Jake

I had had the worst of arguments with my father tonight. We have never fought as hard as today, and I never felt so helpless and pressure in my life. He was forcing me to do something I didn't want to.

Since Grandpa Shepard died over fifty years ago, my father became the sole heir to Shepard Enterprises, one of largest cosmetics production companies in Australia. My father never knew how to manage money. He always squandered it, spent it on trips, houses, cars, and material things, and taught his children (me equally) to squander it without any conscience. Dad misinvested money all this time, and that's why today, at 23, when I was supposed to remain a billionaire until death, we were in bankruptcy and didn't have a way out.

My father had not thought of the best idea than to find me a billionaire woman who would return prestige and money to the whole family. In other words, my father wanted me to marry a girl of material and economic goods as high as those I Shepards once had.

"Can you know what's going on here?" My mother walked into my father's office.

Well, from the office, I had nothing, because three months ago we had to move into a house so small that it suffocated. My father's supposed office was also the trout laundry that my mother had to create.

"I've told Jake what he has to do to get the family's money back.”

I looked at my mother, indignant.

"What? Wait, did you know about this?! It's crazy, Mom!”

"You said you will do whatever it took to get us back to our previous life. I'm tired of living in this place!”

Yes, she wasn't the only one who was tired of having to live inside four walls where you could hardly breathe how small everything was. And it sounded incredibly stupid and materialistic, but it was the way I was raised and I was very uncomfortable with this lifestyle. I couldn't get used to this, not when I had it all before. But marry a female billionaire to get our status again? It was too much.

"This is too much. You guys are crazy. I don't want to do it.”

"I wasn't asking you, Jake," Dad looked at me with authority, with anger, pressuring me.

"How do you want me to do?" Will I see the girl, she will prepare a perfect and expensive wedding, and then I have to stay by her side for the rest of my life until I die? I won't ruin my life by marrying a girl who is desperate to have her tale of princes and princesses. I will not sign that contract.

"We're talking about the biggest multi-million dollar company in all of Australia, Jake," Mom explained.

“I'm not interested. This from the.”

"And the girl doesn't know that you will marry her. She is not desperate. Your father is an old friend of mine. He is willing to give us a contract for you. He said that if you marry her, you will be part of all the fortune they have. We will get out of this hole.”

I grimaced in disgust.

Did a father set up a marriage for his daughter without her knowing? This was not going to end well in any sense. I guess that girl and I were victims of our parents' follies.

"What kind of father arranges a marriage for his daughter? Surely she will say no when she sees me.”

"That's why what you have to do first is make her fall in love. Make her love you so much and then ask her to marry her.”

Love of contract. A false love signed on a sheet.

No.

"I don't want to... I can't! I want to fall in love with someone I'm interested in! With that girl, I want nothing.”

"She's beautiful. I've seen her a couple of times and she's beautiful. In addition, her father has agreed to give us an incredible house and money for our expenses while you take care of falling in love with her. It is not a difficult task.”

Isn't that a difficult task? Oh my God, this had to be a damn joke. This couldn't be happening to me.

Besides, I was 23 years old. I didn't want to hook up with someone yet, let alone get married, let alone a fake one!

"I mean, you're asking me to lie to the girl at home. It's too much, Dad.”

"You will!" He yelled at me, looking at me with disappointment, with anger.

"Not to mention!" I screamed and left the office full of rage.

"Jake!” Dad exclaimed, but I ignored him and left the house.

I took the car (the one we were, fortunately, able to drive) and started it to leave. I needed to be distracted, I needed to get out of that house and take a breath because I was starting to feel very suffocated. I drove to a remote place, a place where many people went to watch illegal races. I was there several times, and although I never ran, I knew how to do it. And I was a great runner.

The organizer of the races was a friend of mine, and I knew well that he would let me run tonight. I asked him to let me do it, to which he agreed. With this race, I planned to fill myself with adrenaline, with emotions. I wanted to think about something else and focus on everything that didn't have to do with my family. I wanted to unload these bad energies into something. This race would help me a lot.

Or so I hoped.

I knew that today you would bet money that I didn't have. What was he going to have? IF my millions went with my father's millions when the company went bankrupt and everything went to waste. But I was confident that I would win this race. As I said, I was a good runner.

When I arrived at my destination, I had almost ten missed calls from my father and five from my mother. I wasn't going to answer. I ignored all of them and parked my car next to my opponent's car. People shouted and asked that the race starts at once, with that impatience that always characterized this type of people. I didn't know almost anyone's name, but most were familiar faces.

