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  Jenni Linn

  Copyright © 2021 Jenni Linn

  All rights reserved

  The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  ISBN-13: 9781234567890

  ISBN-10: 1477123456

  Cover design by: Savage Hart Book Services

  Cover Photograph by: Lauren Anders Photography

  Editing by: Rhonda Hewitt, EP Editing Services

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309

  Printed in the United States of America

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Exhaust Fumes

  Off Limits

  Chase

  Home

  Crush

  Damn Shame

  Conflustered

  Feelings

  Day by Day

  Beautiful

  Six Fifteen

  Douche Nozzle

  Make It Up to You

  Like Dessert

  Take A Picture

  Not into Me

  I’ll Break Your Face

  McSwoony

  Flying Stapler

  Girl’s Night

  Smitten

  I’m Not Ten Anymore

  Hit or Miss

  Three Sugars

  Date

  Sliders

  Intoxicating

  What Ifs

  Distraction

  Stupid Over You

  Good Surprise

  You’re Beautiful

  Seven Twenty-Five

  Like it or Not

  Together

  You’re Mine

  Best Day Ever

  It’ll Be Okay

  Actions Speak Volume

  To Family

  Bar Brawls

  Late Night

  Three Down

  Lucky

  Let’s Race

  Cosmo

  Fancy Schmancy

  With You

  Back to Reality

  Hurt

  When You’re Gone

  Epilogue

  AUTHOR NOTE

  Acknowledgement

  About The Author

  Exhaust Fumes

  It’s a Friday night, and there are only two places anyone under twenty-one would be in this small town…the Strip or the Field. The drag strip is my favorite place to be. There isn’t a weekend that I’m not here, along with the other motorheads of Great Meadows. The Strip brings all ages to its local track, along with its wide range of vehicles. From old classics to new imports--you’ll find it here. We all have that one thing in common; our love for cars.

  My fingers wrap around a link in the metal fence separating me from the paved slab of asphalt about twenty feet away. Two cars go racing by. Exhaust fumes follow in their wake, along with the loud tune of their tailpipes. The excitement as they race towards the finish line is palpable, just watching gets my blood pumping. I know neither of the drivers, but the determination to win is contagious.

  The maroon Ford Mustang is in the lead, but the further away the cars move down the track, it's harder to see who crossed the finish line first. Two large digital boards, standing tall above the drag strip on either side of the lanes, flash the racers’ time confirming the Mustang beat its opponent by 0.5 seconds. It was a close race, but those 0.5 seconds mean everything.

  My gaze moves back to the starting line as the next two opponents pull up. The black Mitsubishi Evolution roars, the driver revving its engine until it hits the red line causing the car to pop in multiple sessions. The car is done up nicely; lots of money put into that engine. I would know. The driver is Wes, my best friend's boyfriend. His opponent, a blue Subaru STI, revs his engine causing the same backfire. A communication between racers, a way of saying, ‘It's on!’

  "WHOOO! Let's go, baby!"

  The unexpected scream comes from my left, making me jump. I grasp at my chest, and turn to look at my best friend.

  "Jeez, Tay!" I yell.

  Taylor laughs as she tucks a few blonde strands of her hair behind her ear. "Sorry V, didn't mean to scare you," she responds, but her attention is on the starting line.

  "What the hell took you so long?" I ask her. She was gone for what felt like a century. “I almost called the police.”

  Even though she's not facing me, I can see the roll of her eyes and her thin lips pull back into a smirk. "The line was a mile long, it's like every single person had to pee at that exact moment. Oh!" She gasps as if remembering something, “I ran into Jessica too...apparently she's seeing Blake now."

  Ah, Blake. We have some brief history, and it’s only history because of my brothers. My four loud, very overbearing, and very protective brothers. Speaking of my brothers...I look over my shoulder at three of them, who are currently huddled together looking under the hood of a silver car. With the lot of them standing in front of the car I can't make out what it is, and what's so special about it that has them fascinated. My eyes squint together, hoping to make out an emblem or maybe even a headlight, but my brothers are as wide as they are tall. It's no use, I can't see anything. I turn my attention back to the race that's about to go down.

