Underground Secrets (The Underground #1) (2 page)

“Uh… hi.”

“What’s your name?”

“M-Marlie,” I stuttered.

“Carter,” he took a step towards me and I then took a step back.

He smiled at that and opened his mouth to speak, but didn’t say anything because the bell rang, letting me know I missed being on time to my class.

“Shit,” I said, walking around him to get to class, but he grabbed my arm. His touch instantly making my stomach do flips.

“What’s the rush, Doll?”

I blushed at his name for me, “I am late for class. I have to go.”

His lips turn up in a half smile, “It’s only the first day. They probably won’t even know you’re not there.”

“Still, I have to get to class. Don’t you?”

He smirked at me and I raised one brow at him. “Yeah, but this whole school deal isn’t really my thing.”

My ears perked up at that. I feel the same freaking way. “What is your thing then?” I whispered to him, feeling like being a little saucy.

Now it was his turn to raise a brow at me. “Let me show you.”

He reached down to grab my hand, then threaded his fingers through mine. He pulled me towards the exit that led to the school parking lot. I don’t know why I decided to follow him. As much as I hated school, I had never skipped class before, but I didn’t care. All I cared about was the fact that this extremely hot guy was holding my hand. I had guy friends sure, and ones that tried to get with me, but none that made me nervous and gave me butterflies like he did from the first moment we made eye contact.

He led me over to an older, clearly classic, red car. He opened the passenger door and I got in. He got into the driver’s seat, buckled up and started the engine. “Buckle up,” he told me as he reached over and went ahead and buckled me in himself. I don’t know why I left with him or why my mind wasn’t telling me not to get into a car with a stranger - a hot stranger - but I did it anyway.

I said absolutely nothing as he drove us to the outside of Denver, up an old mountain road. He turned the car around and put it in park, letting it idle. He leaned back in his seat and stared at me for a moment, making me feel…weird and put on the spot. “Do you trust me?” he asked with one hand casually resting on his steering wheel.

I snorted at his question, “Of course not. I just met you.”

He chuckled at my reply. “Then why did you get in the car with me?”

That was the same damn question I had been asking myself the whole ride there. I still didn’t have an answer. “I… I don’t really know.”

He smiled at me and I nearly melted right then and there. He sat forward again, still with one hand on the steering wheel but now gripped firmly, and moved the other to the manual stick, “Well, you’re going to find out, because this… this is my thing.”

“What’s your…”

Before I could finish, he put the car in gear and sped off, leaving the smell of burnt rubber behind, going at a speed that was definitely not safe; certainly not for some boy in high school. I had gripped the dash and closed my eyes, preparing myself for death, but after a minute or so, I had opened my eyes only to witness him drifting around the curve of the mountainous old road. I tried to settle my breathing, but nothing was working, until he had placed his hand on my thigh. But my breathing hadn’t slowed down, it hitched, and if anything, it had sped up.

I yelled at him in a panicked state, “This is your thing?”

“Yep,” he answered laughing his ass off, enjoying my hysteria.

“You’re fucking nuts!” I squealed at him.

He just laughed even harder and after a few minutes of panicking, I had somehow begun to relax. I wouldn’t say I had started to enjoy it, but I began to realize that I might not be dying that day.

After we made it down the mountain, alive, he drove us back to the school and I pointed to where my truck was. I hopped out of his car wanting to get away from ever being in a car with him again. Before I knew it, he had grabbed me and turned me around to face him. He walked me backwards until my back was pressed up against my truck. He stared at me for a moment before he reached his hand up and brushed a loose strand from my ponytail away from my face. His eyes still fixed on mine, he came in close. So close. I closed my eyes preparing myself for my first kiss, but he didn’t kiss me. He just whispered into my ear, making every part of me hum with want. “Let’s do that again sometime, Doll,” and then he walked away, leaving me breathless.

The next day there was a note in my truck from Carter with details about this race that was going to down and that he had hoped I would attend. I knew then that I would go, but I had to convince Gemma to come with.

“And there he is,” Gemma announces.

I look down at her and see her actually smiling. When I had told her about Carter and my leaving with him, she freaked out saying that I should have never have left with him.

