Chapter 58

Jamie

"OK, so I'll be by to do your hair and makeup by lunchtime," Millie said down the phone line.

It was the morning of the engagement party, so my bestie was calling to organise the best time to prepare.

"Lunchtime?"

Hunter emerged from my bathroom looking like a literal wet dream. He padded over with a smirk then pressed a kiss to my cheek.

"Just going to pick up all the suits from Mac. I'll meet you here?—"

"At lunchtime!" Millie shouted down the phone line. "Girl, I need time and space, and more time, to get you ready for this engagement party. I was thinking slicked-back hair, kinda eighties power-suit chic, and then a plait?—"

"After lunch," I told her firmly. "I'll do whatever you want once the car show is over."

"Ooh, you know I love it when you say that," she said.

"Me too." Hayden sauntered into the kitchen, starting to make a coffee.

"Oh my god, gag. I take it all back. You are not dating my brothers."

"Dating?" I moved closer, into the circle of Hayden's arms, and he leaned into me, not the coffee pot. "Nope, we're already looking at places. We're gonna be cohabiting."

"Whoa… Whoa! Who the hell are you, and where is my commitment-phobic bestie?" Millie asked me.

"Getting ready for the car show." Brock smacked me on the arse as he entered the kitchen. "Ready to make your brothers and dad spew as you take them around the race track?"

"So that's what you're doing," Millie said. "Blowing off your best friend for?—"

"You can come," I said, knowing she wouldn't. "I can make you spew as well."

"You can't hold my hair back when you're driving," she replied. "Fine, your place at 1:00 P.M."

"Two," I countered.

"Two! Two!" Her voice was so shrill through the speaker we all winced. "Fine, I'll have to make it work. I'll see you then."

When I ended the call, Hayden leaned in to kiss me.

"Knock ‘em dead, babe."

"Not literally dead because that will make the engagement party awkward," Hunter said, pushing his face in between us. "Now kisses for me too."

I chuckled and kissed the two of them, each twin bickering like an overgrown child in an attempt to get more attention, until Brock pulled me free.

"Have fun, fellas. My girl's got a hotted up HQ to take for a spin."

Brock had a few amazing cars, but the HQ? It made me sigh just thinking about it. I recovered quickly though as he tossed the keys to me.

"I get to drive us there as well?" I said.

"Of course." The twins drew closer, their smiles telling me they knew something I didn't. Brock blinked and then closed my hands around the car keys. "It's your car."

"Mine…?" I didn't begrudge a girl for wanting jewellery or fine perfumes, but Brock knew the key to my heart. Probably anticipated that it was thudding so hard in my chest I felt like it would break out of my ribcage and roll around on the floor, bleeding everywhere. "You can't mean it." I started handing the keys back, but his grip tightened.

"Jamie—"

"Here we go." Hunter rolled his eyes at Hayden. "You know we're never going to top this. Like never ever."

"Shut up, idiot."

Hayden shoved his elbow into his brother's ribs as he stared at me.

"But it's your car." I tried to force him to take it back, but Brock didn't move an inch. "You got that tattoo?—"

"Tattoo?" Hunter scrubbed his face. "Jesus, we are freaking doomed."

"That tattoo isn't about the car." I moved forward at Brock's words, my hands going to his shirt. I had one button popped before I could think twice about it. "It was never about the car." The twins drew closer to peer at the body art revealed.

"So why did you…?"

I ran my fingers over the shape of the car inked onto his skin, feeling the smattering of chest hair shift. His hand slapped down over mine, holding me in place. I could feel his heart beating then, just as fast as mine.

"Because I wanted you, loved you for so damn long, Jamie. I couldn't say anything because you worked for me, because you were Millie's best friend." He sighed as I looked up at him. "Because I was too gutless to say anything, so instead I focussed on finding the right parts, stripping the car down to the bare shell and rebuilding it." He pressed the keys into my palm. "For you."

I needed to say thank you. I needed to explain how much this meant to me, but when I looked around wildly, all I saw was them. The men who loved me all this time. The men who had waited patiently for me to see them. Well, I did right now, up until the point my eyes filled with tears, and that had me grinning like an idiot.

"Oh my god, I've cried more in the past week than I have in my whole life," I spluttered, trying to wipe them away.

