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I asked her why Mrs. Davis made it sound like the boys would be living with her, a question she couldn't come up with an answer for. The unspoken truth was that she'd planned to send them over there exactly as the pastor's wife said. However, it was enough that she had changed her mind all on her own. I loved my mother and it infuriated me that I couldn't trust her. I told her I'd found a place to live and that I would be picking them up in the morning. No matter what. Even if this thing with H and the money didn't work out. I would figure out another way. My kids belonged with me and I was never going to be without them again.
The entire night when by in a blink. H was in his usual spot at the table acting as if he didn't have a care in the world and all I could think of is what sort of plan he was working on. Would it be illegal? Could we go to jail? I even avoided Donnie. Maybe the guilt was eating at me and I couldn't stop feeling like maybe he'd known what happened. I wasn't sure if the tape had been discovered. H said he would erase it but I still worried. So basically, I was a total mess of nerves and guilt for eight hours.
At two in the morning, I was standing out back in the dark waiting for him when I heard the familiar rumble of a car engine. H rolled to a stop in front of me, leaned over and opened the passenger door. I stood there staring at him for a second, not having any clue what I was about to get myself into.
“You coming, or did you change your mind?” He asked, his face not giving away whether he cared if I got in or not.
“Yeah.” I cleared my throat. “Yeah, I'm coming.” Then I got in and sat down on the smooth leather seats and pulled the door shut.
“Ready?” H asked.
“No.” I replied and then giggled nervously. He threw his head back and laughed as he peeled out of the parking lot. There was a hell of a lot of power in that car, so much so that I clenched my jaw together involuntarily as I clicked my seatbelt into place.
We roared through the night, leaving the city lights far behind us as we headed for the unknown, or at least it was unknown to me.
Chapter Nine
I had no idea where we were. H had slowed to a stop on the side of a dark road. When he got out he walked up to another white car parked a little further ahead then spent a few minutes talking to the driver. They must have reached an agreement because they shook hands before H walked back to me.
“Will two grand be enough?” He asked as he got into the Camaro.
“Uh…yes.” I replied hesitantly with my eyes darting around the area as I tried to figure out what was about to happen.
“Okay, see that tree right there?” He pointed to a large tree right next to the car.
“Yeah.”
“Go stand there and don’t leave that spot until I come back for you.”
“Um…okay but where are you going?” I asked, not feeling too thrilled about being left out here alone.
“Just up the street in back.”
“Up the street?” I looked into the direction he pointed but didn’t see anything but dark road ahead. Wearily, I got out of the car.
“How long will you be gone?”
“Sixteen seconds. Tops.”
I stared at him for a moment in complete confusion. Sixteen seconds? Odd. I still got out of the car and stood by the tree just like he asked. When he pulled forward onto the street, so did the driver of the other car.
When they lined up evenly beside each other, I knew they were going to race.
Wait.
Were they going to race for money? For two grand? What if H lost? Would he have to pay the other guy the money? Oh, shit. He didn’t have that kind of money! If he’d had two grand, he wouldn’t be here trying to win it, right? My stomach immediately started twisting in knots. It felt like such a bad idea. I knew nothing about racing and what was involved. Did H just have to be the fastest to the finish line? Was that all there was to it?
Looking around, I realized I was the only spectator apart from another guy who was standing in the middle of the road in front of both cars. He waved each driver forward with a hand encouraging them to inch up a little until he was satisfied they were lined up evenly. My gaze went to H's car. All I could make out was the outline of him sitting in the shadows. The road ahead was dark, and no street lights meant that we were pretty far away from town. The only sound was the rumbling of both engines as each driver pumped the gas, partly to intimidate as well as in preparation for the race ahead.
T
he man standing in front of the car pulled out a red piece of material meant to be a makeshift starting flag and raised it over his head. My heart jumped to my throat and I held my breath in anticipation. Before I could even register that the man had dropped his arm and lowered the flag both drivers were screeching forward in a cloud of white smoke. I ran to the middle of the street to watched the red tail lights disappear into the distance.
Breathless, I stood there for what seemed like forever and a lot longer than sixteen seconds. I shot a glance over to the guy holding the red flag.
“What happened?” I asked. He looked over to me and shrugged. I scowled at his unhelpful response. Did H win? What if he didn't? Would we have to make a run for it? I sized up the guy standing next to me and thought I might be able to take him with my mean right hook. While I considered my fighting skills, both cars were approaching with H in the front. The wide grin on his face when his eyes met mine told me that he'd won.
I hurried over to the driver's side of the Camaro while it was still rolling to a stop.
