Total pages in book: 50
Estimated words: 46525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 233(@200wpm)___ 186(@250wpm)___ 155(@300wpm)
I hesitated, then voiced the fear I’d been trying to ignore. “What happens to her if you lose?”
Levi cupped my cheek, his thumb brushing gently across my skin. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” I answered without hesitation.
“Then don’t worry. Sutton will be okay.” He didn’t elaborate, but the confidence in his voice was enough for me.
I let out a long breath and snuggled deeper into his chest.
Levi pulled me closer, tucking me against him and pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “Sleep, baby.”
Safe in his arms, surrounded by his warmth and quiet strength, I finally let myself relax completely and drifted off into a deep sleep.
14
Century
Torque Ridge sat twenty minutes east of Crossbend in a converted shipping yard that had no business pretending it was a track, which was exactly why men with more pride than sense loved racing there. Rusted containers lined the far side, chain-link fences bowed under the pressure of crowds who always wanted to stand too close, and old industrial gates opened directly onto the asphalt. Barrels marked turns where real barriers should’ve been; half-assed barricades leaned under their own weight.
It was underground racing stripped down to its bones, the kind of place where the crowd came to feel the danger through the fence, and every racer knew one bad line could turn a machine into scrap and a man into something Cage would spend hours stitching back together.
Kane stood near the pit entrance with Edge at his side, both of them studying the track with the same quiet focus they wore before the war. Chief—his road name reflected his job since he was Kane’s primary crew chief—Nitro, Drift, and a few other trusted Kings were already there, scattered around the pit like we’d come for routine prep instead of looking for the kind of bullshit desperate men pulled when they didn’t think they could win clean.
We headed out from the pit to walk the track, boots scuffing over dirty asphalt while the noise of crews and spectators grew heavier behind us. I rolled my shoulders once, trying to loosen tension that had nothing to do with the race and everything to do with Saylor waiting back at the compound until we cleared the place. She’d wanted to come with me from the start, stubborn woman that she was, but I’d told her she could stand in my pit once I knew the ground beneath her feet wasn’t hiding a trap. She’d stared me down for ten full seconds before agreeing, and the fact that she trusted me enough to wait had almost made me drag her into my room instead of leaving.
I glanced at Kane as we moved along the first stretch. “You talk to King?”
Kane didn’t look over right away. His eyes stayed on the pavement, scanning cracks, seams, and scattered gravel for anything that didn’t belong. “I did.”
Edge walked on Kane’s other side, his posture casual in a way that would’ve fooled exactly nobody who knew him. “Hounds in?”
“They’re in,” Kane confirmed. “If things go sideways and Sutton needs to vanish, King’s people will take care of her. New name, paperwork, and life. She’ll disappear clean.”
The Hounds of Hellfire weren’t a club most people wanted owing them favors, but they were allies. It was only well known in the right circles, but their specialty was making people disappear. And when they decided to help someone, that person didn’t get found. Gone like a federal program wished it could manage.
I exhaled through my nose. “Good.”
Kane’s gaze finally slid to me. “You still don’t like that it might be necessary.”
“No.” I looked down the track where the asphalt narrowed into a hard right near a line of dented barrels. “I don’t like that Saylor’s heart still hurts over a woman who keeps handing her knives and acting shocked when she bleeds. But I’m not racing for Sutton because she earned protection.”
“You’re racing because Saylor needs to know her twin won’t be slaughtered,” Edge murmured.
“Yeah.”
Edge’s mouth twisting into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Soft of you.”
I shot him a look. “Nothing soft about me, asshole. Or my bullets.”
Kane’s mouth barely moved, but amusement flickered through his eyes. “Save it for the race.”
“Or your woman,” Edge added. “Though I’m guessing you haven’t been saving much for later.”
I stopped walking just long enough to stare at him. “You ever get tired of hearing yourself talk?”
“No.” Edge gave me a pleased grin. “One of my favorite sounds.”
Nitro snorted from ahead of us, crouching near the inside of the turn. “Some of us are trying to keep Century alive long enough for Saylor to make an honest man out of him.”
I grunted and kept walking.
We started the inspection in earnest after that, spreading out enough to cover ground without looking like we were sweeping for a bomb. Officially, we were checking the course because Torque Ridge was always one storm away from becoming a death trap. Unofficially, none of us trusted the Diesel Serpents to keep the race clean.