“Yes, I know what that is. I could study you if you’d like,” he said smoothly.

Ignoring him, I went to another table and placed the cups onto the tray I was holding, but Nolan kept following me.

“I saw you at the racetrack. Why don’t you come tonight and be my lucky star.”

“No, thanks. I’m sure you have plenty of lucky stars you can choose from. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”

When Nolan grabbed my wrist, I heard Elijah’s chair slide out, echoing across the room.

I was assuming Nolan had no idea Elijah was headed toward us since his back was to him. Still holding onto my wrist, he spoke. “You can even be the starter girl. You can be right where the action is.”

I don’t know why, but I got a thrill from the idea, but it was broken by Elijah’s presence.

“Get your hands off her,” Elijah gritted through her teeth.

“What did you say to me?” Nolan let go of my wrist and leaned his body into Elijah’s chest, a way of challenging him. Neither of them gave a damn about the people around them. In fact, some of them picked up their lunch and left.

“I said…get…your…fucking…hands…off…her.” Elijah’s words were slow, but they were very clear.

Nolan backed away as if to submit, but his words clearly showed he hadn’t. “What the f**k for? She’s not your girl. In fact, she’s going to be the starter girl tonight.”

Thank goodness most of the customers left and the manager just walked in.

“No, she’s not. And don’t ever ask her again.” Elijah’s tone was cool and steady, but it was the look of death in his eyes that scared me the most.

Nolan looked confused and I was pretty sure I gave Elijah the same look. What was the matter with him? He had no right to make decisions for me. Piercing my eyes at him, my tone was not friendly. “I’m going tonight and you can’t stop me.”

Nolan looked so proud and pleased that I had spoken up to Elijah. There was too much testosterone in the space between them as they now stood face to face, their eyes full of arrogance and rage. “He’s just scared I’ll beat his sorry ass and he’ll look like a fool.” Nolan added to the blistering fire.

Elijah flashed his eyes at me at the same time I did his, as if he just got caught hiding a secret. Now I knew why he didn’t want me there. He was racing tonight. Holy shit! I didn’t know Elijah raced. Was he ashamed to tell me? Now I really wanted to be the starter girl.

“I’m going,” I said as if matter of fact.

“No, you’re not,” Elijah said as if his words were final.

“Yes, she is. She will stand on my team,” Nolan cut in.

That got Elijah’s attention big time. With his fist tight and the muscles on his arms flexing, he bore his eyes into Nolan with anger that slowly seethed. “No…fucking…way.”

I knew that would set Nolan off. I could tell he was in motion, about to take a swing at Elijah. Before he could, I threw half a cup of water on Nolan’s face. Nolan shot his eyes at me as if he couldn’t believe I had done that. Elijah, on the other hand, let out a hearty laugh, giving me an approving look. He had no idea how pissed off I was at him, so I dumped the remaining water on his T-shirt. Yup, that smirk came right off his face, replaced with a look of shock. He was lucky I was easy on him. Heading toward Lexy, I saw that her eyes were wide and her lower lip dropped. Her laugh was so contagious.

Chapter 18

Alexandria

I didn’t see Elijah the rest of the day after what happened in the dining hall. I didn’t care if he was mad at me because I was angry enough to carry over to next week and then some. After Lexy picked me up, we headed to the race, but on the way there, I asked her a lot of questions.

“Why is Elijah against me going to the race? I don’t understand.”

“It’s dangerous. There are the cops, for one thing, and it’s not the safest environment. There was one time when a driver lost control and his car flipped into the audience. You can just imagine what that was like.”

“That’s terrible. I never even thought of the possibility. Were you there?”

“Yes, but I was lucky. I was on the other side of the track.” Lexy looked at her side view mirror, and then turned left.

“It’s just as dangerous for him, too.”

“I know, but he needs this.” She flashed a look at me, as if she had said too much.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not supposed to tell you, so please don’t say anything. I’m only telling you so that you can understand him and why he does it in the first place. I don’t want you to think badly of him. It’s just that life sucks sometimes and you gotta do what you have to do to make ends meet. It’s not like he’s selling drugs or hurting anyone.”

“Okay, Lexy. I’ll pretend you never told me.” I was all ears.

“Elijah started racing when his younger brother got really sick. He did it to help pay the medical bills, but mostly to pay the household bills for his family. When his brother passed away, his mother committed suicide shortly after. That’s why he took off a year from school. It’s the reason why he didn’t graduate with Jimmy.”

“Oh My God,” I whispered, covering my mouth. I recalled seeing the photo of his family and another one of his brother and him. Lexy looked over her shoulder, and then turned left. “What about his father?”