Page 21 of Rear View

Xavier

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!

It’d been three days since we’d left Edgewater.

And three goddamn days since Yara destroyed my phone after she knocked it outta my hand when I was mid-text to my dream girl.

Christ only knew what Ryah thought. Probably that I was some easily distracted asshole who only cared about a woman when she was in front of me… or the woman in front of me.

And definitely that I was a dick.

I’d have used Alec’s phone to call, but, like an idiot, I’d programmed her number instead of memorizing it. Between prep, press junkets and training, I hadn’t had two seconds to grab a new device.

The engine revved and moonlight caught on the hood as I veered around the last turn of the course, kicking up snow from the closed road like a motherfucker.

The Recce car was decent, ’cause that’s all it needed to be.

It had one job: get us around the track for recon.

The race handlers set the max scouting speed at 70 kph, and I held that line while Alec took his pace notes, marking the sharpness and length of every curve.

The problematic sections and obstacles. All of it.

We were on our second, and final, permitted pass.

Learning everything we could before the race started Saturday.

We’d studied the road book, but nothing compared to drivin’ it ourselves. Each team had their own language. Across the sport, the gist was the same, but the nuances mattered. Nuance meant time. And time meant everything when you raced the clock.

Alec’s stare was focused. “Four right into a two long,” he said to himself, then jotted it onto the page.

We crossed the finish and circled back, heading for the Parc Ferme, where the rally cars were kept overnight, and where our crew waited.

“How’re you feeling about this one?” Alec asked.

“Good.” The route was well-groomed; a few dicey corners, but I’d driven worse. “Real good.”

He grinned. “Me too.” Shoving my shoulder, he said, “Sheila’s after me to book in for our tux fittings.”

My brows dropped and I veered us around a concrete barrier. “Kinda early, ain’t it?”

“Yeah, but it’s important to her. She’s stressed enough about everything, so I’ll get it done.”

One of the grounds crew waved us through. I eased on the brake, tires crunching over the snow. “Sean coming?”

He propped an elbow onto his window ledge. “Yeah.” He laughed. “He’s real put out that you’re best man. Keeps threatening to hack the shop’s system when we’re done and make our suits toddler-sized.”

I barked a laugh as I pulled us into the bay. Too bad he wasn’t that eager when Alec and I tried to pay him to break into our high school’s system and fix our grades.

We climbed out, pulled off our helmets and tossed them onto our seats. I closed in on Alec’s side, ’cause we’d finally gotten a break and I had an idea…one I hoped to fuck worked.

“I need your phone,” I told him.

He unlocked it and tossed it my way. “You find her number?”

“No. Gonna try somethin’ else.” I scrubbed a hand over the back of my neck. Reaching her online was out, but maybe, if I was lucky, I could get Miles.

Bringing up Instagram, I logged Alec out, and signed myself in. What the shit? I was up at least ten thousand followers. Notifications showed I’d been tagged in a bunch of WRC race videos, which, killer as it was, I’d need to check later. I had someone important to reach.

Searching Miles’s name, it brought up a few potential options. The second one down was a guy in a Sharks jersey.

Boom! Got him.

I clicked follow, then fired off a message. I just hoped he actually checked them.

From there, I dialed Ma, ’cause I had no clue if Castillo’d called with an update on my old man’s parole, and I needed to know she was good.

“Hello?” she said, her voice tight.

“Hey, Ma. It’s me.”

“Xavier?” A breeze muffled her end of the line. “Where’s your phone? Are you okay?”

“I’m good. Sorry. Phone’s gone. Just wanted to hear your voice.”

She loosed a heavy exhale. “Well, I’m glad you called. I was starting to worry.” She cleared her throat. “Are you ready for your race tomorrow?”

My nod was sharp. “I’m ready.”

“I wish I could be there.”

I wished she could too.

The sound of a sliding door opening ground over the line. “How are things with you and Penny?”

