Page 84 of Midnight Racers

“Problem?” Martin, one of the race officials appeared, his brow furrowed.

“Just teaching Dale some manners,” I replied.

“He kept fucking blocking me out there,” Dale whined from his position on the ground.

Robert wandered up beside the official. “That guy begging on the ground tried to throw a punch, and was restrained.” He was an impartial witness, and considering who he was in the world of racing, his word carried more weight than the rest of us.

Martin stared down at Dale. “It’s a race. The entire point is to keep the other cars behind you.”

“Get your fucking hands off me,” Dale growled, struggling to get free.

I pushed him forward so he fell forward onto the ground. “Try to stop being a dick,” I said.

Dale scrambled onto his feet, his expression full of hatred, and his face flushed. “I want you to check their car,” he demanded from the official. “They’ve done something illegal. There’s no way that car has improved that much so quickly.”

“Mr. Jones,” Martin said. “You know very well that every car here is inspected prior to the race. If you have concerns, please raise them through the appropriate channels. These are very serious allegations, and I wouldn’t like to think you’re making them just because you didn’t win.”

Dale’s eyes narrowed at me in accusation before turning his attention to the official. “My sister now works for this team. She took technology from my team and has given it to this team. She has previously handed over intelligence to her boyfriend Craig.”

My expression neutralised, and the creature that lurked inside me and demanded violence crawled its way up my spine. My gut had said there was something amiss with that guy. I thought he was all hot and bothered over her. The truth was like a punch to the gut. We all had a past, and I was no saint, but the thought of Charlotte with that fucker sent murderous rage rampaging through me. I wanted to keep punching him until he disappeared from existence.

There was no logic to the emotions pinging around inside me. I hadn’t been celibate in my life, but the thought of that asshole touching her made me furious with rage. I wanted to hunt down every man who had been in her life before me and eliminate them from existence.

I completely disregarded Dale’s accusations. Anyone who knew Charlotte would know that she would never do what he was accusing her of. Scandals like that tended to be gossip for years, and I’d never heard anything about it. No, my mind was focused on Craig and the fact he had had a place in her life. Never before had I been jealous, but that emotion thrummed through me now with the potency of cyanide.

“Get him the fuck out of my sight,” Jordan snapped. “He’s just a jealous, weak, pitiful excuse for a man.”

“I would watch to see that she isn’t using your team’s resources to develop her designs and sell them!” Dale shouted over his shoulder as two of our guys dragged him away.

The punk needed to shut his mouth before someone shut it permanently for him. I’d been an assassin, a hired gun who made problems go away. That was still fundamentally part of me and I couldn’t change that. Some problems were only solved with permanent solutions.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Megan lead Charlotte away, her arm around her shoulders. There was nothing I could do among this crowd since our relationship was secret. Part of me wanted to put her in my car and take her home, far from all this shit. Yet, I dug my heels in and set my jaw into position. No one would ever see my real desires.

I stalked off toward our truck to retrieve my clothes, but they called us to the stage to announce the winners.

“Don’t react,” Jordan said under his breath. “That’s what they want. You may want to scream and fuck them up, but if you do, they’ll have a suspect when something unfortunate happens to them. Smile, you just won a race.”

I turned toward Jordan. He had walked away from Megan for three years and watched over her, even as it slowly killed him. I could get through one day with a fake smile. Slowly, I relaxed my shoulders and face, an easy smile appearing as if we were the two owners of this team celebrating our win.

Jordan slapped me on the back of the shoulder and pushed me forward. I did what I had done most of my life and pretended. No one would know by looking at me that I was operating on autopilot and was fucked off beyond belief. After the ceremony, I saw Dale and Craig standing together, their heads almost touching as they talked to each other. They were plotting, and I wanted to drive over both of them, and then reverse several times just to make sure they would be in plaster cast for a few months.

Grabbing my clothes, I went to change out of my racing suit. I stood under the pounding water of the shower until I had locked all my emotions down like I used to do when I was a cold-blooded killer.

Craig sauntered into the changing room and the hairs at the back of my neck rose. “Dale was right,” he said, bracing himself against the doorframe.

I glanced up as I tied the laces on my boot. “Fuck off.”

“Charlie is insecure and needy, and will do anything to get affection. She handed me over the plans she’d been working on while under contract in her team before Dale’s. The only person who would employ her was her daddy.” He said the last few words in a whiny voice and my back molars ground together.

His smile made my sphincter muscles tighten as it was the type of smile someone used when they were about to fuck you up the ass with no lubrication.

I sat back to stare at him. “Why are you here? Or are you just being a good little gopher and doing what Dale says?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “She’s a liability to have on your team. A good designer, but a weak link. Charlie has always been a cute distraction, but a little too needy and not great in the bedroom. Very vanilla with no enthusiasm, but what man says no to free sex when it’s on the menu?”

I wanted to strangle the little fucker, but Jordan was right. Today was too public, but the bug on his phone would show me exactly where he lived, and I doubted he had the ability to defend himself. He was the type of insidious asshole who probably had a basement he kept poor, unsuspecting women tied up in.

I straightened to my full height and saw him swallow. “Thanks for the heads up, but I value integrity and loyalty in my team, and that starts with me. I judge people by their actions and what I see. No offence, but I don’t know you, so why should I believe you?” I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.

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