Aflame (Fall Away #4) (15 page)

“He kind of has me send flowers to her grave every year on April fourteenth,” she admitted, wincing.

I stood frozen, my hand on the cap while I gaped at Pasha. “What?” I whispered, in too much shock.

“Tate.” Juliet’s mouth hung open, and I saw her eyes tear up.

I darted my eyes over to Jared, seeing him let the hood drop closed and smile at his brother, a joke passing between them.

“Please don’t tell him I told you,” Pasha grumbled. “He’ll bitch, and then I’ll have to listen to it.”

Flowers.
He sent my mother flowers.

How had I not known that?

I guess I still would’ve been at college every April, but my father should’ve known. Wouldn’t he have told me?

“What are they doing?” Fallon spoke up, and I looked to see her confused expression focusing over at the guys all slipping on their shirts and hopping in the Mustang with Jared in the driver’s seat.

“Jax?” Juliet called, standing up.

He stuck his top half out the passenger side window, looking at her over the hood. “We’re just taking the car for a test drive!” he shouted over the deep rumble of the engine. “Be right back!”

Jared slipped on his black sunglasses and gripped the wheel, the tight cords of his forearm visible from here. He shot me a quick glance, the hint of a smile on his lips, before jacking up the music and backing out of the driveway.

And, as if the thunder had only been waiting for the lightning, he roared down the street like a tempest that could not be contained.

My heart fluttered, wanting to be a part of the storm.

I smiled at my friends. “Get in the car.”

“What?” Juliet’s back straightened, and Fallon started rubbing her hands together.

“Aw, yeah,” she teased, standing up.

“What are we doing?” Juliet asked, looking nervous as Pasha stepped forward.

I ignored the question and simply waggled my eyebrows, ready for some mischief, as all three of them piled into my G8.

Jared

“So . . .” Madoc rested his arm on the passenger side door, tapping his fingers as I drove. “Two days. You still haven’t lost your touch, huh?”

I held the steering wheel with my left hand, my arm steel-rod straight as I pressed my back into the seat. “What do you mean?”

“She just broke up with Ben,” he pointed out, talking about Tate. “You know that’s what that was about just now.”

I pulled down into fourth, picking up speed. “I don’t know shit.”

“Don’t give me that,” he retorted. “You’re already planning how you’re going to get in her bed tonight.”

I exhaled a laugh, glancing out the window.
Fuckin’ Madoc.

When I saw Ben show up, I’d immediately tensed, hating how he looked at her. Knowing what he wanted from her. I had no idea if they were sleeping together, and I didn’t care. As far as I was concerned, she was done killing time.

Madoc was wrong. I didn’t want in her bed. I mean, I wanted that, but most of all, I just wanted her back.

“I’ve got an idea,” Jax piped up from the backseat.

I met his eyes in the rearview mirror, seeing his fingers locked on top of his head as he slouched down in the seat.

“What’s that, little brother?” Madoc inquired.

Jax smirked at me as he spoke to Madoc. “Well, he could just get over it and ask her to marry him already.”

I instantly froze, staring out the front windshield.

Marry.
My fist tightened around the steering wheel, wondering how my brother thought that either of us was ready for that. Or was he just tossing any crazy idea out there?

I never thought I wouldn’t marry Tate. But it still seemed far off.

Madoc was looking at me, and I knew Jax was waiting for a reaction, but this was none of their business. I wanted Tate forever, but first I needed to get her back. Why the hell would she say yes now?

Jax cleared his throat. “You two have loved each other the longest,” he said softly. “Doesn’t seem right that you’ll be the last to get married.”

My eyes shot up, locking with his in the mirror. “What?” I blurted out.

“You little shit.” Madoc twisted his head, regarding Jax with shock.

The last to get married?
Meaning . . .

Jax’s eyes dropped to his lap, and I’d never seen him so vulnerable. “I can’t sleep without her next to me,” he almost whispered about Juliet. “I love coming home and smelling her cooking. Seeing how warm she makes the house.” He still wasn’t looking at either of us, and my chest felt tight.

“She gives me everything,” he continued, looking up at both of us. “I want to give her my name. I’m going to ask her.”

“When?” Madoc asked, and I was surprised he could talk, because I was still trying to wrap my head around it.

Jax was going to ask Juliet to marry him.

“After Zack’s bachelor party on Friday,” he answered. “I’m guessing that after she becomes my fiancée, going to strip clubs will probably be on my list of don’ts.”

Shit.
The bachelor party. The one I wasn’t planning on attending, since I didn’t think I’d be in town.

I’d forgotten about that.

Zack, Jax’s partner at the Loop, who helped run races, had been engaged for as long as I’d known him. Finally ready to take the leap, he’d sent out a mass e-mail, inviting every guy in town over the age of twenty-one to Wicked, a high-end club about a half hour away.

