Louie and Micky decided to crash in my bed, while I stared into the ceiling, an endless night with no possibility of sleep– they cuddled me—really sandwiching me between them.

I ended up going downstairs. I couldn't sleep—I tried—but I couldn't. So I gave up. I sat on the couch and put my head in my hands.

"Fuck" I cursed under my breath for the hundredth time this night.

"What did he do?" I hear a voice ask. I turn and see Serena in Tobias' shirt.

"I'm sorry—did I wake you up?" I ask her and run a hand over my exhausted face, tears in the brink of my eyes immediately pushed down, like they were never there.

"No—what did he do?" Serena repeats and comes over to me.

"He fucking kissed me, he said these things and I'm starting to think he was right. I didn't want it to be—but I think he's right" I half whisper.

Serena pulls me into her side and I lean my head on her shoulder.

"Why can't I be at peace? Why do I have to get pulled back into old pain and tears?" My voice cracks and tears slowly resurface, Serena rubs her hand up and down my back and remains quiet.

I know she doesn't have an answer and that's okay—in the moment I just needed her presence.

I ended up falling asleep on her, I woke up when I heard Jake's voice and the sound of our front door bursting open, I lifted my head lazily and Serena did the same.

Claire, Terry and Jake walked in with big smiles.

"Oh hey guys" I say and yawn, I lay my head back down on Serena and she gets comfortable once again.

"No time for sleeping—we have work to do" Jake calls out and throws a pillow at us.

"Fuck off, I'm unemployed" I retort under the pillow in my face.

"No—you've been headhunted" Jake says and crosses his arms. I look up from the pillow and furrow my brows in confusion. "What?"

"I'm headhunting you—you can work at the garage shop while fixing us up with races" Jake says stating the obvious with an eye roll.

"Fine. Tomorrow" I say and close my eyes once again–another pillow is thrown at me and I groan loudly in annoyance.

"Where's Micky? I wanna squeeze him" Claire says while rubbing her hands in excitement and Terry glared at her.

"He's gay" We all say in unison at the jealousy he showed, even Jake said it and Terry just rolls his eyes. "Whatever" he mumbled.

"But in order for you to get this job—you have to be able to get along with my best employee, so you get till tomorrow morning to find a way to be civil" Jake says and I scoff.

"I'm hurt that you think I can't get along with my own brother" I retort and Terry smiles and subconsciously puffs his chest out, proud that I assumed Jake's best employee was him.

"Not Terry dumbass, Marcus!" Jake calls out in annoyance, I scrunch my nose in disgust at what he asked of me.

"Pfft no" I scoff and Jake glares at me in return.

"Hey!" Terry exclaims in offense. I reached up and patted his arm to show my sympathy for him, which he just responded to by slapping my hand away from his arm– making me snort at his attitude.

"Just a bit civil?" Jake tried and showed me with his finger just how much 'a bit' civil was. "Fine" I say and cross my arms–I added an eye roll to my agreement.

"Way to be strong, Alex" Serena said and lazily patted my arm, I pushed her away and snorted before standing up.

"First job you get is to pick up mc parts in Jacksonville, today—you meet with Marcus and bring him and the parts home in one piece. Preferably" Jake says and I scoff.

"Not gonna make any promises" I retorted and Terry laughed before high fiving me.

"The truck is outside, so whenever you're ready" Jake says and pats my shoulder with a wicked grin on his face, he enjoyed this way too much.

I glare at him as he walks off to raid our kitchen, Serena chuckled before joining me on my way upstairs.

I take a shower before getting dressed, I grab a bag with necessities and then head back downstairs.

"Here's a spare phone to get a hold of each other" Jake says and throws an old Samsung in my hands, I catch it midair and nod.

"Keys' in the car" Jake calls out and I slip him a thumbs up, before kissing Serena and Micky's cheeks and I ruffle Louie's hair on the way as well–who slaps my ass as I pass him.

"See ya soon" I say and roll my eyes at Jake. I get in the small truck and drive to where the directions of the gps led me.

It was almost six hours later when I finally made it to Jacksonville. I hated this city. The races were incredibly insane.

When I showed up at the address I honked a few times to announce my arrival to whoever was there.

Marcus walked out with four guys behind him, they wore plain black and had tattoos everywhere, I also knew they had guns on them.

I reached into my bag and got my gun and put it in the waistband of my jeans and flipped my jacket over it, so they wouldn't see.

Then I got out, Marcus gave me a short nod and a wave for me to come up to him. My feet planted firmly on the ground and I made my way up next to him as he talked.

"This is Alexandra—Jake's sister" Marcus introduced me and I nodded at them.

"Great, let's get the truck loaded up" the tallest guy said and we all nodded. We brought out the boxes with parts and other gear in it as well and placed it in the truck.

Marcus came over to me when they made their way inside once again. He put his hand on my lower back and I for once didn't shove him away.

"Good, you brought a weapon with you—normally there's no issues with these guys but they're play sick, you never know" Marcus says and I nod as I eye them.

"We will leave soon" He says and I nod once again.

"I'm sorry, about last night" Marcus apologized and I finally looked up at him.

"It's fine" I say and brush it off, remembering Jake's words. Be civil, easy.

"Hey Alexandra—you up for some fun?" One of the calls out, I put on a smirk and look at Marcus daringly.

"No—don't even start with—""—Always!" I interrupt Marcus, I see him clench his jaw in annoyance as he shuts up by my agreement.

"There's races tonight, I've heard of you—the word is that you're an incredible driver, I can't say I've had the pleasure of seeing you race—so why not tonight?" He asks with a smirk.

"Sure, why not" I say and shrug, Marcus groans quietly and sighs in annoyance once again.

"It's gonna be wild!" He calls out and I smirk.

"You just signed your own death certificate" Marcus mutters and hits the side of the truck in defeat before leaving me.

"No—they just did" I disagree, Marcus turns his head to look at me, he eyes me silently before turning back around, we all walk inside and waste time till the race.

"I wanna race you" Travis said with a smirk, showing his gold teeth.

"Actually—I just came in the truck, so it's not—""—Use Torres' motorcycle? What's the big deal? Are you afraid?" He's quick to retort.

I scoff at his words and Marcus slaps his keys into my hand and I look up at him in confusion and surprise.

"Wipe that fucking smirk off of his face" Marcus says in my ear and I chuckle, a play sick smirk creeps up on my lips as I prepare myself.

"You got yourself a deal, Travis"