Page 3 of Broken
“Izzy, climb up front. I’m taking you back. And you can wait here.” He shoved off of Ryder, staring him down.
“The fuck?!”
I flinched as Ryder lunged forward, and seconds later, light flooded the area. Micah and Ryder froze before flinging themselves against the SUV as a silver muscle car came to a sharp halt right where they’d been standing.
The door flew open, and relief filled me when David leapt out, his door like a blockade between us and Tucker’s cousins. He leaned in, his eyes sweeping over me. “Shit. Izzy, come on,” he demanded, holding out a hand, but it was like my body wasparalyzed, stuck in shock. “Shit.” He reached out, grabbing me and my high heels at the last second before dragging me across the seat into his arms and then helping me stand.
My eyes widened at the sudden movement, but it jostled me back to the present, and I quickly put on my shoes. “How did you–”
My words fell off as I watched Zane stalk around the front of David’s Firebird, fire so intense in the dark depths of his eyes that I was momentarily thrown back to that night only a week ago.
David tugged on my hand. “Come on. Zane will handle them. Let’s get you safe.”
But that look in Zane’s eyes was still front and center in my mind. Just another evil I now had to choose between. Weighing my options, I looked up at David, at the sincerity in his eyes. While he might be here with Zane, I’d known him forever, and he was close with Jet. I doubted Zane would pull anything with him here.
I nodded, following him around the back of the car, and watched the standoff between Zane and Tucker’s cousins from the front seat, their conversation covered by the rock music pouring from the radio. In a solid minute that felt like ages, Micah and Ryder tore off, and David hopped back out to let Zane in the back seat.
“You okay?” That familiar voice of silk I’d fallen over for months asked. I shivered at the sound.
I wasn’t. I really wasn’t. I mean, I was. I was physically fine, but I wasnotokay. Except I had to be. I shrugged, unable to look at Zane.
“Izzy?” I heard David next. “Izzy, you’re shaking.”
“Am I?” I held up my hand, watching it waver in the bright green lights of the dash.Huh.I turned it, watching from different angles.
“Shit. What did they do to you before we got there?”
“They better not have fucking touched a goddamn hair on her head.”
I snapped out of it at Zane’s voice. “You’re one to talk. I’m fine, David. Thank you for coming for me.”
“Well, no shit, we were coming for you. Luckily, Zane looked back when he was heading to my car. He’s the one who saw them. Are you sure you’re okay? Nothing happened, did it?”
I shook my head, trapping my shaking hands beneath my thighs on the seat. “Nothing I can’t deal with. Is it okay if I ask you to take me back to the races? I was there with Tucker.”
Zane growled from the backseat, and David glanced in the rearview before shifting the car into drive. “Yeah, sure.”
We sat in silence, aside from the old Green Day songBasket Casecoming through the speakers, and I stared out the window at the empty, dry field pouring past the window. It wasn’t until we turned the last corner and the races came back into view that David spoke up again.
“Was that Tucker’s cousins?”
I nodded. They were gone for college now, but everyone on the Ridge knew who the Pierce brothers were.
“Shit. That’s fucked up.”
I just nodded again.
“And you fucking pickedhim.” I felt Zane’s scowl from the backseat, but I chose to ignore him.
We pulled up at the edge of the crowd a few minutes later, my nerves just now seeming to kick in from the incident, even more so now that I was realizing I was about to face my friends. That I’d have to find some way to tell them. My gut twisted, nausea sweeping through me in one large swoop. I forced myself to swallow.It’s fine. I’m fine.The words began like a chant in my head.
“Thanks. Again.” I quickly threw open the door as soon as David stopped and scrambled out, surprised when I saw him getting out, too. “You don’t have to–”
“I’m at least walking you back over to Tucker.”
His expression told me arguing would be pointless, and I nodded. To be honest, it was a bit of a relief. We walked side by side through the crowd, my thoughts just now turning to how I was going to explain everything to my friends when David gently bumped my arm with his elbow.
“I know you’re with Tucker now. Saw y’all earlier. But Zane’s really beaten up about it. If there’s any chance–”