“No, he doesn’t,” Shane replied. “You could be back at your house, or in a safe house, or in your car driving the back roads if you needed some variety. He’s protected this place for as long as I’ve known him.”
Trying to ignore the flicker of pleasure that the thought of being special to Conn brought her, because one hormonal teenage girl in her family was plenty, thanks very much, she thought back to their earlier conversation. She suggested a drive. Conn suggested the track. One glance at his face told her the second run held no more appeal for him than the first.
“Okay. I’ll ask him,” she said. Now the whole situation felt like a dare, except it looked like Conn’s soul was on the line.
Conn’s second run came in at exactly the same time as the first, which matched the runs she’d seen the last time she was at the track. “He’s consistent,” she said.
“Yup,” Shane answered without humor.
Conn pulled through the gap in the chain link, the car growling like a junkyard dog. Finn wandered back from the canteen while Conn parked by Shane’s trailer, slung himself out of the Camaro, and slammed the door hard enough to rock the car on its frame. Apparently the pull of male bonding and the car trumped the pretty girl behind the counter. “Hey, Conn,” he said.
“I’ll take a look at the timing,” Shane said. Finn already had the hood up, the smell of oil and gas dense and acrid in the cold air. “Maybe it’s off. You might need a new—”
“It’s not the car,” Conn interrupted. He shrugged out of the fire-retardant jacket and tossed it through the open window. His hair and shirt were plastered to his body with sweat, and the sight of steam rising from his shoulders sent a hot zing through Cady’s body. “We both know it’s not the car. Just forget about it for a while.”
Anger and frustration radiated off Conn like the heat off the car. Finn dropped the Camaro’s hood and took a step back. “Sure,” Shane said. “You guys done?”
One eyebrow lifted, Cady looked at Conn. “We’re done,” Conn said. “Let’s get out of here.”
Cady waved goodbye to Shane and Finn, then got into the passenger seat of her Audi. “I think you need to drive more than I do,” she said.
The fact that Conn didn’t argue about it spoke volumes to his state of mind. He turned over the engine and whipped the car in a tight semicircle, then squealed out of the lot.
Cady waited until they were on the highway before starting the conversation. “That didn’t look like much fun for you.”
“It wasn’t.”
“Then why are you doing it? Loyalty to Shane?”
A muscle popped in his jaw. “He’s got a waiting list a dozen names long for guys who want to drive with McCool’s Garage sponsorships. He keeps me out of loyalty to me, not the other way around.”
“Conn. Why?”
“When my dad ran that car, his best time was nine point nine-nine. He ran that multiple times. I’m trying to beat his time.”
Cady digested this for a second.
“I know it’s stupid,” Conn started.
“It’s not stupid,” she said tartly. “I was just trying to think of the right thing to say.”
“Give up.” Conn huffed out a bitter laugh. “That’s the right thing to say. Just give up and accept that my reflexes aren’t as fast as my dad’s. The car is the same weight. I’m the same weight. His was more beer gut than muscle, but pounds are pounds. The weather is nearly identical. It’s down to me. To my reflexes.”
“Why are you trying to beat his time? Not that I discourage people from having goals,” she added hastily. “Goals are good. But … why?”
The sharp white light from the dash cast Conn’s face in planes and shadows. “He skipped town when I was in the fifth grade. My mom died a couple of years before then. He kind of fell apart when she died. Started drinking. It’s nothing earth-shattering. It’s not even that uncommon.”
“That doesn’t make it any less difficult. I’m so sorry,” she said. “How old were you?”
“Ten.”
“Who raised you?”
“I bounced around,” he said, eyes firmly fixed on the road in a way that told her he wasn’t seeing it, but rather an endless round of new rooms, packed bags, and different schools. “Extended family mostly, although I stayed a couple of times with a friend of Dad’s when I got older and my aunt and I had a fight. I learned to make myself at home in other people’s houses way earlier than the search module at the academy.”
Cady all but gaped at him. He was so calm about it. “Conn, I can’t even imagine. When Dad walked out on us, Emily was devastated. She alternated between screaming fights with Mom and sleeping in her bed. She’s still suspicious of people.”
“Why aren’t you?”