  The cars buck as each driver revs its engine waiting for the tree, a tall light placed in the middle of the two lanes signifying when a racer can go, to light up. The flash of the light shines on the front of each car, showering their car in an orangish-yellowish color.

  Amber.

  Amber.

  Amber.

  Green.

  Both cars take off, their front ends slightly lifting as they press on the gas. Wes is quick off the line, just a second faster than his opponent, giving him an amazing reaction time. Within seconds, they're racing past us and Wes is holding the lead. "Yeeaahhh! Go baby!" Taylor yells, while jumping up and down, shaking the fence with her movements. Her high-pitched scream nearly bursts my eardrum. Even though she knows he can't hear her, it doesn't stop her from being his cheerleader. It’s almost sweet. My hands move to my ears, covering them, “Taylor, you're going to bust my eardrum!" I yell at her.

  "Oh, shut up and put in some earplugs!" She pulls a pair out of her pocket, still in the wrapper, and throws them at me. They bounce off my chest and land in the grass.

  "There's no way I'm louder than the cars!" Point for Taylor.

  I shake my head in amusement before bending down to pluck the plugs from the grass, then shove them into my back pocket. She screams again and suddenly jumps on my back, completely taking me by surprise. My hands shoot forward, grabbing onto the fence for support before we both eat dirt. “Taylor!” I yell, “Are you insane?”

  "He beat him!” she shouts, her legs clutching my sides, ignoring my grunts of protest.

  “WHOOOO!"

  She clings to my back like some kind of monkey. Despite the extra weight, my head shoots up to look at the times displayed on the board. He won, indeed.

  "He had two hundred bucks on that race!" she squeals, this time, at a more reasonable volume. My breath hitches.

  “Really?” I glance over my shoulder, her face hovering above mine. Her large almond-shaped blue eyes are wide with excitement, "Yep! Honey is taking his boo out to dinner!” She gestures to herself with a megawatt smile.

  I slap my hand against her leg at my hip. “If he keeps taking you out, I might not be able to carry you!”

  She mumbles as she slides down my back, and I finally stand up straight. “Well, that definitely sounds like a ‘you’ p
roblem. My ass is getting some dinner, so you may want to lift some weights.” Taylor shouts out in victory, pumping her fist up in the air, not caring people are giving her strange looks. A loud and deep rumble is quickly approaching our spot. Wes’ Evo appears behind a line of cars, coming from the exit of the drag strip, pulling into the open space next to the silver car. The same silver car that my brothers are engrossed in.

  "Okay Pauly D, let's go congratulate your man." I pull her hand down and drag her towards the group. As we near them, I can hear my brothers speaking very loud and animatedly to whom I assume is the owner of the mystery car. I've never seen him before, which strikes me as odd considering I know most of the people who come here--even if not personally--by name. He's tall, broad, clean-shaven, with sharp features, nice lips, and just...really freakin' hot. He's almost too hot for me to notice his car. Almost.

  Now I can see why this car has my brothers’ attention. It's a Nissan Skyline. A car so rare, it only recently became legal to own in the United States. It's a very expensive beautiful art of machinery. Now I have a serious lady boner.

  Taylor runs to Wes and jumps into his arms, giving him a huge congratulatory kiss. The commotion gets Vin's attention. "Yo, V! C'mere, you've got to see this!" he yells when he sees me standing near Wes and Taylor. Vance, Vaughn, and the new guy look up. I slowly walk toward them, the new guy's gaze never leaving me. Vance notices this immediately and he snaps at the guy. Literally snaps his fingers at him. "Nuh-uh!” he bellows, “That's my baby sister. Get your eyes off her!"

  "Seriously Vance!?" I yell at him. The new guy puts his hands up in defeat, "Got it."

