Hellracer

As always, the underground smelled of damp concrete, motor oil, gasoline, and cigarette smoke.

During the day, the tunnels were almost eerily quiet. Stand still long enough and you’d hear nothing but the occasional drip of water echoing through the concrete.

At night...

They belonged to someone else.

Headlights carved through the darkness. Engines screamed. Music shook the walls while hundreds of strangers crowded together, chasing the same thing.

Speed. Escape. The chance to feel alive for five reckless minutes.

Down here, nobody promised you’d make it back to the surface.

I leaned against my car, a cigarette hanging lazily from my lips. I barely smoked it.

Boredom sat heavy in my chest. Familiar. Annoying. Almost comforting, if I’m honest.

Around me, nerves and noise blurred into one endless roar.

People came down here looking for something. Most of them never found it.

“Hayes, you ready?” Duncan’s voice cut through the noise.

A crooked smile tugged at my mouth. “When am I not?”

Duncan disappeared back into the crowd.

Racers liked to believe they were always ready. Truth was...

Eventually, you stopped racing for the adrenaline. You raced because you didn’t know how to stop.

The crowd packed tighter against the concrete walls until it became one solid mass of bodies. Heat rolled through the tunnels while engines screamed hard enough to vibrate through bone.

This wasn’t just an underground parking garage anymore. It was an arena.

Everyone down here wore the same face. Same hunger. Same recklessness.

I knew the look. I’d seen it in the mirror enough times.

My eyes wandered over the crowd out of habit.

Then stopped.

Not because someone shouted. Not because a car shot into the tunnel. Because of her.

She moved through the crowd like she’d wandered into the wrong world. Trying not to draw attention. Failing miserably.

The harder she tried to disappear the more she stood out.

I watched her until the cigarette burned my fingers.

Well… That was new.

“Fuck.” I dropped it onto the concrete.

Since when did I stop paying attention?

Something about her didn’t belong. She wasn’t trying to impress anyone. She wasn’t trying to prove anything.

Light brown hair spilling loosely over her shoulders. A soft beige sweater. Blue jeans. White sneakers.

Wrong shoes. Wrong clothes. Wrong place.

She looked like she’d taken one wrong turn and ended up in the wrong hell.

Give it thirty seconds. She’d leave.

And yet...

There was hesitation in the way she walked. But something else, too.

Defiance?

“First time here?” I called over the noise.

She turned toward me, clearly caught off guard.

“What?”

“I asked if this is your first time here.”

Of course it is.

I’d have remembered her. Didn’t matter. It shouldn’t.

She frowned. “Uh... yeah. Something like that,” she said hesitantly.

I pulled another cigarette from the pack and lit it. “You always wander into abandoned tunnels looking like that?”

I took a long drag before flicking the ash onto the concrete.

“Unless Google Maps is getting creative, you took a wrong turn.”

Around us, engines screamed, someone yelled about the starting grid, headlights flashed across the tunnel walls but my eyes never left her.

“Believe me, I’m in the right place. I’m looking for my friend. He invited me.”

She fell silent for a moment, her gaze drifting over my shoulder before settling on something behind me.

“Someone’s calling you.”

I glanced back just enough to see Duncan waving from the other side of the crowd.

“Hayes! You’re up next!” he shouted.

I raised a hand without looking. My eyes were still on her.

...The hell was I doing?

“They can wait.”

The girl shifted under my stare, the uneasiness written all over her face.

“What’s your friend’s name?” I asked. “I know most people around here.”

“David.”

A grin tugged at my lips. “David? Dark hair? Drives a red Honda?”

She blinked. “No... different David.”

“Ah.”

Different David.

I took another drag from my cigarette, letting the smoke drift slowly into the air.

“So he doesn’t race?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“So he brought you down here without telling you what this place really is.”

“That’s either trust or pure stupidity. Hard to tell which.”

She folded her arms across her chest.

I couldn’t tell if her eyes were green or gray. The shifting lights made them look different every few seconds.

Didn’t stop me from looking. Should’ve.

