Last Ride by Laura Langston Page B

crowd for him. Nothing. My breath starts to slow. I was imagining things.
    Hannah reaches Cole’s side. He pulls her into the crook of his arm and kisses her temple. My heart lurches. No way. They’re just friends.
    Movement flickers off to my left. The Twizzlers smell is almost overpowering. Another prickle hits my neck. I whirl around just in time to see Logan’s frown, to see that familiar dip of his head toward Hannah and Cole.
    I blink. And he’s gone.
    But in that second, everything falls into place like a piston sliding into its cylinder. Logan isn’t pissed that I killed him. He’s pissed that I have the hots for Hannah. He’s telling me to leave her alone. He’s telling me that she belongs with Cole.

Chapter Eleven
    I should be happy. Everything’s working out.
    I’m keeping my car. I’ll have five grand by the end of December, easy. Except, Hannah and Cole? What’s good about that?
    Nothing.
    I keep a low profile for the next couple of days. I don’t play pool with the guys Friday night. I don’t answer their text about the status of my car. I even skip Luc’s party Saturday. I drive to the airstrip instead.
    I need to get used to the track. I drive the runways for a couple of hours, memorizing bumps and surface flaws and thinking through possible moves. By the time I’m finished, I have every angle covered.
    Sunday dawns cold and wet. It pours all morning. By lunch the rain eases to drizzle, but the temperature drops. When I look out the window at one point, snow is mixed with the rain. Nerves clutch my stomach. The race can’t be canceled.
    Just before dinner, the weather breaks. An hour later, I get word that the race is on. I’m golden. I’m pumped. I have a race to win!
    The temperature is near freezing when I head out around eight. I can’t see stars. I know the sky is still overcast. As long as the rain holds off for another few hours. That’s all I care about.
    Adrenaline surges when I drive through the broken gate at the old airstrip. Several hundred people have shown up. My mouth is suddenly dry. There have to be fifty or sixty cars here.
    I pull up left of the orange cones that mark the starting line. Lucas slaps me on the back when I join them. “Welcome back, Shields. Ray told us you’d be here.”
    My heart starts to hammer. “He did?” Does Hannah know? It doesn’t matter , my badass self taunts. She’s with Cole, remember?
    I pop the hood on my car and spend the next fifteen minutes answering questions about my modifications. When Ray comes by, I give him full credit. A few minutes before race time, I’m about to slide behind the wheel when a familiar voice calls my name.
    â€œTom!”
    I look over my shoulder. My knees turn to putty. Hannah is heading straight for me. Her hair’s a mess, and the collar on her jean jacket is sticking up at a weird angle. Like she dressed in a hurry.
    â€œI came to see if it was true,” she says when she reaches my side. I glance past her for Cole, but he’s not there. “To see if you’re really racing again.”
    My tongue won’t work. What am I supposed to say? Yes, I’m racing, but it’s none of your business. You’re with Cole. Or you should be. “I didn’t want you to find out this way.”
    â€œOh, really?” She angles her hands on her hips. “How did you want me to find out?”
    I didn’t. But I can’t tell her that.
    She stares at me like I’m a piece of toxic waste. “I cannot believe it.”
    â€œLook, it’s—” I stop. Necessary . But I don’t have time to explain. “There’s a reason I’m here. A bunch of stuff is going on. You don’t know the whole story.”
    â€œStory?” She takes a sharp, ragged breath and shuts her eyes. When she opens them, they shine like dark chocolate. “The only story I know is that Logan