Boost by Vi Summers
Chapter 14
-Raf-
Hours later, piercing green eyes barely visible from under a baseball cap arrived at my cell, and a lop-sided smirk accompanied his snigger. “Good night?”
“The fuck kind of question is that?” I snapped at Colt, who seemed to draw energy from my predicament.
He laughed out loud while the guard opened the door and let me out. Neither of us said a word until after I was processed and out on the street.
“So, you gonna tell me what the fuck went down?”
“Sure, after a coffee.” I sniggered when I spotted his F12 parked at the curb. “Bit early for sex after lockdown, isn’t it?”
“For you, fuckin’ A. I should have hired a minivan to pick your ass up.”
I flipped him off and slid into the passenger seat as he rounded the hood.
“So, good news, bad news,” I drawled, when he slid behind the wheel.
Colt looked over his shoulder and pulled into the street. “Hit me with the bad first.”
“I got arrested.”
His loud bark of loud laughter filled the car. “No fucking shit! And the good news?”
“I found you a guy.”
Colt shot me an excited look but kept his voice steady. “Same guy you were saying about the other day?”
“Yup.”
“Deets, man.”
“Name’s Arlo Linetti. He’s gotta be late teens, maybe twenty. Attitude bigger than his ego, and, from what I’ve seen of his racing, he’s a quick learner with quicker reactions.”
“And he was with you last night?”
“Yeah.”
“Fuck,” Colt hissed. “Did he get arrested too?”
“No. He got away, as far as I’m aware.”
He huffed a breath and adjusted the peak of his cap. “I’d like to meet him.”
“Of course. I’ll sort it.”
“And what about Greer?”
I grunted and pushed back into the leather seat. The mere mention of her name was like a kick to the chest. “What about her?”
He glanced at me, and this time his expression swam with concern. “Did she get away too?”
A bolt of lightning shot down my spine, straightening and immobilizing it. “What do you mean, did she get away too?”
He shot me a warning. “From the meet. She was there last night; her assistant asked me for the details, and I gave them to her.”
“The fuck!” My heart hammered so damn hard it took my breath away. She was there last night? In the crowd that I searched? How come I didn’t see her?
“She didn’t tell you?” Colt asked, changing lanes and weaving in and out of traffic.
“No. I had no idea.” I pulled out my phone only to shove it back into my pocket. “Fuck, I don’t even have her number. Gimme your phone, bro,” I demanded.
“You don’t wanna do that, Raffie.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
“Thought you wanted coffee?”
Dammit. The smug son-of-a-bitch was right.
Rubbing a frustrated hand over my face, I scrubbed until it mildly hurt. “Fuck. Yes, coffee first.”
After what felt like hours, I finally had a caffeine fix held within my grasp and sipped that shit back like it was life itself.
“Okay, now can I have your phone?”
Colt snorted and gave me a condescending look. “You need to chill and put your pussy away. I’m sure she’s fine.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose failed to bestow some much needed calm. “Just fucking ring her, then I’ll need to sort out collecting my car. What’s the bet they’ve had it towed.”
The car lurched as Colton made an unexpected turn. “I’ll pull past the meet location and see if we get lucky. Call Greer Landon,” he commanded, in a robotic voice to the hands free system.
The music cut out and ringing came through the speakers. I clenched my coffee harder than necessary as nerves flooded my chest. Never before had calling a woman got me this jumped-up, and judging by the look on Colt’s face, he could blatantly see the effect she had on me.
Boss Lady’s assistant answered. “Landon-Michaels PR, Roxiee speaking.”
“Is Greer at work?” I blurted, then glared at Colton when he sniggered. I wasn’t one to get a tone of desperation, but that was borderline.
“Mr. Ortiz?” An edge of humor lit her voice.
“Yes. Is she there?”
“This isn’t your one phone call from lockdown, is it?”
Damn, her assistant was a ball-buster. “No-”
Colt’s snigger grew louder and he over-spoke my bitchy retort. “Nah, I just bailed his ass out. Colton, by the way.”
Roxiee’s voice immediately sweetened. “Oh hey, Colton.”
I rolled my eyes and ignored his smug-ass smirk. “So, back to my question; is Greer at work?”
