Page 55 of Between Commitment and Betrayal

“No,” I snapped. “Of course not.”

He hummed and then made another turn, his grip on the wheel seeming to tighten.

I texted Clara back.

Me: Where are we even going? Declan won’t tell me.

Clara: He said you’ll see when you get there. I’m happy we’re doing this.

“So, you can instruct her not to tell me—make a plan involving me—but you want me to let go and go with the flow?” I blew out a raspberry.

He chuckled and made two more turns.

Clara: It’ll be nice to do something that Carl would have wanted us to do together.

Yet, I shook my head vigorously when I saw the track.

“I’m not racing or getting in a race car, Declan,” I immediately spit out. “You barely can go the speed limit and—”

“Drop,” he said the nickname and his hand went to my thigh to squeeze and stop me from rambling all the reasons this was a bad idea. “I’m taking care of you now. I told you not to worry.”

I breathed out as we pulled up to the entrance. There were only about five other cars there, and I recognized Clara’s immediately—bright red against all the other black ones lined up next to it. She jumped out of the car with a cherry-red smile that matched the red roses all over her jumpsuit.

She waved enthusiastically as I hurried to open my door before Declan could. He glared at me and murmured, “One.”

Not sure what he meant, I brushed it off and turned to Clara. “Are you doing this?”

She giggled excitedly. “My dad was so excited about Declan testing the cars. Isn’t your sister and her husband coming, Dec?”

He nodded. “They’re here already.”

Clara jumped with excitement. “I’m literally in love with Cade Armanelli. I mean, no disrespect to your sister but—”

“Wait.” I stopped Clara. “You know Cade Armanelli?” It came out a sort of whisper as my heart started to race and my palms sweat. The Armanellis were infamous, badass businessmen that the law could never touch. They were like the godfathers of our century.

“You know who he is but didn’t know me?” Declan looked disgusted. “You told me you didn’t watch TV.”

“I don’t, but I have a phone and read the news. The Armanellis somehow evaded and then holstered the law as a tool. They’re infamous globally, and Cade is—” I stopped myself.

“Hot?” Clara squealed. “And a freaking genius. Oh my God. Please smack me if I act like this in front of them.”

“I’ll probably act that way too. We’re meeting him? He’s like… N-no one ever meets him,” I stuttered as we walked toward the entrance. “You’re related?”

“He calibrated the car we’re testing, and he married my sister,” Declan grumbled like he hated the idea of it. “Anyway, I need to make sure it can hit two hundred quick for a brand sponsorship next week.”

Clara was practically skipping at this point, and I really couldn’t blame her. But she almost tripped and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw another black car pull up. This one was just as expensive as the Bugatti, and the man that got out was just as good looking as Declan.

Dom’s sunglasses hid his expression as he strode over. “You brought the women? For what?” He glared at both of us as Clara’s eyes widened.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe for a bit of fun maybe,” she sneered and fluttered her fingers in front of her to emphasize it like Dom needed a demonstration on what fun might look like.

Declan chewed his cheek like he wanted to laugh in Dom’s face. “Yeah, Dom. Maybe for some fun.”

With that, he hooked his arm in mine, and we walked in. I heard Clara tell Dom to go to hell but didn’t look back to see why they were so frustrated with one another. Obviously they knew each other from a time before I was around.

Instead, I focused on the track where everything seemed brighter, faster, and more intense. I saw a white car zooming around that looked a lot like a new sort of electric vehicle. I took in the smell of rubber and dirt and glanced at Declan. “You do this a lot?”

“Enough, Drop.” He nodded, his eyes sparkling as he watched the car practically fly by.