Once again, I slept in his arms and didn’t have a single nightmare. He kept my darkness at bay. Thursday was much of the same, and I kept waiting for something to burst this perfect little bubble my world was currently in.

Friday at school I spent the day giddy with excitement and anxious Beck would catch me out on my lie of omission. Eddy had already declared that I’d be getting ready at her house, and we would meet the boys at the race. I didn’t believe for a second that Beck would actually just leave me alone with Eddy, but at least it was Evan on Riley Duty again, and we were pretty sure he’d be curious enough to let it all play out.

“Fuck me, you look dangerously sexy,” Eddy muttered as she admired her handiwork a full half hour before the race was due to begin. Once again, she’d chosen my outfit, and done my hair and makeup for me. She was right, though. I looked all kinds of dangerous in charcoal jeans, black crop top and leather over-the-knee boots with killer heels. “You’re going to kick their asses,” she breathed, grinning from ear to ear. “Are you okay driving in those heels though? I thought you needed like… flats or some shit?”

“Yeah, if you’re an amateur,” I snickered. Not that I had a huge amount of experience driving in heels but I had total faith in my abilities, heels or not. Laughing nervously, I tossed my dark curls over my shoulder. Eddy had put some sort of magical serum in it that made it look like I’d just stepped out of a shampoo commercial. “Let’s just hope I don’t choke and end up totaling Jasper’s baby.”

Eddy cringed. “Don’t joke, babe. Jasper would murder you ... and that’s only if there was anything left after Beck was done. Come on, we have a race to get to.” She grabbed her phone and started tapping out a message while we headed through to the garage where Jasper’s canary yellow Lamborghini waited for us. “Just telling Evan to keep his trap shut,” she told me, waving her phone in the air. “He’ll see Jasper’s car and assume it’s me driving, but the last thing we need is for him to mention it to Beck. A suspicious Beck is a scary Beck.”

I grimaced at the idea of Beck catching me out before the race. His temper ran hot most of the time but something like this, I could imagine him finally making good on that promise to turn me over his knee and smack my ass right there in the street in front of his friends.

Ugh, why did that idea turn me on so hard?

I clicked the key fob and the gull wing doors lifted to allow Eddy and me into the car. From the glove compartment, she pulled out a wad of cash and handed it to me.

“Keep that in your lap,” she suggested, “I don’t want anyone seeing me give you money when we get there. Jimmy gets really worked up about people paying their own entry to race.”

“Got it,” I said, glancing at the wad and estimating it was a similar amount to the last buy-in. Two hundred thousand at least. So much money it made me ill, but then again I was driving a car worth more than double that.

“Let’s do this.” I grinned at Eddy and gunned the engine as the automatic doors opened. Evan was lurking near the gates in his own car—a Porsche 918 Spyder this time—and he smoothly pulled out into the road behind us. The Lambo had such darkly tinted windows that I knew Eddy was right, Evan would assume it was her driving, so I kept my speed checked and didn’t show off. Not yet, anyway.

Eddy directed me to the race start point, and instructed me on the course as we drove. It all sounded pretty straight forward, and we’d driven over it casually during our lunch break, so I wasn’t too worried. Nope, the deranged butterflies that were flapping around madly inside of me were all for Beck.

We pulled up directly beside Jimmy, and I rolled down my window.

“New girl,” he said, tilting his ball cap up in surprise. “Driving Jasper’s car. What ... uh ... what am I to make of this?”

Smiling, I took the cash from my lap and held it out to him. “Jasper’s still in the hospital, I’m his proxy.”

Jimmy hesitated, glancing around him. Probably looking for Beck.

“Hey,” I said, bringing his attention back to me, “You’re in charge, right?” Jimmy nodded slowly. “So what’s the issue? No one even needs to know they’re racing a girl if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The race coordinator rubbed the back of his neck, then sighed and took my wad of cash. “Fine, you’re in. But if you total this car, I want nothing to do with the fall out. Understood?”

