A/N: Hello! So, I'm back with a slightly different retelling of "Joyride's End". This one is going to be slightly different than that one. A little longer and possibly with a happier ending. I haven't decided on that part yet. I've kept some of the same ideas for the most part, but I've decided to flesh it out a bit. I've also decided to bring in another character as I've improved, in my opinion, my ability to write. I'm hoping that you give this story a chance because I'm flying solo on this one and it's going to be slightly more mature than the original story. And I'm going to do my best on it. So, without further ado, please enjoy this little intro.
OOOOOOOO
Mira Krew yawned as she sat in a chair across from her uncle in his bar in Kras City, listening to him explain something to her blue-haired cousin. She wasn't particularly interested in this business that her beloved uncle was conducting, but he was family, one of the only family members that she had left thanks to her mother passing at a young age. She didn't even know who her father was. Probably her uncle had him killed for thinking about touching Mira's mother and getting her pregnant, but Mira didn't think about that. She just wanted to get out of the mansion and enjoy what was left of her summer vacation before heading back to the boarding school with Rayn.
"And I've been forced to collect…slowly ever since," Krew wheezed, fanning himself with his tiny fan as he looked at the girls through his one good eye.
"That's nice, Father," Rayn said, tapping her manicured nails against the top of the table. Her slight accent matched Mira's perfectly. "But I don't see why that's my business right now? I'm still in school for one more year. Shouldn't you be talking about this with your suppliers?"
"It's going to be your business soon enough, eh?" Krew said, raising his voice slightly. "You're going to be taking your place as the head of the business and you'd better start shaping up, Rayn. I don't want to lose this whole City to that Mizo family, eh! I've worked too hard to keep control of it and I'm not about to let your stupidity take it all away!"
Mira glanced at her cousin as her uncle spoke sharply to his only child and saw the color rise up in the girl's cheeks. It was true that Rayn wasn't the best at her studies, but she'd never admit it freely. Rayn nodded slowly.
"Yes, Father," Rayn said.
"Now, take your cousin and go out into the City," Krew ordered, waving them off. "I have some suppliers coming in and I don't want them seeing you, eh? No daughter of mine is getting undressed with some pervert's eyes in front of me, understand?"
Rayn nodded again and rose to her feet, tugging on her shirt to straighten it. "Come along, Mira."
Mira rose to her feet and looked at her uncle with a small smile on her lips. "I'll see you later, Uncle."
"See that you stay out of trouble, Mira," he ordered, waving his fan in his face. "And don't go around that crew of Mizo's. They're nothing but trouble, eh?"
Mira nodded her head and turned to follow after her cousin. She slipped her battered purse over her shoulder and stepped out into the cool night air of Kras City, breathing in the smoky scent that came with the City. Rayn glanced at her and her amber eyes glinted darkly.
"I don't see why Father makes me keep an eye on you," she said, crossing her arms over her busty chest. "You can be so annoying sometimes and you get in the way."
"Sorry," Mira apologized, frowning. "But you know that Uncle doesn't like for either of us to be alone in this City. It's dangerous with Mizo and all of his company."
Rayn stuck her nose up in the air at that. "I'm not afraid of Mizo. He can't touch me. He wouldn't dare touch me. You, on the other hand, I'd gladly throw to him if given the chance. You'd make him a nice little treat, now wouldn't you, Mira dearest?"
Mira shook her head, her long black hair shimmering in the dim light of the bar's entrance way. She didn't like it when her cousin got this way, but it happened and it happened often whenever her uncle wasn't around. It was best not to comment on it because it only made the situation worse. It was just better to let Rayn have her say and her way. For Mira's sake.
"So," the heiress of the Krew family said, turning on her fancy heel and looking out at the City. "Where should we go on our last night in the City? Where should we go, indeed?"
Mira waited, holding her breath. A feeling of dread settled in the pit of her stomach as Rayn's spine straightened and she turned her face towards the younger teen with a wicked smile on her ruby lips.
"We're going to the Bloody Hook," Rayn said with a nod of the head that shook her fancy blue hair.
"But isn't that where Uncle told us not to go when we're here?" Mira asked, shifting her weight from foot to foot.