I approached Travis, the organizer.

"Bad day, Jake?" He asked with a smile and offered me a cigarette.

He had no idea.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me," I replied, putting the cigarette in my mouth and waiting for him to set me on fire.

"Judging by your face, I think so.”

I ignored his words.

I came here to forget about my father's stupid dealings with that millionaire.

"Who am I competing against today?"

"Today you have strong competition.”

"Who?" I wanted to know, curious.

“Contra Kyle West.”

Kyle West. Yes, I knew him, and he had a reputation for being a great broker. As far as I know, he never lost a single race, which meant that as good as I was, I was going to have to put a lot of effort into winning. Several more puffs of my cigarette to relax, although the tension did not disappear from my body. To top it off, people's screams didn't help me clear my mind either. I just wanted to run.

"Are you sure you want this, Jake?" Travis came back to me with a glass of beer for me.

"Why?"

"Because if you lose, you'll have to pay a lot. Will you be able to pay?"

It hurt. The answer hurt me.

And for a damn second, I rethought the idea my father and that millionaire had, and I felt guilty about it. It's not that I was a saint. I've done bad things in my twenty-three years of life, but a contract marriage seemed too much to me. Cheating on a girl, even if I didn't know her and even if I wasn't interested, wasn't right.

But I admit that I missed every day the life I used to have. The trips, the cars, the clothes, the parties... All.

What if...?

No.

I pushed that idea out of my mind.

"You're taking it for granted that I'll lose. Thank you for the faith you have in me," I rolled my eyes.

Travis knew about my financial situation. I didn't want to tell him because I was embarrassed, but he eventually found out.

"It's not that, it's that he's very good, Jake.”

"Yes, whatever." I finished drinking my beer and threw the cigarette on the floor, then crushed it with my foot.

I walked to my car, thoughtful, angry, annoyed, and hateful, and got in. Inside the car, I was beginning to feel that hint of adrenaline rising from my feet to my chest. I was going to run, and the result of this would tell me if I had made some money or if I was in debt more than I imagined.

People were already screaming louder, excited, and anxious. Within minutes, Kyle was inside his car, which he had climbed into with immense confidence. The girl with the flag was in the middle of the cars.

"Get ready!” Travis shouted with his microphone in his hands.

The girl lowered the flag as soon as the horn sounded.

The battle has begun.

I revved up the engine, making my car roar. Kyle did the same, and I felt nervous from the first moment, but the adrenaline that ran through my whole body was worth it. That intense tickle, that pressure in my chest, the feeling light, excited, with a fixed motive. It was amazing how the fresh wind sneaked through the window at my side, how it hit me in the face and cooled me while driving.

Kyle took the lead seconds after starting, which made me curse, but we still had to go to the finish. I could beat him. I had to beat him.

The sky was full of nines, and the track was wet from the rain that was in the morning. It was dangerous for us to run like this, but it's a risk we chose to take. The streets were a bit slippery, but it wasn't the first time I had raced on the wet track. I accelerated, matching Kyle's car. I took a quick look at him at the moment he was looking at me, and in expression, I noticed how much it bothered him that I matched him, for this was probably the first time that someone, as experienced, had the same chance of winning this as he did.

Since I was eighteen I do this in different races of different organizers. I could tell it was my favorite weekend pastime and a great calming for my moments of rage.

I accelerated again. The race was hard-fought, but as the minutes passed, the more confident he felt that he was going to win. When Kyle skated a bit with the car, it was my time to take the lead. I smiled, excited because we didn't have much left to reach the goal. I already felt confident, and calmer, but full of adrenaline as well. It was like a drug. This feeling of flying was like a **** and the perfect drug.

Until I felt a push behind my car that sent a chill down my whole body. I almost lost my balance completely, but I managed to recover and, even so, Kyle did not pass me. I looked at him from the rearview mirror, probably wondering how, for the first time, someone beat him.

I caught my breath, and my heart stabilized a bit, but it almost popped out of my mouth when that idiot hit me, trying to sabotage me in the race. I saw all those people in the distance, screaming, cheering, drinking, and laughing. Everyone is excited. I smiled self-sufficiently because as I got on the road, the more assured I was about the race.

Yes, I was about to win.

“¡Jake! ¡Jake! ¡Jake!”

“¡Kyle! ¡Kyle! ¡Kyle!”

I crossed the finish line with an indelible smile.

I won the race.

