Like A Devil

Laina

            “Yes.”

            “Good. Nice lipstick, by the way.”

            “Thank you,” I said, blushing a bit. Harley was the type of woman all men wanted and every girl wanted to be. She was hot as hell, and you didn’t mess with her. Her word was law, especially here, and any man or woman who opposed her had another thing coming.

            “Who are you pulling for?” Harley asked me. She didn’t look at me. Her eyes were trained on the cars pulling into their starting positions.

            I glanced over at the lineup. Mason had rolled his green Mustang into his place. Benji was coming up behind him in his coupe. I shrugged one shoulder. “My brother is racing. Aren’t I obligated to pull for him?”

            Harley looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “There are no obligations here.”

            “Who do you think will win then?”

            “Oh, sweet girl. Is that a question worth asking?”

            I smiled. We both knew who was winning this race. Mason Thomas.

            Harley sighed. “He drives like the devil himself is chasing him. I bet he fucks like a devil too.”

            My cheeks burned again, and I turned up the collar of my jacket to try to hide it from her. “Probably.”

            Harley laughed. She didn’t giggle. She wasn’t the giggling sort. “Maybe one day, one of us will be lucky enough to find out.” I licked my lips as she picked up the red flag and pushed it into my hands. “You’re up, dollface. Give me your jacket.”

            I shrugged out of my jacket, and she took it from me to drape it over one arm. I adjusted my crop top and looked out at the lineup of cars. Their headlights seemed to illuminate the place I was supposed to stand.

            I stepped over the barrier separating the crowd from the cars and walked with purpose to the ‘X’ Harley had painted for me. I planted my feet and stood with my weight on my left leg. I popped out my hip and let the flag dangle in my right hand, hanging down to the pavement.

            Harley stood on the chair the flag had been on and pressed her fingers into her mouth to whistle for the crowd’s attention. “Ladies and gentlemen, this is the moment you have been waiting for!” A roar of applause assaulted my ears. “You know how this shit works. First car across the line is the winner. He walks away with forty grand tonight and guarantees himself a spot in the first of The Street series next weekend. There are no rules here. You do what you have to do to cross the finish line. But, you have to live with those decisions. People, stay back from the barriers when the cars are coming across the line. Shit gets messy. I will not call an ambulance for you if you get your dumb ass hit by a car. Now, can I get a cheer for our drivers?”

            The screams from the crowd made my ears ring.

            Harley announced that the race would start in two more minutes. People in the crowd popped open beers and bottles of liquor. The cars revved their engines, and I looked out at the windshields and headlights before me.

            It was a strange feeling to be in the literal spotlight like this. It felt good.

            Mason’s car was on the right-hand side and second from the front. He rolled down his window and stuck his hand out, giving me a wave. I smiled and waved back.

            A couple cars honked at me. I did a little turn on the spot and more drivers honked appreciatively.

            Then the car in front of Mason honked, and the driver’s window rolled down. Sid poked his slimy head out the window and grinned at me. His gold-capped canines caught the light. “You look like the perfect way to wind down after I win this race, baby.”

            I ignored him.

            “Don’t play coy, Laina. You know you want a piece of this. I can make you feel things, girl. Real good things. Turn around for me again.” He tapped his horn twice.

            Fucking Sid Paul. He made me want to disappear. He’d had a thing for me ever since I started coming to these events with my brother, and no matter how many times I told him I wasn’t interested, he wouldn’t leave me alone.

            “You can’t ignore me forever, baby. One of these days, you’re gonna give it up. And you’ll be happy you did.”

            Harley pointed at me. I lifted the flag. Sid flashed his lights and revved his engine hard.

            “Wait for me after the race, sexy!”

            I swept my arm down, painting a red arc through the air with the flag. As soon as it dropped, the cars launched forward from their starting points. Sid’s tires squealed on the wet asphalt, and his car shot forward. Mason was right on his bumper as they blew past me.

            I spun with them as the last cars crossed the line and watched the taillights as they tore down the street and under the overpass.

            Once the cars were out of sight, the anxious conversations started in the crowd. Everyone was talking about who might win, and I heard Mason’s name on many lips as I hopped over the barrier to meet up with Ginny and Rick.

            Rick draped an arm over each of our shoulders. “Now the fun part. We wait.”       

            “I hate this part,” I grumbled.

            He playfully nudged my chin with his knuckles. “I was being sarcastic. We all hate this fucking part. I feel like my balls are in a vise.”

            I arched an eyebrow.

            Rick looked out down the street. The cars were long gone. “My brother is out on the track with fucking Sid Paul. And where Sid Paul is, Mark Denning is sure to be. It’s hard not to be… worried.”

            I bit my bottom lip and followed his eyes to look down the street. “Mason will be fine,” I said, sounding a tad bit more confident than I felt. “He’s a better driver than both of them. You watch. He’ll cross that line first.”