Page 79 of Furious
“I’m sorry, my love,” she says to Scott. “I was going to get started on making breakfast, but we had a little incident with Heather and I had to walk her back to her house.”
My stepfather looks perplexed. “Why didn’t you invite her to stay for breakfast?”
“She was… upset. I’ll explain later. Let me start cooking some bacon while you take a shower.”
“Lev and I brought fresh pastries.” I intervene. “We thought it would be quicker to have a continental breakfast since the guys have practice this morning.”
We all help Mom set the table as Scott goes to shower.
I know there’s a reason why Ares is acting distant, taking a seat at the table as far from me as humanly possible. I just wish things were different, and that we didn’t have to hide our feelings from our parents.
Chapter 21
A Deal With The Devil
CHANCE
“Idon’t know what kind of stupid game Fox is playing,” I bite out. “But I just wish he just paid us on race night. Coming here every time feels like an unnecessary risk.”
Lev agrees with me. “Yeah, it’s like asking to get caught. This barber shop never has any clients and suddenly we’re here once a week. Maybe we should really get haircuts, so if anyone sees us, we don’t blow our cover.”
“You aren’t wrong. But are you going to let Fox near you with any kind of blade?” I snort, my hand on the door of Noel’s barbershop.
“No, you’re right. Noel would be the obvious choice as long as we caught him before lunch. But we’re always at practice in the morning. Thankfully, it’s hard to get caught when it’s rare to see any customers in here.”
But Lev is proven wrong when we enter the barbershop. Like last time we were here, there’s one single customer occupying one of the chairs.
I immediately think that he looks vaguely familiar, but I can’t quite place him.
The answer comes when he addresses us before Calvin can say anything.
“Well, well. If these aren’t Star Cove’s golden boys. You’re killing it both on the ice and on the racetrack.”
If memory serves, the man who’s staring at me and Lev with an appraising look is Mason Morelli. His family owns several buildings in town, but he’s fairly new to Star Cove.
Word on the street is that he came here to escape some legal trouble in the East Coast. No one knows what exactly Mason is doing in town, as he hasn’t been seen working at any of his uncle’s businesses. I’ve seen him in passing at some parties on the beach and a handful of times at the Country Club.
Lev and I exchange a look. We don’t need to say it out loud, but this is bad news. If the Morelli family is truly behind the illegal races Fox has been organizing, we might be in way more trouble than we anticipated.
My hunch is confirmed when Mason speaks again. “You two are making me a lot of money, you know? The interest in seeing one of the mayor’s sons racing motorcycles under his daddy’s nose is sky high. I have people betting online and more requests for tickets to the next races than I can handle.”
“Tickets?” Lev frowns. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
The smirk on Mason’s face widens. “Of course I’m charging an entry fee to the people who want to see the races in person. I’m taking a huge risk just by keeping those motorcycles in that old hangar. So the return has to be worth my while. Don’t you think?”
“Whatever.” I mutter. “We’re here to collect the prize money for winning last week’s race.” My eyes land on Fox, whose cocky smile is mirroring the one on Morelli’s face.
“Yeah, about that.” He chuckles. “My friend Mason here has a proposition for you. If I were you, I’d hear him out.”
I grit my teeth, fighting the urge to beat the shit out of Zara’s ex. “I don’t see how anything you could propose could ever interest us.” I say to Morelli, ignoring Calvin on purpose.
Lev backs me up. “Yeah. We aren’t exactly racing because we want to. Or did Fox not tell you how he and his brother recruited us?”
“Yeah.” Mason chuckles. “I know you two took a little bit of convincing. But I have an offer you can’t refuse.”
Fuck.
I don’t like the shrewd look in his eyes. “I doubt it.”
