"Why the hell are you late?" Rob made an ugly face at me. He was not yet scolding and seemed to be genuinely asking for the reason, but you never know the temper of a racer.

I had just entered the garage to acknowledge that I had arrived and we could start as soon as possible, but Robert had bet me to it. It seemed as if he was waiting for me.

He had finally managed to get a haircut. His curly hairs were now slumped all over his head, the only good thing about it now was the hair was not falling on his eyes. He looked good, with freshly shaved stubble. The scar was evident on his face now, but it might as well be ignored.

Robert Hastings was not a guy one would go crazy-celebrity on. He was not the guy who resembled Greek God, sculpted with time and patience. He was not the one whom you would find in Vogue magazine worthy of swoon. The fact alone made him seem real.

He raised one eye brow at me, still waiting for my answer.

"Um..." I pulled imaginary strands of hair behind my ear. "Girl problems."

He face palmed at my silly reason. I was sure he hadn't believed it, but didn't argue about it. "Anyway, you don't have classes today."

"What?" I asked, not believing him. According to Calvin and Dan I had to practice to make myself perfect every chance I got. But here I was standing in front of the tutor who was telling me there were no classes for the day. "Then why didn't you call me to tell me so?" I demanded, crossing my hands against my chest.

"I said no classes, teddy bear." He smirked. "But the learning must continue."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked perplexed.

He put his hands against his face, a habit he had gotten from his previously long hair. Realizing that he had cut them short, he just ran his hands over the cut hair.

"We are going to race, babe." He said with a crooked smile that I didn't like.

"Don't tell me I'm racing today." I started to panic. "You just said I have no classes, which means no driving."

He laughed - a hearty one. Not the usual smirks and grins. An actual one. If I may say, it did sound nice. His eyes had crinkled at the sides; lips lifted up at the ends, making him look handsome.

"What?" he said, catching me eyeing at him.

"You are essentially looking pretty good today." I smiled at him.

He was taken aback by my open comment at him. It was the first time I had said something good about him, after all. But he recovered quickly. "As I have told you before, it's only for you, babe." He winked.

The irritating jerk was still there hiding behind those curls. It was silly of me to think that it was chopped off along with his hair. Guess I was wrong.

"So?" I asked, crossing my hands across my chest. "If I don't have classes and if I'm not driving, can I leave?" I had some lessons to complete for school.

"You are not leaving my side." He said as soon as the words were out from my mouth. "Do you think I'm a dull head to call you here for nothing?"

Okay, now he was scolding. It was too hard to comprehend when he was mad at me. Most of the times, I was wrong anyway.

He took a deep breath when he grasped that he was losing his temper. I still wondered, what was so wrong with my question that he had to lose his cool.

"I've a race today and I want you to be my eyes and ears."

"Ha-ha, I'm so honored." I fake laughed, pushing my bags further up my shoulders. "Even though I want to kill you, this is not what I had in mind."

"What else do you have in mind?" He cocked one eye brow up suggestively and I had to scoff at that.

"Either way, you are going to die." I stated. "I don't want to be the part of it. You can ask the previous guy who used to be your earpiece to do the honors."

"You are so pessimistic." Rob noticed. "Now I realize why you are always backing out on things."

"I'm not scared, if that's what you are intending to say." I said, his words getting into my head. "I'm just saying that I've never done that job before, so you might be in danger."

He leaned against the car he was working on. There was a dim light at the corner of the garage which made me wonder what he could possibly see to repair with such low light.

"Awe," He cooed. "It's always so good to hear you care for me. I like it."

"I'm not caring." I said, stressing on the word caring. "I just don't want to be responsible for your mishappenigns."

At this he laughed. "Do you even know what you are talking about? There are no such words in the dictionary."

"Very funny, nerd." I made a face at him. It was only today morning that I was correcting Mira's use of words and now, Robert correcting my vocabulary.

He sobered up pretty fast and on a serious note, he turned to me and said, "Look, Scarlet you are just wasting time. Move your ass, let's get going."

"Rob, I'm failing my tests. If this is not so important can't I just go?" I almost pleaded. But I was sure he was not letting me go that easily.

