Knocked Up(5)

"In this fucking soupy heat? It will be all smoke at first and near impossible to get lit."

"Not for normal people, maybe, but for you? The guy who can do anything?" Rex said, and Luke pushed his shoulder before walking past him.

"That just means nobody else wanted the job."

"You're damn right it does."

Luke stared out at the pile of logs and grimaced. If he was going to light a fire, it was going to have to be soon. Dusk was already setting in, and before long the place was going to start filling up with people.

“Fine,” Luke speared a hand through his hair, then nodded, “I’ll get the fire set up, but you gotta help.”

He made his way toward the scattered twigs and logs and began gathering them up and tossing them onto the small pile someone else had already started.

“This is gonna fuck up my shirt,” Rex complained and Luke snorted a laugh.

“Was that your big plan for tonight?” he asked, eyeballing his brother’s white, button-down shirt. “You were trying to look good since you can’t race for shit?”

Rex feigned hurt, clutching at his chest. “Ouch, man. Keep talking like that and I’m not going to root for you. And everyone knows I got the best rooter in the business.”

“Don’t need it. I’ve already got the skill.” Luke heaved another stack of wood onto the fire and clapped his hands together to shake off some of the dirt.

“Funny, that’s not what your last girlfriend said,” Rex shot back and Luke flicked a fallen twig at his brother’s head.

The thing about Rex that everyone loved was that he had a heart of gold, was super easygoing and the life of every party. Those exact qualities were what had their mother in a near constant state of worry because they kept him on a continuous raft of shit that sometimes cost them all. Still, his lighthearted enthusiasm and joking had already rubbed off on Luke and his mood ratcheted up another notch.

It was going to be an epic night.

Before long, more cars started rolling into the space, along with all the familiar bikes in the circuit. Joe Kestler had his old lime green monstrosity. Declan Pruitt had the same bike he’d been riding since his first year of high school.

“Looks like the competition is gonna put your old dog of a bike through its paces. I should change my bet,” Rex said, needling him as Donnie Rickter pulled up in his beat-up, electric blue dirt bike.

“Get the fuck out of here, bro. This is gonna be the easiest money I ever made.”

Rex jawed with the rest of the gang as Luke bent low and spent the next ten minutes lighting the fire, which finally caught, to Rex’s howling delight.

“Nice!”

Luke grinned and stuffed his hands in his pockets, watching as more and more people hopped from their cars and headed for the newly minted fire or the lake.

Some would stop and say hello and he’d greet them politely enough before they headed off in one direction or the other. More often than not, they’d ask where Rex was and rush over to greet him.

But then, that was Rex, unofficial mayor of every social event Alhouette had ever seen.

“Okay, looks like mostly everyone is here and I’m through with all the small talk. When we gonna race?” Luke nudged his brother’s arm and Rex glanced at the sea of cars.

“I’m just waiting for—Ah, there we go.” A light blue station wagon rolled onto the grass nearby, the radio blaring Destiny’s Child so loudly that it nearly drowned out the music playing from their industrial-sized radio.

When the car was in park, two girls slid out of the car and Luke sighed.

He should have known.

Suzette Delacroix was sprinting across the grass, her long blonde hair perched in a high ponytail on top of her head. Her flannel shirt was tied in the middle at her midriff and her shorts…well, those left very little to the imagination.

Behind her trailed a girl with sleek brown hair, her clothes less showy than her friend’s, and if she was wearing make-up Luke sure as shit couldn’t tell, but she was damned pretty. He squinted, trying to figure out if he’d seen the girl before, but before he got the chance, Suzette was standing in front of them, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“We ready to race or what?” she asked, and though she smiled at Luke, her eyes were only for Rex.

Rex nodded. “I’ll call ‘em to the line. You know where to get your flag?”

Suzette nodded and Luke took a deep breath as he went for his bike. Steering it toward the little dirt path beside the lake, he closed his eyes and thought of the prize.

Four laps and he’d be a thousand dollars richer. In a way, this was the first night of the rest of his life. He just had to do what he always did—he had to win.