-FIFTY FIVE-

"And we have the men of the hour!" The MC shouted which was followed by a roar of applause and hoots.

I took a shaky breath and eyed the mountain man who was holding me back. He seemed to relax slightly now that I had stop struggling against him.

My heart was thumping so loudly that I was surprised I could even hear it over the noise around me.

Was this how I was going to fail?

My mind immediately projected the horrific crash videos I had found online when I was trying to look up the Trench. They weren't specifically from older races because the event was really well hidden online but the comments below who verified cryptically that the outcomes had been similar or worse had been the most sickening feeling ever.

One specific video chose to flash in my mind. The video which had completely annihilated the participants of a race. Whether that was from the Trench or not, I didn't know but the fact that something similar could happen during this race had be freaking out even more.

Imagining Kade's bloodied face in the wreck was enough to jolt me out of the self-pity party I had just begun.

I couldn't let this happen. No matter what.

I looked up at Mountain Man and discreetly examined him. There was no way in hell I was strong enough to fight him or even out of his grip. The only other way was to distract him enough for him to leave his crown jewels unguarded.

I cringed at the thought and I mentally apologised to the bodyguard in advance. I really didn't want to harm him but my options were limited.

Since Mountain Man was holding me from behind by my arms, I didn't know if I could aim for a kick back. I didn't want to miss my aim and have him get an idea of what I was trying to do. If he knew, I would literally not have an escaping chance.

I twisted in his grip, making him quickly turn his attention to me. I motioned for him to bend down, as if I had something to say to him. He gave me a suspicious look but cautiously obeyed, leaning down a little.

"I need to adjust my shorts, they're riding up. Can you let go of my arm?"

His eyes snapped to my short shorts before narrowing at me. He seemed to contemplate for a moment but when I shifted uncomfortably, trying a weird wiggle to show that there was no way I could do that without the use of my hands, he relented.

I didn't waste a single second. The moment he let go of my right arm, I twisted around and brought my knee right to his private parts. He immediately doubled over, his grip loosening on my other arm. I yanked my other arm and before he could recover from the attack, I was already moving.

I threw him a quick apology before bolting out of there. I was pushing people left and right, blindly squeezing my way through the thick throngs of people. I was not above elbowing or kicking my way through either. I gave a quick look back to see that Mountain Man had somewhat gained his sense back and he looked pissed.

I gulped and before he looked my way, I ducked into the crowd, hoping to loose him.

At one point, I wasn't even sure if I was heading straight or not. FUCK.

Just when I thought that I wouldn't get past the crowd, I got pushed by an annoyed fan who made me fall into a guy, who like a domino effect created a topple effect until I saw the clearing. Not caring if I looked like a person who escaped from a mental hospital, I took advantage of the chaos and practically climbed over people until I was right at the front. I was pretty sure I looked like a lunatic from every third person's point of view.

But did I care at this point? Nope.

I ignored the fight that had started behind me, basically because of me, and manoeuvred my way to the tracks. Thankfully, the commotion had caught quite a lot of attention. Enough to help me squeeze myself through the wire fence that divided the roads from where the spectators were and where the race was.

I ignored the slightly painful grazes of the metal fence against my thigh as I squeezed through an opening that wasn't big enough for my to pass through easily. But I barely paid any attention to the scratches that may have been drawing blood because my adrenaline rush was so high that I couldn't pay attention to my body and what I was putting it through.

I paused to catch my breath as I assessed the situation at hand. 

I had somehow been able to push through the fence and someone was yet to notice me. I could see two bodyguards standing not so far away from where I was. I knew that if they spotted me, it was game over. Thankfully the commotion had drawn enough attention that I was going unnoticed.

I turned my head to see if there was any other obstacle I was going to have to cross through. 

There was nothing between my and the cars a couple of metres away from me. 

My heart thumped when I saw Kade and whoever he was racing against do a formal handshake before going around the car to the driver's seat. My gut twisted at the sight. Anxiety crawled up my nerves like anything. My heart was beating so loudly that I thought it was going to break through my rib cage and blast out.

I didn't give enough time to think it over before I took off with everything I had in me towards the car. My sense were in overdrive as they tuned out everything around my, my vision tunnelling only on my destination. Before anyone could figure out what was happening, I found my body working on auto as I reached the car and pulled the passenger seat open and jumped inside, locking myself in the car.

Kade looked startled at the intrusion and I'm pretty sure I looked crazy with the wild expression on my face and my lungs trying to not let me die by pulling in as much oxygen as I could. 

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Kade's eyes were wide as he looked at me.

I didn't speak for a moment, I was still trying to catch my breath. Instead of answering him immediately, I turned around and pulled the seatbelt, buckling myself in. I turned towards him, hoping that I could pull of the defiant look I was trying to.

"If you're so confident about this race, I'm going with you."

I could see Kade's jaw ticking underneath his mask as he glared at me with ice cold eyes. I felt a shiver run down my spine but I held my own.  

"Get the fuck out of the car, Kyra." His voice was dangerously low. I held in my urge to look away from the eyes that had turned into a colour that I had come to hate. I missed the amused glimmer and the warmth they usually radiated.

"No"

"I swear to God-"

"You said that you know that nothing would go wrong with this race so what's the problem?"

"Kyra," he started, his voice furious. I gulped but stood my guard, gripping the seat belt like my life depended on it. "If you don't get off now, I swear you'll regret it."

"I don't care."

He glared at me in a way that would have had anyone running in the opposite direction, me included. But given the situation and with how I had already dug my grave, I guess he would have to physically extract me from the car because I was not getting off no matter what.

"Fine. You don't want to get off? I'll race with you here," he spoke and revved the engine, making fear crawl up my spine.

My heart was lodged in the throat and I gripped the seatbelt tighter and shut my eyes tightly. I couldn't believe what was happening. But a lot of things that had happened today were something that I couldn't have ever even imagined in my wildest dreams.

The fact that I never thought that I would be brave enough to do this for anyone brought another terrifying realisation. My heart that was already racing skipped beats, thrumming in my chest for a whole new different reason. I slowly pried my eyes open and looked at the absolutely terrifying yet gorgeous guy beside me.

Why did it matter so much if Kade wanted to race so badly? He was an amazing race driver and I knew he would do everything in his power to not get harmed.

But why did the minute possibility of  losing him or watching him get hurt drown me in the worst kind of terror and mania?

As much as I wanted to chalk it up to basic humanity, I couldn't justify the desperation I felt, the absolute terror that ran through my veins at the prospect of anything bad happening to him. The possibility of losing him brought a fear that I had felt only two other times in my life and that had been because of my family. 

Before I could dwell on this any longer, both the engines revved again. My ears finally picked up on the countdown that was happening for the race and my eyes widened as I snapped my head towards the driver.

Kade looked at me from the seat on last time.

"Last chance, Kyra. Get off the car."

I took a deep breath and shook my head frantically before grabbing on to anything that could help me survive this. Seemed like I had officially gone insane. 

"3..2..1 and GO!"

The car lurched forward and I closed my eyes, praying that I got the chance to open them again safely.

****

Hey Guys!

Sorry for the short chapter but I hope you're enjoying the story still.

Let me know your thoughts on the chapter and what you think will happen next!

Thank you for reading. I hope you guys have the best day :D

See you guys in the next chapter.