“You wanna go, motherfucker?” Lucas said, spitting blood in Alex’s direction. “Come on. Let’s fucking go. But you leave your hand on her another goddamn second and I’m going to break every one of your fucking fingers before Vince puts a bullet in your skull.”

Alex’s eyes flickered over to me, widening slightly. His big friends couldn’t do shit against a gun, but we still needed to get the hell out of here before this situation got any worse. We were in the middle of nowhere, and I certainly wasn’t the only one out here who was packing.

Even with Alex’s hand squeezing her throat, Jess didn’t back down. She didn’t even look afraid. She stared at him, eyes narrowed, fists clenched at her sides like she’d fight him herself. I’d pay money to see her punch him in the face, but I needed her out of harm’s way. As Alex’s hand loosened from around her, she smirked and lifted her chin a little higher.

“Move, Jess,” Manson said, his voice low but easy to hear in the shocked silence.

“You need to stop,” she said. She turned toward him and her eyes were wide, determined but desperate. “All of you. Please.”

When her eyes moved over to me, it was instantly obvious she hadn’t already noticed the gun. Her face stiffened in shock, her mouth opening and closing several times without a word.

I put down the firearm, tucking it away under my shirt. But she was still staring at me.

“What the hell, Vincent?” The words were a mere breath as she exhaled.

“Yeah, that’s right,” Alex said, as if her shock proved a point. He stepped back, closer to Nate and his big friends. The coward probably felt safer with those big bodies around him. “Still think they’re good guys, Jess? Only real gentlemen bring guns and knives to a race, huh?”

Murmurs rippled through the crowd. It was our cue to bail out — the quicker, the better. I nodded at Manson, who put his blade away with a quick flash of metal. Lucas spat more blood from his mouth, but luckily, he had the sense to turn away. None of us moved until he’d gotten back into the El Camino and started the engine.

“Let’s go.” I paused next to Jason, who was standing guard beside Jessica. She looked dazed, as if the true danger of the situation had finally hit home for her. She looked me up and down like she was seeing me for the first time, and jumped when Jason’s fingers brushed her shoulder.

“Come with us,” he said softly. “Let’s get you out of here.”

“Jessica!” One of her friends furiously called her name and she looked back. She gulped, and her breath came a little deeper. Her body was practically vibrating with nerves.

For a moment, I thought she’d say yes.

Then she stepped away, shaking her head. “No. I’m…I’m fine. I…” She looked at her friends again, the other girls staring at her as if she’d lost her mind. When she spoke next, she tried to sound confident, “I don’t need saving.”