"Because you're happy," Brock said, snaking an arm around my shoulders.

"Because you feel safe enough to show how you actually feel." Hayden's hand landed on my shoulder, rubbing in reassuring circles.

"Because we're fucking awesome."

Hunter's cocky response had me snorting, then laughing in earnest, but I knew the truth. It was because when I was feeling vulnerable, they clustered around me, forming a wall between me and the world. Hayden was right, I did feel safe, because I knew they'd do anything to protect me. That's why I pressed my forehead to Brock's chest and just breathed. I couldn't work out how I'd gotten this lucky, but that didn't mean I couldn't take full advantage of that. I pulled away finally and shook the keys.

"Better get in the car then, passenger princess."

"Passenger princess…"

Brock's growl had me jerking free, grabbing my bag from the table as I made for the door, him hot on my heels.

"You're gonna kill it on the track," Hayden said, standing in the doorway of my place as we went to the stairs.

"Take some photos of your brothers spewing up." Hunter threw me a thumbs up. "We did that to Millie and managed to blackmail her for ages."

I just smiled, feeling in my guts that this was going to be a perfect day. The sun was shining, my heart was light and full all at the same time, and I had one burly, beautiful man at my side, while two others stood watching us go. Right now I had everything I'd ever needed.

Well, as well as this.

I would've always slid into the driver's seat with an air of reverence, but now? My hands shook for just a moment as I slid the key into the ignition. Once the engine fired up, I gave it a rev, no doubt pissing off the neighbours, but I couldn't seem to care. This car was a freaking beast, throbbing with power, and when I was behind the wheel, I felt the same way.

"Ready?" I asked Brock as he pulled his seat belt on.

"I've been ready for you for years, Jamie." He winked then. "Just waiting for you to catch up."

I let out a little growl, then grinned through the windshield before taking off down the road.

Every part of me wanted to go and trawl through the aisles of cars at the car show, but once we arrived we were instructed to take the HQ to the pit area at the back. Waivers were signed, payments made, and then I was pulling on a helmet and a racing suit. My features were hidden by the helmet and the loose racing suit, turning me from Jamie into someone completely anonymous.

Perfect for when my family arrived.

"Jesus…" my brother Steve said as he took in the car. "That is beautiful." His hand went out, wanting to caress the rear panel, but he stopped when he saw me. "So this is your shit hot driver?" He held out his hand. "Steve, mate."

I shook it firmly.

"So is this The Stig from that car show or something?" Dave asked, peering at my helmet visor.

"The British one?" Steve asked with a chuckle.

"Something like that." Brock's reply was completely non-committal. "So we've got two laps today. We're not racing, just taking the car for a spin around the track, putting it through its paces."

"I don't suppose you'd want to race a car like this," Dad said. "Must be worth a bomb."

Brock just shrugged as my brothers made disappointed noises.

"Doesn't mean we can't take the track at speed, though," he replied.

"Alright." Steve rubbed his hands with glee. "Guess we better get this show on the road. You're the one putting on the shackle today." He gave Frankie a shove. "Better have some fun before the old ball and chain weighs you down."

I was thankful for the helmet, because it meant when I rolled my eyes, no one could see it. Instead, I walked over to the car and got into the driver's seat, turning the ignition before giving the car a rev.

"Alright, I'm in." Frankie was forced to slide in the backseat as Brock took the front.

"Got room for one more." He nodded to my dad. "Want to jump in, Arthur?"

You didn't have to ask Dad twice. He was in the backseat, the racing harness strapped down as I began to idle forward. Brock had a word with the marshal at the gates and then we were waved through.

My heart began to really pound when we approached the race track. Another official stopped us as the current driver finished their circuit, going roaring into the pit area.

"Fuck, this is gonna be good," Frankie said, hand gripping the oh-shit handle.

Which of course, meant it had to be.

I'd studied the diagrams of the course in preparation for this moment, but as soon as I got here, I knew it didn't matter. Some innate part of me came into play. Planting my foot on the accelerator to send a spray of dirt and rocks, fishtailing out onto the race track, the sounds of the crowd's cheers a dim roar in the background, right before I changed gears rapidly and then hit the straight.