“Done,” I said. “I ended it a while back.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear, sweetheart.”

“Nah. Was for the best. Met someone new, though.” I scuffed my boot over the concrete. “Supposed to be takin’ her out Friday.” If I could get through. Let dream girl know I wasn’t a complete ass.

“Is she nice?”

“Very.”

There was a smile in her voice when she asked, “Is she pretty?”

My mouth twitched. “Very.” I unzipped my driving suit down to my waist. “How you doin’ for cash?”

“I’m fine for now.”

“Lemme know if that changes.”

“Of course.”

Pulling the device back, I checked my Instagram messages and my gut torqued hard at a name I saw there. Christ, with this prick again.

I stretched my neck. “Gotta let you go, Ma. I’ll call soon.”

“Okay, sweetheart. I love you.”

“Love you too.” I hung up.

Clicking on my uncle Derek’s name, I read.

Derek: Peter says hi. Wanted you to know he’s thinking of you.

I angled it toward Alec.

His wide stare met mine. “Fucking hell.”

My nod was tight, my exhale, rough. Derek poking around wasn’t good. But that’s all it’d been. I’d handle him if I needed to, but so far, I didn’t.

“Christ, I just hope the old man’s parole’s denied.” His stay in medium security likely wasn’t as rough as I’d want it to be, but it was better than him being out. He’d always been possessive and wasn’t the kind to move on…or forget, so surer than shit, he’d come for Ma again.

Alec folded his arms over his chest. “How was it in there?” He cleared his throat. “Prison?”

The guy was good with boundaries. Hadn’t asked about my time when I’d gotten out. We’d just focused on drivin’.

“It’s a shithole. Gotta keep your head up.” That was the rule. Act like prey, and you’ll become it. You didn’t give your back to people you didn’t know…or even the ones you did. It wasn’t an easy place. But I’d grown up under Peter Bosch’s roof, so easy wasn’t in my vocabulary.

He kicked an ice-coated rock. “I should’ve come.”

“Nah. I told you not to.” Just like I’d told Ma, ’cause I wasn’t about to risk the old man finding her.

I’d only gotten one visitor in my time. My pulse had pounded when I’d spotted Juan Castillo on the other side of that plexiglass barrier, back straight, eyes forward.

The day he’d offered me a chance. The day he’d reached into the chest pocket of his fancy-ass dress shirt and pulled out a piece of paper—a paper I knew real fuckin’ well.

The message was three words. My brother’s last three words, which’d changed the trajectory of my life. Words that’d instigated everything and led me to exactly where I was.

When Castillo’d showed me a picture of the Hawthorne Circuit, the raceway on the east side of Edgewater, I’d frowned.

“My cousin Earl owns the place. He also owns the team.” Castillo glanced down, then back up. “I talked to him about giving you an opportunity to drive.”

My head cocked, ’cause there was no way I’d heard him right. “Drive rally ?”

A sharp nod. “That chase was blasted all over the news. Most of the country saw it. Including Earl.” He laughed, dry and even.

“You had half the EPD on your ass that night. And till the day I die, I’ll never believe you didn’t let them catch you.

” He shook his head. “You’re good, Xavier.

Earl knows it. And he’s willing to give you a shot. ”

What the hell? My stomach knotted. The good kind of knot, one that felt a bit too much like hope.

I tapped a finger over my pant leg. I’d been a minor when everything went down, so the media couldn’t broadcast my face or name.

I bit the side of my tongue and tugged my orange jumpsuit. “He know about my situation?”

“He knows everything.”

I hadn’t looked past the end of my bars since I’d been tossed inside them. One day at a time. That’s how I did prison. Looking further was a good way to lose your mind. Yeah, there was a countdown on my clock there, but I needed to stay focused. Watch my back. Survive.

The thick muscles of my chest and arms bunched when I rolled my shoulders. “I don’t get it.” My stare met his. “Why?”

“In the seventeen years I’ve done this job, I can count on one finger the number of cases I regret bringing forward.