"Who says you need to top the class?" He smirked. "Besides, this is important."

"Please get your previous guy to take my place." I said, tired of arguing with him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I turned away from him, ready to head out, but he caught my wrist making me face him again. "I said, you are not leaving."

His voice was low and calm, almost like a threat. I shivered. I had seen the fun loving, flirty and jerky side of this guy, but he had never spoken to me like he did now. I gulped.

We were so close to each other that I could feel his hot breath on me like fire.

Now, I was scared.

"Robert, you are scaring me." I whispered, frightened to raise my voice.

Immediately, he loosened his grip on me. "You are coming with me."

It was like a final statement that I couldn't argue about. He had an authoritative voice that sent chills down my spine. Suddenly, I started to miss the flirty Robert who was always around to make me laugh and roll my eyes with his cheesy lines.

His grip on my hands had just loosened, but he had never completely let go of my hand. He walked me towards his car, Maria and opened the passenger seat for me.

Without another word, I got in. He pushed the door shut harder than necessary. Soon, he was at the driver seat, driving to the tracks where the race was held.

There was no music and we were not talking. It was the worst car ride ever. The tension that held us captive was so dense that it made me choke on my own spit. I started coughing and spurting, which made Robert look at me with suspicious eyes.

He took a deep breath when he came to know that I was not making it up. He pulled over and handed me a water bottle from the back seat. I took a few sips gulping down the liquid.

"Sorry, I was rude." He said, running his fingers past his hair and looking out of the window. When he turned back to see me, he was smiling. The guy who was just sitting next to me, scaring the hell out of me was long gone, which made me wonder if he was bipolar.

"A small please would have been enough." I said in a small voice.

"I'll keep that in mind." He chuckled. "You okay? Or should I wait for another minute?"

"I'm good." I nodded my head as he started the drive again. "So, why do you need me there that badly?"

It was question that was poking all the way. It was not his first race for sure and he would have had may earpieces before me, so why me now?

"Your earpiece bailed?" I asked, when he didn't tell anything.

"I never had an earpiece in the first place." He smiled, giving me a look. "I've always worked alone." He looked back at the road. "They are always extra baggage." He shrugged. "You will have to give them some percent of the cash you get for racing. And I needed all the money I could get, so I never hired anyone."

"So, if I'm going to be one tonight for you, then what's in it for me?" I asked giving a teasing grin at him.

"What do you want?" He asked and when I saw his expression, I knew I had asked the wrong question to him. He was grinning like a fool and I knew he had perverted answers ready for me.

When I just stared at him, not wanting to say anything, he started. "Oh, darling." He teased back with the same grin that I liked about him. "You can get to kiss me. That's what's there for you. How about that?"

"In your dreams pretty boy." I shook my head sideways. No matter what happened, he would always be the jerk that he was.

---

Robert had bought me a hamburger and a coke, commenting that I had to keep my stomach filled in order to work my head right when I was his earpiece. The thought alone gave me goose-bumps. The possibilities of what if's gave me a headache of what might happen next.

I texted Dad and Lily, telling that I was at the tracks and I would reach home late. I wrote another specifically long message to Dad telling that he shouldn't wait for me for dinner and should take medicines on time.

It was really saddening that Dad had never bothered to call and update me about his stay. He was supposed to be home in the morning, but it was already evening and there was no sign of him. But then again, he never bothered to mention about his whereabouts even when he was as fit as a horse. So there was nothing to blame on him.

But, somehow I felt responsible.

He was the only family that was left and I didn't want to risk losing it.

Maria halted in front of a big gate that was as high as the sky. I took in the surroundings. It was a bare ground with no human existence what-so-ever except for the zombie like people who wandered about.

I knew the tracks were always placed in rural places, but I never expected it to take me to this extent.

A thought crossed my mind, telling me strongly that there might have been a fair chance of Robert taking me here to kill or perhaps more. For all I knew, there was no Calvin or Dan to specifically tell me about these sudden plans of a race. They were the only people I trusted when it came to tracks.

"So, what do you think?" Robert pulled me out of my trance, giving me smug smile.

"It looks haunted." I replied honestly.

Robert laughed at my response, shaking his head sideways. "It's not that bad. You should see some other tracks, they will give you nightmares."

