Hot Lap! (Pause Spin-Off, Completed)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The present

Emma's POV:

"You ready, Sis?" Lan asks me, his gaze steady on the tracks up ahead.

I shrug. "Might as well be. What about you?"

"I'm ready to kick your ass, for once," Landon winks, teasing me. I can bet that I'm the only one that sees his nicer side from time to time, well, other than the girl that he's been spending so much time with as of lately.

"You can try, amateur," I play into his joke. "It must be embarrassing to lose to your baby sister all the damn time, huh, Lan?"

"To hell with it," Landon flashes me a boastful grin, "if someone dares to say something, I will knock their teeth out."

I honestly don't doubt that he will. Landon takes after my mom in that sense. We come from a temperamental background. Landon isn't the first in the family that's been to anger management classes.

"So, what, no one asks if I'm ready?" Xavier, who'd obviously been eavesdropping on the sibling rivalry, asks us as he decides to make his first, and hopefully last, appearance of the day.

"Nope," Landon answers bluntly. He has no shame. He was called 'Ruthless Racer' for years for a reason. Xavier is the only one who still insists on calling him that. 

"Harsh, Lan." I narrow my eyes at him in warning before turning back to Xavier. "We don't ask you because we all already know that it's going to be you and JT going head-to-head, as usual," I answer truthfully. 

Grey will be third and from there on out, the rest is a mystery. It could go down either way. Landon and I are evenly matched yet he doesn't seem to be as consistent as me. His focus strays and that's when I get ahead of him. He can't stand losing to me -- not only am I his sister but I'm also a girl. He's incredibly sexist, so one can imagine how he hates it.

"And JT will win, as usual," Landon speaks up, trying to irritate Xavier. The two of them are always looking for ways to bicker with each other.

Xavier scoffs. "Perhaps not. He's been off his game ever since 'Kitten' left." He smirks in victory, "I'm going to use his heartbreak and play it to my strengths."

Lan and Xave are both real jerks sometimes...

"JT could be racing in a wheelchair and he'd still beat you," Landon mocks with a scornful look on his face -- the same look he always has when Xavier is around.

"It's only 'cause of his car," Xavier retorts, refusing to admit that he's not JT's equal. Jay is a better racer than him, than any of us; he just has a natural gift in street racing. 

"You ride the same car, idiot," Landon mutters, rolling his eyes at Xavier's poor excuse. "The only difference is that he rides in red and you in black. It suits you; you are the evil one."

"Landon," I huff, frustrated with my brother's remarks. "Be nice," I grumble, reprimanding him.

 Why can't he just ever be the better person? It's really not that difficult to be better than Xavier. It should be easy for just about any decent human being.