Page 56 of Full Throttle

Why was he acting like this?

Why couldn’t I be here?

What was so bad about wanting to be around him?

My eyes flicked across the street and back to him. “What about what just happened between us?” The question came out as a whisper—fleeting and weak.

His jaw ticked, but his eyes never left my face as he said, “It shouldn’t have happened.”

Pain flickered in my chest, the spark ready to destroy everything I thought I’d gotten back.

“Why don’t you want me in your life?” I whispered, my eyes scanning his face. “What did I do to make you hate me?”

Pain slashed in his icy eyes, but he blinked it away quickly. “Leave. Now.”

“You just kissed me,” I continued whispering. “You kissed me. You kept kissing me. You…” I trailed off, the lump in my throat becoming too much. I was too embarrassed now.

A shadow fell over his face, and the next words out of his mouth threatened to shatter me into a million pieces as he backed away. “I kissed you because if I hadn’t, those men would’ve done much worse. Do you understand that? I kissed you because it was the only way to fucking save you.” He looked me up and down. “I’m a fucking guy. Of course I got carried away.”

That hurt, but I had a feeling he was far from done.

An engine roared in the distance, growing louder by the second. My neck twisted just in time to see a red corvette slow down in front of the gas station. The shadowed figure in the driver’s seat shifted, and I could feel eyes on me.

When I looked back to Cain, I found him glaring at the driver, his body completely still. Alarm bells went off in my head.

Who was that?

When I looked back to the car, it peeled away from the curve, speeding off into the night.

“Who was that?” I asked, looking back at Cain.

He ignored my question. “You don’t fucking belong here. Go home to your loving parents, do your homework, and be a good girl. You don’t belong in my world.”

“Cain—”

He surged forward, lingering over me as his upper lip curled. “This isn’t some fucking game. This isn’t a fairytale. Get the fuck out of here. You and me are nothing. Do you understand?”

“You don’t mean that,” I breathed, tears stinging my eyes.

As he took a step back, he broke me.

“I. Don’t. Want. You.”

Each word was a hard blow to the chest, like bullets firing off.

It wasn’t the words themselves; it was the venom lingering behind them. “I never want to see you again,” he quipped.

No. I refused to listen to that bullshit. “That’s bullshit, Cain,” I shot back, my voice shaking.

His eyes flashed. “Don’t fucking come back here, Dominique.”

“You don’t own me. I choose where I want to go. You don’t get to—”

“You racing in that car?” he asked, cutting me off and gesturing to my Honda.

I was silent.

He gave me a cruel chuckle as he looked to the ground, nodding to himself. “Right.” When he raised his head again, my Cain was gone. The boy I’d grown up with was gone. In his place was a cruel stranger. “You have no interest in racing. You have no reason to be in The Pits. If I catch you here again, you’re going to have a very serious problem.”

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