Page 44 of Rivals

Sutton

As I enter the living room, I notice Evanna and Ryann sitting on the couch binge watching, To All The Boys I Loved Before. I secretly love this movie but it’s not something I’ll admit out loud even though I’m pretty sure Evanna knows. I take a seat in the chair, opposite of them and check my phone again. Jakob and I had plans, but I haven’t heard from him much over the last few days and even then, he was full of excuses and one-word texts. Then yesterday, he went completely silent, but I got ready for the date regardless because knowing him, he’ll show up like everything is fine. After almost an hour and still no sign of Jakob, Evanna pauses the movie. “I’m assuming you had plans with Jakob tonight.”

“Why would you assume that?” I ask her.

She rolls her eyes. “One, because I know you but even if I didn’t let me list the ways. You’re dressed up like you’re ready to go out. You’ve checked that phone about every three to four minutes and you have your suspicious face on.”

“I don’t have a suspicious face.”

Evanna and Ryann both laugh. “I barely know you and I know you have that face,” Ryann says.

“It’s just strange. He basically ghosted me when things seemed to be okay a few days ago,” I explain.

Evanna shakes her head. “It’s Jakob, what do you expect?”

“What do you mean?” I’m confused by her reaction. I thought she was on board with this whole Jakob situation after everything went down with Rathe. She seemed to be at least but now I’m not so sure.

“I love you, but Jakob is nothing but a player. For some reason, you don’t see that in him but it’s there. I don’t like to use cliché sayings like once a cheater always a cheater but it’s normally pretty true. Jakob has never done one thing for you. He’s never given you a reason to even want to be with him. I say this with love, but you’re avoiding and you’re using Jakob as a shield.” Evanna gives me a pointed look.

I roll my eyes and play naive even though I know exactly what she’s going to say. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“The hell you don’t,” Ryann chimes in. My eyes widen because I’m shocked by her outburst. “I’m sorry, but you and my brother are crazy! You are both scared and running around trying to avoid one another and it’s so dumb. You’re both into each other so why not just be together?”

I scoff. “Maybe, because there’s an entire clause in our contracts that basically forbids it.”

“Oh please, what is Revv-It Racing going to do? Do you really think they would release both of their drivers from their contracts because they're having a relationship? Even if they did let one of you or both of you go from the contract, another team would snatch you up in a heartbeat. Rathe has made a hell of a comeback this season and for a rookie season you’ve been insanely great. Regardless of the Revv-It contact you’d both be fine,” Ryann explains. She gives me a small smile of encouragement.

Ryann’s words roll around in my head and embed there. There’s a really good chance she’s right and if she is then I’m literally playing a game with both Rathe and Jakob because I know who I want to be with. It scares the hell out of me to let someone in, but he’s already there. He’s been there, under my skin, since the first day on the track. It’s Rathe. I check my phone but instead of looking for a text I’m checking the time. Rathe should still be at the track. I jump up from the chair and grab my keys as I head for the door. “If Jakob shows up just tell him I had an emergency and I’ll catch up with him later.” I’m out the door before Evanna or Ryann can reply.

Lucky for me, there’s little to no traffic on the road and I find myself pulling into the track parking lot in record time. Sure enough, I spot Rathe’s truck along with most of his pit crew’s vehicles. Patrick’s vehicle is parked beside a Honda Civic that looks an awful lot like Jakob’s. I don’t think much of it as I jog towards the entrance. Patrick waves me through with a big smile on his face. “You’re not on the schedule today.”

“No, I’m not but I need to see Rathe,” I explain, slightly breathless.

Patrick’s smile broadens. “Last I saw he was heading towards his room.”

“Thank you!” My feet pick up to a faster speed as I get closer to the door that leads me down the hall to our rooms. However, as I approach the back half of the hallway that holds multiple doors, two of which belong to Rathe and I, voices echo in the quiet.

I slow to a walk to try and make out what is being said. I’m not usually nosey but something about these voices has the hair on the back of my neck standing up. Rathe’s voice comes out, anger lacing every word. “You want more money? What the hell are you tied up in? What did you do with the ten thousand dollars I gave you two days ago?”

“I owed some guys,” the second voice replies. It stops me dead in my tracks because I know exactly who that voice belongs to. Jakob.

“You have a lot of audacity to show up here and demand more money from me. You have some kind of issue and you clearly need help, or you wouldn’t owe someone so much money. “Rathe’s voice changes to suspicion.

Jakob sighs. “I like to gamble here and there. I just got in over my head.”

“Well, I don’t know what to tell you. I gave you ten thousand dollars. I’m not giving you another five. You’ll have to figure it out. This was a one-time thing,” Rathe tells him.

It’s silent for a bit and I’m so curious as to what the scene looks like right now. My mind is racing with the fact that Rathe gave Jakob ten thousand dollars to pay off a gambling debt. I mean why? What did he get out of it? It makes no sense to me.

“That’s fine. I figured you’d say that. I’ll just have to fix things between Sutton and I,” Jakob tells Rathe.

My blood was pumping through my veins but now it’s boiling. “You will leave her out of this. I gave you the ten grand you needed to keep her out of your mess. Don’t cross me Jakob.”

“Look, I need the money, one way or another. I can use you as my personal ATM or Sutton but at the end of the day, it’s up to you who I use.”

I step into their line of sight. Jakob’s face washes with guilt and looks away. Rathe goes as pale as a ghost. “You’ve been using me this whole time?” I ask Jakob, who refuses to look at me. “And you knew and didn’t bother to tell me?” I ask Rathe. His eyes lock with mine and I can see that he’s begging me to understand but I can’t. I can’t understand any of this. Why would he not tell me about Jakob? “You know what, the two of you can have each other. I don’t want to see either of you again,” I tell them before I turn around and run back the way I just came.

I’m halfway down the tunnel, heading back towards the parking lot when I hear the footsteps behind me catching up. I try to run faster, but I can’t. I feel like I can’t even breathe from all the emotions flooding me right now. When a hand closes around my elbow and yanks me around to face him, I shouldn’t be shocked to find Rathe but I am. “Sutton, please let me explain.”

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