20 Chapter 20

"Is the Reaper actually wringing her hands at the sacred Sparrow Hawk?" Katie asked with a laugh, hugging Riley around the neck with one arm and hanging onto her popcorn for dear life with her other hand. "Don't let the other participants see that crap or they'll think you're some kind of candy ass wuss."

Riley glared at her best friend and reached for a hand full of popcorn. It was a weird quirk that Katie had to have popcorn for all of Riley's races. She adored popcorn more than the average person. She would actually go to a movie theatre just to purchase a bag of popcorn and then leave without watching a movie. She pulled a face and snatched the bag away when it looked like Riley would eat more than a few bites. Katie was also viciously protective of her buttery treats.

"I'm not wussing out over here," Riley defended herself. "I'm wondering where the hell your brother got to with my car. He better be parking it up at the starting line."

Katie shot her a mischievous look and said, "Not your car though, is it?"

"Hey, bitch," Riley snatched the popcorn and backed away from her friend. "I earned it! Possession is nine tenths of the law, right?"

"Oh, you want to play it like that?" Katie growled, launching herself at the popcorn. "It's on!"

"Draw a little more attention to yourselves, ladies," Wendell snapped, striding toward the two woman as they fake pummeled each other and laughed. "I'm pretty sure only a few of Soloman Hart's guys haven't noticed you yet."

"Fuck!" Riley gasped, springing behind Katie and scanning the immediate area as if expecting Soloman to come stalking toward her out of the bushes.

Wendell pretended to cuff her in the side of the head. "I'm kidding. Haven't seen any of those guys yet. But that doesn't mean they aren't lurking. Your boyfriend has a pretty long reach. He may not be in the actual circuit, but he had enough influence to get the information he needs. I guarantee either he or one of his people shows up here looking for you."

"Yeah, I had that thought too," Riley sighed, scanning the crowd.

She and Katie had been attempting to keep a low profile near one of the beer tents. Riley was wearing a baseball cap over her ponytail and Wendell's big leather coat over her T-shirt and denim-clad curves. Katie hadn't gotten the incognito memo. The gorgeous blond was wearing four-inch wedge heels, a red leather mini skirt and a black corset top. So far not a single heterosexual male on the mountain hadn't checked her out.

"Where's my car at?" Riley asked Wendell anxiously.

He'd driven it to the race overnight, while Katie and Riley had driven a separate vehicle. The people in charge of the Sparrow Hawk Cup had sent them the coordinates for the illegal race exactly twenty-four hours before the start time. Considering some people had to fly in, she had no idea how they were expected to get their cars there in time. Maybe some participants were given more time? She knew a South Korean competitor actually flew his car in. She guessed he must have brought his car into the US ahead of time and then rushed it to the start line when he got his message.

"I parked it at the top of the mountain," he told her. "It's being babysat by at least a dozen admirers. Next time pick something flashier won't you?"

She grinned up at him. "Hey, at least I got in some mountain practice back home."

"Uh huh," he grumbled, picking up a beer and downing half of it. Now that he'd completed his job of getting Riley's car to the starting point, he needed to relax a bit before the race started. "Some of the guys out there are going to try to drop you off the side of one of these cliffs. They won't play nice like Roadkill."

Riley snorted, keeping her opinion of Roadkill's ability to play nice to herself. They spent the next hour chatting nervously with circuit acquaintances while Riley psyched herself up for the race. She nodded to one of the other competitors, but for the most part they stayed out of each other's way. This wasn't a friendly race like she was used to. There was a lot of money and prestige riding on this one. She knew some of the guys thought she only got in because of her dad's reputation and her gender. It looked good for the sponsors to have the daughter of a racing legend in the Sparrow Hawk.

The guys were wrong and she was about to prove it. She was every bit as good as Alan Bancroft had been. Better, even. God rest his soul. An air horn sounded, indicating the drivers were expected at the top of the mountain. Katie lurched into Riley's arms, spilling popcorn between them.

"Stay safe, bestie!" she sniffed, squeezing Riley tight before releasing her. She turned and hugged Wendell too, then punched him lightly in the arm. "Keep her safe!"

They parted from Katie who headed toward a caravan of race watchers. Wendell led Riley toward a line-up of vehicles headed to the top. A flash of tattoos that looked vaguely familiar caught Riley's eye. She turned her head and scanned the crowd, but didn't see the face she was looking for. Strange, but she could swear she saw Shank. Why would he be there?

Wendell gave Riley a leg up into the back of a pickup truck with the South Korean contestant and a few other supports heading up to help their drivers. Everyone else was grabbing rides down to various vantage points picked out along the mountainside. Riley caught a glimpse of Katie being lifted into a raised Jeep with a group of other fans. Her precious popcorn was still tucked under an arm.

"Hey, I'm Riley," Riley yelled over the sound of vehicles taking off up and down the mountain. "How'd you get your car here in time for the race? Wendell and I've been wondering."

The South Korean lifted his lip in a half smile and reached out to shake her hand. "Jun-young," he replied, moving to sit next to her in the bed of the truck, bracing his back against the bouncing metal rim. "I flew the car out a month ago and kept it in a friend's garage in L.A. Lucky for me it was within driving distance and we didn't have to figure out how to fly it again when they sent the directions. You?"

"Same," she said with a grin. "So fucking glad it's not raining either. Luck seems to be with us."

He nodded and studied her face under the shade of her baseball cap. "No shit. You ready for this?"

She was about to respond with her usual show of blas?? arrogance when one of the other competitors pulled up alongside and started shouting something stupid about Asian drivers. Riley immediately stood up and gave him the finger. She recognized the guy as one of the circuit jocks with more money than brains. He'd practically been born in a race car.

