Or, when on a dirt track, what was considered ‘pit row.’
Really, it was just a place where everyone started from and finished from, and if they were too broken to make it through the race, pulled off at.
She’d just spun her steering wheel, ready to make the turn, when the car barreled into her.
It was obvious that he was hitting her, too. There was no doubt in my mind that the man was aiming directly for her.
The two cars hit with a solid crunch, and I found myself all but flying down the fuckin’ bleachers like I was eighteen again and running them to show off my skills.
I made it to the bottom of the stands, then around the half-assed attempt to keep the crowd from the track, and onto the track itself in less than a minute.
I was at Iris’s car at about the same time as Iris’s big brother made it to her car on the other side.
Seeing that Anderson had her covered—I could see her moving and hear her cursing—I chose to let the little peckerhead, number twenty-nine, know how displeased I was that he was such a dumbass.
He’d helpfully already dropped the net that covered his front window.
Reaching in and yanking him out, I threw him to the ground and started to beat the absolute snot out of him. Literally.
Between one punch and the next, my hand was covered in snot, blood, and spit.
I kept hitting him until I was satisfied that I had his attention.
“Now,” I snarled as I got down onto my knee in the dirt. “We’re going to say this once, and never again. Are you listening?”
The man’s fucked-up face lifted so his eyes could meet mine.
They were an astonishing color of blue.
“You will never, ever do something stupid like that again,” I snapped. “Especially to her. Do you understand?”
The man nodded, causing blood to run down his cheeks and into his hair.
“And you will stay away from Iris,” I ordered. “And if I ever catch you, you’ll have the wrath of Callum Crow to atone to. Do you understand?”
It wasn’t an idle threat, either.
I would end him. Wipe him from the face of this earth, and bury him in small pieces, all over the country, so that nobody would have to worry about finding him.
“Shine has an anger problem,” I heard one of my brothers say. “Has for a really long time. Though, I have to admit, I haven’t seen him go off so spectacularly in a while. You must mean something to him.”
I heard Iris’s quiet reply, and I was backing away, looking at the crowd at my back with my chest heaving.
My eyes immediately landed on Iris’s brown ones.
Her very intense, very expressive, very happy brown ones.
“You okay?” I asked, my eyes going to the blood that was on her hand.
“Hit my nose on the steering wheel.” She allowed her eyes to go down to the man on the ground. “Can’t say the same for JJ.”
“JJ?” I asked curiously.
“I thought his name was Jordan?” I said, repeating what I’d heard from the announcer all night.
“Jordan Jennings,” she corrected. “Everyone around here calls him JJ.”
“Oh,” I said when I heard JJ groan beside me. “Remember what I said, asshole.”
JJ moaned again, I hoped in agreement, and I walked toward Iris and Anderson, ignoring how my brothers had knowing smiles on their faces.
Anderson, having heard my last comment, walked toward me and relieved me of my space next to the imbecile.
“You will stay away from her, and you’ll also be paying for repairs to her car until I’m satisfied with how it’s fixed.” Anderson dropped down on his haunches. “Do you agree?”
Iris watched me walk toward her, a smile on her face. “It’s against the track rules to have bystanders on the track.”
I shrugged. “I don’t care.”
I really fucking didn’t.
She scrunched up her nose. “Please?”
I tapped her on her upper lip, not wanting to hurt her nose any further, then said, “If that’s what you want, honey.”
Her face softened, and it was then that I could tell she’d been bothered by the whole scenario.
I just wondered if it was my part in the scenario she hadn’t liked.
I’d be talking to her about it later, but for now…
“I know the owner,” I told her, spotting said owner. “But I’ll head out.”
Iris looked toward me and said, “Thank you.”
That’s when I realized that the owner I ‘knew’ was standing just beyond all the excitement.
After catching hold of Bram’s gaze, who was solidly locked on Mimi—and not, might I add, his wife who was standing halfway between Mimi and him—I headed toward the fence.
After hopping it, I called out.
“Mimi!” I yelled, unable to help myself.
Bram stiffened at my side. Dorcas, who’d thought I was running toward her, all but inhaled sharply.
“When the fuck did you get back?” I asked, hurrying toward her and throwing my arms around her.