After forty-five minutes, the wait started to get to Luther. He’d taken to pacing, as had several other people milling around. He’d been nervous before, but now he was clearly getting worried. The later it got, the more the city started to wake up. Soon, it would be next to impossible for the racers to hide from the police and the helicopters. That was another worry of Lily’s. They’d both impressed upon her how important it was to not get caught, given who they were. This was how they financed their business, and it would be bad for business to get arrested for being involved in an illegal race.
Another fifteen minutes went by before the sound of loud engines could be heard. Luther grabbed Lily and pulled her well out of the way. Before she could protest, she saw the first of four cars fighting for first place. They were all over the road, pushing each other, angling to try and get around the ones in front of them. Lily squinted and spotted Nikoli in third place. Her heart nearly stopped when one of the cars slammed into his, forcing him off the road, but he recovered and shot back up to where he was.
Luther cursed rather violently while they watched Nikoli fight to gain control of the second position. He swerved and slammed his car into the same Dodge Charger that had forced him off the road. The Charger’s driver lost control of the car and spun out, flipping, taking the fourth car down with him. All that was left was the Mach 1 and the 1974 Chevelle. Neither looked willing to give an inch, both ramming into each other.#p#分页标题#e#
Lily bit down on her knuckles to keep from shouting. Luther leaned forward as they got closer, muttering something she couldn’t make out. She didn’t care. Her eyes were glued to the battling vehicles, their intent to win clear in their aggressive driving.
Closer and closer they came, each pulling out into the lead for a brief few seconds before being overtaken. She knew how important this race was Luther and Nikoli, but she didn’t think they were going to win. She’d been watching the other driver and knew for a fact he wasn’t showing his hand. The car sat up just a little higher in the front which told her there were modifications that could boost the speed under that hood. No racer worth a grain of salt would do a speed boost until the very end.
“He’s not going to win,” Lily whispered, which made Luther glower at her. “Well, he’s not. The other car still has a speed boost left.”
“How do you know that?” Luther asked, a growl behind his words.
“I know cars, Luther,” she said, still watching the fight. “Trust me on this.”
Luther pulled out a small radio and started shouting into it. Lily’s eyebrows rose. If he’d been able to talk to Nikoli before, why had he waited and worked himself up into such a nervous wreck?
Before Lily realized what was happening, Nikoli pulled ahead and then drifted right hard, forcing the other car to swerve. The Chevelle’s rear end slammed into Nikoli, and both cars started spinning out of control. They were simply going too fast. Lily watched, horrified as both cars bounced off each other again. That final hard slam sent Nikoli’s Mach 1 over the finish line, while the Chevelle hit the side of the building, smashing the front end up into the dash.
Nikoli’s car came to a halt and Lily ran, despite Luther shouting for her to wait. She needed to see that he was okay, that he wasn’t dead. The car took a beating, and she knew Nikoli had as well. The door was flung open, and she reached him just as he fell out onto the pavement. Dropping to her knees, she grabbed his face and pulled it up so she could see his eyes. He gave her a half smile before dragging her closer for a kiss full of fear, passion, and need. It left them both breathless. He stared at her in shock when he pulled away from her.
“I love you,” she blurted out, and Nikoli blinked. She knew she’d shocked him. She could see the shock in his eyes. She hadn’t meant to say that. God, she hadn’t meant to, but how was she going to take it back?
Lily started to say something, but the smell caught her attention. It was a mixture of gasoline and nitrogen. Her father warned her if she smelled that to run as fast as she could. She looked over to the Chevelle and saw them struggling to get the driver out.
She stood up and ran over. “Luther, get your ass over here and help us get him out before this thing blows!” She pulled out her small pocketknife and concentrated on getting the seatbelt off him while others yanked the door off and pulled the seat back so they could drag the guy from the car. She felt Nikoli at her back and looked to see him struggling to help them with the seat. He only gave her a grin when she sent a glare his way. He should be sitting down, not trying to help.