Can't Slow Down (10 page)

“That’s my girl.”

We both turn to look at each other, huffing and puffing as we try to catch our breath. Coen lets out a heavy sigh and closes his eyes for a moment. When he opens them again, his beautiful green eyes stare intently and his lips slowly part. I think he’s going to kiss me, but instead his deep voice cracks as he starts to speak.

“I love you, Lexi.” His voice is barely above a whisper.

He loves me?
He loves me.

Before I get a chance to reply, Derek is standing in front of the car with his arms crossed and breaks the awkward silence.

“One of you two care to tell me what the
hell
is going on?” he says before ripping a piece of beef jerky with his teeth.

AS IF MY LIFE
hadn’t already been fucked up enough, now I’m related to the piece of shit that assaulted and abused my girlfriend. Who I may have just freaked out because I said those three little words. I haven’t said those words to anyone in a very long time. I could try and convince myself that it was just a knee-jerk reaction to the moment, but the truth is, even though I’ve only know Lexi for a short time, I’ve come to realize she’s what I’ve been waiting for my entire life. She’s my family now; her and Derek. I don’t need anyone else and I don’t want anyone else.

Her eyes search my face and her lips part, until Derek’s voice breaks our silence.
Sometimes that guy has the worst timing.
Lexi and I both get out of the car and I explain the whole thing to him.

“And now we’re here in your garage.”

“That is some fucked up shit, dude,” Derek says after swallowing the last bite of his jerky. “So, what’s the plan now?”

I force out a breath and run my good hand through my hair.

“I don’t know yet.”

Derek nods toward my sore hand.

“Did you break it on that asshole’s face?”

I slowly open and close my injured fist.

“Nah, I can move it. I think it’s just bruised.”

“I’ll get you some ice and something to clean your face.”

When the door to the house closes behind him, Lexi walks over to me and wraps her arms tight around my waist and gives me a hug. I lean down and bury my nose in her soft hair. She still smells like my shampoo. She smells like home. I never meant to fall so hard and so fast for her, but I can’t imagine my life without her, nor do I want to.

“Are you okay, Coen?” She lifts her head up to look at me, still holding me close.

“I’ll be fine in a couple days. It’s not the first time I bruised my knuckles.”

“I’m not talking about your hand. I’m talking about what happened at your aunt’s.”

“I’ve been waiting for her to disown me for years, Lex. She never wanted to raise me, she only did it because my mom wrote it into her will asking her to. Aunt Sarah and my mom were inseparable and when Mom died, Sarah changed. She wasn’t the same woman anymore. As for the whole Patrick thing, I’m not sure what to think about that. It’s like something out of a TV show. But you know, the way this past week or so has been, I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“It has been a whirlwind of a week. That’s for sure.” She stands on her tiptoes and cradles my face in her hands. “But I’m so thankful for one good thing that has come out of it.”

I rest my forehead against hers. “Oh yeah, and what’s that?” I tease.

“My sexy knight in tattooed armor.” She kisses me on the cheek. “I’ll kiss you proper later after your face is cleaned up.”

“Would you two like some more time?” Derek had come back into the garage but neither of us notices until he speaks. He tosses the ice pack and washcloth at me. Thankfully I manage to catch them with my good hand.

“Thanks, fucker.” I laugh.

“So . . . ” Derek crosses his arms and leans against the work bench along the wall of the garage where all of his wrenches and tools are hanging.

“So . . . what?” I ask, as Lexi cleans up my face with the wash cloth Derek brought me and I hold the ice pack on my knuckles.

“What’s the plan, chief?”

Lexi pauses and waits for me to answer Derek.

“The plan is . . . I challenge him to a race.”

Lexi and Derek both look at me quizzically.

“Have you lost your fucking mind? We need to keep an eye on him.” Lexi sounds a little angry.

“Lex, are you scheduled to work tomorrow at the restaurant?”

“No, I requested the day off tomorrow a few weeks ago. It’s Brea’s birthday and we always go bowling and have dinner.”

“Call her and tell her you need to postpone it and that we’ll make it up to her this weekend.” I tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I have an idea, sweet cheeks. Trust me?”

She looks away, closes her eyes and nods. I kiss her forehead.

“D, can you make a phone call? Tell the watchdog to tell that dumbass to be at the track tomorrow evening. I have a proposal for him I think he’ll be interested in.”

“Uh, sure man, whatever you need.” Derek crosses his arms and strokes his chin like Santa does his long beard.

“But . . . ?” I know there’s a “but.” I can tell by the look on his face and the way he’s rubbing his chin.

“
But,
isn’t Sulley going to be pissed if we open the track for personal reasons?”

“He owes me a favor. Plus, I am pretty sure once I explain the situation and my plan, he’ll help us out.” I give them both a smirk.

Derek, Lexi, and I spend the rest of the evening discussing the plan over pizza and a few beers. Just in case the cops are still out looking for me we leave the Hellcat parked in Derek’s garage and Lexi and I will sleep over at her place tonight.

This asshole is going down. I’m done playing.

THE NEXT EVENING
the three of us head over to Sulley’s Raceway. We’re high on adrenaline and praying we can pull this thing off. Sulley, the owner and my boss, agreed to allow me to use this place for the night as long as we don’t do anything drastic, and I gave all the maintenance workers the night off, just in case anything goes awry.

Derek is standing at the entrance gate and Lexi and I are on our way up to the press box. When we get to the top I show her where she can sit so she can see everything. She’ll be safer up here, away from everything.

