CHAPTER SIX

By the time we arrive at the racetrack after racing against each other, it was five thirty and the place was starting to get packed. Of course, I arrived first, but Matt is right behind me. I call Dave to let him know we have arrived, and he comes to open for us. The racetrack is at the old man's garage, so when we come here, we usually park inside instead of the parking lot with other cars.

Although this place is outside town, many racers and spinners still bring their cars to be fixed here. My dad had his back at the township, while the old man had his outside town. They were like two bulls each owning its territory.

Now, The Riders garage is right in the city suburbs were normal people take their normal cars. Some racers and spinners do call for Matt's artwork. However, he usually visit them for the work instead of them going to the garage.

"Hello, Dave. How's everything going?" I greet the politely smiling Dave as soon as I am out of the car.

"Hi. Everything is fine. The old man wanted to see you, but he left already."

"Uhm… okay. Thanks, I'll see him tomorrow then."

"Dave! Please scold these two for me. They were racing all the way here…hoooh… I thought I was gonna get arrested, luckily the cops are not yet on the road…hoooh…I can't breathe."

Nate calls out jumping of Matt's car as soon as it was parked behind mine.

"Come on, pull yourself together. don't embarrass me even more than I am already."

"Hahaha…I take it you won?" Nate asks me while ignoring Nate who is hanging onto his shoulder trying to catch his breath.

"No, she cheated. Look at both our cars. Hers is better than mine."

"For a racer you sure are shameless. What happened to, it's not the car that wins the race but the driver?" With that I know I have not only won the race but the argument.

"Come on, let's get going. Some people are buying us food tonight, Dave. Aren't you hungry?" I lock the car and go upstairs to one the rooms at the garage with everyone following.

It's an office the old man let us use for nights like this. It has a great view of the racetrack; we can even watch the spin show from here. The room looks more like a media room with couches and screens on the wall showing the entire racetrack and spot were the cars spin. There is also a mini bar bridge with water bottles only.

"Who is buying us food?" Dave asks.

"Those two behind you. They ate my dinner." I answer seating on the chair behind the office desk looking out the huge floor to ceiling window. The music is blasting outside. Some spinners are already revving their cars on the ground. Other cars are arriving with young partying people. The sun is setting.

"Us!?" Matt and Nate exclaims in unison.

"Come on, Shaz. We were hungry and the pizza was too tempting. We left you two slices."

"Shaz?' Dave asks sarcastically. Even he does not know of anyone who dares call me that.

"Well, for that name, I want burgers and ribs. I hadn't eaten the whole day when you two ate my food. Dave, what would you like to eat? Steak?" Dave laughs and nods at my question.

"You're still waiting? Off you go." I scold the two still gawking at me like I was being unreasonable.

"Did someone mention steak? Unfortunately, I brought wings." A familiar smooth deep male voice speaks from the door.

"Mark! You're such a life saver. Someone was being unreasonable right now." Nate hugs Mark who just ignore him and walks in.

"Yeah, Mark. You're such a good brother." Matt says while opening the takeaway food bags that Mark placed on the small coffee table between the two couches.

"Well, you can go buy drinks. For everyone. But not too much alcohol if you're going to be drinking, Matt. Tomorrow we still have another show." Mark says in his serious tone.

"Okay, sir. I'll just get one each and two for me." Matt speaks sarcastically taking out a hot wing.

"No, one each, and soda drink for Nate and I." I call out to Matt before he walks out with Nate.

"What? Come on, I am not a baby… okay, okay, we are going." Nate stops whining as soon as he sees the looks Mark I gives him.

After the two left we all sit down and take out a box of hot wings each. Although I want a burger and ribs, the wings are still spicy delicious.

"So, what are you doing here? I thought you weren't coming tonight." I ask looking at Mark.

"Well, I wasn't but before you guys left, but Dave found someone I have been looking for."

I look at Dave suspiciously. He is watching one of the screens showing an unfamiliar car arriving at the gathering crowds. I frown at his serious mood.

"Someone? Should I know of this someone?"

"He's an old friend of Adams." Mark nervously looks at me before continuing. "Martin. After…Luke, your brother's incident, the two quarrelled for some unknown reason and we never heard of Martin again. Until now. Tonight, they are meeting here."

At the mention of Adams and my brother, my body trembles lightly. I still have to hide from the outside world regarding my brother. No one can know about me, yet. It's only a matter of time before Adams finds out, and now there's another one. But why are they meeting here? I think to myself.

"Why are they meeting? We don't know yet. But they are probably meeting here because their boys are going for a spin off tonight." Mark answers, making me realise I just thought out loud.

"Their boys? What spin off? Dave, why don't I know of this spin off?"

"I thought the boys have told you. They organized it." Dave answers casually. I sigh heavily when I hear it was the work of Matthew and Nathan.

"Those two. They know very well that spin off never ends well. This is supposed to be a fun casual spin show. We pay our spinners for entertainment. Not spin offs. Mark, tell me they did not put those boys on our payroll."

"No, they didn't, rather those boys paid for the spot. But it can't be that bad. Most people are coming for the spin off. The ticket sales have sold out for a Friday spin show. That is why we even made an exception to sell them at the gate at a higher price. It's a win-win situation. Our guys were notified and had no problem with it."

I am feeling dumb right now. This is my team and I have no idea at what is going on. Should anything go wrong then the old man will regard this shows to be too risky.

"And you never discussed it with me. Does the old man know about this? Is this why he wanted to see me?" We both look at Dave who is now focused on the conversation.

"No, I didn't mention it to him. But I told him that we will be having more people tonight. I arranged extra security to ease him off. And for in case anything else happens." Dave speaks and I am left with a dropped jaw looking at the two men in front of me.

"You know he is not a fool and people will talk about it. now I am not even sure about seeing him tomorrow."

Now I understand why the show was a topic for the whole week on campus. I thought the campus students were just too excited for partying before exams. But it seems the spin off between two rivals was the honey to bees.