The crowd shouted my name excitedly. I got out of the car with the same smile that formed on my face as I crossed the finish line. I felt victorious and proud. There was no trace of that frustrated boy who came to the competition more than twenty minutes ago, at least not on my face. As everyone clapped, I kept smiling, waiting for my opponent to get out of his car.

"Jake! Congratulations!” Travis greeted me with a handshake and raised my arm in the air. "We have a winner! Jake Shepard has beaten Kyle West, our best opponent ever!”

"Jake, Jake, Jake!” Many continued to shout, although several were just booing. It was obvious that they were Kyle fans.

I saw Kyle getting out of his car, totally furious. I imagined it must have been difficult for him to have lost a race for the first time. This was a blow to his ego. And you could tell he was very self-centered. Beyond the fact that this served to forget about the marriage contract that my father wanted me to sign, it helped me to increase my ego because Kyle never liked me. Beating him was good.

Kyle approached me.

"You cheated!” he accused me, walking towards me. The people who stood in his way gave him space to pass. “You cheated! I demand a rematch!”

In his blue eyes, he could see the disappointment, the embarrassment, and the impact on his ego. He was fuming from his ears from losing. I didn't cheat, I've never cheated in any race. Kyle was a bad loser.

"What's wrong, West? Furious to lose?” I smiled confidently.

Kyle was more annoyed and unpleasantly approached me as if he wanted to intimidate me, but it would not work for him.

"I'm furious because you cheated.”

"I didn't cheat. I won because I'm good at competing” I defended myself, without letting him intimidate me.

"Kyle, brother... he arrived shortly before the race began, he could not have cheated.

"I'm sure he did!” he snapped.

"You better shut your mouth and give me the five thousand dollars I've earned," I rubbed him in the face.

I think Kyle was about to punch me in the face.

"I won't give you anything, because you haven't won because you're good, you've won because you cheat.”

"What exactly did I cheat on? Besides, you were the one who hit me with the car while we were running. Why don't you accept that you've lost? You're looking like an idiot who can't stand being beaten. Is this affecting your ego?”

It hit me.

His blow hit me squarely in the face. I fell to the ground because I lost my balance, but I immediately got up and hit him hard, giving him his due. Did he accuse me of cheating and beat me up? I wasn't going to let him.

"Enough! Separate!” Travis shouted, holding me so I wouldn't keep hitting Kyle.

A girl appeared from the crowd and got into our midst.

"Enough is enough! Kyle!” she shouted furiously, worried, looking at Kyle and stretching her arms in the middle of them.

Kyle watched her, his breathing was hectic, and he was still full of fury. He looked at me one last time and, after cursing, began to walk away.

"You're going to pay me," he said.

It wasn't worth answering.

The girl turned her head to see me. His green eyes made contact with my blue eyes. We looked at each other for a few seconds, with intensity and curiosity.

"Are you okay?" he asked me.

"Yes," I replied.

"Put on ice," he suggested, giving me one last look.

The way Kyle calmed down when she showed up, made me understand that they knew each other. It was probably his girlfriend.

The girl ended up leaving.

I think I knew her somewhere. His face was familiar to me, but I wasn't quite sure.

"What's your name?" I asked her, but she didn't answer.

Nancy

Nerves got over me as soon as I noticed that, for the first time, Kyle had lost a race. Knowing him, he could assure you that his blood was boiling and that he would not stand idly by. But I was completely surprised when I saw live and direct and in slow motion, how his fist was stamped on the face of that certain Jake Shepard. The latter did not sit idly by and hit Kyle back.

I ran to the place and made my way through that crowd.

"Enough is enough, Kyle!" I stretched my arms in the middle of both of them, while the race organizer held Jake so he wouldn't get on Kyle again.

My eyes fell solely on my friend. I noticed that it hurt him to lose these five thousand dollars, but it was out of ego, out of pride, not necessity. He wasn't going to die from losing a race.

Kyle left, but not before telling Jake that he was going to pay them.

I allowed myself to see the boy, that one Jake, the winner of tonight's race. I was surprised by how handsome he was up close, and how deep blue his eyes contained. We look at each other strangely. He looked at me as if he knew me from one side, and I was afraid he would realize who I was.

But his bump and bruise caught my attention.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes," he replied, looking me in the eye.

"Put on ice," I suggested, and walked away from all of them, thinking about the beauty and mystery of that boy.

I walked in a hurry, away from him. But I heard him ask my name. Still, I didn't want to answer him.