  I squeeze in between Vance and Vin. "You're such a dick," I mumble. This earns a glare from him, and a chuckle from Vin. I finally look at the engine bay. It is definitely impressive. My gaze flickers upward, catching the eyes of the cute new guy. Despite my brother's warning, he's still watching me. He's risking his eyeballs, but I like it.

  Off Limits

  "You gonna run?" I ask the cute stranger. He's about to speak but some yelling pulls our attention elsewhere.

  "Yo, Wes!" Everyone turns to the voice. A man, much shorter than my brothers, is stalking our way. He clearly isn't happy. His face is pinched tight, and his hands are in fists. My brothers stand to their full height. This is a defensive tactic. Vin is well over six feet tall. Vance and Vaughn are almost the same. The three of them are very intimidating alone, put them together, and they are downright scary. My brothers move towards Wes, standing at his back, a clear sign. Wes gently pushes Taylor behind him, and she glances at me, her brows furrowed together looking worried. It wouldn't be the first time a fight broke out over someone being a sore loser. The Strip is full of cocky assholes who think they're the shit, that their car is the fastest, best car around. Losing is a major slap to their ego.

  "What's up, Chris? You got my money?" Wes asks, not caring that he's looking pissed.

  Chris stops a couple feet away from Wes. His nose flares, but instead of going off, he lets out a sigh. “Yeah, I got your money." Wes puts out his hand, and Chris pulls out a wad of cash from his pocket, slapping it into Wes' open palm. "Fucking bullshit man! What the fuck you runnin'?"

  My brother's stances change at Chris' question. Obviously, he's not a threat anymore. They all launch into ‘car talk’ about Wes' ride, and I feel myself relax, even though I didn't realize I had stiffened.

  "V, I’m gonna tell Wes that we are going to get a drink. I’m parched." Taylor hollers over her shoulder as she walks over to her boyfriend, slipping her arm around his slim waist, and he pauses his conversation to give her attention. His lips widen in a smile when he looks at her, and it is the sweetest damn thing. I glance away, feeling slightly envious. Not that she has Wes, but that she has that. You can see how much he loves her…I'm envious of that. I'm eighteen, and I haven't had one serious relationship. My focus moves at that thought, scanning for the cute stranger's face. His Skyline, the hood now closed, is still parked in the same place, but the guy is regrettably nowhere in sight.

  My brothers, however, haven’t moved an inch. If I don't let them know I'm leaving, I'll never hear the end of it. Sometimes I feel like I have five fathers, rather than four brothers and one father. Vin is closest, so I yell out to him. "I'm going to get a drink!" I point towards the food trucks. Vin simply looks at me and nods then this attention is back to the conversation. Taylor returns to my side, wrapping her arm around mine and tugs me with her.

  There is a decent line for this food truck, and many of the provided picnic tables are occupied. The whole area is pretty crowded, groups of teens standing around, and I take notice of the number of young girls and their attire. A majority are scantily clad, like the girls in front of us. Small skirt, even smaller tops.

  "So, are we going to the field after this?" Taylor's question makes me forget about the underdressed girls around us.

  "Meh,” I scrunch my nose, “No, I gotta work in the morning."

  "Just go for a little, Pleaseeee?" Taylor begs.

  "Yeah, okay," Pure sarcasm. "A little always turns into hours. Plus, if I go, so will my brothers or at least Vance since a lot of his friends are home for break."

  "Yeah but Vance's the cool one."

  "No, he's not … none of them are cool."

  "We can say you're coming to my house."

  "They'll know, Tay. They always find out, and they're going to give me shit. I just don't want to deal with them. We can go tomorrow."

  "Finnee. You party pooper!"

  "So, ‘baby sister’ is it?" a deep male voice cuts into our conversation. Taylor and I both turn around to find the hot owner of the Skyline standing directly behind us. His hazel eyes are raking over my face and down my body. I sigh, "Yes, that'd be me."

  "Do you have a name? I don't really want to call you baby sister." He grins, causing a dimple to appear. Grin + Dimple = Danger.

