Pit: The A**hole Club Series by Saffire Blue (summer books txt) 📕

race in smaller clubs. It was exciting and fun. None of the illegal stuff this circuit is about. My cousin Shawna came home one summer about three years ago and wanted to tag along to see what it was all about.”

I pause and look to a still pacing Pit. I swear, I can see the anger coming off of him. Looking away to the floor, I push myself to continue.

“All it took was the time for me to race and win for it to happen. Shawna is tall, but curvy like me, she was teased so badly in school, she’s extremely shy with guys. A little attention and the right words and Danny had her wrapped around his finger.

“I didn’t know anything about him. All the guys I knew in the circuit were sons of politicians and CEOs. Different kinds of crooks.”

I have to pause as guilt threatens to choke me. This is my fault. If she never would have gone to that race with me, she never would have met Danny in the first place.

“I never knew he was putting his hands on her. She’s been seeing him for three years. She’s so young and beautiful. She doesn’t deserve this. God, I don’t even know if this has been happening the entire time they’ve been together.

“Shawna travels a lot for work. It wouldn’t be hard to hide this from me. Nothing seemed out of order when she stopped coming around as much about six months ago.”

“Get to the call,” Pit barks.

I nod and swipe at my tears. “She called me one night. I was at the shop working on a car. I could barely understand her slurred words. I thought she was drunk at first and then it dawned on me, something was very wrong.

“So, I Facetimed her. I lost my shit when she came into view. I’ve never seen anything so… I jumped in my car to race to her. She said he had left, and I could get her out of there, but I wasn’t fast enough,” I say bitterly.

I drove like a bat out of hell that night, but it wasn’t enough. Danny doubled back. He didn’t get on his plane.

“Tell them,” Pit says, bringing me from my thoughts.

“He came back. He overheard her on the phone with me. Call it bad timing. He took the phone and this all started.

“What Shawna and I didn’t know is he turned around because his drivers for these races got caught up or something. He needed a new team for whatever he’s up to.

“For some reason he wants to stay away from the races. He promised he’d let Shawna go if I managed to get a team or get on a team and win. He also promised to get her medical attention and not to harm her for the three and a half months it would take for me to make this happen.

“I get texts with pictures to show she’s okay daily. And I’ll get to talk to her tomorrow, thanks to Pit’s win,” I finish.

“How do you know he’ll hold up his end? We could win this whole thing and…” Ox trails off with a scowl.

“That’s exactly what I said,” Pit bellows.

“I don’t know. I have no guarantees, but this is better than nothing.”

“I don’t like this plan. Let me go after him, teach him why he shouldn’t hit women,” Roman says.

I shake my head. “You guys know me. That was my first reaction too, but it’s not that simple.”

“We have no clue where he is or where he has her,” Pit offers.

“He took her and took off that night before I could get there. Danny knows everything there is to know about me and Shawna.”

“And because daddy and auntie are in a campaign year, this has to remain quiet,” Pit says bitterly. “Shawna’s the daughter of Councilwoman Monica Norris.”

“Shit, she’s running for senate,” Ox says.

“Precisely. And daddy is running for governor. The favored sister-brother duo. If this gets out, it will damage their campaigns.”

“How? Isn’t kidnapping like a gold mine in the political chess game?” Rome asks.

I shake my head. “Let me reiterate something. Danny knows everything about me, Shawna, and our family. That includes the backhanded shit my father and aunt have done to be where they are.

“In the brief text exchange he allowed me to have with Shawna the day after he took her, she asked me not to get our parents involved. Apparently, she inadvertently told him too much and it will come back to burn a lot of people,” I explain.

“I don’t like it,” Ox mutters. “He has too much power we can’t trust.”

Roman has fallen silent as he taps away on his laptop. Pit walks up behind me and wraps his arms around me. It’s exactly what I need to help me keep from falling apart.

Pit

I’m so pissed off. I need to have Skittles in my arms to keep from saying fuck it and going to kick in every door until I find her cousin. Yet she pleaded with me not to do this my way. She’s been dealing with all this pressure on her own for weeks.

I kiss the top of her head in awe of how strong she is. If this were Scarlett or Leo, I’d burn the city down to smoke this motherfucker out. That’s the thing though. Danny Clavier can’t be doing any of this in my city. I would know.

“Looks like Danny owes some pretty big debts and from the looks of his bank accounts, he’s out of funds,” Roman says as he continues to tap at his keys. “I got a hit off his cell phone. He pinged off a tower in Neuvo Leõn.”

“Mexico?” I ask.

“Isn’t that where the last race is supposed to end?”

I turn Skittles to face me. “How would you know that? None of the teams are supposed to know the final race point.”

“Danny fed me a bunch of information about the club and the races,” she replies.

I nearly growl.