Page 77 of Ravage
The two cars zigzag between traffic in a dangerous but mesmerizing dance. This is nothing like the clear drag of the last race, where Kellan easily swept passed his opponent in seconds and it was over. This is part skill and part luck.
The wind whips through the car from our two open windows and my hair blows wild around me. My cheeks are flushed, and I hold my breath as we make lane change after lane change at breakneck speeds on a highway that’s running over the city.
The lanes narrow from four to two, and Kellan downshifts when we get stuck behind a tractor-trailer. The other car is somewhere in front, but our line of sight is gone and there’s a steady line of cars in the lane to our right.
Kellan curses and checks all the mirrors, then dives us into the breakdown lane and drops gears to send us flying forward. The other car must see us coming and cuts into the breakdown lane before we can sneak past. But the fast lane is open and we graze by the car in front, so there’s only pavement stretched before us.
I gasp when I’m thrown back in the seat from the sudden acceleration. We drive neck and neck with the other car as it tries to find an opening to push in front of us, but Kell keeps us nosing ahead.
A mile marker flashes at us and Kellan whoops into the night air. He slows us down to a more normal speed and lets the other car merge in front of him.
He flashes a grin at me once we glide down an off-ramp and stop at a red light at the bottom. The light darkens his already-tanned skin in an ominous, reddish glow.
He looks like the devil right now, seated by my side and grinning at me like he’s just won my soul in this race.
With the way my heart is beating out of my chest and I’m panting for oxygen, maybe he did. Because I am not in control of my body at this moment. My fingers shake as I retract them from the stranglehold I’d had them in on their designated spots. “Wow,” is all I manage with a breathless laugh.
“You liked that?” Kellan chuckles and turns us onto the street when the light switches to green.
“That was insane.” I grin back. “How did you know where the end of the race was?”
“It’s the next five-mile marker from wherever we start. Why? Do you want to give it a go next?” He pops his eyebrows at me, and I roll my eyes.
“Definitely not. I can barely drive. I learned enough to get a car from point A to point B without crashing, but it’s not good, and they were all automatic. They weren’t my cars, so if they got scratched up a bit, it didn’t matter.”
He stops the car in the middle of the road. The person behind us honks and shouts out the window at us, but Kellan’s focus is solely trained on me.
“How about a driving lesson, then?”
Chapter twenty
Raegan
I balk, and his grin widens. “Don’t worry, I can start slow. No street racing for you tonight.”
I scoff. “That’s slow?”
“It is for me. We can always try a bit of racing if you’re up to it once you figure out the clutch.”
“What’s a clutch?”
The car behind us screeches its tires as it takes off around us, the guy waving the bird out the window. As if either of us gives a shit. Kellan doesn’t even bother to turn his way.
“All right, get out.” There’s a second of dread that he's kicking me out and leaving me on the side of the road again. Considering the good night so far, it’d be about right to happen now. But then he opens his door and steps out, and I realize he means to switch.
I release a breath and hesitantly pull the latch on my door to swing it open.
It’s not that I don’t want to drive cars. I just know that I’m never going to own one, so why bother? I’ve lasted this long on buses, taxis, and walking.
I snap my head up to find him leaning against the hood of the car with an outstretched arm on the open door. “What? You nervous?”
I stand and freeze when I realize I’m now trapped between him and the car. “No. I just don’t need to drive.”
Kellan crowds me back against the car. “Bullshit.” His breath is hot against my face as I’m trapped in his blue-green gaze. “We only fear what we don’t know. So, face it. Learn it. Own it. Then you’ll never be afraid again.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Isn’t it? Have you tried?”