Rayn made a face at her cousin. "What Father doesn't know won't hurt him. You're going to listen to me, Mira. Now come along. We're going. Maybe I'll get a date out of this and you'll have to walk home. Won't that be nice?" She let out a small laugh and started walking away, a slight sway in her curvy hips. "I think it is."
Mira shook her head and followed after her cousin. This is a terrible idea.
OOOOOOOOO
Rayn pushed the doors to the Bloody Hook open and strutted in like a proud peacock with Mira following in right after her. Mira paused just inside the doors and saw the young, rough men immediately take notice of her and her older cousin. She recognized some of them from the racing circuit that she watched on the television back at school with her classmates. And she saw the weapons that they proudly didn't conceal. Drinks were sitting on their tables and cigarettes or cigars dangled between their fingers. Mira's emerald green eyes travelled over their hard muscles and tattoos that covered scars and fresh wounds and she quickly tore her eyes away when she realized that she was staring.
Just breathe, she told herself mentally, walking farther into the Bloody Hook and feeling more eyes on her still developing body. But obviously not too deeply. It smells like stale smoke in here and body odor. Can't some of these men shower? Seriously! And there she goes again, the proud little bitch.
Rayn strutted over to bar with a purposeful sway in her hips, head held high and eyes followed her with hunger clear in them. She turned and casually sat down, throwing a leg over the other and waited patiently. On cue, men pushed themselves from their seats and flocked around her, pushing each other aside to get her attention and offer to get her a drink. Mira rolled her eyes as her cousin giggled and twirled a stray strand of blue hair around her finger, toying with the boys like she really cared what they were doing for her attention. She'd seen her cousin play this game before and didn't like it.
The younger of the cousins walked over to the farthest end of the bar and sat down on one of the stools, setting her slightly battered purse on the counter next to her. Her green eyes turned to the large fish tank that served as a sort of window to the outside world and she frowned. The old bartender was busy with the fray around her cousin, so she knew that she would be waiting for a while if she wanted to get a drink served to her.
"Figures," she muttered, shaking her head and tapping her chipped fingernails against the wooden bar. "I should have just stayed back at the school. Could have spent time racing my zoomer instead of dealing with this bullshit. Yet again."
She heard the door to the bar open and shook her head as she heard the booted footsteps of the newcomer pause. It figured that whoever it was would stop to look at her cousin and the group of men that was surrounding her. It was always the same. Everyone stopped to stare at the beautiful Rayn Krew. They couldn't help it. She was absolutely beautiful and the forbidden fruit. The apple of Krew's eye and he'd put a bullet through the head of the man who dared to touch his precious daughter.
I wonder how Uncle would feel if he knew that his precious Rayn wasn't the innocent virgin that he thought she was, Mira mused, propping her chin up on her hand. Because she's been through a lot of the boys from the school down the road. And I know that she's going to try to pick up at least one of those blighters over there. If they tickle her fancy. If she could have had Razer without Uncle getting pissed at the thought of her having his enemy's best henchman, I know she'd have him in a heartbeat.
A slight shiver went down the girl's spine as she thought about the twenty-nine-year-old champion of the combat racing series that she absolutely adored, even if he was part of the Mizo crime team. She'd scream for him whenever he came on the television back at the school and dreamed about him constantly. Rayn had a thing for him too and claimed that the moment she met him; he'd be her greatest conquest. Mira had no doubt that her cousin's beauty and persuasion could make that happen, even though she hated to think that it would happen. She prayed to the Precursors that it would never come to pass.
She wasn't aware that someone had approached her from behind until they cleared their throat and spoke to her.
"You're in my seat, little girl," the slightly accented voice of the champion said from behind her, causing her heart to flutter in her chest.
Mira turned in her seat to find herself looking up into Razer's lime green eyes. A cigarette was tucked between his narrow lips and his proud face was angled towards her, not her cousin. She forced herself not to look down at his body, clothed in his famous red coat and white muscle shirt, black slacks and all. She shook her head.
"I didn't see your name on it," she told him flatly. "Besides, once my cousin over there turns her charms on you. You won't be thinking with your top head and will long forget about taking this chair. You'll only be thinking with your other head, so why fight it?"
She turned her back on him and looked back at the fish tank, watching the strange fish swim around in it. Mira hated that she sounded bitter to her favorite racer, but that's how Rayn made her feel around everyone.
