Turn & Burn (18 page)

“Then, I guess you need to find his ass a towel.” I unzipped the bag and set out the items I planned to use.

“Shelby!” Mom leaned into the room and grabbed my arm. “Didn’t you hear Caine?”

I shook off her hand. “I heard him. Jesus, Colt might’ve been the first guy I ever saw naked, but he won’t be the last. I promise I’ll survive the shock of seeing him step out of the shower. This is the only decent mirror in the house.”

Dale cleared his throat. Mom’s mouth twisted in dismay. “You can use the one in my bathroom.”

I shrugged. “I’m here now.”
There she goes again, worried I’ll be the one to stain the family’s honor.

“Hey.” Caine leaned over my shoulder to glare at me in the mirror. “I thought I was your first?”

Mom made a strangled sound. It was a shame my stepbrothers were douchebags. They could be a lot of fun.

“Macy, they’re just yankin’ your chain.” Dale took her by the elbow.

“Well, I know that.” Her narrow-eyed look belied her words. “We have to leave now to go pick up Dale’s suit. I swear on my mother’s grave, if y’all all are late, I will return every gift and spend the money on myself.”

Caine slid past me, giving my ass a friendly pat. “Don’t yell at me. I’m good to go.”

I watched from the corner of my eye. He crossed the hall to my old room and grabbed his jacket from the closet. Muscles bulged under the thin cotton shirt when he shoved his arms into the sleeves. The deep blue suit brought out the color of his eyes. He disappeared behind the open door, but when he stepped back into view, he held two ties. I wrinkled my nose when he held up the one with ornaments on it, and was relieved when he slung the striped one around his neck.

Not bothering to knot it, he paused outside the bathroom door again. “See y’all there. Guess I’ll ride with the old folks.” His eyes dropped to my ass.

I kept dotting foundation on my face, but my mind was on the rough way Caine touched me before the morning’s run.

By the time Colt slammed the shower door open, I had only mascara and eyeliner left to apply, and thirty-five minutes left until the appointment.

“So you know, I made Caine put the camera in that speaker. I thought I’d get you on tape, talking to some old friend about your mama’s new scam or some shit. Then, when it turned out you didn’t have any friends at your old school, Caine figured out that, even though you acted all touch-me-not, you had the hots for me.”

I fought the blush that crept up my neck, even though the effort was futile. Not only was the prick standing less than two feet from my elbow in all his wet, naked glory, but the only way anyone could’ve known whose name I cried out when I masturbated was by watching those damn videos very closely. The camera I’d broken didn’t have audio—that I knew of. I didn’t appreciate him ripping the bandage off old wounds.

“Yes, we know I was young and dumb. And Caine’s your minion? What a shock. Moving along. Do you know who’s buying the ‘Cuda?”

I jerked open the linen closet door and slung him a towel.

He promptly used it to dry his hair. “Just let me get this off my chest. So, I told Brandon to bring you out to the drag races that first night in order to humiliate you. I had no problem fucking over Dad’s new princess.”

He still had those corded ropes of muscle along his hipbones. Were those damn things implants? The place where he kept a couple of spare cocks, just in case something happened to the Whopper?

My cheeks were scarlet now, and dammit, Colt would think I blushed because of my girlish crush. He was so arrogant.

“So, I thought we’d take you out to the drag races and maybe fuck you. You weren’t exactly hard to seduce.”

Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you.
I schooled my expression into a mask and grabbed the eyeliner pencil.

“Caroline was in on it.”

My heart fell and I met his eyes in the mirror. Not Caroline. I’d bent over backwards to protect her from knowing.

Of course.
Why hadn’t I seen that before? Her loyalty was to Colt. Always had been. Always would be. They shared a blood bond, same as Colt did with Caine. I just couldn’t seem to stop tripping over the fact that I was the only true outsider here. 

I felt stupid for bending over backwards to protect her, when she’d been in on Colt’s little scheme. How long had they been laughing behind my back?

He flipped the towel over his head, grabbing a corner in each hand to dry his back. Like water wasn’t running down his chest and abs? I jerked my attention to the mirror, but instead of my eyelids, all I could focus on was Colt’s limp dick.

“Then, you did the unthinkable. You actually sacrificed something to save her car. At first, I thought it wasn’t much. After all, you were ready to give it up to Caine not two minutes before.”