I was surprised Fallon and Juliet were letting them go at all. Well, not Fallon, actually. She never struck me as the jealous type.

I gave a casual glance behind me, trying to hide the doubt I was feeling. Not that my brother wouldn’t make a good husband or Juliet a good wife, but he was still only twenty-one.

“Jax,” I started. “Are you sure—”

“Hey,” Madoc cut in. “What the hell?” He peered out through my open driver’s side window.

I followed his gaze, my eyebrows instantly pinching together.

What the . . . ?

Tate pulled up on my side in her G8, with Fallon riding shotgun, and Juliet and Pasha in the back.

She sat in her seat, looking comfortable and casual, and I shook my head at her, because she was in the oncoming lane.

“You’re in the wrong lane!” I shouted to Fallon’s closed window.

She stuck her hand behind her ear, mouthing,
What?
and then turned to Tate, both of them smiling.

“What the hell are they doing?” Jax sat up, resting his arms over the front seat.

I glanced ahead, noticing the stop sign, and shot out my foot, coming to a screeching halt.

Shit.

Tate stopped, too, and she and Fallon bounced forward with the sudden movement.

I darted my head out. “Roll down your window!” I shouted, shifting my gaze past the stop sign to watch for oncoming cars.

Was she trying to get them all hurt?

Tate’s mouth curled in amusement, but Fallon was full-on smiling as she rolled down the window.

“Where are you guys going?” Madoc shouted before I had a chance.

“Doesn’t matter.” Fallon shrugged. “We’ll be going too fast for you to follow.”

My eyes widened, while Madoc and Jax laughed, feigning insult. “Ohhhh.”

Madoc nudged my arm. “They’re talking shit, Jared,” he egged me on, and I bit back the smile as I felt the rush in my muscles.

Stepping out of the car—since the street was dead anyway—I walked to Tate’s car and leaned down to Fallon’s window.

“Is that a challenge?” I asked Tate.

She shook her head, trying to brush me off. “I wouldn’t waste my time,” she taunted. “I’ve already beaten you once.”

I smiled, arching an eyebrow. “Have you?” I jabbed back, insinuating that I’d let her win our one and only race four years ago.

Her face fell, turning stern with pursed lips, as she focused back on the road, revving the engine.

I walked back to my car, laughing under my breath. “Put on your seat belts,” I ordered Madoc and Jax as I climbed in and buckled up myself.

Madoc quickly grabbed for his seat belt, his breath shaky with amusement. I revved the engine, seeing Tate eye me as she did the same. I loved the look of mischief on her face.

“Guys,” Jax inched out. “The cops look the other way for like five minutes on Saturday nights when my crew does this, but—”

“You have your seat belt on?” Madoc interrupted, yelling through my window to Fallon. “Get it on!” he ordered his wife.

“You, too.” I heard Jax shout and turned to see Juliet saluting him. “Shit,” he cursed behind me, and I knew he hated what was about to happen.

Madoc tuned the iPod to Mötley Crüe’s “Girls, Girls, Girls,” and I looked at him.

He shrugged, looking innocent. “Don’t look at me. It’s on your iPod, man.”

I rolled my eyes, not willing to explain that I wasn’t the one loading music onto it. Pasha liked to mess with me. Every once in a while, a Britney Spears or Lady Gaga song wound up tucked between a Slipknot and a Korn song.

Regardless, I jacked up the volume and turned down the air-conditioning. The heat outside kept me irritable and alert. A lesson I’d learned over the past two years.

I heard “Blow Me Away” by Breaking Benjamin spilling out of Tate’s speakers, and I looked over, shaking my head and unable to hide the smile.

“You ready?” I shouted.

“You sure?” she shot back.

Little . . .
Did she forget that I did this for a living?

“Right on Main, go through two stop lights,” I dared her, “and the first one back to the houses wins,” I told her.

Without hesitation, she nodded.

“Ready!” Madoc shouted, and Tate and I both revved our engines again and again, looking at each other, my foot getting heavier by the second.

“Set!” Madoc called again, and Fallon’s excitement overcame her as her arm smacked the outside of her door over and over again.

Tate met my eyes, and then we both turned back to the road, ready.

“Go!” Madoc roared, and all hell broke loose.

“Shit!” I hissed.

Tate and I shot off, but she must’ve been sitting in second gear, because she didn’t hesitate to pick up speed as she shot forward and then cut right in front of me, just in time to miss the pickup truck that sat at the stop sign ahead of us.

“I told you she was good,” Jax said matter-of-factly, but I ignored him.

Slamming down into second and then up into third, I punched the gas, swerving to the left, now that she’d taken my lane, and sped up beside her.

Madoc held on to the handle above the door, glancing over at them anxiously. I shifted down into fourth, inching ahead and thankful for the deserted street.

“Jared, get over in the other lane,” Jax advised.

“What do you think I’m trying to do?” I barked, pushing the gas until I’d gotten up to sixth.

