He sinks his teeth into his bottom lip, his amusement doubling. “We’ll see if you can still say that when you lose.”
I step back, flipping him off, which only elicits a chuckle from him. “So where are we racing to? And where are we lining up?”
“We’ll turn around near that rock up there.” He points at a large rock on the side of a road, just a ways away, then nods his head at the passenger seat where Rhyland is sitting. “And he’ll line us up.”
That’s when I become aware that Jaxon and Alex aren’t with them.
“Where’s the rest of your demon squad?” I move back as Rhyland gets out of the car.
“I told them they couldn’t come.” He slips on a pair of sunglasses. “Figured I’d do you a solid and have there be less of an audience to witness your ass getting kicked.”
“Or did you just not want them to see your ass getting kicked?” I quip haughtily.
He rolls his tongue in his mouth, struggling not to smile. “You’re a fucking handful, aren’t you? Seriously, how many times has your mouth gotten you into trouble?”
“More than I can count,” I admit truthfully. “But I can always handle whatever comes my way, even cocky, pretty boy assholes.”
He straightens, slipping his sunglasses down the brim of his nose, and gapes at me. “Did you just call me pretty boy?”
I shrug innocently. “The name seems pretty fitting, if you ask me. Or do you prefer my other nicknames?”
“You can call me anything you want for now, sweetheart.” He grins at the twitching of my lips. “But when I win, I want you to call me master. In fact, it can be my first favor.”
“I’m going to love watching your face twist in pain when I slam your man goodies with the tip of my boot.” I leave it at that and hike back to my car, ignoring his chuckling as I slide into the torn leather seat of my car.
“Are we ready to do this?” Rhyland shouts as he moves to the center of the road.
Londyn ushers Payton and Bailey to the side and into the shade of the trees as I shift the car into drive and pull forward to where Rhyland is standing.
After Blaise and I line up, I crank up some music, tuning out the outside world as best as I can. Then I stare straight ahead at the desolate road in front of me that stretches between the cliff side. Most of the races I’ve participated in have taken place on back roads that I’ve driven on before. This road is new to me and that gives me a disadvantage, but I try not to think too much about that as Rhyland raises his arms in the air.
“On your mark,” Rhyland starts. “Get set, go!” His arms drop and the squealing of tires floods the air as Blaise and I peel out.
I focus on the road ahead as I speed up, only measuring where Blaise is a couple of times. Every time I look his way, he’s right beside me, so we’re neck and neck. That’s okay. I’m awesome at turn arounds and figure that’s where I’ll lose him.
As I approach the rock, I don’t slow down, speeding up instead. Blaise must hesitate because his car slides out of my view. I mentally give myself a high-five then shove all thoughts aside and focus. I’m approaching the rock fast. If I don’t do this just right, I’m going to end up skidding off course or worse, off the road and into the river.
“Come on, come on, come on,” I chant as I grip the wheel.
When the front end of my nose passes by the rock, I press on the brake and crank the wheel. The timing is perfect and the turn around would’ve been too, but my tire hits a patch of gravel and I start to skid. Cursing like a sailor, I slowly let the car straighten out to avoid over correcting. That shaves off some of my lead and by the time I start racing toward the finish line again, Rhyland and I are side by side. Refusing to lose, I slam my foot down onto the gas pedal. The engine roars as I push the car faster, gripping onto the wheel, determined to win.
“Come on, come on, come on—” I zoom passed the finish line and so does Blaise. “Shit.” I slow down, knowing the race was close. So close that I’m not one hundred percent confident if I won.
That doesn’t mean I’m not going to fake it though.
I turn around and park on the side of the road near my sisters, then jump out of the car with a huge ass grin on my face.
“What’re you smiling about?” Blaise asks me as he gets out of his car. “Kissing me?
“No, I totally won that race,” I scoff. “Now get over her so my boot can get acquainted with your balls.”
He shakes his head, coming to a stop in front of me, and draws off his sunglasses. “No way. I’m the winner so pucker up.”
Rhyland joins Blaise’s side with his phone in his hand. “Actually, I think it might’ve been a tie.”
Blaise and I simultaneously say, “A tie?”
Rhyland holds up his phone. On the screen is a shot of Blaise and I crossing the finish line at exactly the same time.
Londyn moves up to my side with Bailey and Payton right behind her. “So I guess you both lose then.”
“Or both win,” Blaise says, glancing at me curiously.
I grimace over my two options. Either I can declare us both losers in the race and no one wins anything or I agree that we’re both winners, get assurance that the Porterson brothers will leave my sisters alone, and get to kick Blaise in the junk. But that also means I’ll owe him a month’s worth of favors and a kiss. While the idea of doing Blaise favors makes me want to vagina punch myself, I want my sisters to have peace of mind during our time here in Honeyton.
I glance at Blaise. “Fine, we were both winners.”
The corners of Blaise lips twitch into an almost smirk. “All right then. My brothers and I will no longer bother your sisters. Just make sure to be at my house bright and early for my first favor.” He starts to turn away and for the stupidest moment I wonder if perhaps he either forgot about the kiss or was only joking about it. But then he makes a U-turn. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the second part of our deal.”