If he doesn’t move off that point
.... I glared at the low-hanging flesh between his legs.

Wait. He means Caroline was in on the plan to fuck with me. I knew that.
She’d admitted that after the sheriff tried to confiscate her car.

“But it meant something to Caine.”

What? I squinted at his face. “Not... Caroline?”

He propped a leg on the edge of the tub to dry it. “Oh, it meant the world to Caroline, too, but I was a lot more worried about Caine. See, he’s Dad’s carbon copy. So, he was already programmed to fall for you, if for no other reason than you were Macy’s mini-me. It’s not me who has the thing for redheads, it’s him and Dad.”

God, had every word out of his mouth been a lie? How did he keep them all straight?

“I thought if I could show him you were no different than Macy,”—he shrugged and moved to towel the other leg—“but you blew that out of the water when you screwed the sheriff to save the car of a girl you barely knew. The only goddamn reason to do that was because you knew she meant something to us. So, I had to get rid of you.”

As logical conclusions went, Colt’s sucked. I felt like a big chunk of his reasoning was missing.

“Well, you did a fine job of getting rid of me. And, made a tidy profit in the bargain.” I dragged the pencil across my eyelid, wishing the point was titanium and dipped in poison so I could stab Colt with it.

He cocked his head. My God, why couldn’t he wrap the damn towel around his hips? Every man I’d ever watched step out of a shower immediately wrapped the fucking towel around his hips, but not Colt Hannah. Oh, no. He was too proud of that big dick.

I shoved the cap on my liner pencil and tossed it into the makeup bag. Wrenching the top off my mascara, I pumped the wand in and out several times, pulled the brush free, and raised my brows, leaning closer to the glass to swipe my lashes.

“And ever since, when Macy brags about your grades, I gotta wonder how someone so smart could be so stupid. I figured as soon as I got home, you’d call me on that idiotic story. But then again, math ain’t your thing, is it?”

He had the nerve to grin. I shoved the wand into the mascara and hurled the tube into my makeup bag. Fueled by outrage, I spun and swung. My palm connected with his cheek so hard, his head jerked halfway around. Pain streaked up my arm, but I couldn’t stop.

“My math skills aren’t the point! Do you have any idea what you did?”
Smack.
“Can you try to pretend you’re human for one minute? Care to put yourself in my shoes?”
Smack.
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to approach every table in the bar where I work, and wonder if this will be the night when some guy will ask if I’m the same chick he’d paid you to screw?”

He grabbed my wrist. The side of his face flamed—I doubted it was as red as mine—but his grip was gentle. “Shelby, no money changed hands.”

No money changed hands
. I blinked.

“No money changed hands. A good time, that’s all it was.”

I’ll kill him.

“I’m not as naive as I used to be, Colt. For four years, that’s been the shit I had to live with. Now, you think you can say it never happened, and no harm, no foul, I should just believe you?”

“Yeah.” His eyes shifted to a spot over my shoulder. “I needed you to stay gone.”

I’m not a whore. It wasn’t true.
As that idea penetrated, I realized how heavy the burden of believing Colt had sold me had been. I didn’t worry, at first, that I might run into someone who’d paid Colt to fuck me. I hadn’t seen that as a huge probability initially, not in Spartanburg. Then, bit by bit, as I ran into people who knew Dale, the idea had grown inside my mind, like a sponge dipped in warm water, until it crowded out everything else I knew about myself.

“Why?” I could barely force the whispered word past my lips.

“Because you beat Rowdy Collins.”

“Who?” I screeched.

Colt pressed the damp towel over the flaming print of my hand, but he didn’t let go of my wrist. “Widowmaker.”

I saw the black car in my head... and the celebration afterward. My first fan fuck, Caine had said.

“And that mattered because...?” I really wanted to slap him again for making me drag this new version of the tale out of him bit by bit, but I started shaking so hard, all I could manage to lift was an eyebrow.

Please, don’t let this be another lie.

He chuckled. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought you said you and that Ernie dude watched the races together. Chris ‘Widowmaker’ Collins. Got off his knees after an upset loss to you and went on to win the NHRA Pro Stock Championship that year. The following year, he tried to make the jump to oval track racing, but so many people had him pigeonholed as a straight-track guy that he dropped ‘Widowmaker’ and had his name changed to ‘Rowdy’ on his NASCAR license. Pettison Racing gave him a shot last season. So, you don’t know that Chris Collins was voted Rookie of the Year this year?”

