Page 21 of War and his Queen
“What do you say?” She drags her long nail down my chest, stopping at the tattoo that sits below my collarbone. We had long since driven out to Devil’s Cockpit, after following Halen here. I got the feeling this wasn’t the final destination, though.
“What?” I try to hold the bottle of beer to my lips, but my head spins from all of the alcohol and weed. I definitely can’t fucking drive from here.
“Give me your fucking keys.” Priest shoves his hand into my jeans pocket and I lose my feet, tipping sideways.
In front of the cascading waterfalls, modified cars line the empty patch of land. Engines overpower all other sounds except for the thudding of distant music. There has to be fifty odd cars parked. Most JDM, others exotic. We have our fancy bullshit cars too, we just never drive them unless we have to. Priest with his McLaren, me with the LaFerrari, and Vaden with his Phantom.
“No one drives my car.”
He rolls his eyes and pockets them. He and I both know I can’t say shit right now.
“So that’s a yes?” the annoying voice yaps off again from below.
I catch her with a thumb beneath her chin, forcing her eyes up to mine. I don’t hold them long enough to care, because I don’t.
“Shut the fuck up.”
Her little mouth opens, and then closes, before she turns in my grip and backs her ass up against my shit. Candy. Her name is Candy and I’m pretty sure she’s been here before. By here, I don’t mean Devil’s Cockpit. Tonight isn’t for racing, more for cars to just burn rubber and show off.
Beside me, Vaden chuckles with a soft laugh, lighting his joint and inhaling deeply. “You’ll make her cry.”
She doesn’t say a word.
Halen’s car is almost as familiar as her touch. Not that I’ve felt it, well, at all since that night I shoved her off my lap, but I know everything there is to know about Halen, and her car is no different.
The RB engine purrs like a kitten as she rolls her Hakosuka to a halt in front of mine, Priest’s, and Vaden’s.
I stay perched on the hood, with Priest to the left leaning against his, and Vaden on the opposite side of mine. Girls hover far enough away from Priest to not get too close, but close enough so that he knows they’re all interested. Not that he needs to know that. The fucker picks and drops as he pleases, without making any of them feel comfortable enough to rub against his shit without permission.
Shit. Maybe that’s where I’ve got it wrong.
I shove Candy out of my way with a kick of my knee and she pretends like she didn’t notice and walks off to find her friends. How the fuck did she end up hanging off me anyway?
A car door slams closed, and I look up from the bottle dangling between my fingers. Long tanned legs that shouldn’t be on a girl who is five-something-short, long toffee brown hair, and a face that could honestly put every single fucking model out of business, Halen is every fucking thing I should not want.
I don’t want.
But I’m… no. I’m drunk. And I’ll blame it on the fuck-me boots she’s wearing.
Surprise, surprise.
She looks around my body when another car door closes.
“Aw, Halo, what’s the matter?” I call out to her, tilting my head.
Priest kicks off his car, walking off with someone into the crowd.
Finally, another body rounds hers, an arm hooking around her torso, pulling her into his chest.
My smirk falls as does the bottle I’m holding between my fingers. Just as it splatters against the concrete, I push up from my car, anger boiling through my veins.
She knew exactly what the fuck she was doing bringing whoever this fucker is here.
A hand squeezes my arm, stopping me, and I turn over my shoulder to find Vaden staring between us both. Evie, her annoying little best friend who is more like family than our own actual family, jumps in front of her, snapping a photo of them both, and I fall back against my car, allowing the anger inside of me to turn to liquid metal.
Vaden whistles low. “Might wanna tighten that shit up if you don’t want Priest to think you’re considering breaking that promise.”
My jaw clenches so hard I swear my teeth crack. “You and I both know that was specifically for me and Halen, since I’m sure the rest of you aren’t into incest.”