Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135792 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 679(@200wpm)___ 543(@250wpm)___ 453(@300wpm)
He needed to be seen, appreciated, even hated, but he needed people to know of him.
“I felt transparent when I came in today. People looked my way and then ignored me for the most part. Like I didn’t fully exist anymore,” Liv said, removing the jacket. “Back home, I was someone people wanted to be around. Who they respected. And here, nobody knows I’m good with cars, or that I can juggle bottles when I’m drunk, and that I’m great at racing. It’s pissing me off,” he muttered before rubbing his face when he turned the jacket and saw a piece of glass tangled into the fabric at the torn back. When he’d fought Cyborg, people must have seen them from afar, yet no one came to help him out or even question what was going on.
“Oh, Liv… I get it. It’s tough being in a new place. On the other hand, we also don’t have the baggage of people knowing how we grew up or who our shitty parents are. You’re the hot, new mysterious guy, and at that race, you’ll be the underdog who wins out of the blue. People will remember that. We’ll sort out the car, and I’ll be double-checking everything from brakes to engine.”
Funny that Liv’s insecurities were what changed Knox’s mind, not the fact that he needed that fucking surgery. But Liv would take it and play up his discomfort if it made Knox compliant. He’d do whatever it took to make Knox better. “Of course I’ll win. With you cheering me on? Easy.”
Knox laughed. “You think Frank will be pissed off we’re doing this?”
Liv shrugged, pulling out the two shards tangled in the fabric, and he tossed them to the back of the vehicle. “I’m my own man.”
“Yeah, and Frank is the man we’ll be buying a new car off.”
Liv shut his eyes, counting to five. He hated it when Knox confronted him with reality, and he really didn’t want to think about it right now.
“Knox? Don’t be mad. I ruined your jacket. Ripped it at the back.”
“No! What did you do?”
Liv sighed, looking at the slashed fabric. He wasn’t about to tell Knox about his fight with Cyborg, because the less that man was on Knox’s mind, the better. “I slipped and fell over on a broken bottle.”
“What the fuck? Are you okay?”
“Yeah, but the jacket—”
Knox laughed. “Oh, man, I wish I’d seen. You must have been like a cartoon character. It’s fine, Liv. I’ll just get some cool patch to cover that spot.”
Liv smiled to himself. With Knox, nothing was too hard, or too much of a problem.
With Knox, Liv would be winning that race.
“See you home.”
Chapter 34
Knox
It was difficult for Knox to sit on his hands while Liv worked two jobs, underslept, and still reassured him that it was all fine and dandy. So he resumed working at the junkyard as soon as his shoulder allowed. Frank hadn’t been sure of his usefulness, but in the end he allowed Knox to join Jag in endless scouring through mountains of scrap.
At first, Knox had been apprehensive about spending so much time with a weirdo who’d pointed a spear at him when they first met, but Jag had grown on him faster than he would have imagined. When not in combat mode, Jag turned out to be a fun person to be around. He’d even made Knox a hat. The deerstalker was made of fur and leather and didn’t exactly fit his style, but it kept his ears toasty.
Jag also had in depth knowledge of the vast junkyard and was more than happy to share details of the dangers and points of interest among the acres of land belonging to Frank.
He’d taken Knox to a place he called the car graveyard, and the name was accurate, because the amount of abandoned, rusted, dead vehicles had at first overwhelmed Knox. He’d spent lots of time there, scouring the metal bodies for parts. Sometimes with Jag, sometimes alone, but there wasn’t a day when he didn’t find something interesting. He could then either bring the items to Frank, which could be especially lucrative if the part came from a rare car, or keep it for Liv’s race car, which they’d christened Impreza in honor of the Subaru they’d had to drown.
As predicted, Frank had not been happy to hear about Liv taking part in illegal racing, but his nephew, Dex, came through by becoming an “investor” as he liked to call it. He’d given them an okay-ish car they still needed to fix up, for a stake in the race winnings. At least that meant he believed in Liv’s chances. Which was kind of naive, since Dex had never seen Liv race, but you didn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Still, the closer they were to the race in December, the more apprehensive Knox became about Liv not only competing against a star known for recklessness but also doing so in conditions he wasn’t used to. It hadn’t snowed yet, but Thanksgiving greeted Knox with frosty weather, offering little hope that global warming would suddenly strike and heat up their corner of the planet within the next two weeks.