Jacked Up by Erin McCarthy

itself. “You smash each other until you’re the last drivable car on the track.”
    She made a mental note to look up the rules online when she got home.
    “You purposely
hit
each other?” Tammy sounded horrified.
    “Yeah. Doesn’t that sound like a perfect hobby for Eve?” Elec asked cheerfully. “Smashing things. Right up her alley.”
    It was his face that was going to get smashed if he didn’t stop making her sound so bloodthirsty.
    Of course, that would just prove his point.
    Yeah. This was probably a bad idea.
    * * *
    “SO, you in?” Nolan asked Eve the next morning, lying in bed contemplating a shower, phone to his ear. He was surprised, but pleasantly so, that she had called him instead of the other way around.
    “Well. I thought I was.” She sounded a little breathless and there was a loud clank in the background. “But I asked Elec for a car and there’s a bit of a problem.”
    Hauling himself to a sitting problem, he yawned. “I told you that Rhett’s car is available. It’s no problem.”
    “I’d rather use Elec’s because the point is to wreck it. I can’t wreck your brother’s car. Then I’ll owe him a car. But the problem is . . .” She paused to grunt like she was shoving something. “I just read the car specs required to race, and I don’t think I have time to get this hunk of metal up to regulation.”
    “So let’s haul it to the garage. Three mechanics will have it in shape in an hour.”
    Nolan glanced at his watch. It was early still, only 8 A.M . Of course, Eve was an early riser, but he was still feeling a little lazy and half-awake. Scratching his bare chest, he stretched, the morning sun streaking across his navy blue bedspread.
    “I can’t ask those guys to do that!”
    “Why not?” She was Evan and Elec’s sister. There wasn’t a mechanic on that team who wouldn’t be happy to spare her a few minutes if it was going to get them in good with the bosses.
    “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly Miss Congeniality. No one is going to be dying to do me a favor.”
    Nolan was about to protest then he recalled the battle-ax comment. She might have a point.
    “Besides, I don’t want anyone to know.”
    “Why not?”
    “Because it’s none of their fucking business, that’s why.”
    Now he was awake. Nolan sat up straight, his line of scratching migrating south. He’d woken up with an erection, and funny enough, Eve’s cursing didn’t kill it. It made it harder. “What can I do to help you out? Whatever you need, cupcake.”
    The nickname seemed to catch her off guard. The noise in the background quieted down. “Cupcake? Come on, that’s just ludicrous.”
    “I like it.” He did. He knew she was sweet even if she didn’t.
    “Never mind. The thing is, I have a hauler I can borrow and I can drive the hauler myself, but I can’t load the car on it alone.”
    He waited for the question that should follow, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to ask him so he just rolled with it. “Sure, I can help you. We need to get you entered and the car has to be there by Saturday at five P.M .”
    “And I need the chrome trim, the glass, the headlights, and taillights all removed.” She sounded breathless again.
    “Are your doors painted?” The front doors needed to be whitewashed so that the staff could paint her competitor number on them.
    “No.”
    Nolan wished she would have just accepted his offer of Rhett’s car. They were going to be hard-pressed to get all that done by inspection time. But he understood why she was saying she didn’t want to do that—she would owe Rhett a car. No one but the winner drove away from a derby, and it wasn’t likely she’d win her first time out.
    Frankly, it must be killing her to ask for help, and Nolan was pleased she trusted him enough to come to him. “Well, it’s Friday. We can knock this out in a couple of hours today if you have some time. We can haul it to my parents’ house. They have ten