What surprised her the most was that Razer sank onto the stool next to her and turned his back to her cousin and the group of men that surrounded her. He pulled his cigarette from his lips and tapped the ashes into a glass ashtray. Mira lifted an eyebrow at him.
"I do not believe that all men have to think with their other head," Razer told her, blowing out a stream of smoke beyond her head.
"Even when the other option in the room is drop dead gorgeous?" Mira asked, turning slightly in her seat to look at him fully.
The champion shrugged a shoulder. "I never really did care for the rich girl type."
"Too prissy for you?"
He hummed and stuck his cigarette between his lips, taking a small drag on it. "What right do you have to pick on the rich girls? Aren't you a rich girl, Krew?"
Mira gestured at herself. "Do I look like a rich girl?" She shook her head when his eyes roamed over her slightly rumpled skirt and shirt and scuffed up shoes. "I come from the poor end of the Krew family. Uncle doesn't like to spend much money on me beyond my schooling. I'm not his precious daughter." She crossed her arms and looked at him. "Aren't you rich?"
Razer shrugged a shoulder. "I got kicked out of the rich club. Too many rules and I don't like rules."
"Rules are meant to be broken."
"Exactly."
Mira sighed and listened to her cousin's false, girlish laughter. "I wish that I was back at the school. I'd like to be racing instead of listening to that all vacation."
Razer lifted a dark eyebrow, leaning his elbow against the counter of the bar. "You race?"
The teen nodded. "Yeah. Uncle doesn't know about it though." She picked at a spot on her skirt. "Zoomer drag races with the boys down the street mostly. I'm getting really good at beating them. I haven't had an accident in months."
"Sounds incredibly dangerous," Razer commented, watching her. "Shouldn't young girls like you be sleeping safely in bed by the time that the illegal drag races take place?"
Mira's temper flared briefly and she lifted her green eyes to meet his. "I'll have you know that I'm sixteen and I can handle a zoomer just fine, thank you very much! And what I earn from the races, I use to take care of myself since Uncle obviously doesn't care enough to do much for me."
Razer smirked at her and turned his head slightly when Rayn's laughter rose up again. She still hadn't noticed that the champion of her wildest fantasies had entered the Bloody Hook. And Mira hoped that it would remain that way.
The sixteen-year-old leaned forward and looked towards the bartender, still trying to sort through the orders coming from the group at the other end of the bar. "You know, I wish that he would get done with it and get down here," she told Razer quietly. "I'm getting thirsty and annoyed and I know it's not the poor bloke's fault. This always happens wherever I go with my cousin."
Razer smirked. "If it's a drink you want…" He turned slightly and raised the hand that held his cigarette between two fingers. "Sanders, a word."
The old bartender looked relieved to get away from the fray and moved down to their end of the bar, wiping his hands on the towel that hung from the front of his belt. His eyes strayed on Mira for a moment before turning to Razer. "Hey Razer," he greeted with a small nod of the head. "What can I get you today?"
"Scotch on the rocks," Razer told him before looking at Mira. "And something fruity for this little girl."
Mira made a face at him. "I am not a little girl and I can handle a stronger drink." She looked at Sanders. "Can I have some bourbon?"
Sanders reached under the bar for some glasses and lifted a bushy eyebrow. "Are you sure, Miss? Bourbon isn't a drink for a young lady such as yourself."
"I'm sure," Mira said with a nod. She turned her gaze back onto Razer as Sanders went about getting their drinks ready. "And my name is not 'little girl', Razer. If you must call me something, please call me by my name."
"And that is?"
"Mira."
Razer smiled a small smile. "Mira? Hm…"
The way that he said her name made a small shiver go down the girl's spine, but Mira hoped that it didn't show. Sanders placed her drink in front of her and put his hands on the bar's counter as she wrapped her hand around the glass.
"Now, Miss Krew," he said gently watching her lift the glass up. "Don't say that I didn't tell you that bourbon isn't a ladies drink." He looked to Razer. "You keep an eye on her, Razer."
Mira made a face at Razer as the bartender walked away. "I don't need a babysitter."
The champion swirled his Scotch around in his glass and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Did someone say that you did, Mira?"