I gulped.

There were two hefty men guarding that skyrocketed gate. They looked deadly and seemed as if it had been decades since they smiled and that fact alone made them forget the whole concept of a grin.

"Hey Bob." Robert turned to one of the men standing out there, giving a slight head nod.

The scary looking guy didn't wait to acknowledge him. He turned his attention towards me, making a face that seemed like he wanted to skin and eat me alive.

"The girl's with me." Robert said coolly, making it seem like he was just ordering pizza for the night.

The guy, Bob who stood next to Rob's car door, nodded and gave a look to the other. The other person opened those doors to let us in.

"Scarlet?" Robert asked, once we were inside the tracks. It was definitely scary, but there were people that brought the air inside my lungs back again.

"Yeah?" I asked, still dazzled by the intimidating Bob back there.

It was the first time that Robert had genuinely smiled at me the whole evening. "I know you are scared. But trust me it will be worth it."

"Is there someone here I know?" I asked.

"Cal is here somewhere." Robert parked his car among the others who had.

"You are not driving in Maria?" I asked perplexed. He always talked so highly about Maria that I thought she was his life.

He laughed at that and got out. I mimicked his steps and followed him out. "She took a bad crash last year, my fault." He raised his hands in the air as mock surrender. "She needed some NOS that I couldn't afford, so I joined here to make it up for her."

"Ah, love." I rolled my eyes at him.

As I stood there making fun of the guy, some random guy walked past me knocking me over. I took few steps behind me taking in the impact of his push. He held a plastic cup in his hand and I knew instantly that it was a honest mistake.

"Hey man!" Robert raised his voice evenly almost like menace. "Watch out."

The guy raised his cup up as an apology and didn't turn back.

"Are you okay?" Robert was concerned. "You are supposed to stick with me, okay?"

"I've been to races Rob," I consoled. It was as common as flu when it came to the actual base of the track. The girls, drinks, flirts— they are all part of the race. My Dad had made me understand this fact at an early age. I was not frightened by them. "I've been to these things since I could barely walk."

"This is not one of your Dad's games where there are people to protect you, okay?" Robert took my hand in his and walked towards the MC of the evening. "Dude, I'm here." He said to him and then turned towards me, lowering his voice. "It's an illegal game. Why else do you think it was in such a remote location?"

"Robert, you need to relax." I said, rolling my eyes at him. We were still walking towards something that seemed like a pit stop. "I've been to illegal games too. I can surely take care of myself. You have not seen my ninja moves yet."

He stopped short making me bump at him. "Ninja moves?" He raised one eye brow at me, almost mockingly. It seemed as if he was holding back his laughter. "I'm just glad that you are not yet freaking out."

"Why will I be freaking out?" I asked shrugging my shoulders.

I had been to such races before. I had watched millions of race shows that my Dad had won and lost. It was in my blood and this stupid guy was forgetting it every freaking time.

"Nothing." He said, as he walked further down to his car.

The car had not come into view yet, but the way he was holding me, making sure that no one was bumping into me, was kind of cute. I mean, even though I have been to these things before, my Dad had never once had made sure that I had reached safe and sound to my designated spot before.

This was way too nice.

It made me feel important for once.

"So, that's my ride." Robert stopped, pulling me next to him. "I will be leaving now, with a part of you with me, always." He kept his hand on his heart wiping a mock tear out of his eyes.

I laughed and turned towards the car.

"OH MY GOD!"

Robert just laughed. "I hope you had never seen this type of car before. Are you freaking out yet?"

I knew he was teasing me, but my mouth which had opened, had not yet found its way to close.

The car, can I even call it that? It was a ride to heaven. If I was dying, I would want to die in such a carriage which will definitely take me to ecstasy.

It was all black with a red stripes across it, making it seem deadly, but at the same time there was something majestic about it. The wheels were hidden under its hood and the dash board had many buttons most of which I hadn't encountered yet.

This car was half of my height, but compensated for it in its length. There was only one door open and I could see that there was no passenger seat. For a moment, I was disappointed. Perhaps, I could have kicked my legs in the air pretending to be too stubborn to stay out of the car, so that Robert would have to take me along with him. But that idea was soon ruled out.

