House of Cards | Bulletproof book 2 | A BTS Gang AU

17: Blah

Two by two, the cars in front of me pulled out into the night. As they did, I started to see a trend. The jankier, less expensive cars were in front, with increasingly better ones filling in the back. Scattered through the middle were the bikes. Since Minnie was behind me in Felix's other car, she would be leaving after me. We wouldn't be racing together.

As stupid as it felt, that fact made me more nervous. I was out there on my own, and while I had faith in my own abilities, I had yet to really do anything on my own yet.

"Hey sweetheart, why don't you and me make a bet?"

I looked to my right at the guy hanging out of his window to yell at me. His steel blue-gray hair blew in the slight, rubber-scented, breeze that wound between the vehicles. His big eyes were creased from his full-lipped smile.

"What have you got in mind?"

His smile grew even bigger. "I'm Taewoo. How about we race for slips?"

I chuckled and looked ahead. There were only two rows of cars ahead of us. Two heats before ours. "This isn't my car."

"Then the loser pays for the winner's meal."

I laughed outright. Taewoo rested his chin on his arms in the open window. Since I wasn't planning on making it back around before the end of the race, I saw no harm in humoring the guy.

"Sure. Why not."

Taewoo clapped his hands together and grinned like the devil before the flagger in front of us waved us forward. The rumble of the car's engine vibrated in my feet and hands as we pulled up to the staging line. When we got close to the line, a couple young kids came out to make sure we were both even.

"I'm gonna warn you," Taewoo yelled over the noise of dozens of engines, "I eat a lot."

I realized that the flagger was one of the girls from Everglow. Yiren, I think. Her eyes flashed when she recognized me. Then she grinned and winked.

"So do I," I called back just as Yiren dropped the flags and I spun out. Taewoo hesitated a half a second too long and I was already a couple lengths in front of him by the time he realized it. I chuckled at the ease at which I'd thrown him off, taking the turns indicated on the screen without a care as I worked through the gears. The cool night air was glorious as it whipped through my hair. I leaned on the gas and relaxed into the seat, enjoying the sensations brought on by the suped up engine and just the feeling of control from driving such a powerful car. It might not have been pretty, but I had no doubt I would've won the race anyway if I hadn't had another agenda for the night.

The trajectory painted on the dashboard screen took us through deserted city streets toward the outskirts. Skyscrapers gave way to squat office buildings, which eventually became low, aging houses. The city wasn't the best for anyone outside the wealthy elite and it was painfully obvious as we left the stacks and entered the poor residential area. The sounds of our tires and engines echoed off the houses around us, but nobody seemed to notice. Either they were too scared to see what was going on around them, or they'd heard it so much they'd become desensitized to the sound.

The shocks on the car got a workout as the smooth road gave way to more and more potholes. I gripped the wheel tighter and did my best to avoid the trash that had blown into the path by storms earlier in the evening. I absently wondered why the racers would choose such a difficult path through the city, but quickly realized it had probably been chosen through an area the police were least likely to patrol. Less of a chance of the night getting spoiled.

When I saw that I was far enough ahead of Taewoo that he wouldn't see me, I tapped the emergency break, dropped the car into third, and drifted around a turn. As soon as I popped the clutch, the torque of the car slammed me into the seat and I laughed at the rush that filtered through my blood. Sex was great, but the rush of driving a fast car was a close second.