The large stadium lights suddenly flashed twice in some sort of signal, and then cheering roared around us as engines flared to life and cars started moving towards the roundabout. I couldn't stop the excitement that suddenly flared in my chest. I wasn't a car expert, but there was still something really cool about seeing a bunch of sports-y looking vehicles standing side by side.

I looked around almost desperately for that familiar convertible as I sat on the tailgate of the Dimajio's truck, that happy bubble filling my chest when I saw Rex's car waiting in a row with about ten others on the dirt. Then I saw the girls swimming in between those cars and that bubble popped.

They were all in booty shorts or super tiny skirts and crop tops, some wore skin-tight pants and bra-like tanks. I suddenly felt ridiculously inferior as I glanced down at my yoga pants and the large sweater I wore underneath Rex's jacket. Those girls turned every guys attention they walked past, and even though I couldn't see Rex, I wasn't stupid enough to think he wasn't watching them either.

Rex was the most gorgeous boy I had ever met, and those girls, the pretty, sexy ones were more in his league. God Rose, you're just friends anyway. You need to stop thinking he would want anything more. You know you're broken.

"This isn't really a hobby for him, by the way." Trey admitted a moment later as those engines all started revving. I had to tear my eyes away from the racers to glance over at the man/boy sitting casually besides me.

"It's not?"

"I mean, it is, but he uses it for more than that. It's like- it's hard to explain." He sighed as the twins finally settled down enough to watch the race. "He uses it as an award system, I guess that's the best way to describe it."

I tore my gaze from Trey as all the cars moved forward a few feet then stopped again. "An award system?" I saw him give me a sheepish smile out of the corner of my eye, like he suddenly realized he wasn't supposed to be telling me this but was going to anyway.

"Yeah, Rex can get money any time he wants, so the winnings aren't really an award for him him. It's the things he assumes he can't get whenever that he uses the track for. Things he doesn't think he deserves." He paused then and reached up to run a heavy hand through his sand colored hair much like how Rex usually did.

"If Rex wants whatever it is bad enough he'll race himself for it. If he wins, he believes he deserves it then. If he loses... Well, it's the opposite."

"That's..." I started softly, unsurely even as those girls from before started ushering off the dirty roundabout.

"Sad. It's sad that he thinks he has to race himself for the things he wants." Trey grumbled from beside me, his eyes dropping to the half-empty beer bottle in his hands.

I was going to say interesting. It was something I would do, sounded a lot like bets I've made with myself before I came home. "What has he raced for before?" I asked instead of voicing my thoughts and smiled up at Brett as he handed me the back of chips he finally stole from Denton.

"Here, I don't want them."

"What the fuck, Brett!" Denton shouted behind us, but Brett only rolled his eyes and snickered.

I turned my attention back to Trey who was staring absently out at the crowd. "He's raced for me before."

My eyes snapped to his face as a haunted sound filled his voice. It tugged at my heart. "W-What?"

"Yeah. He hasn't had the best life, you know? He's gone through a lot of shit, and he doesn't usually feel like he deserves the people in his life. He's raced to see whether he deserved to be my friend before, though I wasn't going to let that stop him."

His gaze snapped to mine then, his smile lighting up the night around us as an air-horn blew far away. "That's some depressing shit though and the race is starting! I have a feeling he won't be pleased if I take your attention off him."

I doubted that, especially when he had all those girls down there pawing over his car. He probably wouldn't even care if I was watching at all. I didn't argue with Trey though as one of those girls stood in front of the line of revving cars, her skirt too short to be legal, then waved what looked like an old rag. The cars all shot off at once, splitting straight down the middle so they wouldn't hit her.

"Whoa..." They all looked like blurred bullets!

"Oo, yay!" Denton cheered loudly as the crowd around us all started shouting too, his head full of dark spiky hair popping up between Trey and I. "Maybe we get to see one of them explode again!"

"What?!" I squeaked at that, my eyes going wide as saucers as fear wrapped like an iron fist around my heart. Now all I saw was images of that convertible blowing up and Rex burning to death.

Don't hyperventilate. Don't hyperventilate.

"Naw, that hasn't happened in, like, a year, but one can only hope!"

"Shut up, idiot. You're upsetting the kid." Brett snapped at his brother and pulled him away by the back of his jacket. Denton made an odd whining noise but let Brett pull him anyway. Trey rolled his bright green eyes, and I laughed.

Then all our attention turned to the race, and my gaze glued to the only vehicle that mattered. They circled the roundabout twice, then three- four times before each little bullet-like-vehicle shot off down the dark dirt road leading God only knew where.