The window shield were not tinted and were pure transparent. It was probably to make sure that the racers wouldn't use a cheat sheet or something.

"What is she doing here?" A voice came and I knew it was directly pointing towards me. To my surprise it was Calvin.

"Hey," I said awkwardly not know what else to do.

"She's my earpiece Cal." Robert said coolly, putting on his fire resistant jacket. "She needs to get involved in racing as much as she can."

"But..." Calvin started, but soon realized that I was standing right next to him. So, he gently smiled at me. "It's glad you made it, kid." He said pulling Robert to his side. "Bert, come with me for a second."

Calvin was not asking permission nor was he waiting for Robert to go and talk with him. He just pulled him to his side, dragging Rob as far as possible from me. I saw them both interact with curious eyes, trying to grasp whatever they might have been talking about. It did not require a genius to know that it was about me and I could tell Cal was really pissed at my appearance.

After about ten minutes of rattle between them, someone behind me called for Bert asking him to buckle up. Finally Calvin, put his hands up in surrender and walked the other way.

"Ready?" Robert asked with a big smile on his face as if the whole conversation didn't happen at all.

"What was about that, Bert?" I asked, folding my hands.

He pulled the jacket towards himself, grabbing a Bluetooth from the guy who had called him before. "I would happily discus that with you, but darling, I've got a game to play." He stuck the Bluetooth in my ear. "You are my eyes and ears, okay? You see, I see. You hear, I hear."

"You will do this without me, so I'm not worried." I said, as he made connections with the device for him. He put it on his ear and smiled.

"But not today." He was all serious now—in his game mode. "Scarlet, do not make eye contact with anyone and don't take any drinks or eateries from them. Go to the top of this building where you can see the whole track, okay? Do you understand me?"

The weight of his words fell on me and I knew I had to be careful. Now that Calvin was angry with me for some reason that I didn't know, there was no one who could come to help if there should arise such situation.

I nodded in return.

"Good." He said and climbed into the race car. He buckled up, putting on the seat belt. He switched on a few buttons and then showed thumbs up sign to the guy who stood next to him. He was then handed a helmet that hardly made me see through it.

A second later, he was gone like the wind, leaving behind a smoky trail. The boys, who stood behind, realizing that I was the only girl in the area, gave me an eye.

I recollected what Robert had advised me. I walked away with my head hung low, not making eye contact with anyone. Just as he had told me.

I reached for the top floor of the building as Robert had told, trying to see the whole race track. As I reached for the top terrace, I saw that it was completely empty, giving me goose-bumps. I was expecting a ghost of the drivers who had possibly died there to pop up and take my life away.

I heaved a sigh of relief when I finally reached the railings to see the whole race.

"Scarlet?" A voice came from the Bluetooth. "Where are you?"

"Rob!" I jumped in my spot, holding my hands on my heart. "You scared me."

There was a ripple of laughter on the other side as I made my way to the corner to see the tracks. "Oh, my God!" I said out loud, ignoring his laughs.

"Are you okay?" He asked seeming a little anxious about my outburst.

"The track, it's so big." I whispered. On looking closely, I noticed that they had put big water cans in the middle of the road, tubes on one side with pin point curves. It looked lethal. "There are obstacles."

"Yeah," He said, there was some noise on the other side and then he was back again. "I thought about it. Stay with me, okay?"

"Racers!" A voice came through the speakers out loud to grab the attention of the racers. "Are you ready for this deadly race?"

"Deadly race?" I gulped, not sure what I was doing there. "Robert, do your thing and come back. I'm not sure if I can be of any help."

"You are my earpiece, Scarlet." Robert said in a stern voice, trying to get me out of my little panic attack. "You used to drive according to the instructions that I gave you, right? Now it's your turn, you instruct, I drive."

"Drive fast, not last!" The microphone came back to life again.

"Don't get killed, you are here to win!" It was now a lady in the microphone.

"Keep your head low, cause you are now ready to—" I waited patiently, to hear her next words. "GO!" 

---

A/N: Ah, the racing season has begun! Are you ready to race yet? How pumped up are you for the next chapter?