Page 51 of Full Throttle

Without another second to doubt myself or this ridiculous plan, I stepped into the tunnel. I didn’t look back, each one of my footsteps causing a soft echo as dread forming in my belly. A chill crawled up my neck as went further into the darkness, my flashlight only showing a few feet in front of me.

Minutes later, a rat scattered by me, causing me to jump, but I didn’t scream. I knew better than that.

After my heart calmed a bit, I continued.

I counted in my head, and when I reached two hundred and twenty-two, I heard the roar of multiple car engines. A smile broke out on my face as relief settled on my shoulders, reminding me that I’d made it.

I found The Pit.

The tunnel curved to the right, and as I followed, a bright light glowed at the end. Sounds of engines revving, music pulsing, and people cheering echoed, bouncing off the concrete walls. I steadied my breathing and tried my best to contain the excitement brewing inside me. A woman hollered loudly, causing me to jump, and suddenly, she ran by me into the darkness of the tunnel. I moved out of the way as a man followed her, winking at me as he went. A few seconds later, I heard both of them giggling, and my shoulders slumped.

“Okay, Nikki,” I whispered under my breath. “We got this.”

I stepped into The Pit, and my mouth felt open.

A crowd surrounded the pit in the concrete, as cars lined up at the spray-painted line about twenty feet below me. It reminded me of an underground Colosseum, people on all sides, chanting and cheering as racers mingled and show off their cars in the center. Some of the cars were pretty neutral in color, while others stood out like star in the night sky, painted in bright pinks, greens, purples, and blues. My head slowly tilted to the side as my eyes narrowed on the opening at the bottom, leading into another tunnel.

“First time?” a male voice asked.

Jumping, my head twisted to the side to find a man in his early twenties smiling at me. He was handsome, in a pretty sort of way. His brown hair was pulled back into a bun at the base of his neck, and he had a colorful dragon tattoo on his right arm.

Maybe he knew Cain.

With that thought in mind, I nodded. “Was it that obvious?”

The man chuckled. “Yeah, it was. You were gawking.”

“Of course I was,” I told him, looking back to The Pit, “It’s amazing.”

He hummed in agreement as I looked at him just in time to see his eyes scanning my body. A small alarm went off in my head. When his eyes met mine again, he lifted his chin slightly. “You here alone?”

“No,” I lied, putting my hands into my jacket pockets. “I’m actually meeting someone—a racer.”

He smiled then, surprise coating his features. “Oh yeah? Who?”

“Cain Donavon.”

The man’s smile dropped, his voice turning defensive as he asked, “How do you know Cain?”

Swallowing, I looked down to the cars. “Well, I—”

“—Cain doesn’t have any friends, doll,” he said, taking a step towards me. His eyes dropped down again, this time to my chest. “Cain’s women don’t refer to themselves as his friends.”

I backed up, my butt hitting the concrete wall, the moisture sinking into my jeans. “I am his friend,” I said, looking around. None of the people nearby seemed to care that this man was crowding me against a wall. When I looked back to the man, his gaze had become predatory, causing a wave a fear to slam into me.

“You wanna be my friend instead? I won’t dump you like he would. I’d treat you so nice,” he rumbled, putting his hands on the wall beside my head.

My heart pounded inside my chest, my fight or flight ready to kick in. I shook my head, panic setting in. “I-I would really like to see C-Cain. P-please,” I pleaded, my voice shaking in fear.

All at once, the man’s face seemed to soften, the hungry gaze leaving his eyes. “Jesus, doll, I was just hitting on you.”

If that was how men in the real world came on to women, then I needed to reevaluate some things. Like me not finding women attractive. I nodded, too scared to speak.

The man pushed off the wall, sighing and muttering a curse under his breath. “Come on. I’ll take you down to Cain.”

I didn’t move, staring at him with wide eyes as my chest heaved.

His dark brow furrowed. “Fuck, I really scared you, didn’t I?”

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