I knew they weren’t far, but I didn’t want her around if these guys were going to start a fight. Which, based on our last interactions, would be happening.

The three of them were already at me no. Two of them were ones I got in a fight with outside the diner. The other was the guy I had raced and, according to him, lost to.

“What do you want?” I asked, still relaxed. There wasn’t much they could do now—fight me or leave—but I could handle either option.

“I want the car you owe me.”

“I don’t owe you a car. I won the race. You don’t get to lie, make your friends lie, and then think you get my car.”

“I won. It’s as simple as that, and you can’t run around here racing more when you’ve backed out of the deal we had. We raced, I won, I get your car, so hand over the keys.”

“We raced, I won, and you and your friends lied.”

The crew stepped next to my car now. The tightness in my chest eased at their presence. I didn’t want Daisy anywhere near a fight, and the other night at the diner had been close enough. I had never fought so hard, purely from the fear that they would break into the car to steal it and take her with them. I knew the crew would have my back, and the chances of these guys starting a fight against all of us were slim.

“Instead of you two getting into fights every time you see each other, why don’t you just race again?” Ransom said. “Plenty of witnesses, no confusion, and whoever loses can give up their car. If you really won, there should be no trouble doing it again.”

Ransom was goading him into another race, and even though that was clear enough to us, I knew he would fall for it.

“I’m fine with that,” I said.

He thought it over, and I wondered if he would need to run and talk to his friends, but he squared his shoulders. “Fine. I can kick your ass again. Let’s go. Right now.”

“I’ll be at the line in five minutes,” I said, already stepping back towards my car.

“Kye!” Daisy yelled, running past the crew to my side.

“I’ll be fine, Daze. Come on, I need to get up there.”

“No, we have to go. Right now,” she panted. The crew gathered around my car as we made it over to them. 

“Everyone, now!” she hissed, looking around. “I have a police scanner on my phone. I’m paranoid. My dad and the other sheriffs are headed here. It sounds like they might block everyone in, but I don’t know for sure.”

“Shit,” I said. “Alright, we should go just in case they do.”

“Your race?” Ransom asked.

“No one can race if we are all in jail.”

He smiled, sliding behind the wheel of his car before it roared to life. If anyone wondered why we were all leaving, they didn’t ask.

Daisy had already buckled herself in by the time I got in. “Hurry,” she said, her legs bouncing wildly. “I don’t know how long until they are here.”

“It’s alright. We already have the heads up, thanks to you. We will get out without an issue.” 

“Are you sure, Kye? I really don’t want my dad to find out about us hanging out like this.”

“I feel like that’s a little dig at me, but I am sure,” I said, grinning. “He won’t find out like this.”

“It’s not a dig at you. If this is how he finds out, and you and the crew are doing something illegal, he will do whatever he can to charge you on it, simply for having me here with you.”

“Oh, so you don’t want to be seen with me to protect me?”

“Yes, actually.”

We all headed down the side street before turning out onto the main road. Daisy sucked in a hard breath, and I immediately saw why. Six sheriffs cars headed down the road at us, their lights and sirens off as they passed. They were going to sneak up on everyone, ticketing who they could and arresting anyone who fought it. We’d been there for it before and it sucked. You could be there for hours as they blocked off streets and handcuffed whoever they wanted. 

“Thanks for the heads up, Daze. None of us felt like dealing with that tonight.”

The sheriff’s cars all turned down the side road we had just come from and disappeared.

“They aren’t going to come after us,” I said. “We technically aren’t doing anything wrong right now, and they can go catch plenty of people who are. Relax, we’re good now.”

Silence surrounded us as she sat there, not saying a word. I really didn’t know how to soothe someone who was panicking, but I had watched Fox do it plenty of times for Ash. I grabbed for her hand, resting it on mine and setting them both onto the shifter.

“You want to drive for a little longer?” I asked, not ready to drop her off. She shifted in her seat, and I realized it was only to get more comfortable.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”

I turned right, heading towards the winding, quiet roads as she turned up the radio.

NINETEENKYE

My head pounded as I pushed the car into the next gear. I could feel blood trickle down my neck, but I tried to ignore it.

Two days went by since I had seen Daisy. I had gone out to street race for a few hours, trying to drive off every ounce of need I felt for her. I had fought every waking second to not reach out to her, hoping I could cut some of the contact between us to ease the need that built in my chest. Tonight, though, I went to race and wound up running right back into the guy who thought I owed him a car, and this time, I had been alone. They started hitting me and somehow ended up getting one too many punches in. Now I was a mess and needed the one thing that seemed to calm me down.

I pulled out my phone and hit her name. It rang a few times before it connected.

“Hello?”

“Daze,” I said, finally taking a deep breath.

“What’s going on? What’s wrong?”

“Are you home?” I asked, knowing she only had one more day at her dad’s house before she moved into her new dorm room which was, apparently, a good thing since her sister was planning on moving back in, and Daisy wanted out before that happened.

“Yeah? Where else would I be?”

“Can I come over?”

“Right now? I mean, yeah, but what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I just need to see you.”

“Oh. Okay. Yeah, of course,” she said, the panic in her voice getting worse. “How long until you’re here?”

“Five minutes. I’ll park around the corner.”