“Just a little luck before I go race,” he said with a wide grin. “Great to see you, Sheriff.”
“See me again,” my dad said. “You know I have you running from me earlier.”
“That was you? Wow, I was just getting a little practice in. Honestly, you are a great opponent. Maybe you should get out on the track with me today.”
“Kye,” I hissed. He wasn’t helping any of this.
“What the hell are you doing with my daughter?”
“Dating her?” Kye said, the pleased grin on his face making my dad’s turn red.
“Daisy,” my dad said, almost screaming now.
“Well, I have to go race. I’ll talk to you later…sweetheart,” Kye said, smiling as he leaned down to me. He liked this too much, taking every opening he could to mess with my dad more.
Before my dad had any chance to respond, Kye was getting in the car, waving as he pulled away.
“Daisy,” my dad said, stomping over as Kye peeled out to line up.
“Whatever lecture you have for me, can you not?”
“You just kissed Kye Baker. The guy I have arrested more times than I can count. The guy who just outran me when I was trying to pull him over.” He ran a hand down his face and sighed. “Dammit, you were in the car, weren’t you?”
“I’m the one who told him to go. I didn’t want to deal with you. With this,” I hissed.
“Maybe think about going out with a guy who wouldn’t run from the police. One who doesn’t love getting arrested and fucking up his life. Maybe one you are proud to date, not one you want to hide from me.”
I met his eyes, my hands on my hips. “I was hiding it because of you, not because of him.”
“I doubt that. You know, if he was a good guy, I would be fine with you two together.”
“Then are you going to believe me if I tell you that he is a good guy?”
“There isn’t a chance in hell I’m going to believe you. And based on what he just did and said, I’m going to tell you that he’s using you and you need to break it off.”
“And if I refuse?”
“You and I are going to have issues. A lot of issues.”
“I don’t live at home anymore. Why are you acting like I have to follow your rules?”
“Because I still pay for where you do live. And it isn’t cheap. Have your grades gone down? Are you even still in school?”
“No, Dad, I started dating Kye and thought it would be better to drop out,” I mocked. “Of course, I’m still in school. Stop being ridiculous.”
“Ridiculous? That’s the farthest thing from ridiculous. That’s exactly what happens with guys like him. You need someone more mature, someone who has their life on track.”
“I swear, if you tell me again that I should go on a date with your sheriff friend’s son, I’m going to scream. I do not need to be set up on a blind date.”
“It would make me pretty happy to see you give it a shot, at least. Maybe see the difference between boys like him compared to Kye. Maybe you would even be happy with what you learn.”
I turned back to the track, watching as Kye lined up and then was off. His car veered around the track, sliding around the corners. My fist clenched into my dress at each curve, worry gnawing at me that he was about to run into a wall, but he didn’t. He would make it around each curve with ease until he hit a straighter part of the track and would take off again. It looked like he was going full speed at a wall each time, and each second was making me realize how dangerous this career would be.
And how much I loved sitting here watching him.
He was amazing. I didn’t know anything about racing, and it was clear that he was good at this. I couldn’t imagine why Holt wouldn’t be signing him on as a driver immediately. He moved past the other cars with ease and drifted around the last corner. It was apparently only one of a few race events that would be happening today, and Kye would be doing more of these drifting events along with one on a dirt track that Holt had. All of it was to show off, and Kye was doing amazing at showing off his skills. I thought back to the picture Kye sent me. The one that was currently the lock screen on my phone, and I nearly laughed. It was so dumb that we made each other’s photos our lock screens like anyone would notice, but I noticed every time I opened my phone.
And I loved it.
I wanted to go down there and see him smile like that in person after winning a race.
But I could feel my dad’s glare on me, and my heart sank more.
Between knowing this relationship was always fake, to my dad never letting it be real, I knew it was over.
TWENTY-FOURKYE
The thought of Daisy meeting me at the end of the race spurred me faster toward the finish line.
I was fucked, honestly.
There was no part of me that wasn’t looking forward to kissing her after this.
I passed over the finish line, knowing I won but not caring.
Today was for Holt to see I was serious and to show off that I could be a good driver for him. Whether I won or not barely mattered to me.
Getting back to Daisy to find out what was happening with her dad was a lot more interesting right this second.
