Free The Rain Began to Fall by A. K. Hartline

exclaimed, laughing.
    “Present company
excluded, of course,” he replied smiling. He dug his keys from his pocket.
“Guess it’s time to do it again. Stick around, beautiful, I’ll be right back.”
    “Good luck Kyle,”
she replied.
    “Thanks,” he
replied, “but luck has nothing to do with it. Skill and preparation wins.”
    “Excuse me ,”
she replied. “Break a leg, then!”
    “That’s more like
it!” he responded, laughing.
    He got into his
car, and rolled slowly to the starting line. A guy approached and leaned in his
window.
    “Hey, you want to
bet on yourself man?” he asked.
    “Sure,” Kyle
responded, opening his wallet and producing a Ben Franklin he’d brought for
just this occasion. “Easy money. Can you cover?”
    “Done,” the
stranger replied, laughing and running over to the group surrounding Rusty. He
revved his engine in bursts, and it sounded powerful. Kyle stomped his own
pedal, and the roar was just as loud and impressive. Rusty gave thumbs up to
the guy who had placed the bet, then looked over at Kyle and turned his thumb
down. Kyle didn’t acknowledge the gesture, turning away from Rusty and training
his eyes on the guy standing between them who would start the race. He rubbed
his hand across the knob of the shifter. The Cuda would be a little harder to
beat. A guy named Tony Gress drove the same model back home, and it could fly.
    Leigh was watching
all of this intently when a black Jaguar suddenly sped out of the darkness,
braking quickly and coming to a screeching halt behind her Porsche. It was
Gene, and in a blink he was out of his car, slamming the door hard, and
marching toward her in a huff. Her heart jumped in her chest. What is he
doing here ? she thought wildly. How did he know where I was ? She saw
the flashlight rise and come down, and heard the deafening scream of the
engines as they tore off the starting line. She braced for the confrontation as
Gene stormed up to his errant fiancé, his face flushed and red.
    “What are you
doing out here, Leigh?” he hollered above the noise, stopping directly in front
of her. His hands were on his sides, and his eyes, full of confusion and anger,
were earnestly searching her face. She stared at the ground, not wanting to see
his anger, not wanting this scene at all. He stuck his hands out, palms up,
shrugging his shoulders.
    “What?” he
shouted. “Why?”
    But she continued
staring down, mute, in a state of shock that he had somehow found out where she
was.
    “Answer me,
Leigh!” he demanded.  “What are you doing out here with these...these
hoodlums?” He swept his hand across the entire area.
    Halfway down the
stretch, Kyle and Rusty were neck and neck. Kyle had already thrown into
overdrive. He had it floored, dumping all the gasoline he could to the
carburetor, but the Cuda wasn’t giving ground easily. Then, with about a
hundred yards to go, he felt the surge and he pulled a quarter - length ahead.
When they crossed the finish line he was a hundred dollars richer.  He
laughed and smacked the dashboard.
    “Alright! Good job
girl! ” he hollered. ZZ Top proclaimed, ".. .I’m Bad, I’m nationwide ...”
out of his car’s speakers as he tapped the gas pedal, lurching back down the
stretch. He couldn’t wait to get back to Leigh.  She had heard Kyle and
Rusty finish their race, and the cheers that erupted. She wanted to watch, even
now as her fiancé confronted her. Finally, her paralysis broke enough to speak.
    “I thought you
were working late!” she blurted out.
    “I put it off to
spend some time with you !” he exclaimed, exasperated, “but surprise,
surprise!”
    “How did you know
I was here?”
    “Wasn’t that hard
to figure out,” he retorted. “I called Mindy, looking for you. She said you
were going to the races.”
    “How do you know
about them?” she asked.
    “ Everybody knows about them!” he exclaimed. “It’s been going on for years!  But it’s illegal , Leigh! To participate