Looking ahead, I spotted a white sedan headed our way, and my heart lodged in my throat, seeing it in my line of driving.

My neck craned to see Tate, a flash of fire in her eyes, and she shook her head at me, telling me not to even try it.

“Jared,” Jax warned as Madoc held on.

I floored it, staying head to head with Tate.

“Jared!” Jax yelled, and I heard the white sedan honking frantically.

Tate’s scared eyes flashed to mine, and I smiled. Twisting the wheel, the muscles aching in my arms, I put the front and back driver’s side tires on the curb, feeling the car bottom out before I got the angle I needed.

“Goddamn it!” Jax cursed, and Madoc laughed.

The white car zoomed between Tate’s and my rides, still honking. I looked over, seeing Tate turning her head nervously to look behind her, so I took my shot.

Powering ahead, I picked up ten more miles per hour and jerked the wheel to the right, into her lane with just enough space to cut her off.

“Whoo!” Madoc roared, and I caught sight of Jax in my rearview mirror with his head back, hands over his eyes.

I shook my head and tipped my chin down, focusing in on the road ahead. Luckily, this street didn’t allow curb parking, so there was plenty of room and no vehicles hiding pedestrians.

Coming up on Main, I braked, spinning the wheel to the right and shifting down to reduce the car’s speed.

“Go, go!” Madoc shouted as I heard Tate’s tires screech behind me.

I glanced in my rearview mirror and noticed that she spun out, but she recovered almost as quickly.

“Everyone keep your eyes open,” I gritted out. “There’s going to be a shitload of people up here.”

While Sundays were sleepy in the neighborhoods—until afternoon, anyway—the center of town was always bustling. People shopped, lunched, took in a movie, or just enjoyed the square.

I sped ahead, while Tate weaved back and forth behind me, trying to get a look at what was ahead. I could also see the excited movements of the other three girls.

“Oh, shit!” Jax yelled, and I jerked my eyes back to the road.

I slammed on the brakes—seeing a company van backing out of a driveway and into the street—while Tate swerved around me, taking the oncoming lane to go around and zoom ahead of me.

“Fuck!” I growled, jerking the wheel and following behind her.

“Why didn’t you just go around?” Jax shouted, taking off his seat belt and moving closer to the front.

“Piss off,” I barked and then looked ahead at her significant gain. “God, she’s good.”

I heard Jax swallow. “Yeah, she’s got great reflexes. Better than you, apparently.”

Shifting into fifth, I picked up speed and then punched into sixth, starting to see the first stoplight ahead.

“Come on,” Madoc urged, and I pushed my back hard into the seat, squeezing the wheel.

Juliet and Pasha kept turning around, checking us out through the back window. Pedestrians on the sidewalk started taking notice, and I spotted them in my rearview mirror spinning around to watch the two speeding assholes—as they were probably calling us right now—barrel down their street. Some guys went wide-eyed, pointing as both our cars raced by, and I heard a cheer through the open windows.

The light ahead turned red, and Tate slammed on her brakes, the high-pitched screeching bringing everyone’s attention outside straight to us.

I punched the brakes with everything I had, skidding to a halt right next to her.

“Oh, shit!” someone outside shouted. “It’s Jared and Tate!”

But my eyes were on her.

She watched the stoplight, glancing anxiously at me and biting away the smile from her bottom lip. I could tell her leg was bouncing up and down, because her shoulders and head looked like they were vibrating.

“Jax,” I said, breathing hard. “You still in good with the cops?”

“Yeah,” he answered in a hesitant tone. “Why?”

“Because.” And I looked up at the traffic cam perched on top of the stoplight, and glancing left to right and seeing no immediate cars, slammed my back into the seat and gassed it, speeding through the red light.

“Motherfu—!” I heard Tate’s curse, but her voice trailed off as I sped away.

Madoc tipped his head back, busting up with laughter, while Jax snorted close to my ear.

People outside cheered, howling and laughing. I glanced in my rearview mirror to see Tate, inching through the stoplight, following my lead, and then taking off when she realized it was safe.

I shifted into fourth and then fifth—the hot summer sun was nothing compared to the lava raging under my skin.

God, I fucking loved her.

Even being on the track—which I loved—wasn’t as good as the high I felt when she was near me.

“Jared,” Jax warned. “Slow down.”

I looked ahead, a smile teasing my jaw.

“Jared,” he said again, his voice harder.

I ignored him, shifting my eyes from left to right, looking for danger as I approached the next stoplight.

“Jared!” Madoc shouted, and I punched into sixth, my heart racing and my breathing hitching painfully in my chest.

“Oh, shit!” Jax howled, and we all held our breaths as the light just turned to green, and I flew through the intersection without slowing down.

And then I let out a breath, safely getting to the other side.

“Oh, thank God,” Madoc gasped and then looked at me. “You’re such an asshole.”