I was right about the large screens by the stadium lights, and as the first car shot down the long strip, a dark blue sport looking vehicle-thing, different camera angles suddenly flared to life in front of us. I completely forgot my conversation with Trey as I glanced desperately at the screens for any sign Rex's car.

"There he is!" Denton shouted excitedly and pointed towards a screen near the right.

I didn't realize I was practically crawling over Trey to see it better until his laugh sounded a little too close to my ear. The heat that flamed my cheeks was instant and I immediately pulled away with an apologetic smile but didn't bother saying anything as that familiar black car flashed across the screen again.

"Oo! Oo! Is he winning?" I asked frantically as my gaze flickered hurriedly between all the screens.

"Probably, I don't know. I only came for the crashes." Denton's head was popping between mine and Trey's then back again, as he searched each screen for any sign of accidental violence.

I tried to keep the disgruntled pout off my lips at that comment—which didn't work. Especially when some bright green car on the far-left screen got nailed by the red one behind it. It flew off into a huge tree trunk.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Denton cheered excitedly as we watched the entire herd of cars roar pass the one now squished against a tree.

I gulped. There's no way that driver could have survived.

But even as the thought crossed my mind and nausea started to flip my insides, the driver kicked his window out and climbed easily out. I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding as the rest of the crowd booed.

Yeah... they booed. Awesome people right here.

I forced my attention back to Rex's car, and my fists curled anxiously against my thighs as I watched him weave easily in and out of the other racers. "He's good." I said on an airy breath as my wide eyes practically burned holes into the huge TV screens.

"Yeah, he's damn good and the ignorant fuck knows it." Trey grumbled as he reached for a bag of potato chips, his beer now completely gone.

I laughed but didn't dare drag my eyes from Rex's car. It was a stupid thought, but for some reason I felt like the second I stopped watching him someone would hit his car, and he would end up slamming into a tree like the other guy.

"Hey Trey?" I asked a few minutes later, my eyes still glued to Rex's convertible. That thing was a lot faster than I originally thought. Brett made a comment about Rex doing something to the engine, but I wasn't really paying attention to that part.

"Hm?" Trey mumbled around another beer that was pressed to his lips.

"Do you know what Rex is racing for tonight?"

He swallowed, hard, before taking another long gulp and setting the bottle beside him. "No idea." But when I glanced at him, his eyes refused to meet mine. I shrugged it off and went back to staring intently at the screens. If it was that personal I wasn't going to pry.

The race was barely fifteen minutes long, and besides a few crashes and minor fires along the way, the now-smaller speeding bullets came shooting back into the roundabout—with Rex right at the front.

"He's winning!" I shrieked so loudly a couple of people sitting on their cars around us turned to look, but I was paying way too much attention to Rex's car to care. Then there was one of those girls again-the pretty ones-waving that old rag again as he passed her. The entire crowd erupted in cheers.

"He won? He won!" I shouted loudly as I jumped to my feet on the tailgate and began clapping wildly. The adrenaline surging through my body just from watching the race was making me want to jump from the truck and run straight for that convertible.

"He usually wins, it's not that exciting after a while. Where were the explosions!?" Denton pouted and slouched back in the bed of the truck, his thick arms crossed childishly over his chest.

I ignored him, hopped down to the ground as the entire cheering crowd rushed for the roundabout, everyone excited to cheer on the winner—to cheer on Rex. The excitement was nearly making my heart explode.

I had to go see him! I had to tell him how awesome that was! But just as I was about to take off with the crowd now swarming all the racers, a strong hand wrapped around my upper arm to pull me to a stop.

"Trey!" I protested loudly and tried to jerk away from him, but that hand was way too strong to budge. "He won! We have to go see him!"

The hesitant expression crossing his handsome face had my excitement slowly draining. "We should get out of here first, Princess. I'm sure he's going to want to meet up with us later." The uncertainty in his bright eyes had my lips pulling into a frown, and I didn't like that his gaze kept darting towards the roundabout and back to me. He looked worried.

"If you're worried about me getting lost in the crowd you can keep holding my arm like that until we reach him."

The small smile that crossed his lips was sad and it made whatever excitement that was left in my chest completely fade away. "I'm not worried about anything happening to you." But that concerned look didn't leave his bright eyes, and the twins even seemed to share a weird look as they started packing up the snacks and their beer.

Then every ounce of happiness in my heart seemed to disappear as that one, single, depressing thought that always tore at my insides crossed my mind. "Oh... you think he won't want to see me?"

The relief that shot through my chest was evident as Trey's eyes instantly widened and he shook his head viciously. "No! No, it's not that. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you. It's just-"

"Just 'what' Trey?"

