Midnight

16

My eyes were attached to the window, watching all the big buildings downtown blur past us, until they died down, and we headed towards the part of town that was crowded with abandoned warehouses.

That surely struck a chord.

I looked over at Everett, the question clear on my worried face, but he looked confident as he continued driving.

I hadn't been to this part of town since—I couldn't remember. Most people knew to avoid it, apparently it was much too sketchy and crime ridden to be traversed.

I watched as the walls of abandoned stores become graffiti covered, the street lamps dying as we continued.

"Everett, I don't—"

I shut up as we turned into an alleyway that curved through the warehouses. Deep into the road, neon lights filled the cramped street, people of all kinds polluting what little pavement Everett could drive on.

My jaw dropped as I saw a very obvious drug deal go down, a few strippers stumble out of a very expensive looking car, and groups of men throwing money around.

Where were we?

Everett continued through the street slowly, and I was glad the windows were heavily tinted as I was gawking at each group of people we passed.

As we made it through the jumble of people and warehouses, the road suddenly opened up to a big field. I couldn't tell what exactly I was staring at, what looked to be hundreds of people crowded around something, and it was big. My face was practically pasted to the window as I tried to figure it out. But Everett turned abruptly, ditching the ginormous group.

We were headed towards another warehouse, though this one was clean of graffiti. There was a large garage which was already open, a dim cold light filtering through the opening we headed towards. I didn't see anyone crowding towards this part of the dim alley, and that I was thankful for.

As we entered the warehouse I was shocked to see insanely shaped, expensive looking cars.

My heart raced, my pulse in my ears as I calculated what I had been looking for all along.

"You're a racer," I gasped, turning to Everett. I didn't expect it, but my voice sounded scared, shaky.

It all made sense. His car, beautiful and pricey. How could he pay for such a thing? This must've been it. He sped more than often, and racing was dangerous. Everything was right in front of me and it took me all this time to piece it together. Stupid. My head was spinning.

He looked pained when he heard my words.

"Let's just get this over with," He gritted his teeth as he threw the parking break up.

He was hopping out of the car as I was still caught up in my realization, I hadn't noticed him waiting for me to get out. In fact, I was so distracted, I didn't realize he was hovering over me, unbuckling me. He tugged me out of the car by my hand.

I smiled shyly as I held his hand. Wordlessly, I let him lead us through the garage. He seemed angry, on edge, so I didn't bother letting my raging thoughts spill.

As we headed towards the back of the warehouse, I spotted a group of four at the front of the furthest car. I recognized the back of Gray, his glowing blonde hair giving him away.

I sucked in a breath of air, preparing to shout at him, when Everett yanked me behind a car we walked past.

The force nearly knocked the wind out of me. I looked up at Everett, no longer ignoring my urge to question him.