"Shut the fuck up, Digger, you racist piece of shit. He wouldn't be here if he didn't qualify," she yelled angrily.

The big blond asshole grinned and gave Riley a once over. "Whose dick did you suck to get in, Reaper? We all know you didn't race your way into Sparrow. This is for the big boys."

"I'm going to fucking kill him," she growled, preparing to launch herself off the side of the truck and into the open window of his Humvee.

Jun-young stood up behind her and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back down until they were sitting in the bed of the truck again. Wendell put a restraining hand on her shoulder and gave her a stern shake of his head. Finally, she settled down and crossed her arms.

Turning to Jun-young who had settled back down beside her, she shot him a grimace with some teeth. "I've never been more ready for anything in my life. Going to shove my car up that fucker's ass!"

He laughed and put a loose arm around her shoulders. "Good girl. You show these assholes."

The group in the back of the truck relaxed and talked cars for the rest of the ride to the top, doing their best to ignore the tension and shit talk surrounding them. They arrived at the top a few minutes later. Riley jumped out of the truck, wished her new friend luck and made her way over to her car with Wendell.

The Koenigsegg Regera gleamed gorgeous red in the sunlight, waiting patiently for her new mistress to race her to the bottom of the mountain. Another air horn sounded, indicating five minutes to race time. Riley unzipped the leather jacket and handed the coat and cap to Wendell. He took them and set her up with an earpiece, which they immediately tested.

Her heart began pounding as she watched the other race teams prepping. Most cars had more than two people, except for her and Jun-young who caught her eye and winked at her across the hood of his shiny blue and silver Nissan GT-R. He stood with a tall and lanky clean-cut kid that was talking a mile a minute and giving his driver instructions.

Wendell was doing the same for Riley, but seemed to be obsessing over just one thing. "Just promise me you'll stay the fuck away from cliff edges. I don't even care where you place in this damn race. I just want you to survive it. I mean look at the way Digger keeps giving you the stink-eye. Fucker has it in for you. And this damn car is dangerous, never mind where you got it from. It's death on wheels, babe."

She nodded, absently scanning the area for Digger. She didn't really care about him. He kept most of his worth in his pants. Or so he thought. She could work with that kind of idiocy. Then her eyes landed on the second to last person she wanted to see at the race. Roman Valdez. He was looking around like he was ready to spit nails. He must have spotted the car by now, which meant he was looking for someone. With a gasp, she grabbed hold of Wendell and shoved him away from her.

"What the f...!" Wendell began, but she cut him off.

"Go, Wendell!" Riley gasped. "Roman is here! You need to hide, now! I can't hide the fucking car, but I can lock myself in until the race starts."

She didn't have to say it twice, Wendell took off at a run, putting as much distance between himself and a woman who, at that particular moment, posed a whole lot of danger to his health. Riley unlocked the car and lifted the handle, taking a moment to marvel at the smooth opening of the door, before sliding into the driver's seat. She slammed the door shut and locked it.

She waited breathlessly for Roman to make his way over. There was absolutely no missing the incredibly beautiful car she had stolen from his boss two weeks ago. She was absolutely fucked. The air horn blew for a third time, indicating the drivers should take their prearranged places at the starting line.

Turning the ignition, Riley enjoyed the aggressively refined bark of the unparalleled engine before putting the vehicle in gear and pulling it around to her place in the starting lineup. She didn't see Roman anywhere now in the crowd of people lining up to wave the seven drivers off the starting line. She rolled her shoulders in an attempt to loosen the tension and closed her eyes, counting down the seconds until the race started.

She grinned and ran her hands over the warm, smooth steering wheel. She made it. She was actually there. One of only three women to compete in the Sparrow Hawk Cup in its entire twenty-two-year history. A legacy competitor; the daughter of a champion. She hadn't been stopped by the dark mafia kingpin who dogged her every footstep, trying to chain her to his side. Hell, not only had she escaped from beneath his shadow, she'd taken his car with her.

She opened her eyes, still smiling and glanced out the driver's side window. The sun blinded her for a moment, before the shadow of a man stepped into the window, blocking it out. She shaded her eyes and looked up. She gasped, the smile melting from her lips. Soloman Hart stood staring down at her through the window, his dark eyes as icy cold as she had ever seen them. There was not a spark of warmth for the woman he professed to want with every fibre of his being.

She. Was. So. Fucked.

Riley stealthily double-checked to make sure the car was locked. About two seconds later he checked the handle to see if it would open. It did not. His eyes grew harder, never releasing hers. He lifted his hand and pointed at her, then at the door. She bit her lip and shook her head. She expected him to speak, but he didn't. There was no point. He must have understood that she intended to race his car in the Sparrow Hawk, regardless of his commands. Just as she understood there would be consequences once he got his hands on her.

For once in her life Riley wished she was a praying type of girl. Because the Lord's Prayer seemed appropriate right about now, if only she knew the words. She was pretty sure what she was seeing in his eyes was something similar to what people saw right before he killed their asses. She had stolen his extremely rare 2.5-million-dollar car, lied about it and now intended to race it in a dangerous, illegal race he had expressly forbidden her from attending.

Yup, totally fucked.

She swallowed hard and turned her eyes straight ahead. A tall, black-haired woman wearing fuck-me heels, tight jeans and a bikini-top was holding a green starting flag high in the air. Engines revved all around her. Riley glanced toward Soloman and pumped the accelerator with her foot, feeling the raw power of the Koenigsegg rumble beneath her. He stepped away from the car, his eyes still on her. She couldn't help herself, the moment the flag dropped, she blew him a kiss and then floored his Koenigsegg off the line, leaving him in her dust.