Speed Queen (GxG)

Chapter 3: The Red Rider

"You think I have a chance of beating him?" Judy asked Rex.

Rex nodded, a smirk lighting up his sweaty face. "Hell yeah I do."

She smiled back.

I looked between the two of them. "Beat who?"

Judy glanced at me before walking outside the tent, then pointed her finger. "Him."

I stood next to her, looking at the man she was pointing at. He stood over the engine of a red car a few tents down from ours.

   "That's Ronnie Burch, they call him the Red Rider because of the same obnoxious red he paints all his cars." Rex said.

"He's been racing here since we were kids and he's untouchable. No ones ever been able to beat him." Judy added, folding her arms over her chest.

"Until you started racing." Rex said, resting his hand on her shoulder.

"I haven't beaten him yet, but today might just be the day." She replied.

Ronnie seemed to sense us looking at him because he glanced over at us, a cocky smile on his face.

Judy rolled her eyes as he started making his way over.

"Howdy, gals... Rex." He said, looking between us.

"What do you want, Ronnie?" Judy asked.

"Well, I happened to notice this beautiful young lady standing next to you and thought to myself, 'self, you would be absolutely remiss if you didn't come over and at least introduce yourself'." He said, winking at me.

I folded my arms over my chest. "Take a hike, asshole."

He chuckled. "Ooh, I like 'em with a little bite."

Rex walked between us. "You heard the lady, beat it."

He raised his hands in fake surrender. "Sure, have a nice day, ladies."

Then, he was gone, taking a quick look back at us.

"What a dick." I said.

Judy rested a hand on my shoulder. "Just ignore him, he's not worth your time."

"If you say so." I replied, still staring the man down.

"C'mon, ladies, we got a race to focus on." Rex said, leading us back into the tent.

   As Judy got to work under the hood, Rex walked over to the work bench to grab some tools.

   I walked up next to him. "She really doesn't like him, huh?"

   He turned to me. "You can say that again."

   "What happened between them?"

   He took a quick glance at her before sighing. "Her dad used to have a pretty serious rivalry with him when they were younger. During one of their races, Ronnie lost control and veered into her dads lane, crashing right into his car and killing him on impact."

   I lowered my head. "Jesus."

   Rex lowered his head as well. "Yep, it wasn't necessarily his fault, but Judy still blames him for it."

   "Hey, you guys gonna help out or what?" Judy asked.

   Rex and I shared a quick glance before joining Judy under the hood...

   As day turned to night, everyone started lining up for the start of the races.

   Rex and I found some seats in the bleachers, awaiting Judy's race.