His brake lights flashed, and I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, seeing him skid around the next corner.
Shit.
Hitting the gas, I shifted straight into fifth, skipping fourth altogether and spinning around the turn. The rotten thing about my car was that it was about three hundred pounds heavier than his, so he could maneuver quicker and easier.
Shooting back into third, I hit the gas, charged ahead, and shot back up to fifth and then sixth. Jared’s muscle car looked like a rocket blowing up rainwater on the track as it raced ahead toward the next turn.
I tensed my thigh muscles, feeling a thrill creep up my insides.
Damn, he was hot. I couldn’t see him through his blacked-out windows, but he was still managing to turn me the hell on.
Surfing around the next turn, I charged ahead, staying on my right as Jared plowed toward me, and I let out a laugh as he passed.
I loved racing him. I always felt the rush, and no matter whom else I’d raced, nothing felt as good.
A chill spread over my skin, despite the hoodie, and I didn’t hesitate to barrel around the next turn, charging ahead.
I didn’t want to win or need to win, but I wanted to have this with him.
My music cut off, and my phone started ringing on the touch screen. I pressed Accept Call.
“Yes?” I answered.
“What happens if I win?” Jared asked, and his velvet voice caressed my skin.
I hesitated, not sure how to answer. “Then . . .” I searched for words. “Then I guess I trust that you’ll always give me your best.”
He was quiet, and I could hear the crowd ahead.
“And if I lose?” he asked, sounding unusually sad. “Will you still trust that I gave you my best?”
A lump rose in my throat, and I blinked away the sudden tears.
“Jared.” I folded my lips between my teeth, trying not to cry. He wanted to know if I trusted him.
“I can’t promise I’ll wake up every day operating at a hundred percent, Tate,” he admitted. “No one can.”
I heard his voice change as he struggled to round the last turn, and I shifted down, doing the same, the steering wheel trying to pull against me as I skidded.
“But”—he breathed hard from the exertion—“I can promise I’ll always put you first.”
“Then, prove it,” I urged in a thoughtful voice. “Meet my match.”
I shot down into fifth and then up into sixth, seeing his lights ahead.
This was it. One of us was going between the barriers, and the other would be forced to take the lane to the outside, and he was fucking with my head right now, and I just wanted him to race.
“Tate . . . ,” he said in a hesitant voice.
“Jared, just go,” I pressed. “It’s you. It’s only you. You’re the only one who challenges me, so challenge me! Don’t hold back. I trust you.”
I squeezed the wheel, my eyebrows pinching together as I pressed myself back into the seat.
Go, go, go . . .
Shooting for the starting line, I pushed the gas to the floor, seeing him charge ahead, both of us in the path marked by the barriers.
“Tate!” he barked.
“Go!” I yelled.
Jax had lines marked on the track, giving drivers notice for their last chance to exit, but judging my space, I knew I was going to make it.
I was going to make it, and I didn’t want Jared to ease up. Give me everything!
I held the wheel, my arm like a steel bar, and sucked in breaths as my heart beat like a jackhammer.
“Fuck!” Jared cursed, barreling straight for me. “Tate, stop!”
His car, my car, one lane, right for each other, the barriers in three . . . two . . . one . . . and . . .
No!
I screamed, twisting the wheel right, every muscle in my body in a nightmare of pain as I swerved out of his way and passed the barriers, nearly whimpering out of fear as I winced.
Oh, God!
I let breath after breath pour out of me as I took quick glances behind me several times to see that he was on the other side of the barriers, too.
He’d tapped out. Just like me.
Shit. I dropped my head back, terrified by what had almost happened, as I slowed to halt.
Shaking my head, horrified and relieved at the same time, I realized the irony.
He’d put me first. Just like he’d promised.
The crowd descended, and I climbed out of my car, feeling shaky and weak.
“You’re absolutely crazy!” I heard him yell as he made his way through the crowd. “Does Stanford know how reckless you are?” he attacked.
I straightened but averted my eyes, feeling a little contrite. He had every right to be pissed. I’d messed with his head, telling him to give me his very best, which would also put both of us in danger. Which choice had I expected him to make? But before I had a chance to apologize, he threw a small box at me. “Here.”
I shot up my hands to catch it.
“Open that,” he ordered.
I studied the cylindrical black leather box and immediately knew what it was.
He stayed a few feet back, but the crowd surrounded us, and I saw our friends push to the front of the audience.
I did as he said and opened it, revealing the platinum band, the princess-cut diamond that had been meant for me. Gasps exploded in the crowd and even some squeals, probably from the high school girls who thought his rudeness was cute.
I twisted my lips to the side, taking in his angry arched eyebrow.
“So this is how you propose?” I asked sternly. “Because I kind of have a problem with a ring being thrown in my face and you not kneeling like my father would expect.”
I looked at Jax and a laughing Madoc and continued, “Not that I expected Jared to kneel—I know he’s not the type—but I damn well expect a gesture, and—”
I looked down, seeing Jared in front of me on one knee.
“Oh,” I whispered, shutting up.
Snorts could be heard in the crowd, and I let him take my hand as he smiled up at me.
My heart pounded, and butterflies swarmed in my stomach.
“Tate.” He spoke slowly, looking into my eyes in a way that was still so much like the boy I grew up with but more like the man I’d grown to love.
“You’re written all over my body,” he spoke low, just for us. “The tattoos can never be erased. You hold my heart, and you can never be replaced.”
I pressed my lips together, trying to stay composed.
He continued, “I only live when I’m with you, and I’m asking for your heart, your love, and your future.” He smiled. “Will you please be my wife?”