Losing Evelyn

Mason

            Showing up down at the docks would have repercussions. Everyone would know I was back. Mark Denning, Sid Paul, and Evelyn—people I wished I never had to see again. People I hated for what they had done to me. But I wasn’t a fool. I needed closure, and what better way to achieve that than to beat them at their own game?

            Surely Mark and Sid thought they were a shoo-in for victors of The Streets this year. The other competitors might show them a good time, but nobody raced as dirty as the pair of them. They would do anything to win.

            So would I.

            “I’ll race,” I said.

            Rick clapped his hands together with excitement. “Hell yeah! Glad I didn’t splurge on this green beast for nothing.”

            “Are you racing?”

            He shook his head. “Nope. I already qualified for The Streets and have a starting spot at the first race next weekend. I got in for free.” He winked.

            “How’d you swing that?”

            “I made a deal with Harley.”

            “Which was?”

            He laughed. “If I could get you to come back, she’d get me in for free.”

            I rolled my eyes. “Of course. I should have known the two of you would be conspiring together on this one.”

            “It’s for your own good, man.”

            “Maybe.”

            “Besides, why would I want to fork out my money when I know you’ll kick my ass out there? I’m gunning for second or third. First is yours.”

            I smirked. “At least you know your place.”

            “Yeah, fuck you, too, Mason. You smug bastard.”

            I laughed and so did he, and then he went to the mini fridge in the corner of his garage and grabbed two beers. He tossed me a can, and I popped the tab and drank. “So what time do we have to be there tonight?”

            “Race starts at midnight, but you have to be there by ten to register. You’ve been out of the game for a while, so Harley will need some extra time with you.”

            Midnight. It seemed so far away. My stomach was already tight with nerves at the idea of being back in that world.

            I missed the cars. I missed the roar of the engines and the smell of gas thick and heavy in the air. I missed the wet pavement, the burning tires, the elated screams of excitement as I passed the finish line.

            I missed all of it and none of it all at once.

            Evelyn had ruined me. She and I had done the whole race thing together. We’d met on the track, and she had me wrapped around her little finger within hours. She was unlike any woman I’d ever met, and I followed her around like a lost puppy dog, desperate to know anything and everything about her. She was a veterinarian. Her passion for animals and people was what drew me to her. She was warm and friendly and sweet, and when I discovered she knew her way around an engine, I was in love.

            We dated for fourteen months before I proposed. She said yes, of course.

            Our wedding was a small affair. Neither of us had much family left, so we got married at our house in the backyard in the middle of summer. She wore a white sundress that went down to the ground. I remember she had grass stains all on the hem of it by the end of the night. She didn’t care. She told me it would be wrinkled after we fucked in it anyway.

            She was my girl. My everything.

And then, all of a sudden after a year of marriage, she wasn’t.

I was under no delusion that we were the perfect couple. We had our fair share of fights, and both of us were as stubborn as mules. It made for some epic shouting matches. She laid hands on me in fits of rage, and when I was forced to make her stop hitting me by holding her wrists, she’d get so turned on, we’d be fucking wherever the fight started. Kitchen. Living room. Backyard. It didn’t matter. The passion was insane.

            I’d been foolish to believe it would be enough.

            I remembered the day I went to Mark Denning’s house after thinking he’d kidnapped my wife. My rage had been uncontrollable. Benji and Rick were with me for backup. I’d had no idea how bad things were going to get. All I could think about was reaching my girl. Saving her. Sparing her from that monster.

            When we arrived and the door opened and I found her standing there of her own free will, smiling at me in a way that made my insides squirm, everything fell apart. She told me she was through with me. Then she pointed a gun at my chest.

            Thinking about how it all went down still made my head spin.

            “Hey, Mason?”

            I looked up at my brother. He was leaning against his workbench on the far side of the garage. His beer was in one hand as he braced himself against the bench with the other.

            “What?” I asked.

            “Do you think Evelyn will be there?”

            Clearly, he’d been lost in thought over the same things. That day had been hellish for him too. He’d nearly died after all.

            I sighed and drained the rest of my beer. “Who fucking knows?”

            “What will you do if she is?”

            I looked him in the eye. “Not a damn fucking thing. I’m going to win. That will be enough.”