“He’ll be fine,” Danny said, smiling in amusement at the expression on my face, which was probably utter fear. I thought I was hiding it well but clearly not.
“Yeah,” I replied. “Is he good?”
“He’s good. Wins more than he loses. I have a feeling he won’t lose tonight.”
Because I was here and he wouldn’t want to lose in front of me. I didn’t care about male pride; I just wanted him to walk away once the race was over.
Stretching up on the tips of my toes, I managed to see Lucas’s car line up next to a silver, suped up Lexus. God, I was not looking forward to this one. Lucas shook the other guy’s hand and slapped him on the shoulder. They were friends so hopefully there wouldn’t be any dirty racing.
Leon shouted something and a bikini-clad Barbie number three raised her arm and dropped it. They really were following the cliché. Tyres screeched as they launched off the start line. Smoke blocked my view for a few seconds. I caught a glimpse of Lucas slightly ahead just as they disappeared around the first corner.
I felt sick and lowered my head. My stomach was in knots so I wasn’t even going to attempt to watch any longer.
“You not watching this?” Danny asked, laughing.
“Can’t,” I replied, staring at my shoe.
“Lucas will be fine. Open your eyes, Tegan!”
I shook my head. Not happening.
There was another deafening screeching of tyres. I jumped in surprise, my eyes flew open and I gripped hold of Danny’s arm tightly. “Whoa, Tegan, you’re cutting off the circulation.”
“What was that noise?” I asked, tightening my grip.
Danny shrugged with the shoulder I wasn’t half pulling down. “Drifting.”
“They were drifting?” That was all well and good in films but I didn’t like losing control that much in real life. Things could so easily go badly when it wasn’t controlled by professionals and a whole stunt crew.
“Yeah, there’s a pretty awesome corner round the back there and if you hit it at the right angle you can drift it.” He sounded so enthusiastic and absolutely thrilled with the idea. I wanted to punch him.
The cars came back into view. I craned my neck, daring a look at the race. Lucas flew over the finish line and slammed his breaks on. Thank God, they were both back safely.
Luke made his way over to me with a big grin on his face. It took a second for my legs to start working again but when they did I ran over and jumped on him, wrapping my arms round his neck tight.
He was shocked, that much was obvious from his statue-like state. But then it took him less than a second to respond. His arms snaked around my back, pinning me against his chest. My whole body felt alive again. No.
Damn it all to hell.
Chapter Seventeen
Lucas
The race gave me the rush I needed and for those few short minutes I wasn’t constantly worrying that Dad’s body would reject the new heart. I didn’t worry about what Mum would do without him or how we’d cope losing our dad. It was just me, the car and a shit load of adrenaline coursing through my veins.
I got out of the car, allowed some of the guys to slap me on the back before I brushed them off to go find Tegan. I spotted her and started to weave through the crowd. She was smiling but smiling tightly.
“Hey,” I said when I reached her. “What did you think?”
She hugged me. I stood stunned as her arms held me tight for a second before she was gone again. What the hell was that? “Um… I’m not sure what I think. It was pretty scary.”
My mind was still reeling from the fact that she’d purposefully touched me. That didn’t happen; usually she went out of her way to ensure there was always distance between us.
My heart raced as I looked into her eyes. She smiled as if nothing had happened and at the same time my phone started ringing.
“Hi, Dad,” I said, reading his name before picking up.
“Lucas? Where are you? Are you with Tegan? We can’t find her and Alison’s really concerned.”
“Yeah, she’s with me. We went for a drive. She needed to get away for a bit. Sorry, I should’ve said.”
Dad relayed the message to everyone on his end and then asked, “Are you coming back now?”
I looked over at Tegan and she stared at the floor, clenching her fists. “I don’t think so. I’ll let you know when we’re on our way back.”
“Alright, just look after her.”
“I will do. Bye, Dad.”
“Bye.”
I turned my phone on silent and slid it back in my pocket. Was she going to freak out now? I studied her face, trying to figure out what she was thinking. Tegan was pretty unreadable. Most of the time she just looked bored or annoyed but there had to be something deeper than that.
She bit her lip and then gave me the most beautiful smile that literally made my heart miss a beat. “Can we go to the beach?”