"Ashley, come on." Robert said. "She has gone through a lot. You need to give her a break."

I held my breath as I heard the conversations. Though I had switched off my micro, he hadn't turned his off.

"What you are asking me to do is too much." He continued. "So, I want to quit from your job."

My eyes widened at that. Her job? What was he talking about? He worked for Calvin and not her, didn't he? How was that possible?

There was still thirty yards left to reach the smoke zone, but his conversation made me sit on the edge.

"You want to quit?" Ashley laughed, a victorious humorless laugh. "There's nothing called as quitting when it comes to Ash, Robert Hastings."

"Come on." Robert seemed to beg now. "I've done everything you ever asked for. I joined where her father worked, got friends with her, I even got closer to her to know more and I'm her coach now. What else do you want me to do?"

I gasped. That meant, all those times we spent together laughing and flirting... was all a game for him? A contract that he had signed up with the devil to destroy my life? A pawn to be played with?

"You know that's not enough." Ashley was saying. "I need you to stick with her till that last race. That's when your contract gets blown off."

"Ashley, we both know there is no such contract between us." He said.

"Well, then why are you sticking behind?" She asked, her voice as clear as the sky, taunting him. "You can go sniff all your way back to that shithole."

I was nearing the smoke zone and I was terrified. Though there was a fifty-fifty chance that I was going to survive this zone two times in a row, I wanted to know what the whole conversation was about.

"What else do you want me to do?" He repeated.

"I told you my plan yesterday." She said in a bored tone. "But you were so eager to go that party."

My breathing completely stopped. So, that call was from her? A conspiracy to deal with me? He hadn't come to the party to check on me, but had come as a spy to collect more information.

"But since you let me believe that she was in there, I let you go." She continued. "The plan is to seduce her in your charming trap and then pull her in. I hope you achieved that with that pretty face of yours."

"Yeah." Robert said. "She's seduced alright."

Tears streamed down my face and the smoke in front of me blurred. He had not only played with my life, but with my feelings as well. Now I had understood why Monica had thrown him out of the house calling him a bastard.

"I told you she was already head over heels with me months back!" He told her. "I have even been spending nights under her roof."

That truth was more than enough to take my soul away. I was crushed and crumpled like a used tissue , ready to be thrown into the dustbin after its use.

"Whatever." Ashley said. "I just want you to burn her mind and soul before she dies that day."

"Have you set the date?" Robert asked her.

I closed my eyes as I took everything in. It was torturous to hear him talk about me like that. Like I was just a deal he had to get done. I had pushed everyone away from tracks all these times and yet, I had let him in. Not only in my life, but in the deepest part of my souls too. I thought I loved him.

I had thought that even with everyone standing against me, with Robert on my side, I could be winning wars. But little did I know that he was an asshole that pushed the knife behind my back. I had pushed everyone away from me, considering how closed up I was with Dad, I had thought that Robert would give me the solace that I was asking for.

But he was planning on my murder with her?

I had accepted the facts of him being the run-away kid with no one to turn to. I had held him during all those thunderstorms that our town had to offer. I had stood by him when his sister pushed him out of the house. I had lost my job at the café because of him.

What was I doing all that for?

Only to get my heart broken in brutal pieces?

"Thank you, Robert." I said, my voice steady even though tears streamed down my face. "I know you completely now."

All those times when he shut himself up, and how he was mysterious when his personal questions were asked, all went straight into my head, telling me how much of a fraud he was.

"Fuck!" He muttered, worried that he was finally caught. "Scarlet? How did you... God, the microphone!"

I could hear Ashley chuckle. "Good luck, peaches."

I was at the smoke zone now, and all the pleas and questions went above my head as I raced ahead. I didn't trust his instincts to get me to the other side. I closed my eyes, as the tears rolled down, hoping that I was not stamping on any more of the sharp objects that had already stabbed my heart and get myself out from that fog.

My mind didn't know whom it was addressing anymore. I was in the smoke, coughing even with my helmet on. The words that were pinned on my heart were bleeding me to death than the pins that lay on the sunny road.

With the other cars passing by, the smoke had cleared up and the pins were scattered to the sides. That gave me an opening to go without any scratch. I only wished that such opening would be available to me in me life too.

"I'm sorry, Scarlet." Robert was begging now. "You were not supposed to hear that."

"No, I'm sorry." I said. The malice in my voice was evident. "I thought I liked you. For real. But you? God, I feel so ashamed of me right now."

Even though I was bawling my eyes out, my voice was steady and I had turned myself into stone. Who was left for me in this world anyway? Who could I be trusting again? My own father was a cheat. The guy whom I liked was sketching to take my life away. What else did that leave me in?

"Scarlet, listen." Robert said. "You have got it all wrong. I don't know how much you heard us, but I like you too. That's why I wanted to quit."

"Save it, Hastings." I said, my voice formal. I cleaned up the fourth lap and entered into the last one. "That means all that time we were together, it was all a mission to you? You were her worker?"

"No, I came to town because of her." He confessed.

"You lied to me, you frigging asshole!" I screamed, pressing my foot on the gas. The initial self pity turned into the rage I had for him.

"No, I wanted those NOS and she helped me with that." He said. I rolled my eyes, not believing a word he was saying. "That's how I came to work with her."

"Great!" I shouted. "That's how you came to fuck up my life!"

"Yes, initially that was the plan." He said.

"I'm going to rip you apart, Hastings!" I screamed, as I neared the smoke zone again. There were another three cars in front of me and I was least bothered about the other illegal stuffs they were performing on each other. "How dare you! I knew that you were behind my Dad's race too!"

"I swear, I don't know a thing about your Dad's race!" Robert shouted back. "I was only employed just then."

He continued about how he had gotten in and the plans they had for me and my Dad. But everything floated in the air as fresh tears started.

Of all the guys, I had come to like him. I had stood by him in all times, had held his hand, caressed his cheeks, ran my hands over his perfectly curly hair, kissed those sinful lips. I had believed in him to take me to untold heights with him, only to know that he was my doom.

I trusted him with all my heart. Even when I saw him behaving differently with Ashley, I didn't suspect a thing. I had pulled him to being friends with my innocent gang. My father who hadn't even allowed another guy to set foot in our house after eleven had welcomed him like a son. What was I going to tell them all?

That he was a con-artist playing with all our lives like it was a game for him?

That he was just another guy who was planted for my doom in the first place?

"I didn't even know you were going to be the sacrificial lamb until a few days ago." He said. "By the time I wanted to tell you... you already knew it."

I didn't utter a word. Another car in front of me popped its tyre and blew up in the air. I saw this as an opportunity to race before the car came back to the ground. I sniffed as I did and raced along with a few more cars.

"I'm sure you wanted to tell me all this too." I said emotionless. "But I found out way before you made up your mind."

"Scar, it's not like that." He said. "It was all a silly game but then I got involved with you. I love you, Scarlet. I really do."

"It's little too late for that." I said, as I crossed the finish line coming in first.

I had not only come first on my own today, but I had come out to be a more stronger and wiser woman. I had thought that life had taught me a lot already, but I was wrong.

The ear piercing screams didn't bring any warm to my already cold heart. I drove toward my crew and set aside the car. I took my helmet out and wiped my tears clean.

"It's over, Robert Hastings." I said, turning myself into a stone. "It's over."

Before I knew what I was doing, I pulled the micro away from my ears and stepped my heels on it, crushing it into pieces, imagining that it was Robert all along.

---

A/N: Tell me honestly, were you anticipating this? Should Scarlet forgive him?