“Coen, I’m not so sure this is going to work.” Lexi stares out the big square windows overlooking the track and down at my Hellcat that is parked in the pit.

“Hey, come here.” I lift her up by the waist, sitting her down on the table in front of me as I stand between her legs and place my hands on either side of her face. “Have I let you down yet, sweet cheeks?” My thumbs gently caress her freckled skin.

“No, but what if—” she starts.

“No buts, no what-ifs. We have to have faith and trust that this will work, Lex. I’ll challenge him. He will lose. He’ll flip his shit and Derek has the cops on speed dial.”

Static comes across the walkie-talkie followed by Derek’s voice.

“You ready to feed this twerp your road dust?”

“Be right there,” I answer back. “Please, stay here, Lex. I’ll have Derek come and get you when it’s safe.”

“Coen.” She grabs my arm as I turn to leave and stops me so I turn around to face her. “Did you mean it?”

“Mean what, babe?”

“When you said you love me.”

I smirk before devouring her in a deep, passionate kiss.

“Baby cakes, you are the spark plugs to my ignition. You are my piston princess, and I never ever say those three words to someone unless I mean them.”

Lexi giggles.
God, that’s a beautiful sound.

“I love you too, Coen. Please be careful”

When I get to the track Patrick is waiting at the starting line next to his Porsche.
I’m so taking him down.

“What’s up,
cousin?
Did you decide you want to kiss and make up? I mean, we’re kinda even now, don’t you think? You stole my girl, I stole your aunt—or should I say, my
mom.
” He starts laughing hysterically and he reeks of alcohol.

I don’t have time for this shit. I’m ready to get this all over with.

“Here’s the deal, ass hat. You and I are going to race. Whoever loses will leave town and never contact Lexi ever again.”

His evil grin turns solemn as he looks at my car and back to his, eyeing up his competition. He’s probably never raced once in his entire life.
This is going to be a piece of cake.

“Deal,” he says a few moments later.

“May the best man win.”

We both get inside our cars and strap on our helmets and seatbelts and slowly start easing our way up to the starting line to trigger the Christmas tree lights. A split second before the green light goes Patrick jumps the start, resulting in an automatic loss, which is confirmed by the bright red light I catch out of the corner of my eye. I might as well make the run and show him what a real car can do.

We circle back around to the pits and exit our cars. Patrick slams his door and strides over to get right up in my face. His nostrils are flaring and his fists and teeth are clenched.

“I want a fucking do-over. My damn foot slipped. I wasn’t ready!” He spits in my face as he talks and I snarl. I want to shove my fist into his gut right now, but I hold back. If he throws the first punch this will be self defense, so instead of punching him, I laugh in his face.

“Rules are rules and a deal is a deal,
cousin.
I’ll be nice and give you twenty-four hours to pack your shit and get lost. For good.”

“Who in the fuck do you think you are?” He shoves my chest and tries to push me backward into my car, but I don’t move a muscle.

“You want to know who I am?” My lip curls in anger and I stare right into his cold gray eyes. “I’m the man that is going to treat Lexi the way she deserves to be treated and needs to be treated and worshipped. I’m the man that is going to do every possible fucking thing in his power to protect her and keep her safe from fucking losers like you.” It takes everything in me to not shove him back, but he needs to make the first move. I don’t want to give the cops any reason to think that I’ve done anything wrong.

He takes a swing at me but I dodge it, causing him to land on his face, which just pisses him off even more. He quickly jumps to his feet and charges at me; his shoulder slams into my rib cage so hard that it knocks the air out of me momentarily. I cough hard and fight to gain control of my breathing again.

“You think you’re so fucking tough, running Sulley’s Raceway, leading the wins on the quarter mile on the streets, stealing another man’s girl. You think I’m going to agree to leave town quietly because I lost a race on a technicality to
you?
” Patrick shoves his finger into my chest.

After a few minutes, I’m finally starting to breath properly again. Rage and anger are coursing through my veins like a burst of nitro racing through an intake manifold. I let out a yell similar to a Viking charging into battle as the adrenaline takes over. I retaliate with the same move he just pulled on me; only my shoulder is much bigger than his. I slam him into his car so hard that his elbow goes through the glass of his window. Blood is now dripping down the door of his precious Porsche, and I’m pretty sure if humans could breathe fire like dragons he would be right now.

Good. Bring it on, fucker.

I look over toward the gate; Derek’s not there. That’s when I hear Lexi screaming my name. “Coen, stop! It’s gone far enough! He’s not worth it!”

No, but you are.

Derek is trying to hold her back. “Lex, don’t go over there. Coen can handle him.”

The brief moment I had my attention off Patrick was enough for him to catch me off guard.
I expected a good fist fight out of him, but I didn’t think he had the balls for this.
I feel cold, hard steel pressed against my back.

“This ends NOW, asshole,” Patrick grits through his teeth, close to my ear. “I’m going to fill you in on a little secret before I blow your brains out in front of our little slut over there. I hate to disappoint you, but I’m not your cousin after all.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Sarah said—”

“Sarah doesn’t know.” He cuts me off. “My real mom is in Sarah’s little book club and I overheard my parents talking one night about how Sarah was looking for her son she had put up for adoption years ago. And that she has a nephew named Coen that she was forced to raise when her sister and brother-in-law died. I thought to myself, this is the perfect opportunity to ruin your life, like you’ve ruined mine. All I had to do was make a phone call. You see, Coen, not all of my ex-girlfriends hate me. The girl I was with before Lexi just happens to work for the adoption agency in this lovely small city of ours, and when I explained to her what I needed and why, she was more than happy to help.”