Page 81 of Violent Skies

“Because she needs a man, she needs direction,” he hums, “I can give her protection, a life, love… maybe kids.” The more he talks the more the rage numbs my senses.

“Is this a game to you?” I ask, confused why he’d do this. To me.

“I know all about your ideas, Riggs.” Koa slides from bed, grabbing a pair of jeans and sliding them on slowly like we’re having some healthy conversation and I don’t want to strangle the life from him. “She was going to apply to school in Boston. If she got in—which knowing Cress, she would even if it killed her—you were going to leave us?” His accusation is a serrated blade, meant to inflict as much damage as he could. “Get in your little shitty civic, push the engine across the country, forget all about your problems.”

“Where are we going?” I can hear Cress asking. “Anywhere we want.”

“That’s not—”

“You could never keep a secret,” he says, cutting me off. “Abandoning your family is a new low though.”

“I wasn’t abandoning anyone,” I say and Koa surges forward, pressing my back against the wall in a moment of unbridled rage.

“I convinced her to apply to school here.” His voice is calm but his jaw is tight and his eyes are on fire. “While you were running around trying to figure out a way to disappear, I was making sure you didn’t tear our family apart.”

“All you did was push me further out the door,” I hiss at him, and he starts to laugh like the psychopath he is.

“The most distance you’ll ever put between yourself and her is the highway that separates these two houses,” he whispers because he knows it’s true and I hate the way he reads me like a book. “So you’re going to stay,” he says. “You’re going to watch her fall in love with me. You’re going to watch me accomplish all the dreams we’ve ever had. You’re going to help me turn this garage into something that fucking matters, and you’re going to do it with a smile on your face because I own you now.”

“You think that some puppy dog crush is going to keep me under your thumb?” I harden my gaze on him, trying to shove away every other response I have. Because he’s right, the thought of getting in that car and leaving her tears at me like a wild animal.

“I know it is.” Koa whispers. “You lost the only race that ever mattered, Riggs. This is your punishment.”

PRESENT DAY

“Are you okay?” Cress’s hand presses to my chest. I blinked and Koa’s ghost disappeared but the dryness in my mouth and the thudding in my chest screams at me like it was real. He was here. That can’t be right. “You look like you saw a ghost.” Her voice is so soft it forces my gaze back to her, connecting with her eyes to ground myself while my heart returns to a normal pace.

“No ghosts.” I shake my head and kiss her again before straightening out and moving around to the driver's side.

“What the fuck was that?” Murphy asks as soon as I’m out of her earshot.

“Nothing,” I whisper, still looking around. “Can you do a facial scan?”

“Of what?” Murphy’s brows pinch together.

“The city,” I say.

“The entire city? What are you looking for?” he asks.

“Who,” I confess, hand on the door I lower my voice as I pop it open. “For Koa.”

Murphy tenses, his eyes snapping around the area like he might see the same ghost. “That’s an insane ask when you’re supposed to have your head in the game and your eyes on the road.” He swallows tightly.

“I know, just—” I stare at him, willing him not to ask anymore questions, just for now. “For my sanity?” I ask, trying to get him to focus.

“Alright.” He squares his shoulders, stepping back from the car as I climb in. The other two cars in the race pull up on either side of me as I check everything on the dash one more time. Jake is the only thing standing between us and the race that determines our future. The dread of leaving my entire family standing on the pavement behind me makes me nauseous, but not nearly as much as the fact that both these cars are completely blacked out.

“Do you know them?” she asks, watching the fear flicker across my face.

“Jake could never get names, only the makes and models of the cars…” I clench my jaw and recenter myself in the car.

I fill my lungs, time my heartbeat, and hit the gas the second Jake drops his arm. We move smoothly around him, taking off down the road. Our speeds climb as we hit the soft curve that brings us through a secluded row of houses and onto the off ramp leading to the hills.

The scenery whips by as we pick up speed; three sets of tires all ripping over concrete as we angle into the first real turn. The second car, only a few feet behind me, struggles with it. His back end fishtails slightly and it gives me a chance to make space between him and me. The driver ahead of me is skilled, he’s quicker than I expected him to be and good on the turns.

The second turn isn’t as tight, but it’s unexpected on the GPS and leads us up a gravel road. Cress focuses on the road beside me, that stupid gun in her lap and her breathing timed to keep herself calm as her body rattles around in the harness.

“Hold on,” I grunt as the next turn throws us in a horseshoe up further. The lights up here grow fewer and farther between as we climb and the lack of illumination is rattling as the darkness spreads across the pavement for longer periods of time.