Wreck Me (Corrupt Legacy Series #2)

I want to believe that. I do. But I know how strong and weak the person you love makes you feel and act.

Going into my bedroom, I change into a pair of ripped jeans, a long sleeved top and biker jacket, put on red lipstick, and meet with Blake downstairs. We get into our cars and drive toward the cliff.

Blake found me one night, speeding and not caring how near the edge of the cliff I was as I completed one lap after the other.

He is now my steady partner in my dance with adrenaline. But for a few moments, I am near Dane. For a while, I am free. L’appel du vide—the call of the void, when you entertain self-destructive thoughts—whispers in my ear, but I always pull away.

There are a few cars aligned. Money is being exchanged.

I step out, and Tyson pulls me to his side.

“Ready to lose?” his best friend, Xander, asks me.

I pretend to think. “Hmm, right? That will never happen.”

Tyson shakes his head at him, smirking. “She’s going to leave you in the dust, bro. Again.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Tyson is in charge of organizing the races, among other things like fighting rings. He has a penchant for everything illegal and adrenaline-inducing. He’s a fellow student with too much money and no care. He has become someone between an acquaintance and a friend.

It’s always two cars competing. Two cars is the maximum the strip of the cliff can take, and it’s one against one, until the last race. The winner takes all the money.

I’ve won more than a few times. And the guys went from chuckling at a girl competing against them to getting tips from me.

“Start your engines,” Tyson says.

A girl lifts the checkered flag, and my mind spirals back to a time when I was with Dane and I was supposed to be his checkered flag.

While Dane chases his dreams, I chase my freedom—a noble goal if he wouldn’t have invaded every molecule in me.

Sick with love. Sick with craving. Sick with sadness.

I rev my engine, trying to expel my weakness.

When the flag drops, adrenaline pumps through me, and I take off, speeding right over the finish line. The race always happens in a blur, going too fast for my liking.

Blake is next. He rolls the window of his McLaren down and says, “Good race, but I will be faster.”

“Sure.”

He shows the muscles he has packed on since he started fighting, and I point at his head. “Use your brain to win the race.”

He chuckles, and I take a step back. I have zero nerves when Kaden gets behind the wheel, but with Blake, I’m terrified. There’s just something about his careless attitude that makes me uneasy, not to mention the underground fights he participates in within an abandoned building on campus grounds.

When Blake wins, he lifts me in the air, twirling me around.

With my mind pondering over Celine’s return and implicit complications, no wonder I lose the next race. I drive aimlessly until I reach the end of Greenville. I have my foot on the accelerator, ready to cross the invisible line, but, like every time, I stop myself and drive back. I could never abandon my friends.

The security guard at Eagleton recognizes me and opens the steel gates. As the heirs, we have to live on campus.

Parking, I walk inside our college house. Darkness and silence greet me.

I switch the light on and sigh, aware of where Kaden and Blake could be. I take the stairs toward the basement. The moment I open the door, I catch the end of their fight. I don’t understand the need for physical violence. There are methods that are even more efficient, like knowing the vital pressure points that don’t inflict permanent damage.

“Are you done being animals?” I ask, entering.

“Not everyone is a Kyusho Jitsu expert like you. We actually like to use our fists,” Blake says.