Then she met him.

The next day during lunch, he strode over and sat by me, giving Gem and me one of his cute, dimpled grins. She practically had drool running down her chin when she got a good look at him. All she had said after lunch was over was, “I get it now,” and we laughed all the way to our next class.

She likes him. She just thinks he’ll lead me down a bad path.

And I know he isn’t a good boy; he’s a bad one. I have spent every day with him since the first day of school. Whether it’s talking on the phone, or hanging out after school, I never felt like this before. He makes me feel things. Things I probably shouldn’t feel, but I like him. A lot.

He hasn’t kissed me yet. Even though I am dying for him to, he hasn’t. I often wonder if he only wants to be friends with me, but there is this strong doubt in the back of my mind that says that isn’t it, not with the way he flirts with me relentlessly and talks to me seductively. I just don’t get it.

“Yep, there he is!” I say, practically squeaking out the words in excitement.

“Okay, I’ll admit it, this looks exciting. He races in these things?”

I sit back down next to Gemma. “Yep. Well, not yet anyways. He said his uncle wouldn’t allow him to do it until he thought he was ready. I am guessing that is his uncle.” I gesture toward the man standing next to Carter.

“And I am guessing his uncle thinks he’s ready?”

I shrug, “I guess so.”

My eyes never leave Carter as I watch him move to his car that is parked alongside all the other racers on the track and get in. They start their engines and let the cars idle. Then a tall, skinny, sickly-looking blonde with hollow eyes and a hollow face, unceremoniously walks towards the front of the cars. She is stumbling and only looks at the ground. I briefly wonder if she is really tanked, but her empty looking face from what I can see suggest it’s most likely drugs or something else. I watch as she fumbles for something in her back pocket and pulls it out. It looks like a large white cloth. She brings it up and holds it above her head. Then the guy, who I now assume is Carter’s uncle, speaks into the mic again. “Easy rules, easy race,” he says scanning the crowd and then over to the cars lined up side by side. “First man to get around this old track ten times is the winner. Other than that, there are no rules.”

At his statement the crowd goes crazy, whistling, hollering, and throwing their fists up in the air with excitement.

“Holy shit. Does that mean what I think it means?” Gemma asks, with panic etched into her words.

I am at a loss for words. Surely they wouldn’t let things get out of control? “I am not sure, Gem. Carter didn’t say.”

“Well, you think he would have mentioned it.”

We sit here and watch as the blonde throws down the cloth and the cars take off. It is so thrilling watching them all take off, fishtailing in the rush just to get ahead. And before we know it, Gem and I are standing up screaming and yelling for Carter to get first place. He easily comes into third and is just hair behind being second. I watch in amazement seeing him swerve to avoid being hit.

Being focused on Carter and wanting him to win, I didn’t pay attention to the crash that had just happened. But I sure as hell heard it, along with gasps from the onlookers. One car is flipped over and the other is kissing a nearby tree. Everyone stays where they are. Not one person comes out to help the two men who had just wrecked. It floors me.

Suddenly, the guy whose car nose-dived into the tree gets out and rushes over to the driver whose car is flipped over. I sigh in relief, thinking that at least someone is helping, but the relief only lasts for a second as I watch the tree-guy, pull flipped-over-car-guy out and start kicking him while he is on the ground. He just keeps going on and on, kicking and kicking, and not one damn person is doing a thing about it.

“What the hell is this?” Gemma fumes.

“I don’t know. Why isn’t anyone stopping him?” I say this out loud for Gemma’s benefit, but honestly, I can’t help but watch. It’s… fascinating, but it should be stopped. Right?

As if someone was reading my mind, Carter’s uncle comes up and puts a hand on the shoulder of the guy who is beating the ever-loving crap out the other guy. Tree-man flinches, but recovers once he realizes who’s touching him. Carter’s uncle wraps his arm around him and walks away with him, leaving the other guy a bloody mess on the ground. Several minutes go by as I watch the guy’s lifeless-looking body lay there, and everything else continues on like it didn’t happen.

What the hell?

