Pedal to the Metal: Love's Drivin' but Fate's Got the Pole (The 'Cuda Confessions Book 3) by Eden Connor

days ago, her biggest concern was tricking me into taking her Volkswagen so she could have a new car. Not a word about the danger then, was there?
    “My God, Dale. Shelby’s going to graduate in a few months with a degree from a fine institution. She’s not some grease monkey. She—”
    No thanks to you.
    “She wanted to do this, Macy. That girl’s the best natural racer I’ve ever seen. Her reflexes, her instincts—”
    “Don’t you dare!” Mom lowered her voice to a growl. “Don’t you dare try to pretend this was about Shelby. This was about proving your dick’s bigger than Kolby Barnes’ dick, so don’t you tell me that my child wanted to do this. Can’t you see? She’d do anything to feel like she had a father? And you exploited that. For you!”
    Walk away, Dale. Go now, before she cuts your heart out. Trust me, she’s just getting warmed up.
    “Macy, she wanted to do it. Me and Richard both thought this would be a good way to get Kolby’s damn atten—”
    “Oh, will you just shut up? The Ridenhours are never going to fire that boy, Dale. If you keep forcing them to choose between him and you, you’ll be the one they let go. Not Kolby. You don’t have an engineering degree. That’s what owners want in a crew chief now. How will we pay for the new house if you’re out of a job?”
    Way to go, Mom. From ‘oh my poor baby’ to ‘what about me’ in record time. See, Dale? See how she twists everything until it’s about her?
    ***
    T he vivid memory relented, leaving me staring into Caine’s deep blue eyes. “She’ll leave Dale if I end up with either of you. She’ll make his life hell, or worse, she’ll divorce him.”
    “Shh. Shh,” Caine murmured, stroking my arms. “Damn, baby, don’t cry.”
    “Please,” I sobbed, hating the helpless tears coursing down my cheeks. “When the board flashed at the fairgrounds and said I was Shelby Roberts-Hannah, I finally felt like I had a daddy, Caine. I wasn’t some accident who had to toe the line to justify her own existence. I was wanted and loved and a part of a real family for the first time in my life!” The stripped-down hulls in the adjacent lot sent my shriek bouncing back in a chorus.
    I jerked my gaze to Colt’s stunned face. “I love you both, but I love Dale, too. He’s.... I can’t choose! I know her. Dale would just roll with it, but she’d beat him over the head every damn day with how his sons defiled the baby she sacrificed everything for. Then what? Do we get to be happy if Dale’s miserable? How long before he blames us for fucking up his good thing?”
    Or just me? In my darkest dreams, I never envisioned Dale turning on his sons.
    “Fuckin’ bitch.” Colt brought his fist down on the car. Over Caine’s shoulder, I saw the same hard look in Jonny’s eyes. Caine’s jaw worked, and his face—oh, God, the pain I saw there doubled the ache in my heart. “After what she done to you? Belivin’ Colt over her own kid?”
    Colt told him. Now, both my brothers knew that my mother put living the good life above her concern for my well-being, even as she gave lip service to the opposite. I’d never felt more naked—or more ashamed. Without that little lie between me and my mother—that I was worth her sacrifice—what was left? If ever she and I punched through that thin veneer, what darkness lay beyond?
    Jonny’s eyes were flat and wary. Anger danced in Caine’s. Colt’s were pure, blue flames, but Caroline’s eyes were soft and filled with understanding.
    “That’s her mama, Colt. No matter what, you gotta love the parent that didn’t leave your sorry ass. How many times have me and you had this same talk, brother?”
    The icy wind transported me to the graveyard across from Caroline’s house and the moment I’d stared down on Caine’s mother’s grave. The thought I hadn’t been able to form then unfurled inside me. We protect our biggest pain with a gossamer web spun from the tiny lies we tell