Roxiee tittered and then put me out of my misery. “Yes, she’s at work, and yes, we’re both fine. But, I hope you were joking about needing bailed out; she’s stressing about the PR repercussions…”
An awkward silence stretched out, then broke with Colton’s poorly concealed laughter.
Fuck that. I had to sort this out before things blew up in my face. “I’ll come into the office today and discuss that directly with her. Is she free this afternoon?”
The click of fingernails on a keyboard came through the car speakers, followed by an appointment. “Two PM?”
“I’ll be there. And, Roxiee?”
“Mmm?” I imagined her arching a brow in wait.
Forcing a swallow, then clearing my throat, I straight-up traded another of my testicles.
“Give her a heads up before I get there.”
Her laughter echoed around me. “You’re scared of her, aren’t you?”
“Fuck no!” I blurted, much to Colt’s amusement. “Just, fuck. I’ll see you at two.” I reached over and jabbed the disconnect button on the steering wheel. “Don’t say a fucking word,” I snapped.
“You’re a pussy.”
“Fuck you.” I bit down to stop a growl escaping when he laughed harder.
It faded as we entered the lot that had been crammed with cars and partiers last night. Colton leaned forward in his seat as he coasted across the smooth seal.
“Bro, is that fucking Shady Sam! Shit, I haven’t seen him in years!”
He pulled to a stop alongside Shades’ car and rolled his window down. “Shady Sam! How you been, man?” Colt beamed.
“Heeeeeey, brother, look what the cat dragged in!”
Colt slid out of the car while I mumbled and unbuckled. They finished their bro-hug by the time I rounded the hood. I slapped my hand into Shades’ and bumped chests.
“You’re lucky you’re my best racer, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered babysitting this piece of shit for you,” Shades grumbled.
“Untouched?” I asked, catching the keys he tossed at me, then checking the body work of my Supra to ensure she was still dent-free and pristine.
“Like a virgin. I gotta bounce, brother, but I’ll catch y’all next meet.”
Colt gave Shades a departing bro-hug, and then stepped back as Shades got behind the wheel of his Subaru WRX. He took off across the vacant lot as if the cops were closing in again.
Not wanting to stick around longer than necessary either, I tossed my car keys up and down in one hand. “Hey thanks, man, for the bail out. I’ll drop the cash by tomorrow.”
Colton waved a hand again before shoving both into the front pockets of his jeans. “Dude, we need to talk.”
I swallowed hard, expecting the inevitable; getting fired after what went down last night. I swung my arms wide and nodded. “Level with me.”
“That was your last street race.”
My gut bottomed out; I hadn’t been expecting that, and I was flooded with crippling panic.
“The fuck, man? Racing is my life!”
“And while I can understand that more than anyone, I need you to keep your ass clean from here on out. Sure, attend, but spectate only. Recruit only. No fucking racing.” He punctuated the demand with three finger-stabs in my direction.
“Colton-” I began to protest, desperately grasping at straws as a part of who I was was stripped away. I’d been in the game for so long I couldn’t imagine being shunted to the sidelines.
Colt shook his head. “It’s not a request, Raffie. I’m sorry it has to be this way, I really fucking am. But, I gotta think bigger picture, and in hindsight, that was something that should have been stipulated earlier.”
I hissed a curse. Today had gone from shit to worse. Normally I took orders the same way I took sloppy seconds—with no fucks given, literally. But the one issued from Colt had me biting my tongue. Call it respect, call it dropping balls; regardless of what you wanted to name it, there was no work around for this. It was the penalty for the shit that went down.
“That’s bullshit,” I spat, and took a step toward him.
“But necessary,” he countered, with his own pace forward. “And non-negotiable.”
I bared my teeth and growled. It was either that or knock a couple of perfect teeth from his smug-fucking-mouth.
“I ain’t happy about this, Colt.”
“Neither am I.”
We glared, eyeing each other back and forth, laying down silent challenges and wordless ultimatums. It took all my willpower not to shove his chest before turning and stalking to my car.
“Just give me a fucking day to process.”
The door of his Ferrari opened and closed, and with a final nod through his front windshield, Colton boosted out of the vacant lot with me following hot on his rear bumper.
I purposely turned right when he turned left at the end of the block, not wanting to follow the reminder of everything I’d just lost.