Not saying anything to that, Mira took a sip of her bourbon. The liquid burned down the back of her throat, but she didn't cough. She wasn't going to show any weakness in front of the watching champion that she adored on the track. Mira heard him chuckle and lift his own glass to his lips, sipping at his own drink.
"So," she began before she realized that the false laughter had suddenly cut off.
Her eyes turned past Razer's head and she saw her cousin glancing their way. Mira's heart dropped into her stomach and her hands gripped onto her glass tighter. It appeared that Rayn had finally realized that the champion was in the room and that he wasn't over there with her, vying for her attention.
Oh bull! Mira thought glumly, bringing her drink to her lips and throwing the burning liquid down her throat in one go. Well, there goes that. My conversation with Razer just ended and hers just began. Let the games begin! Way to go Mira! You just delayed the inevitable. How could you expect anything less?
"Mira?" Razer prompted and Mira realized that he had been speaking to her and she hadn't been listening.
"Sorry," she apologized, shaking her head as she looked back at him. "But you've been spotted. By the beauty. She probably expects you to come over and worship her now like she rightfully deserves." Mira brushed her hair back away from her face, tucking it behind her long ear and set her empty glass down. "I'm not going to be too upset if you go off now. I'm used to it by now. Really, I am."
"And that's sad," Razer said, remaining in his seat with his back turned to her staring cousin. "But I'm not going to her. If she wants me, she has to come to me."
Mira lifted an eyebrow at his words. "She's not going to like that."
"Oh, boo hoo. Let me get a tissue for that one tear in my eye."
A little laugh passed between Mira's lips before she could stop herself. A smirk crossed Razer's lips as he lifted his cigarette to them once more. Mira's laughter stopped when she saw her cousin approaching, leaving her adoring men behind.
"Mira, why haven't you introduced me to your new friend?" Rayn asked, folding her arms under her chest so that it popped out even more. "Isn't that a bit rude of you, my dear cousin?"
Mira didn't like the forced sweetness in her cousin's voice. She lifted a hand and gestured at Razer. "You already know him, Rayn," she told her cousin flatly. "Seeing as you scream like a giddy schoolgirl every time he comes onto the television; you should recognize the great Razer when you see him in the flesh."
Rayn's amber eyes burned with suppressed anger and Mira knew that she would be paying dearly later. Rayn's ruby lips turned up into a sweet smile as she turned her attention onto the raven-haired champion and she thrust a hand out to him.
"Hello Razer," she purred. "It's so good to finally meet you."
Mira watched Razer tap his cigarette's ashes onto her cousin's pale hand and stick the cancer stick back between his narrow lips. "I know," he said simply.
Score one for the champion, Mira thought, fighting back the urge to laugh at her cousin's slightly mortified reaction.
"Yes, well." Rayn brushed off the ashes and returned her arm to its position under her breasts. "Would you care to have a drink with me? Perhaps we could talk business? As friends?"
"Perhaps," Razer said, shrugging a careless shoulder. "You'll have to buy your own drink, Krew. I came shortchanged today."
Rayn smiled and promptly took the seat next to Razer. Mira watched the other men that had flocked around her cousin get sour expressions on their face and stomp off to their original seats. She knew that there would be some heavy drinking in their futures tonight.
Poor bastards, she thought, hearing her cousin order a fruity drink from the bartender. Poor me too. I really can't stand this. Not again. I won't stay if this is happening. I won't.
Mira stood up slowly, drawing the attention of the champion beside her. "I'm going to the ladies' room," she told him quietly. "Don't try to steal my seat. I'll be right back. Maybe. If you're still here with her." She jerked her head in the direction of her cousin who was happily babbling to the bartender. "Which you probably won't be. So, goodbye in any case."
Mira turned on her heel and walked over to the ladies' room which obviously wasn't used much, judging by the cleaner condition that it was in. The girl walked over to the small sink and gripped at the white porcelain, looking at her mirrored reflection and wishing that she didn't look so tired.
"I hate that this happens every single time," Mira muttered to her reflection, staring at her own green eyes. "Every time I find some interesting guy to talk to, she has to swoop in and make her moves on him. I can't have a man to myself because she has to have her way with him first. I don't want her sloppy seconds, now do I? No! But what choice do I have? I wasn't graced with her looks or her money or her power of persuasion. Just her last name which isn't enough. What chance did I even have with someone like Razer?"
Mira cursed under her breath and shook her head as she tightened her grip on the edges of the sink until her knuckles stood out white against her skin. "This is just perfect! She's going to find her way into his bed tonight, somehow someway. And then all of my friends are going to hear about it and I will have nothing to say but that I just talked to him. I delayed him long enough for her to find out that he was in the same room with her. Why the hell did I even have to come back to Kras City? I should have stayed back at school. It would have been a lot less painful than this. Mara would have never done this to me."
Angry tears sprung in her eyes and Mira willed them back. "I really hate my cousin sometimes! I really do!"
OOOOOOOOO
Razer watched the younger Krew cousin slump off into the ladies' room and close the door against the world like it had done her so much wrong. Rayn was talking animatedly next to him and he found that he didn't care much for what she was saying. He noticed that Mira had left her purse on the counter when she had fled upon her cousin's arrival and reached for it, taking in how light it was and the slightly battered appearance. It seemed that she hadn't been lying that she had come from the poor end of the Krew family. No rich girl would have dared come out in public with such a battered purse that contained so little.
"So, how about we talk business now, Razer?" Rayn asked, drawing his attention away from Mira's purse and onto the rich heiress of his boss' enemy's family.
How convenient and forward of her, Razer thought, noticing that Rayn's blouse was partially unbuttoned, revealing part of her plump breasts to the world.
"Unless there is something else you want to talk about," Rayn continued, leaning forward slightly as if to give him a better view of what was down her shirt.
Razer turned his face away from her and set his drink aside as he gripped Mira's purse tighter in his hand. "No," he said simply, rising to his feet.
"No?" Rayn repeated, looking shocked. "What do you mean?"
"I believe that word needs no further explanation," Razer told her, turning his back on her. "I know that you may not hear it often, but perhaps you should, Krew."
The raven-haired champion walked over to the ladies' room and paused outside of it, hearing the young girl muttering to herself inside of it. He couldn't understand her words and decided that he didn't care. She sounded mildly upset. Without bothering to knock, Razer pushed the door open and Mira's emerald green eyes rose up in the mirror to look at him. Her eyes were tired as she stared through the mirror at him.
"If you're looking for a place to screw my cousin, you're not going to find it in here," she told him bitterly, gripping the sides of the sink. "I'm going to wait in here until I can think of a way to get back to Uncle's mansion without her and without getting myself killed in the process. So, go screw her somewhere else for all I care."
Razer lifted her battered purse so that she could see it and slipped into the small space, closing the door behind him. "You forgot something," he told her. "I can't have a girl getting her makeup all runny over a guy as perfect as me."
A small laugh passed through her lips. "You're full of yourself, you know that?" She shook her head as she turned to face him. "Besides, I don't wear much makeup. I can't afford it. So, there's probably nothing but lip balm in there."
Obviously, Razer thought as he hung the purse up on a hook on the wall.
"If you're not in here to find a place to screw my cousin, then why are you in here?" Mira asked, folding her arms over her chest. "She's not going to be happy that you're in here with me and not out there with her. She's going to be absolutely unbearable when she gets me alone."
"Isn't a little trouble worth it though?" Razer asked, looking at her.
"Not when it comes from my cousin, it doesn't. You don't know how she gets, Razer."
"And I don't want to know her." He smirked at the younger woman. "I think I prefer the ones that run into the ladies' room to hide and mutter at their reflections like its perfectly sane. The ones that drink bourbon and race illegally behind their uncle's back. Does that sound familiar, Mira?"
Mira shook her head and stepped back against the wall to the nearest stall. "You're probably insane. Do you know how long she's beaten me down because of how I've defied her? She's been ready to throw me into your boss' hands since the day that we've stepped into Kras City. Does that sound fun to you?"
Something stirred in Razer's gut and he took a step towards the girl. "Like Krew would let that happen to his own niece."
"I've already told you that Krew doesn't care much for me. What Rayn wants, she gets. I'm second class to her." She lifted a hand and pointed past Razer's shoulder. "You really should go to her and give her what she wants. Please, for the both of us."
Razer ignored her and moved forward, pressing his hands against the stall wall on either side of her head. His lime green eyes held her gaze as he looked down at her slightly startled expression.
"I am not going anywhere, Mira," he told her firmly. "I do not care what your cousin does or does not do. A little trouble in my life makes it interesting. I've always walked on the dangerous side. And from what little you've told me about your life, I know you've skirted on the dangerous road too."
Mira pressed a hand against his chest, but didn't try to force him back. Razer didn't think that she had the strength yet to move him.
"So, how about this, Mira," he continued, looking down at her. "Put aside your good girl tendencies and forget about your prissy little cousin for one night and play with the big boys. Let this champion show you how the real racers have a good time on the dangerous streets of Kras City. Or are you chicken?"
Mira stuck her chin up defiantly and wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. "I'm not a chicken."
Razer's eyes followed the trail of her tongue even when it slid back into her mouth. His face had begun to lower towards hers before he could stop himself when the door to the small room burst open. He turned slightly to look at the entrance and found a furious Rayn standing there. He too felt slightly annoyed that he had been interrupted, but he knew that the blue-haired beauty was even more pissed that he was caging the raven-haired rebel against his body and had just been about to possibly kiss her. Not Rayn.
"Mira, we're going home!" Rayn snapped, her accent making her words sound even more clipped.
Razer felt Mira's fingers rub against the cloth of his shirt and he looked down at the girl. She shook her head at his raised eyebrow and she looked back at her cousin.
"You go home, Rayn," she told her cousin as Razer plucked her battered purse off of the hook. "I'm going to stay out for a while longer. Razer seems to have something that he wants to show me."
Razer smirked at Rayn's steadily reddening face as he handed over the purse.
"You are coming home with me right now, dammit!" Rayn hissed, pointing at Mira. "As your older cousin, you have to do what I tell you to do! So, come along, Mira!"
"No," Mira said simply, folding her arms over her chest.
"Mira!"
Razer pressed past the angered beauty and heard Mira start to follow after him. Something sounded like it was being struck and he turned around in alarm, expecting to find Rayn beating Mira. But what he saw surprised him.
Mira was standing with her hand pulled back, ready to slap her cousin again. Rayn was sitting on the floor, holding her cheek and looking horrified.
"You hit me!" Rayn cried.
"And I'll do it again if you try to lay another hand on me," Mira swore, lowering her hand slowly. "I'm done being manhandled by you, Rayn. If Uncle would listen to me, I would tell him everything that you've done to me, but we both know that he wouldn't hear one word against you. So, why bother?"
Her green eyes turned back onto Razer and she walked over to him, a small sway in her narrow hips. Razer turned his back on Rayn and led the way out of the suddenly silent Bloody Hook, feeling all of the eyes on him and the raven-haired Krew. Mira drew up next to him as they approached his Havoc.
"It's a beauty," she told him, running her hand over the red chrome.
Maybe one day you'll be a full one too, Razer mused before he could help himself. He shook his head and moved over to the driver's side, pulling open the door.
He motioned for her to slide in before him. "After you," he said gently.
Mira climbed in and slid as far over as she could, situating her purse on her lap. Razer climbed in after her and strapped himself in. Rayn appeared out of the Bloody Hook and came up on Mira's side of the car, putting her hands upon Mira's arm.
"Father will hear about this," she swore, narrowing her amber eyes at the girl. "You mark my words, Mira. He will hear about what you've done to me!"
Mira flicked her cousin's hands off of her arm. "I'm sure you'll tell him a lot of things, Rayn dear, but I don't really care." She glanced over at Razer as he started the Havoc. "So, about this good time?"
Razer smirked and looked over at her. "Hold on, little Krew."
The girl's laughter rose up into the air as he tore off out of the Bloody Hook's parking lot and into the darkened streets of Kras City.
OOOOOOOOO
Mira enjoyed every minute of the time that she got to spend with Razer that night. His idea of a good time was an extreme joyride throughout the streets of Kras City. She knew that he was just showing off when he outraced the cops through alleys and took such tight turns that he scraped against the sides of walls. Occasionally, she bumped against him, but he didn't complain. He'd simply brush his hand against her as he shifted gears and glance in her direction as if making sure that she was having a good time. A smirk never left his face as he drove her around town for hours until he decided that it was time for little girls like her to be going to bed. Mira had to remind him that she was not a little girl, to which he chuckled and made a small comment about how her body seemed to think differently. She made no comment about that, silently wishing that she had more curves on her that could have kept his attention like other woman possibly could have.
"So, tomorrow I have to go back to the boarding school," Mira announced, leaning back against the hood of his Havoc as they stood side by side outside of the front gate to her uncle's mansion. She could feel the heat of the still purring engine against her back and wished that the lights of her uncle's mansion weren't on. "And the drag races won't start up again for a couple weeks after I get back to the school."
"I'm sure you'll manage," Razer said and Mira saw the brief flare of light signaling that he was lighting up another cigarette. "Good girls always do."
"And you're going to go back to racing soon," Mira guessed, turning her face back towards him. "I'll be watching you and the others. Unfortunately, so will Rayn."
"Like I care what she does."
Mira frowned and brushed back a strand of dark hair. "She's going to try to kill me for hanging out with you tonight, but I should be fine. She has terrible aim." She lifted an eyebrow. "Do you think you chose the wrong cousin yet, Razer?"
The champion shook his head and blew out a stream of smoke. "No."
"Okay then." She pushed herself to her full height and looked back at the car, patting the hood. "You're going to have to paint your Havoc again. It got a bit scuffed up during the joyride."
"It'll be fine again in no time."
Mira lifted her green eyes towards his. "Thank you for taking me out for the night, Razer. I really enjoyed it. I really did."
"Really, I couldn't tell that with all of the screaming and the smiles." He chuckled. "Some girls really can't control themselves around me. I might have to get security to protect me around you."
"So full of yourself," Mira said, shaking her head with a smile. "I guess I probably will only see you on the television from now on since Uncle is your enemy and all."
"Not likely," Razer told her quietly.
Mira stared at him briefly before beginning to turn. "Goodnight Razer and thanks."
OOOOOOOOO
Mira had begun to turn away from him and Razer reacted on impulse. He reached out his free gloved hand and snagged her hand, holding her in place. The young niece of his enemy turned her face to him in confusion.
"Razer?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow as her free hand adjusted the strap of her purse.
Do it! Razer's mind screamed at him as his eyes lowered to her lips and then back onto her eyes. Do it now, dammit!
His hand tightened on her smaller one and then he released it, his courage fleeing him for once. "Goodnight Mira," he told her, looking away from her.
"Oh," Mira said before turning and walking away.
Razer turned his gaze back onto the teenager as she put in the code to the front gate and slipped through it. The gate immediately slid back into place, barring him from going after her. Not that he couldn't climb over the damn thing or ram his combat vehicle through it, but he didn't feel like doing either at that moment. He simply watched her walk towards her uncle's mansion for several moments, feeling more annoyed with himself than he had in a long time.
"Bugger!" he cursed, sticking his cigarette between his lips and pushing himself away from the hood of his Havoc. "Coward!"
He slid into his Havoc and didn't bother strapping himself in as he tore away from the Krew mansion in the direction of his own. He could still hear the girl's laughter in his head from when he had taken her along for a ride throughout this dangerous City. Her warm scent still lingered in the cab, mixing with the scent of leather and cigarette smoke.
"Coward," Razer repeated, pulling his cigarette from between his lips and smashing his fist against the steering wheel. "I've never been a coward in my entire life! How could I have been one in front of one young girl?"
But there's still time, he reminded himself, glancing out the window at the world passing by. I still have time to make things right and I plan on making up for my cowardice. One way or another, this champion will prove that there is not one cowardly bone in his body!
OOOOOOOOO
Mira was grounded. Grounded severely. She was not to leave the campus grounds of the boarding school because of what Rayn had told Krew upon the blue-haired beauty's return to the mansion. Not that Mira wouldn't find a way to make it to her illegal drag races somehow. But she would have to remain on the campus grounds and not return to Kras City until she graduated. Unless her uncle passed away which with all of his armed guards and shiny toys, she highly doubted that he would anytime soon. Even with all of his enemies, Krew was well protected and connected and his life was not really in danger at that moment. Her grounding would be intact for two more years and probably longer than that if Krew had his way.
Life is going to be absolutely miserable back at school, Mira thought, yawning as she stood on the ferry dock the following morning, a good distance away from Rayn and what friends that they both somewhat shared. Rayn will see to that. It's a good thing that I don't have to deal with her for much more than a year. I'd die if I had to put up with her for much longer than that in such a small space.
She could pick up small snippets of Rayn's animated conversation with the other girls and shook her head. It appeared that Rayn was talking about how she had had a date with Razer at some fancy restaurant that Mira had never heard about and the girls were just eating it up.
"Can't even get her stories straight," Mira muttered, adjusting her strap of her purse.
"Honesty has never been her strong suit, has it?" Razer's voice met her ears and a smile came creeping onto Mira's face.
"Razer!" Mira said, turning to see the raven-haired champion standing at her side. "What are you doing here? Come to piss my cousin off further?"
"Although that it always a delight, I have some unfinished business with you, Mira," Razer said, tossing aside his cigarette like it displeased him. He brushed his gloved fingers against his chest and looked at them. "And I'm afraid that it cannot wait for your return from the all girl's school."
Mira took a step back. "Unfinished business? Razer, if this is about that damage to your paint job, I'm sorry but you did that. I can't afford to pay for it. So, unless you're going to try to kidnap me and get a ransom to cover it – a ransom that my uncle will probably not pay, by the way – you're not getting your money from me."
Razer lifted his gaze to hers. "It's not money that I'm after, Mira. I have plenty of that to go around. No, I have other unfinished business with you."
Mira lifted an eyebrow. "I don't know if I like your tone of voice."
"Well, you might like this then and your cousin will definitely not."
Razer's arm snaked around her thin waist and pulled her flush against his hard body. His other hand caught her chin and tilted her face up towards his. Mira's eyes fluttered shut as the champion's lips closed in over hers, kissing her softly.
My first real kiss! Mira thought, hearing the excited squeals of the other girls as they realized what was happening. And it's coming from the Razer?
Mira opened her eyes as Razer parted from her and she cocked an eyebrow, raising a hand to touch the side of her neck to find it flushed with heat. "That was your unfinished business?"
Razer hummed in agreement and shoved one of his hands into the pocket of his long red coat. "I should have done that last night," he told her. His eyes flickered in the direction of Rayn and the other girls, even as Krew started screaming orders for his men to do something about Razer's presence. "You're about to become extremely popular, Mira. Try to enjoy it for once."
Mira glanced over at the other girls and crouched to scoop up her bags. She looked back at Razer, smiling at him. "Thank you, Razer," she told him. "For everything."
The champion nodded and turned, waving a hand over his shoulder. "I will see you again, Mira Krew. You mark my words."
Mira turned away herself and hurried onto the ferry as it arrived, trying to get away from her friends as they screamed her name. Color flooded her face and her lips tingled as she took a place at the back of the ferry. She set her bags down and brushed her hair back out of her face when the wind swept it into it. As the ferry finished loading and lifted off, Mira heard the familiar roar of an engine and leaned over the railing, looking towards the City.
A red Havoc was keeping pace next to the ferry on the street. Mira saw the dark-haired champion glance her way and smiled at him, raising her hand in farewell. She pressed a hand to her lips and blew a kiss to him. He smirked at her and turned sharply as some of her uncle's crew appeared behind him, tearing off into the City and out of her sight.
I will see you again, Mira thought, straightening and gripping the railing as she looked out the distancing City. And maybe things will be different for us. Maybe I'll be different and we can have another ride through the City. And a different kind of kiss.
She turned as her friends found her. "Mira, tell us everything!"
OOOOOOOOO
A/N: Okay, so this was slightly longer than what I usually write and I've included more of a perspective from both main characters than I used to. I've found that I'm growing quite fond of jumping between perspectives and slight time jumps. So, there will be a time jump in the next chapter. A small one because I want to bring in Mira's friend that I vaguely mentioned in the last chapter of "Joyride's End" and in this little intro.
I've had a writing bug lately and I like it. I do hope that you've stuck around for this long and that you're willing to give this a chance. That you're willing to give me another chance. I've grown as an author and I'm going to try not to let you down. Please leave a comment or two in the little box and have a great week ahead! Love you and Razer and all things Jak! -Scarlet