I caught the flash of irritation in them.

“And you are?”

I smiled. Slowly. Deliberately. “Mateo Hayes.”

One of her brows lifted. “Should that mean something to me?”

“It usually does.” I gave a casual shrug.

She looked at me like my name meant absolutely nothing.

...Interesting.

The roar around us grew even louder. Metal clanged somewhere against the concrete. One engine ripped through the tunnel, drowning out half the voices around us.

I didn’t move.

“I only said something because you looked like this place was about to eat you alive.”

I dropped my cigarette and crushed it beneath my boot.

Again.

“Your friend David didn’t exactly prepare you for this world.”

She let out a dry scoff. There wasn’t an ounce of humor in it. Just nerves.

“He actually did.”

Then, almost under her breath… “Where the hell is he?”

She pulled out her phone and started typing. The glow of the screen lit up her face for a brief moment.

Frustration. Anxiety. Pride. All of it tangled together.

I slipped another cigarette between my lips and flicked the lighter open. For the briefest moment, the flame danced in her eyes before disappearing.

“He’s probably stuck with the betting crowd,” I said, exhaling a slow stream of smoke. “Hiding behind your phone isn’t going to make you invisible.”

I glanced around us. “People down here notice everything.”

“Nerves. Fear.”

My eyes settled back on hers. “You’re practically fresh meat.”

I shrugged. “Do yourself a favor. Go home. Whatever you’re looking for, it isn’t worth this place.”

She didn’t look away. Not even for a second. Those eyes, unmistakably green now, locked onto mine.

“And yet...” she tilted her head just enough to get under my skin. “...you seem awfully comfortable telling strangers what to do.”

A laugh escaped before I could stop it. Low. Sharp. Real.

Didn’t see that coming.

“Fair enough.”

She looked at the cigarette between my fingers before lifting her gaze back to me. “Another one?”

A tiny smile threatened at the corner of her mouth. “At this rate, your lungs are going to file for divorce.”

I froze halfway through a drag.

Well.

That one actually caught me off guard.

I let the smoke drift slowly from my lungs, never taking my eyes off her.

Feisty. Definitely wasn’t expecting that. ...Didn’t hate that.

“My lungs?” I echoed, one brow lifting. “I’m pretty sure they never asked for your opinion.”

The corner of her mouth twitched again. Not quite a smile. But close enough.

“You think pretty highly of yourself.”

“Maybe.”

I took another slow drag before answering. “Difference is… I’ve got every reason to.”

My feet moved before my brain caught up. I stepped closer. Not enough to invade her space. Just enough for her to notice.

She held my stare a second longer than most people did.

There couldn’t have been more than a few feet between us. Close enough to notice the way her breathing changed. Close enough to notice every tiny change in expression.

The noise around us faded into the background. The engines. The shouting. The music.

For one strange moment none of it mattered.

Our eyes locked. Not by accident. Not for a passing glance.

I should’ve broken eye contact.

Didn’t.

Something shifted. Not dramatically. Not enough for me to make sense of it. Just a brief, unfamiliar pull somewhere beneath my ribs. Gone almost as quickly as it came.

...What the hell was that?

Before I could answer my own question, she broke the moment first.

She turned on her heel.

“Well,” she called over her shoulder. “Sorry for wandering onto your territory. I’ll make sure to ask permission next time.”

A slow grin spread across my face.

There she is.

“Run along, Princess.”

“But when David ghosts you and you end up lost down here don’t come crying back to me.”

She stopped. Only for a heartbeat. Without so much as a glance over her shoulder, she lifted her hand and flipped me off.

A couple of guys nearby looked over, probably wondering why the hell I was wasting my time talking to a girl instead of getting ready to race.

Can’t blame them.

I laughed again. This time for real. Short. Amused.

The sound cut clean through the roar of the engines.

“Classy,” I muttered to myself.

She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

I should’ve looked away.

Didn’t.

Cheers erupted from the starting line somewhere behind me.

Didn’t turn.

She disappeared into the crowd before I finally remembered I had a race to win.

Fuck.