Free Unhinged by Timberlyn Scott

retorted. “There’s a race. Two
weeks from Saturday. Two large to get in, winner takes all.”
    “How many?” I inquired.
    “Three so far. They’re
waitin’ to see if you’re game.”
    “You in?” Leif asked,
as though he didn’t already know the answer.
    “I’m in,” I assured
him.
    “Hot damn!” Toby
yelled, grabbing his cell phone from his back pocket and shooting off a text.
    It had been almost two
months since the last race I was in. So far, over the course of the last two
years, I’d gone unbeaten. To be fair to the other drivers, I used the Camaro
mostly although I had a couple of other options. I’d dropped a fucking fortune
in that car as it was and so far she hadn’t let me down.
    I took a long swallow
of beer as I stared at the ceiling. I hadn’t told Leif or Toby about the dream
I’d had. The one that ended with the Camaro in a fireball with me trapped
inside. I didn’t think that was a subject anyone would want to talk about, so
I’d kept it to myself.
    Did it freak me out
that I might die in one of the street races where there were no rules?
    Sure.
    Did I care?
    No, not really.
    I’d never had a reason
to.

Chapter Ten
    Payton
     
    “Girl, we better get a
move on,” Aaron yelled from the living room.
    I was standing in front
of the full-length mirror in my bedroom, my eyes glued to the woman staring
back at me. I recognized my dark hair, my dimpled chin, and my high cheekbones,
but that was about it.
    I looked… different.
    Good different, but
still different.
    It was hard to believe
that was me staring back from the glass, but the longer I stood there, the more
I convinced myself that it was.
    My hair was piled into
some intricate design on top of my head thanks to Chloe and her wondrous
abilities. A few pieces hung down, framing my face, which had been painted. I
wasn’t one to wear much makeup, so when Chloe offered to “do me up” as she put
it, I’d been leery.
    Surprisingly, she
hadn’t overdone it. My eyes had a smoky shadow on the lid, a thin black line
along my lashes and black mascara on them, and a clear gloss on my lips to top
it off. Nothing outrageous and I actually liked what I saw. I looked older, or
at least I thought I did.
    Silver hoops dangled
from my ears while a silver chain hung around my neck, coming right above the
swell of my breasts — made to appear bigger thanks to the push-up bra that I’d dug out of my drawer.
I had forgotten all about that trip to the mall so long ago. I don’t even
remember what had prompted it, but I do remember spending an obscene amount of
money in a lingerie store. Not that I’d ever had anyone to wear lingerie for,
but at the time, I think I’d needed the boost of knowing I had something pretty
on beneath my clothes.
    It was certainly
working now.
    The sheer black thigh
highs had been Chloe’s suggestion. Personally, I thought they were an elegant
touch, but I feared that if I sat down, the tops would be visible beneath the
hem of the short black dress I was wearing. Chloe informed me that wasn’t an
issue. Whether she meant that they wouldn’t show or that they would, I didn’t
know.
    The closed-toe pumps
were a nice touch, much classier than anything I owned.
    “Here,” Chloe said as
she walked into my room holding out a small black clutch.
    “Thanks. I’m not sure
what I’d do without you,” I told her, grabbing my cell phone and my lip gloss
from my dresser and tossing them inside.
    “Well, tonight you’d be
going to a party naked.”
    True. I laughed,
sparing myself one last look in the mirror.
    “Here goes nothing.”
    I walked into the
living room to find Aaron leaning against the wall and Mark fiddling with
Aaron’s bowtie. I stopped, momentarily stunned by how handsome he looked in his
tuxedo. Sure, he’d been hot in high school, and had actually caused plenty of
women to have heart palpitations at our senior prom, but this Aaron — older and wiser — was devastatingly handsome.
    “Wow.” The