“I didn’t know that
Rowdy
Collins was the dude I raced. But, anyway, he let me win.”

He eyed me with the same look he might give a cat tracking mud across his freshly polished hood. “Why in the hell would you think that?”

I thought back. “Because... because I thought they all let me win. I figured out that was how you suckered me into the game, so I wouldn’t realize you....”
Were selling my ass.
Which he now swore hadn’t happened.

Colt squinted from beneath pinched brows, looking at me like I’d grown two heads. “Why the fuck would anyone let you win? Guys like their dicks sucked prob’ly more than we like to breathe.”

My eyes went wide. “Seriously? I beat him, fair and square?”

Colt’s grip on my arm tightened. “So, if you thought Collins let you win, what in the name of God made you challenge Kolby Barnes?”

I glared. “It wasn’t me who challenged him. It was Dale.”

“But you didn’t back out.”

“Well, no. I was just so pissed off about the shit Barnes said about Dale to the press. The real question is why Dale thinks I can win, but I suppose anyone could win with that engine?”

Colt’s brows rose. “So, you aren’t racing for a fancy new Audi? You’re racing for the family honor?”

It was lucky for him he still held my wrist. I would hit him again for that snide tone.
Like the family honor was no business of mine?
From where I stood, I was the only person who’d paid a price to maintain our so-called reputation. “That was Dale’s idea, too. I just saw red and wanted to put the prick on his knees.”

“Again, Shelby. Why are you racing if you don’t think you have a prayer?”

I shook my head. “Dale thinks I do.” His mouth tightened and my mouth fell open. “And that’s why you had to get rid of me, isn’t it? Someone told him about the race with Rowdy?”

“Booyah.” He touched a finger to the end of my nose. “Exactly. Rowdy told him when he asked Dad for your phone number. He even sent Dad a goddamn clip of the race.” He squinted again. “Good God, you were standing right there when Dad showed it to Ernie. Four fucking years later. He’s changed phones twice, and he still carries that clip around.”

I could believe Colt was capable of anything, but this was just out there. Except, the bitterness in his tone was unmistakable.

“You’re actually admitting that you put me through hell because you couldn’t handle not being the only driver in the household?”

He dropped his gaze to the floor. “Pretty much. I don’t think women belong out there. Jesse was already trying to push Marley on every team owner he knew. I didn’t want people laughing behind Dad’s back for doing the same.”

It didn’t matter one bit that I was primed to dislike Marley Taggart on sight. This was outrageous. “You really are a jerk, aren’t you? Did it ever occur to you that I might not want a damn career in NASCAR?”

He dropped my wrist and finally began to buff his chest with the towel. “Jerk, maybe. But not a pimp. And I’d feel sorrier about your little tale of woe, but you could’ve saved yourself the stress by doing some basic math. What in the hell made you believe Caroline could earn sixty fucking grand to buy that damn Dodge Challenger, but your fine ass was only worth a few tanks of gas?”

It took a couple of heartbeats for me to realize the answer. A red haze flashed over my field of vision. I balled up my fist and punched. When I made contact, my fist sank into the soft flesh of his groin.

“Ack!” he croaked. His knees buckled and he hit the wet bath mat with a thud. He clapped his hands to his nuts. He curled forward and his shoulder hit my knee, knocking me backward and pinning me against the vanity. The reality of what I’d done shocked me.

For one second. Then, watching him writhe at my feet swept any remorse aside. I loved the way he hunched over in agony. Loved his strangled cry of pain.

“Because, you ignorant bastard, my father walked out on my mom when he found out she was pregnant with me. And in twenty-two fucking years, he’s never bothered to check in to see if I lived or died. Sound familiar? Because I’m always worried I’m not good enough to make up for the fucking sacrifice Macy made by deciding to keep me.”

I drew back in rage. He caught my foot, but not before I connected with his kneecap. His loud squawk of pain didn’t make me feel better, since I saw no blood.

“Selfish. Fucking. Asshole.” I raked the scattered pots and pencils into the bag, spun, and stalked out of the bathroom.