Confrontation

Laina

I looked at my feet and nudged some loose pebbles across the asphalt. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Benji said. “Seriously. I don’t want to know the shit the two of you are up to.”

I grimaced. “I wouldn’t talk about any of that with you.”

“Good.”

“Good,” I agreed.

We fell quiet for a while. I sidled up beside him and leaned against the side of the car. “Are you nervous for the race?”

He shrugged. “Nervous? No. Excited? A little bit. It’s sort of lost its appeal since the assholes took this place over. It used to be about who the better driver was. And putting it all out on the road. There was respect. And trust. Nobody was in it to hurt someone else. But now? I don’t know. It’s different.”

I nodded. “You’re talking about Sid and Mark.”

“Yeah.”

I wrapped my arms around myself to ward off the chill of the night. That was the only problem with being the flag gi