Chapter 353 Race To The Finish
Ella
With my evening of pizza and true crime shows having been abruptly shattered by Logan’s obnoxious honking outside, I sighed and leaned on the balcony railing. There he was, sitting in his red convertible with a sheepish grin on his face.
“Wanna go for a joyride?” he called up to me, the grin on his face only widening even more. I raised an eyebrow and frowned down at him. “A joyride, Logan? Seriously?”
“Yes, seriously,” he replied as he climbed out of the car. “It’ll be fun.”
I paused for a moment, glancing down at my clothes. I had only just gotten home from work less than twenty minutes ago, and was already in my sweatpants and hoodie. My hair was pulled up into a messy bun on top of my head, and my makeup was smudged. Not to mention the uneaten, greasy pizza that was waiting for me on my coffee table.
“I can’t,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve got a hot date with some bodega pizza and a true crime show-”
His laughter just drifted up to me and interrupted me mid-sentence, only serving to further amplify my annoyance. “True crime? C’mon, Miss Morgan. Get dressed. Let’s have some fun.”
My arms crossed over my chest as I considered his proposition. But even then, I wasn’t particularly keen on going out with him; especially not when I had promised to myself that I wouldn’t let him in. It was already bad enough that we had gotten so close recently, and after what happened in the restaurant…
“Logan, I just got out of work. Sorry, but I don’t want to go out.”
“Oh, come on,” he called back, his grin unwavering. “I’ve got a surprise for you and everything. I promise you’ll be glad you came.”
I paused, rolling my eyes but also oddly intrigued at the same time.
“You should go.” Ema’s voice, always in the back of my mind, chimed in. “You could use a little fun. And the two of you…”
“Enough with the two of us,” I interrupted, feeling the telltale sign of my heart picking up its pace at my wolf’s implication. “It’s not happening.”
“Whatever. But you should still go. You could use the distraction.”
My wolf’s words weren’t wrong. I did need a distraction from everything, even just for an hour or two.
“Well?” Logan called up to me as he leaned on the hood of his red car. “You coming or what?”
“Fine. But it had better be worth it!” I yelled down before retreating back inside.
As I swapped my sweatpants for jeans and a casual top, then lightly touched up my mascara, I wondered why Logan was always so keen on hanging out. Was he still bent on the idea of the two of us getting together? Was he trying to break our contract once again?
Shaking my head, I told myself to just go with it. A few minutes later, I found myself sitting in his car, still not sure if I’d regret this.
“So, where are you kidnapping me to?” I asked, fastening my seatbelt as he revved the engine.
“You’ll see.” He smirked, and we took off.
As Logan drove, the lights of the city flashed by in a blur. His eyes remained fixed on the road, but the smirk never left his lips. I found myself watching him from the corner of my eye, curiosity bubbling within me.
“Why do you always want to hang out with me?” I finally asked, breaking the silence that had settled between us. “It’s not like we need to hang out in private like this.”
He glanced at me, his smirk evolving into a smile. “We’ve been over this, Ella,” he said, his voice softening ever so slightly. “I like your company. Sue me. And besides, you never go out.”
“I do go out,” I retorted, maybe a little too defensively. Logan scoffed. “And when exactly was the last time you went out without me practically dragging you, hm?”
I paused, searching my memory. Aside from the recent times when Logan made me go to family events with him, I honestly couldn’t think of anything except for lunch with Sarah. “Well, I had lunch with my coworker Sarah today.”
He chuckled. “Lunch with a coworker doesn’t really count, Ella.”
I looked at him, a bit annoyed by his tone. “And why not?” I asked.
“Because this city, despite its bad reputation, has so much more to offer as far as night life goes,” Logan said, his eyes alight with an earnest glow that caught me off guard. “You should experience it all.”
“So you’ve taken it upon yourself to be my personal tour guide? Is that it?”
“Exactly.” He grinned, glancing at me as we came to a stop at a red light. In the crosswalk in front of us, a group of what appeared to be college students walked across the street, dressed in their party clothes and laughing. When I was in college, I never partied like that. I realized that now, thanks to Logan’s insistence.
“I mean,” Logan continued, “we do have this contract between us for a few more months. Might as well make the most of it.”
His words hung in the air, and for a moment, a wave of realization washed over me. We did only have a limited time in this arrangement before it would all come to an end. For some reason, I felt a sudden pang of… what exactly? Sadness? Longing?
I looked away, suddenly conscious that my cheeks were tinged with a subtle blush.
“You okay?” he asked, sensing my sudden shift in mood.
“Yeah,” I responded, a little too quickly. “I’m fine.”
“You sure? You looked like you were a million miles away for a second there.”
I gave him a small smile. “Just thinking about what you said, about making the most of our time.”
“And?”
“And nothing,” I shot back, not wanting to reveal even a hint of the strange mix of emotions that had momentarily taken control over me. “It’s just something to consider, I guess.”
It wasn’t long before I realized we were heading toward an unfamiliar part of the city. When he pulled into an alley that opened up to reveal an underground racetrack, my eyes widened.
“You’ve got to be kidding.”
Logan chuckled. “What? Not your style?”
“I thought we were going for ice cream or something,” I said, exasperated. “Why didn’t you just ask me if I wanted to go to an underground racetrack? Is this even legal?”
He turned off the car and looked at me, his eyes full of mischief. “I plead the fifth,” he said, that telltale smirk revealing itself again. “And if I had told you, would you have come?”
“That’s not the point,” I shot back, although my voice lacked its usual conviction. Logan shrugged, a soft smile on his face. “Come on, it’ll be fun. Promise.”
I sighed, knowing he had already won this round. “Alright, fine. Let’s go.”
We walked towards the entrance of the makeshift stadium, the rumbling of engines and roars from the crowd growing louder.
Traditional white and black checkered signs fluttered in the wind.
In the distance, through the crowd, I could see the contestants at their vehicles, making their last checks with their pit crews. Somewhere out of sight, I could make out the garbled sound of an announcer saying something over some loudspeakers.
But what really amazed me was the fact that I had never heard about this place when it was right here at the edge of the city all along. Maybe I didn’t know as much about this city as I thought I did.
With a grin, Logan stopped at a vendor and bought a soft pretzel, handing it to me as if he’d just handed me a bouquet of roses.
“For the lady,” he said, winking. “Trust me. The pretzels here are beyond compare.”
I took a bite, pleasantly surprised by the soft, salty dough. It was far better than greasy bodega pizza. “Alright, you win. Again.”
As we made our way through the crowd, Logan put his hand on my lower back to guide us toward a pair of seats. Instantly, a warm sensation coursed through me. I looked up at him, momentarily caught in his blue-eyed gaze.
Shaking off the feeling, I focused on the noise and the lights, suddenly realizing how overwhelming it all was. Almost instinctively, I moved a little closer to him, finding comfort in his proximity.
“Too loud for you?” he teased, leaning down to speak into my ear.
I shook my head, quickly looking away to hide the blush that was creeping up into my cheeks at his close proximity. “No. Just taking it all in.”