I'd learned to love cars hanging around with my dad and my brothers, but when I became a teenager, it felt like girls and boys had very distinct roles in the car world. Boys bought the best damn cars they could and girls were like graphics or custom interiors: there to sit pretty and make the guy they were with look better. The first few guys I'd gone out with seemed to want the same thing from me, until one thought it amusing to teach me how to really drive. Not safely, not sedately following the rules of the road, but like this.

Roaring into a corner at a speed that felt way too fast and right as you felt that vertiginous slide, you planted your foot and went powering out through the turn. The rear of the HQ slid out, my hands moving around the steering wheel to increase that swing back and forth before stabilising the car on the straight.

"Whoa…!"

I glimpsed at Dad in the rear vision mirror and saw he had both gone pale and was sporting a big grin as we raced forward, but Frankie? He'd wound down the windows, howling his delight like a wolf, to the sounds of the crowd's cheers. I couldn't focus on them though, punching through gears and then taking the next corner even faster.

"You've got this."

A quiet, grit-teeth vote of confidence from Brock was all that I needed. The tyres stacked up around the corners to stop a driver from going too far if they spun out of control felt like they loomed closer and closer, right before I wrenched on the wheel. That light, weightless feeling of a tonne of metal going way too fast, then spinning out of control, had us all lifting slightly from our seats, before I was forced to use every muscle I had to wrench the car back on course. My breath came in rapid little pants, my heart singing even as every drop of adrenalin my body could produce rushed through me. We came hurtling down the straight before a marshal waved us over to the pits.

"Bloody hell, that's got the old ticker going!" Dad said, stumbling out of the car.

"You're not gonna have a heart attack, are you?" Steve asked, grabbing his arm to steady him.

"Heart attack?" Dad shoved him off. "Never felt more alive."

"That was fucking amazing!" Frankie leapt free of the car, spinning around. "Whoa, what a rush! Today is gonna be the best. Hot car, a car show, and then I get engaged to the woman I love?"

"Shut up, you soppy prick." Dave gave him a shove and then made a beeline for the backseat. "Alright Brick?—"

"Brock," Dad corrected.

"Brock," Dave said, "let's get your driver to really kick this car in the guts."

I smiled behind the helmet as he and Steve started to talk big, pushing and shoving at each other to try and be the bigger man.

Well, this time the bigger man was going to be a woman. I got into the car and made clear I was ready to go, forcing them to clamber into the back.

"Don't do anything stupid," Brock muttered to me, as if sensing my shift in mood.

I tilted my head his way so he could see I heard him, but he wouldn't catch my grin. Stupid? I would never.

The minute the marshal waved his flag I was off, feeling the car's engine lurch as I rapidly shifted through gears. We went speeding up the track. Steve and Dave made excited noises from the back, but if I was going to do this, I couldn't focus on them. It'd take everything I had, split second reflexes to keep us on the road and not total my beautiful car.

I dared a quick glance sideways, catching sight of Brock's white knuckles as he gripped his handle, but he didn't waver for a second. He believed in me completely, enough to work on this beast and then gift it to me. I wanted to treasure the car, keep it in a climate-controlled garage and never let anyone touch it, but that's not what this was about. Fear had kept me from seeing what the guys had on offer. Fear stopped me from taking the next step when they made clear they were interested in pursuing something, so fear couldn't stop me now.

The guys slammed from side to side, wrenched as far as the harnesses would allow as we raced around the track, their smiles quickly fading. Real fear shone in their eyes and right now I'd force them to face theirs. They wanted me to give it all I had. Well, I was about to do just that.

Brock seemed to sense what I was about to do as we approached the pits. His head whipped around, a shout building in his chest, but it was too late. I forced the car into a spin, that weightless feeling going from one of jubilation to frankly terrifying, but I knew my way through this. I'd performed this kind of spin plenty of times before and came out the other side. I trusted myself, the car, and the forces of gravity to spin us around and around, then come to a stop with a flashy flourish.

"Holy fucking shit!" Steve panted. "What the fucking fuck!" His eyes shot to the front of the car. "Who the hell did you put behind that wheel?"

That was my cue to do a big reveal. As a marshal ran over, ready to scold me, I freed the clasp on the helmet, then pulled it free, glorying in the sight of my brothers' eyes going wide.