I’ve seen what places like this do to people, Xavier.

I don’t want you to become your father or get lost in the system.

I can’t play a part in that.” He tapped the pocket with my brother’s note in it.

“It’s a chance for this . Take it. Please. ”

I stared at him. If anyone’d asked how I thought my day would go down, Castillo showing up like a guidance counselor with a career plan would’ve never made the list. We might’ve started on the wrong foot, but I wasn’t an idiot.

I knew a good thing when it bit me in the ass.

For the first time since I’d stepped into juvie, I imagined my life after.

My hand flexed like I was gripping the steering wheel. I wanted it.

Wanted it bad .

My nod was tight as I thumped the side of my fist against the counter, trying to hold back my excitement. “I’ll do it.”

The tension pulling Castillo’s expression eased. “Earl will set you up with what you need when you’re out. The training, car, co-driver. Everything.”

A co-driver. A quick thinker I’d need to trust with my life.

No question who that was. I didn’t know what he was up to, but the guy was my best friend, so I knew he’d drop whatever it was for this.

Plus, I owed him. He’d say different, seeing as I was the one locked up, but I had to live with myself.

And a debt needed to be paid. “Nah. Tell Earl I’ve got the co-driver. ”

“You’ve got one?” Castillo’s gaze narrowed, knowing. “Anyone I might know?”

I popped a taunting shoulder. “You might.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “Who should I tell him?”

A smirk twisted my face as I leaned back in my seat, giving it my weight. “Alec Hawkins.”

Castillo’s heavy laugh carried across the line. “I’ll pass it along.”

I rolled my neck, shaking the memory and my uncle Derek off. I wouldn’t let the prick get under my skin. Clicking his message, I deleted it, then blocked him just as a response from Miles pinged through.

Thank Christ!

Miles: Hey, man! How’s it going? Ready for tomorrow? I shot your message over to Ry. I wondered what was up with her.

My throat tightened.

Me: She alright?

Miles: She’s been off this week. I thought it might’ve been something else, but I get it now.

Something else? Something specific? Some one specific? Fuck. I hated the idea she’d felt some kinda way. Even more that I’d caused it.

Me: I’m using Alec’s phone. Would’ve tried calling your sister but couldn’t remember her digits.

Miles: Wouldn’t have mattered. Ry won’t answer numbers she doesn’t know, anyway.

Made sense. Still, my dream girl’s security walls were straight-up killin’ me.

Another message popped up.

Miles: Just heard back from her.

My lungs froze while I waited for the guy to finish that sentence. And waited. And fuckin’ waited. If reaching through the screen was a thing—

Miles: She says she’ll consider forgiving you.

Fuck me. Please say that’s a joke.

Miles: That’s a joke, btw.

I dragged a hand over my face, then leaned a hip against the car’s hood and kicked a leg straight out in front of me. You’re killin’ me, darlin’. Killin’ me!

Me: I won’t have time to replace my phone until the morning. Can you tell her we’re still on for Friday?

Miles: Done!

Miles: She’s excited.

My chest inflated.

Me: She say that?

Miles: No. But she said this…

Two seconds later, a screenshot came through.

Sis: Good. The man owes me an apology dinner, stressing me like that!

Worried about me, darlin’? I wanted to feel bad, I re ally damn well did, but the grin that split my face said different.

Me: Let her know it’s a date.

Another screenshot.

Sis: Miles!!! You did NOT tell him I said that?!

Miles: This is too much fucking fun, man.

Miles: She officially hates me. Hashtagworthit!!!

I barked a laugh that had every head in the Parc Ferme craning my way. It made me miss Fallon. What were brothers for if not to mess with you?

Me: I’ll call her tomorrow night from my new number. She can tell me where I’m taking her then.

Miles: She says she’ll think about answering your call.

My grin split so wide, it hurt my goddamn face when his last message came through.

Miles: She’ll totally answer your call.