He stops in front of me, his hand cupping the back of my neck. I want to spit out excuses, want to protest, but backing down isn’t my thing. So, I do the only thing I can. I kiss him first, not letting him have any sort of gratification in this.
Or well, that’s what I tell myself. But the moment our lips connect, he’s kissing me. And I mean, really kissing me, his tongue parting my lips as he angles my head back and kisses me deeply. I nearly groan as warmth spreads through my body, a mixture of angsty lust and fuming irritation.
I’m enjoying kissing Blaise. What the fuck is wrong with me?
Snapping out of my brief trance, I jerk back, gasping for air. His eyelids flutter open and the heated look he gives me makes me want to kiss him again. But then that stupid infamous smirk appears and any desire fizzles.
“You pulled away first,” he says, like that means I lost a battle.
I kind of feel like I did.
I need to get my shit together.
“Yep, I sure did. But only to do this.” Then I kick him between the legs.
He grunts, crouching over in pain.
“Shit, you’re ruthless,” Rhyland mumbles, his eyes wide.
“Remember that.” I point at him then focus on Blaise, hunched over and red faced, clutching his man goodies. “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning, sweetheart.”
Then I reel around and get in the car, telling myself that I’m okay. That I can handle this. That I can handle tomorrow. That I can handle anything.
“Are you okay?” Londyn asks me the second all of us are in the car.
“Yep, just peachy,” I lie as I steer away from the Turn Out.
Londyn assesses me with a disbelieving frown. She knows me too well.
Silence trickles by and I wonder what my sisters are thinking about, if they’re pitying me or what.
“Well, at least the kiss was hot,” Payton finally remarks, breaking the silence.
I can’t help but smile. At least one thing came out of this ordeal. She’d been so down when we left the house earlier,
but now she seems upbeat again.
“It wasn’t,” I lie. “It was disgusting.”
“If you say so,” Payton snickers and so does Bailey.
I grasp the steering wheel tightly, wanting to protest, but the truth is the kiss was hot. Scorching even.
I’m seriously disgusted with myself. Blaise is an asshole! I shouldn’t like kissing him!
Londyn’s expression fills with sympathy. “It’s okay to like the kiss, Had. It doesn’t mean you like him.”
“I didn’t like the kiss,” I lie, frustrated I’m not hiding my feelings very well at the moment.
“Okay.” She squeezes my hand, a pity squeeze I’m sure, then retrieves her phone and checks her texts, giggling at something on the screen.
Bailey and Payton start chatting in the backseat, Bailey telling Payton about all the cute boys she saw in school and how there was a flyer for an afterschool art program that Payton should totally check out.
Their laughter and smiles make whatever tomorrow holds, good or bad—but I’m positive it’s going to be bad—worth it.
Fifteen
By the time we get home, the sun is setting behind the hills and my head is still stuck in worry mode over tomorrow morning. Since my dad isn’t home yet, I decide to take the opportunity and distract my worried thoughts by going and digging up the bag I saw my dad bury. I wait for my sisters to get settled into their rooms before I sneak out. Through all the chaos of the duel, Payton and I forgot to mention the bag incident to Bailey and Londyn, which is a good thing. It gives me time to see what’s in the bag so I can decide whether to keep it a secret or not.
After double checking that they’re all busy and distracted, I slip outside and into the garage/shed to get the shovel. As I’m headed back out, I hear Blaise and Alex talking from nearby and pause.
“You have to back off," Blaise hisses. “I made a deal with her.”
“Yeah, so. I didn’t,” Alex snaps. “And you should’ve talked to all of us first before you decided on the terms of that bet.”
“The terms aren’t a bad thing,” Blaise replies lowly. “You shouldn’t be bothering the Harlyton sisters. Not with their dad working for ours.”
Wait. My dad is working for their dad? The man who, from the research I found online, owns a bunch of illegal underground gambling clubs?
I shake my head. Nice job choice, dad.
He laughs darkly. “Don’t even get me started on that.”
“Is that what this is about?” Blaise asks, astounded. “Because, if so, you need to get over it.”
“I’m not going to get over it,” Alex growls out. “And you shouldn’t either. They both fucked us over.”
Huh? Who fucked them over? Their dad and mine?
No, that doesn’t make sense. We’ve barely lived here a little over a week. Then again, wouldn’t be the first time my dad’s managed to piss off someone so quickly.
“But Hadley and her sisters have nothing to do with that, so leave them alone,” Blaise warns. “No more slitting tires. No more flyers. No more harassing our new neighbors, got it? I’m sick of taking the blame for the shit you do.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes, I do. If I didn’t, you would’ve been in juvie by now.”
“Is that why you’re so pissed off? Because I keep fucking up? Or are you pissed off because I ruined your chances with Hadley.”
“I never wanted a chance with Hadley,” Blaise replies flatly.
Alex snorts a laugh. “You so do. It’s why you bought her new tires and added that kiss on to that stupid bet.”