Eventually, two big men come over and carry him away, and another guy comes with a fire extinguisher and puts out the small flame forming from the flipped-over car.

“Is…is he… is he still…alive?” Gemma is now trembling with fear and I have no idea what to say. I just look at her with sad eyes and shrug.

All of a sudden the crowd erupts into louder cheers and I look back over to the racers to see Carter pulling in at first for the win. For a brief moment, I forget about what I had just witnessed and smile as I watch Carter do a victory burnout and then a doughnut, sending dust and dirt everywhere and forming a huge cloud around him and his car.

Gem and I don’t speak of the accident. We know that what we just witnessed was horrific and the chances of that guy being okay are slim. I am not sure if I am more disturbed about the fact that it had happened and no one did anything about it or the fact that I am not as bothered about it as I should be.

We sit on the hood of the truck wordlessly for the next forty-five minutes waiting for the crowd to settle down and clear out, but it never does. If anything, the crowd seems to get louder and more obnoxious as dusk settles into dark. People everywhere are drinking, fighting, and dancing to music blaring through many truck and car speakers, having sex and doing lines of blow off each other and the hoods of their cars. They are all doing this openly and not giving a damn about it. I have never seen anything like this. I am completely in a trance and full of awe watching this all happen right in front of my eyes. Who knew things like this actually existed? You see it in the movies but never in real life.

Gemma stands up and jumps to the bed of the truck, “Can we please go now, Marlie?”

“Yeah sure.” I don’t want to leave. I want to witness what may happen, but I know this is making Gemma uncomfortable. So I get up and we hop off the truck and I follow Gemma who is already walking away through the crowd.

Halfway to my truck, someone grabs my arm. I turn around and see that it’s Carter. I smile this big goofy grin at him, and he returns it.

“Great race! And you won!” I jump up and hug him as tight as I can.

“Yep, I knew I would. I was in beast-mode tonight!” he says confidently.

I laugh and release him from my hug, “But it was your first race. How did you know?”

His smile falters slightly, “Because this is all I have known since I was little. I have been practicing since I was twelve. My uncle, Olin, would take me out on back roads and show me how to drive. Then as I got the hang of that, he would show me all the good stuff.”

“That’s awesome! He sounds like a great uncle!”

He smiles, but it looks like a forced one. “Yeah, he’s definitely something.”

I am about to question his response, but he sees Gemma and turns his attention to her. “Hey, you came too! What did ya think?”

At that moment, I know Gemma has had enough with this whole night, because her feistiness comes out, “Which part? This crazy scene?” She waves her hand around towards the partiers, then lets her hand fall back to her side. She steps in closer to Carter, “Or the fact that I’m pretty sure I just witnessed a guy get beat to death?” She says it quietly, but you can’t miss the bitterness in her tone.

Carter narrows his eyes and steps in even closer to her, lowering his voice to match hers. “Look, you cannot repeat anything you guys saw here tonight, no matter what. I am a nice guy and all, but some of the people here aren’t. I am sorry that you witnessed that and it was…unfortunate.”

Gemma scoffs, still keeping her voice low, “Unfortunate? That was sick to watch!” She whips her head towards me, “I’ll wait for you in the truck.” She walks away and I turn my attention back to Carter.

“And what did you think?” he grasps my chin with his fingers and thumb and looks me in the eyes.

“I… I honestly don’t know. I think I feel fascinated by it all. It kind of scares me that I feel this way.” I cast my eyes to the ground, because I do feel guilty for feeling this way.

“Look at me, Doll.” I do and I see nothing but joy in his eyes now. Joy that I kind of enjoyed watching what I did? I am not sure. “Don’t feel guilty.”

I nod my head because I don’t want to talk about it anymore. I am so conflicted about how I do feel and how I should feel about all of this.

“I have to go. Gemma is waiting for me in my truck. Congrats on your win though and I’ll see you later.” I turn to walk away but he grabs me again, spins me around, and then crushes his mouth against mine. It’s unexpected, I thought he’d never kiss me, but I’m definitely not going to complain. He pushes his tongue towards my lips and I part them to accept it.

My first kiss and it is one hundred times better than I could have ever hoped for.