Veronica Mills. The girl my ex had cheated on me with. Long dark hair, gorgeous curves, a confident smirk. She was the total hot girl package with an ego to match, and by the way she came strutting through the crowd, I knew nothing much had changed since I’d last seen her.

“Can’t stand her,” Danielle said.

“Total bitch,” Candace confirmed.

“If she and the devil were drowning and I could only save one, I’d walk away,” I said.

“She’s only here to cozy up to her new favorite bad boys,” said Danielle, winking as she looked at me.

Wait…she was here to do what?

That was when I realized where Veronica was heading. Certainly not toward our side of the road, not toward Alex.

She was here for Lucas.

Oh, hell no. Hell fucking no.

10

Lucas

I’d shown up for the race that night for one reason and one reason only — to win. I didn’t care about giving these lame fucks a night of entertainment. I wasn’t going to put on some big dramatic show. That was what these people were hoping for. They wanted to see Lucas Bent, the guy who couldn’t control his temper, lose control yet again.

But like Manson had said, we’d settle this behind the wheel.

I raced purely for the rush of it. It was one of the least destructive ways I’d found to release my pent-up energy, an outlet for the anxious electricity that made my limbs shake and my mind go hazy. It was this or fighting, this or drugs, and the other guys had done their damnedest to keep me away from both. Bless their bleeding hearts.

The speed and the power of racing was like nothing else. The adrenaline, the split-second decisions, teetering on the edge of complete destruction — I craved it, all of it.

Alex was glaring at me the second I stepped out of the car, and his face darkened even more when I gave him a simple nod and nothing else. He’d invited all these people out here to witness his own humiliation; he just hadn’t realized it yet. He’d even invited…

Fuck. Jessica was here.

I caught myself too late to avoid looking at her. She’d been a goddamn tease since the first time I met her and nothing had changed in the years since. Her short dress left her legs bare, her tits enticingly framed by the bodice. She looked too damn good and it wasn’t fair.

One quick look, and all I could think of was throwing her over the back of my car and fucking her until she screamed my name. Proving to every asshole here, once and for all, exactly where she belonged.

Exactly who she belonged to.

You fuck with one of us, you fuck with all of us. You’re either with us or against us. Maybe the others were fine with her little games, but she made me feel like I was going to lose my mind. She walked the knife’s edge of my patience, an edge that had grown so abysmally thin I was shocked she managed to keep her balance.