“That’s not why I did any of those things,” Blaise growls back. “Now get in the car. We have work to do.”
Doors slam then an engine roars to life. A few heartbeats later, the air grows silent again.
I leave the garage/shed a bit shocked at what I heard. Not just the part about my dad working for theirs, but that Blaise was behind my brand new tires. The gesture would’ve been nice if his brother hadn’t damaged the tires to begin with and put those flyers all over school.
Still, as I dig up the bag, I can’t help but wonder if perhaps my first impression of Blaise was wrong. Perhaps he’s a decent guy, just a bit cocky.
Of course, when I get the bag out of the ground and unzipped, I realize I have bigger problems on my hands than whether Blaise is really a douchebag or not. Because inside is a huge stash of money, a gun, and what looks like a brick of cocaine.
“Holy shit, dad,” I mumble in horror as I shine the light of my phone into the inside of the bag. “What the hell are you doing?”
My mind is racing, my heart pounding. My dad may have done some sketchy stuff in the past, but nothing like this. And whose money and cocaine is this? His? His bosses?
“Hadley!” Londyn calls out from the side of the house. “Are you out here?”
I turn off the light and hold my breath as she shouts my name a few more times before giving up and going back inside. Then I quickly bury the bag, put the shovel away, and sneak back into the house. As I’m making a beeline for my room, I pass by Payton on the stairway.
She notices the dirt on my hands. “Did you see what was in the bag dad buried?”
I nod, wiping my hands off on the sides of my legs. “Yeah, it was just a bunch of bottles of alcohol.”
Her forehead furrows. “Why would he bury that?”
“Probably because I told him we weren’t going to spend any more money on booze.”
“He’s such an asshole,” Payton mutters as she continues down the stairway.
I hurry up to my room and find Londyn in her bed, doing homework.
“Hey, where were you just barely?” she asks, setting her pen down. “I couldn’t find you.”
“Digging up a bag of alcohol dad buried in the backyard.” I flop down on my bed, avoiding eye contact with her.
“Seriously?” she asks and I swallow hard, bobbing my head up and down. “Where the hell did he get all the money for it?”
I shrug and she starts to fume, going on a rant. I listen to her, wishing I could tell her the truth about what I found. But I can’t bring myself to do so. Not with this. No, whatever the reason is as to why my dad has a bag of drugs, money, and guns buried in the backyard can’t be good, and I’d rather my sisters not have to worry about it.
But I need to figure out why before he does something that gets us all hurt.
Next books in the Chasing the Harlyton Sister Series
Meeting Hadley (Chasing the Harlyton Sisters, #2)—up for preorder now!
Falling for Hadley (Chasing the Harlyton Sisters, #3)—up for preorder now!
About the Author
About the Author
Jessica Sorensen is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who lives in the snowy mountains of Wyoming. When she’s not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.
Also by Jessica Sorensen
Other books by Jessica Sorensen:
Chasing the Harlyton Sisters:
Chasing Hadley
Meeting Hadley (coming soon)
Falling for Hadley (coming soon)
The Cursed Series:
Cursed Hadley
Charmed Hadley (coming soon)
Shadow Cove Series:
What Lies in the Darkness
What Lies in the Dark
Untitled (coming soon)
Tangled Realms:
Forever Violet
Everlasting Violet (coming soon)
Unexpected Series:
The Unexpected
The Unpredictable
Untitled (coming soon)
Curse of the Vampire Queen:
Tempting Raven
Enchanting Raven
Untitled (coming soon)
Bad Boy Rebels:
Meeting the Bad Boy Rebels
Bad Girl Training
Untitled (coming soon)
Mystic Willow Bay Witches Series:
T
he Secret Life of a Witch
Broken Magic
Untitled (coming soon)
Standalones:
The Forgotten Girl
Honeyton:
The Illusion of Annabella
Rebels & Misfits:
Confessions of a Kleptomaniac
Rules of a Rebel and a Shy Girl
The Heartbreaker Society:
The Opposite of Ordinary
The Simplicity in Ordinary (coming soon)
Broken City Series:
Nameless
Forsaken
Oblivion
Forbidden (coming soon)
Guardian Academy Series:
Entranced
Entangled
Enchanted
Entice (coming soon)
Sunnyvale Series:
The Year I Became Isabella Anders
The Year of Falling in Love
The Year of Second Chances
Unraveling You Series:
Unraveling You
Raveling You
Awakening You
Inspiring You
Fated by Darkness
The Coincidence Series:
The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden
The Redemption of Callie and Kayden
The Destiny of Violet and Luke
The Probability of Violet and Luke
The Certainty of Violet and Luke
The Resolution of Callie and Kayden
Seth & Greyson
The Secret Series:
The Prelude of Ella and Micha
The Secret of Ella and Micha
The Forever of Ella and Micha
The Temptation of Lila and Ethan
The Ever After of Ella and Micha
Lila and Ethan: Forever and Always
Ella and Micha: Infinitely and Always
The Shattered Promises Series: