Free Drive by Sidney Bristol

glanced down at the gun and smirked. “Cute toy.”
    Madison pressed her back against the door. Being in close confines with these two was not a good idea, and that wasn’t even taking into consideration that one of them had a fucking gun. She didn’t know which one was scarier, Raibel with his overt, homicidal thoughts, or Aiden, with his thinly veiled ability to kick some ass.
    Aiden pulled out a twenty-dollar bill with his left hand. “Here you go, get a burger. The fries are good too.”
    Raibel crumpled the money into a ball and threw it back in Aiden’s face. “ Coño carajo .”
    â€œYou too,” Aiden replied.
    Raibel turned and stalked back to his car. He flashed some sort of a sign with his fingers twisted around each other and curved. The cars around them revved their engines. Madison pressed her hands over her ears. Raibel peeled out, followed closely by his pack of followers. The scent of burned rubber and exhaust hung thick on the air.
    A cluster of derby girls and people stood along the covered eave of the bar as a light rain began to fall. Hopefully it would cleanse the area of whatever Raibel’s gang had left behind.
    Aiden blew out a breath and tucked the gun under his thigh, as if it were a cell phone or something he wanted to have on hand.
    â€œWhat was that about? And why do you have a gun?” Madison asked.
    â€œHow does he know you?” Aiden turned toward her.
    â€œHe dated a derby girl, Alison Plunderland. We were at some parties together. I heard some rumors he hit her, next thing I know she’s on leave and I haven’t thought about her since.”
    â€œHe just knows you from parties?”
    â€œHey, I’m kind of a big deal in our league, okay? Everyone knows me. I’m on the fucking fliers.” She gestured toward Stoke’s. There were piles of them inside. The day the league had unveiled the flier, she’d nearly shit her pants. A photograph of her shouldering aside a rival jammer had been digitized and made into the season’s poster. It was a point of pride, a sign of how far she’d come that she could wear the Skating Gator and compete for her league.
    â€œWhy the gun?”
    â€œHow do you think I’m supposed to protect you?” His stare was hard, unyielding.
    Crap. He thought he was going to have to shoot someone to keep her safe? Her stomach twisted around into knots. This was bad. Really, really bad.
    â€œShit.” Aiden scrubbed a hand over his face. “We need to get out of here.”
    He started the car and accelerated out of the parking lot hard enough to press her into the seats. Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.

Chapter Six
    A string of curses ran on repeat in Aiden’s head.
    His play of leaving the races to avoid starting anything with the Eleventh had just gone up in smoke. And not just smoke, but with fireworks. He didn’t know what Raibel Canales was capable of, but he had a few good guesses. New gangs like theirs needed a leader who could show force and get things rolling. Raibel had taken over maybe six months ago and the little crew was becoming a true gang. Raibel would kill someone before much longer. It was just the cycle of street life.
    Aiden had never liked Raibel much. There was no depth of humanity in the man. It was one thing for Raibel to have Aiden in his sights, but Madison was another matter.
    â€œHey. Hey!” Madison leaned across the console. “You said you were going to tell me what was going on.”
    â€œHold on for a minute,” he snapped.
    It was a fifteen-minute drive back to Classic Rides. Somehow, Madison kept her trap shut the whole drive back. He couldn’t eat. Too many things were spinning out of control. He hadn’t even begun to figure out what Julian was doing, and now he had not only Dustin on one side, but the Eleventh on the other. He needed to get things under control, or at least a little ahead of