Junkie(50)

The car behind Lorhaven was aggressive, way too aggressive this early. And he was getting more so with every passing second. Each time he’d try to get around to first place, Lorhaven would block him.

I cruised along, getting a feel for the streets we were on, which were all back roads close to the business district, so they were all empty at this time on a Friday night.

My headlights bounced off the road, and I kept focus on the yellow lines so I knew how steady to hold the car.

“There’s a wide curve up ahead,” Joey said, reading the route off the GPS. “About a quarter of a mile.”

I smiled and hit the gas, putting the pressure on my already irritated buddy in front of me. Now he was sandwiched between us and didn’t have many options.

The curve came up, and the driver in front of me went wide, trying to go around Lorhaven, who took the middle of the road to try and keep people from passing.

That left a narrow section on the inside of the curve completely open.

I slammed the brake and threw the Fastback into a tight drift, right around the curve. It wasn’t a very wide curve, so even as I slid, I had to prepare to straighten out the wheel and hit the gas.

Just when I slid parallel to the other two cars, I jacked the wheel again and slammed on the gas to shoot forward. My tires squealed, and the scent of burning rubber filled the air around us, but I kept going.

Seconds later, I took the lead.

“Yeah!” Joey yelled, and I glanced at her with a grin. She was holding on to the side handle and laughing. “They’ve got to be pissed!” she yelled.

“What’s next?” I asked, gesturing toward the road as I took a slight curve to the left.

“Straight and narrow through here. Then it opens up… looks like onto a bridge, and then narrows again. Finish line is just beyond that.”

I had a tank of NOS under the seat, but I wasn’t ready to use that yet. I was in the lead.

Headlights blinded me from behind, and I glanced up. Lorhaven was on my ass, and when I say on my ass, I mean he was threatening the paint job on my bumper.

I shifted and pushed the car even harder. We were flying now, so fast that if a cop got ahold of me, I’d do jail time.

But I didn’t care. This was fucking amazing.

I didn’t have to think about anything in that moment. It was just me and the car. The road was my guide, but the destination was nowhere.

I knew a moment of euphoria, a single blissful moment.

Lorhaven swung out around me, trying to squeeze me over so he could get by. I refused to budge, and he was getting frustrated.

I had a second of worry where I thought he might try to clip my back end to get me out of the way. I slid over a fraction to make him think he was gaining some leeway.

An oncoming car came racing toward us. The road was so narrow it would force Lorhaven to fall back, to make room.

I pushed forward again and recovered the couple inches I put between our cars, forcing him to fall back as we barreled toward the headlights.

The car started beeping its horn frantically and swerved away from us as I blew right by.

Lorhaven dropped behind me, and I took advantage to spur ahead. The bridge came into view. It was two lanes, and I knew he’d be beside me within seconds.

I needed to think beyond the bridge. I needed to be the one to take the lead once the road narrowed again.

Behind us, another set of headlights bounced around, and I glanced long enough to know it was Arrow in the Camaro.

My tires rolled onto the bridge, and I pushed hard, looking ahead. Lorhaven started to swing up to the side, but I cut over at the last second, narrowly avoiding smacking into his front end. The sound of his brakes squealing wasn’t lost on me as I took the side of the road he wanted.

It pissed him off, and I heard the rumbling of his car as he sped forward and came up on my passenger side.

“What are you doing?” Joey asked.

“Hang on,” I said and downshifted. The car responded immediately, and Lorhaven nudged ahead of me just slightly.

The road narrowed, and soon there wouldn’t be room for both of us to take the curving asphalt at the same time.

So I let him have it.

I went off the road. My tires ripped into the ground, tearing up the dirt and barren grass as I went. The undercarriage was hit with pebbles and debris as I shifted again and hit the gas. The back end fishtailed and spurred forward as I cut through the grass in a straight line as Lorhaven drove around the curve on the road.

“You’re ahead,” Joey yelled. “It’s close.”

I didn’t glance over to see what he was doing. Instead, I kept my eyes focused on the glowing path ahead of me provided by the headlights.

“He’s right there,” Joey yelled again, and I slid my finger down beside the seat and felt for the button to release the NOS.