  "Oh pretty boy, you have a death wish," Taylor says bluntly, and I elbow her. She shrugs, turning to put her order in, leaving us alone.

  "Veronica," I answer him.

  "Veronica,” he repeats like he's testing the name on his lips. “Beautiful name for a beautiful girl." He smiles showing near-perfect teeth. "I'd like to take you out, but I assume your brothers are pretty protective of you?"

  "Was it that obvious?" I ask sarcastically.

  He laughs. "Yeah. So, maybe you can give me your number, and I'll give you a call sometime."

  "I don't even know your name."

  He chuckles and licks his lips before answering, "Ryan." Ah. No longer the cute stranger. His hand moves out towards me and I instantly notice how large it is. I tentatively put out my hand to meet his. His hand gently closes around mine; my soft to his rough. He moves our hands up and down. "So, now that we're friends, we should exchange numbers."

  "Oh, is that how it goes?"

  "Well, yeah. Friends hang out…I want to hang out with my new friend."

  "Alright, Friend." I conclude. He smiles wide and pulls his phone out of his pocket. I begin to rattle off the first few numbers.

  "Get. Lost!" a deep familiar voice cuts in.

  Startled, I whip around and find Vance standing behind me, his mouth in a tight line and eyes narrowed at Ryan. He raises his hand and takes a step forward, jabbing a finger into Ryan's chest.

  "You don't fuckin' listen. I told you this is my sister! She's off-limits!"

  "Vance, stop!" I plead, completely mortified.

  "No! He was all over some chick earlier tonight. I don't give two shits what he does in his spare time, but it won't be you!" He grabs my arm and pulls me away from Ryan who's standing there dumbfounded. When we're far enough away I rip my arm out of his grasp. "That was embarrassing!" I hiss.

  He stops a few feet from me and turns around. "Look, I'm not sorry I embarrassed you. Sure, I could have done it in a better way. But he's a dick, and you're better than that!"

  "You do realize that you can't protect me from every guy, right
? I'd like to date; I want to fall in love."

  "You will V....but guys your age, hell even my age, they only want what’s in your pants. I know, I'm a guy! You don't want that! I don't want that for you! Focus on school, make a career for yourself, then settle down."

  "You sound like dad, Vance. You're twenty-one, not fifty." He needs to lighten up.

  "Good! Dad's an amazing man, I hope one day I can be half the man he is! You just gave me a huge compliment." He smiles big.

  "It wasn't supposed to be." I huff and cross my arms. Vance wraps his arm around my shoulders and hugs me to him. "I did you a favor, V. Say thank you and move on."

  I stay quiet because while he probably did save me from ‘falling in lust’ with Ryan and getting hurt, I don't want to admit it.

  "Vernnn..." he drags out my childhood nickname.

  "Don't you dare!" I smack his shoulder and try to move out of his hold. Vance looks extremely amused, his eyes crinkled at the corners, “Say it!"

  "No!" I yell, still struggling to break free. He grabs my arms and pulls me into a headlock.

  “Vance!” I scream.

  “Vern...” he warns, “All you have to do is say ‘thank you.’” I remain quiet, trying to pull out of his hold. A burning pain upon my head has me screaming out as he rubs his knuckles swiftly over my hair.

  "Say it!" he yells.

  I can only imagine the faces of those around us. The burning becomes unbearable and I give in, screaming out. "Thank you!" I yell, "Mercy!"

  As soon as he lets me go, I smack him on his bicep that’s the size of my thigh and rub my head, expecting to have a bald spot. "Asshole!" I spit out. He only laughs as he walks back to our brothers. I quickly try to fix the mess he made of my hair. Taylor strolls over to me, holding out a cup, "Here, I got you a Coke,” she eyes me up and down, quietly, “Nice hair."

  "Shut up! Why didn't you help me?!

  She slowly looks at me, one eyebrow arched upward, “'Really? Vance is like a buck eighty. He's got like fifty-some pounds on me. What was I supposed to do?"