Beaming, I nodded. “I absolve you of all responsibility.”

Jimmy grumbled something under his breath but tucked the money in his pocket and walked away while I hit the button to wind the window back up.

Eddy waited with me, right up to the point that the racers—just four of us this time—needed to line up. Then she popped her gull wing door and stepped out.

“Kill them all, babe,” she encouraged me with a sassy wink. “I’ve got money on you for the win.”

As her door closed and she walked away, I spotted Evan’s horrified face in the crowd.

Shit. Beck was about to find out in about five ... four ... three ... two...

Sebastian Roman Beckett’s furious glare was the last thing I saw before the flag fell and my foot slammed down on the gas pedal. He could curse me out later because right now, I had a race to win and a reputation to repair.

*

Jasper’s yellow Lambo didn’t let me down. We flew across the finish line several car lengths ahead of the next driver, and I gently eased down my speed until I could safely loop around and return to Eddy. She was standing beside Jimmy, jumping up and down and screaming like a lunatic. I could hear her even through the closed windows of Jasper’s car.

Crazy bitch.

It was the three scowling, scary as fuck dudes waiting behind her that made me hesitate on exiting my vehicle though.

Crap. They looked really pissed off. So much for Jasper’s idea that Beck would be fine if it’s “all in good fun.” Little bastard set me up!

Grabbing my phone out, I shot him a quick text.

I won your race, but I think Beck’s about to murder me. Say nice things at my funeral.

His reply came almost immediately.

Hah! Murder you with his dick, more like.

Classy. I replied with a deadpan emoji face. Fucking Jasper.

A knock on my window saw me fumbling my phone before I peered up at Eddy’s beaming face.

“Come on,” she shouted through the glass. “Stop being a pussy!”

I sucked in a huge breath and released it in a heavy sigh. Time for those metaphorical big girl panties. With shaking fingers, I popped open my door and waited for it to raise before I got out. People were whooping and cheering for me, and it reminded me of old times. If only Dante was here to see me...

My gut panged with guilt, remembering that I still owed him a car to replace my butterfly.

“Hey! I know you!” Some random dude called out, pointing at me. He was clearly wasted, but he squinted at me and nodded. “Yeah, you’re that chick.”

Eddy snorted. “She’s clearly a chick, that much is obvious.”

I smirked at her, and she laughed.

“Nah, nah, nah.” Drunk guy waved his hand in the air. “You’re that chick. The one who used to race the butterfly car down in Jersey. Didn’t you get in a crash and like ... kill your parents or something?”

Shock ripped through me and my jaw dropped. “Excuse me?” I breathed in outrage.

“Yeah,” drunk guy carried on, slurring his words badly. “You were like some kind of racing urban legend and then you just poof! Disappeared.”

My lips moved, but no sounds came out. This dude had clearly combined the crash that killed my parents with the crash that destroyed butterfly. But the accusation that I was responsible for my parents’ death left me utterly speechless.

I needn’t have worried for long, though. Seconds later, Beck’s fist met drunk dude’s face and sent him sprawling—unconscious—on the ground.

Shock saw me gasping, covering my mouth with both hands as I frantically looked around. Was anyone going to intervene? Beck could kill that guy! He was more than capable, given all his training.

But everyone was just staring like this was some sort of half time entertainment. Eager, fascinated, but not in the slightest bit concerned. Only one person wasn’t watching Beck as he stalked over to where drunk dude was sprawled.

“Hey,” I grabbed Eddy’s arm, “isn’t that...” My words trailed off as I searched the crowd again and came up blank.

“Isn’t that who?” My friend asked, peering in the direction I was looking.

I shook my head. “Nothing. I thought I saw that creepy guy from the mall filming us again, but maybe I imagined it.”

Jeering yells came from the crowd that had closed around drunk guy and Beck. They pushed me into action, and I shoved my way through the spectators until I saw Beck holding drunk guy by the neck of his bloody shirt, whispering something to him.