He let go of my arm to scratch the back of his head uncertainly, his bright eyes flickering around the vehicles surrounding us—like he was looking for any explanation other than the truth. Though the real kicker during all this, was that the twin were completely silent. Even Denton. They just awkwardly watched from the bed of the truck after they finished packing everything up.

Then Trey sighed, his hand fell away from his hair and he took a step closer to me. "Well, Rex, he—usually after he wins he- uh, hangs out with some of the... people down there."

I tilted my head at that, my brow raising in question before I shrugged. "Then they can't be as bad as he said they were. Maybe we can all hang out-"

"Rose, he usually goes off with-" But the sad sigh in Trey's words instantly cut off as that familiar deep timber I loved so much called out to us.

"Hey! There you guys are."

My body whipped around to watch Rex jog up to us through the thinner crowd, that smile pulling on his beautiful lips—the one with the dimples. My heart stuttered in my chest, but my excitement from before was back and I just wanted to clap loudly for him.

"Rex! You won!" I exclaimed loudly as he slowed to a stop in front of us, a giant smile pulled on my lips as those chestnut eyes gazed down at me. "That was so cool! I was really nervous with all the crashes, but you were awesome!"

Although those dimples had disappeared he was still giving me a soft smile, his dark eyes glancing briefly at the others as he reached up to run his hand through his dark hair.

"Thanks, Roza."

"You guys about ready to go?" Brett suddenly asked as he climbed out of the back of the truck. "Our dad needs the truck so we gotta' get it back."

"Yeah, I'm all set. We going to yours' Trey?" Rex asked as he stepped over to my side, that ridiculously strong arm wrapping easily around my shoulders. I tried to keep my breathing under control as he pulled me softly against him.

If he was going to make this a normal thing I needed to get a stronger heart.

"Yeah that's fine."

I barely had time to shoot them all a quick wave before Rex wheeled us around and practically escorted me to the convertible waiting at the entrance of the roundabout. "Wait!" I spoke hurriedly and tried to turn towards the crowd, but his arm refused to let me budge. "What about your other friends? Don't they want to celebrate with you too?"

"What other friends?" His voice was that deep drawl I loved so much, and despite the dark eyebrow raised in my direction, my heart fluttered.

"Trey said you usually hang out with some of the people after the races."

He paused then, and his eyes seemed to darken before they glanced away from mine. I wasn't sure exactly what I had said wrong as I watched that strong jaw tick shut. "Did he now..." His tone had grown darker too, gruffer really as the muscles in the arm wrapped around me seemed to tense.

"They're not really my friends. I'd much rather hang out with you."

Thankfully we had reached his car and I was able to escape into the passenger seat before he saw my blush. He wanted to hang out with me—more than other people! Then again, he did say he didn't trust the people here to begin with, but still.

I buckled my seat-belt as Rex climbed into the driver seat, the car thrumming to life. I nearly giggled at knowing he just won an actually race with this thing! "This was so cool, Rex. Thanks for taking me." I sighed happily as he pulled away from the roundabout and headed for the dirt road we had taken here.

The crowd was still swarming the other racers and besides a few leaving there wasn't many to avoid hitting on the small road. I glanced over just enough to see that smile pull on his lips once again as he ran a hand through that dark hair.

"I wanted you to be there." Was all he said before that warm, strong hand I loved so much reached out towards me. I tried to choke down my blush as I reached up and slipped my fingers between his, but that was nearly impossible.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" He asked casually once we finally pulled back onto the main road some time later. I cast him a sideways glance and raised a brow of my own.

"Going to school?"

When that smirk of his pulled slowly across his beautiful lips, and those dark eyes shot me a sneaky look, I had a feeling it was going to be very hard having to go to school tomorrow.

"Skip with me."

My heart fluttered at the simple statement, and at the way that thumb of his swept softly over the back of my hand. "I-I would, but I've missed so much already and I'm really behind in my classes. If I miss anymore I might fail and Luce would be mad and-"

"I can help you study. I'm good with books and stuff. We can spend all day going over everything."

I couldn't help the laugh that burst from my lips or stop my hand from squeezing his a little tighter unconsciously as those dark eyes flashed to mine. "So, we should skip school just to spend all day studying for school?" I laughed as that smirk grew slowly into a smile.

"That, and I want to spend time with you." And as if those words weren't enough, I watched with wide eyes as he raised our hands to his lips and pressed a soft, barely there, kiss to the back of mine.

It was like all the air in the world had been knocked out of me, and I stared up at him like a dying fish as he dropped our hands back to the seat beside my thigh. He wouldn't look at me, but that smirk was back, and I knew he knew I wasn't going to say no now.

"So, tomorrow?" He prompted softly as he turned off the main road and onto the street that led to Briar Oaks. "You and me, all day?"

"Y-Yeah, okay."