here twice as much as you have. I think I can handle seeing you in my rearview mirror, Tatum,” he joked, getting my heart pumping faster with his mock insults, which gave me déjà vu. Which, I guessed, was why he was egging me on.
To get me pumped up.
I put my hand on my heart, feigning sympathy. “Oh, but sweetheart? Didn’t anyone tell you?” I approached him, smiling. “This is a chicken race,” I informed him. “I won’t be behind you. I won’t be next to you.” I leaned in to whisper. “I’ll be coming at you, baby.”
The smirk on his face slowly fell to his feet, and I bit back the urge to laugh.
Priceless. Damn, I’m good.
Jared’s heated eyes turned fierce, and he looked around for his brother.
I snorted as Jax stepped up, rolling his eyes. “Thanks, Tate,” he said sarcastically. “I hadn’t told him yet.”
“What is she talking about?” Jared’s hard voice sounded tense, and I tried not to grin. It wasn’t often I could surprise him.
“Uh, yeah,” Jax inched out, sounding apologetic. “It’s a new feature here, brother. You both take off from the starting line but in opposite directions,” he explained, glancing at me. “You have the whole track to work with until you pass each other, which you’ll do in your own lanes,” Jax gritted out, telling me specifically, since I’d never done this before either, and he wanted to make sure I understood.
I raised my eyebrows, eyeing Jared. “But at the finish line . . . ,” I hinted.
“At the finish line,” Jax took my cue, “on the last turn, you have to cruise in between the barriers to make the finish count.”
He pointed to the waist-high plastic barriers, sometimes used in road construction, that were being positioned behind him to make a single lane on the track.
“That makes a lane only wide enough for one car,” Jax observed.
I couldn’t control the bounce in my feet. “Exactly,” I remarked.
“Whoever makes it first . . .” Jax nodded. “Well, you get the idea.”
I swung around, heading for my car as Jax blew a whistle, clearing the track.
“Tate!” Jared shouted, his voice being drowned out in the crowd. “I’m not doing this!”
“If you don’t,” I called over my shoulder, “someone else will, and I won’t be as safe with them as I will be with you, right?”
I opened my car and climbed inside.
“You’re a brat!” I saw him growl in the middle of the crowd.
I cocked my head, sticking it out the window. “I love you,” I shot back, teasing.
And thank goodness he didn’t put up more of a fight. Hesitating only a moment, he shook his head, looking defeated, before turning around and walking for his own ride, which already sat on the track.
Jared’s car was a piece of art, and everyone had been all over it since we’d gotten here.
Turning the ignition, I revved the engine and brought my hands up, squeezing the steering wheel against the hot rush in my blood.
The crowd had dissipated, either going farther off to the sidelines or to the bleachers, and I released the clutch, pulling myself up onto the track. Swinging around, I pulled up next to Jared, both of us facing opposite directions and our driver’s sides sitting next to each other.
“You’ve never gone easy on me,” I told him, my tone serious. “Don’t hold back now.”
He stared out the front windshield, clearly hating what I wanted from him.
Reaching over, I cranked up the music and then gathered up my hair, tying it up into a ponytail.
He finally looked over at me, and a smile crept out as, he too, reached over and turned up his music.
“Welcome, everyone!” We heard Zack’s voice come over the loudspeaker.
I looked over to see Madoc and Fallon sitting on the bleachers, while Jax and Juliet crossed the track in front of my car, heading over there as well.
The crowd, a mix of high school students as well as friends from way back, took out phones to start videotaping. Many of them were well aware of Jared’s and my history, so they had a vested interest in seeing this little showdown.
Jared’s mouth curled into a grin, and I couldn’t help my foot tapping as anticipation sent shivers up my spine.
He knew I liked the way he looked at me, and he was trying to throw me off. Okay, maybe not on purpose, but whatever.
“These two,” Zack started, booming over the speaker, “need no introduction. It’s a matchup that rivals any we’ve ever had here, and they never fail to bring a few fireworks to the Loop.”
The crowd cheered, and I checked the shifter to make sure I was in first.
“Jared and Tate?” Zack continued. “Best of luck.”
The spectators cheered, and I let out a hard sigh as Jared rolled up the window.
I did the same, lowering the music for a moment.
“Ready!” Zack boomed, since from the position I was in, I couldn’t see the signal lights.
“Set!” I heard, swallowing through the dryness in my mouth.
Jared and I both pressed the gas, too excited to contain it.
“Go!” The roar raged through my ears, and Jared and I tore away from each other, the screech of our tires sending the crowd cheering louder.
I shot down into second and then up into third, gaining speed quickly and smoothly. Jared and I pulled farther and farther away from each other, and glancing in my rearview mirror, I was surprised that I didn’t really like seeing his distance away from me increase. I could almost feel it on my skin.
Just like magnets.