14| baby let the games begin

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Connery had left to go look for Maddox, apparently, he's the one that runs these races. I haven't even met the guy, but he didn't sound like good news to me. One of my many qualities is that I am a very observant person (it comes in handy most times) and from what I've seen and paid attention to car racing isn't the only thing that goes down around here.

I know it's none of my business, Connery and I have been friends for a short period of time, but I had to meddle in his business just this once. There were a lot of unanswered questions that I needed an answer to. Why would he get involved with something as shady as this? Besides the fact that he can actually go to prison and damage his record if he gets caught, he could lose everything starting and ending with his swimming career. There is a meaning behind these races and I was determined to finding out what it was.

Connery left the boys in charge of me, but he should've thought of something else if he wanted someone to keep an eye on me because the boys are the worst babysitters I've come across within this lifetime. Dant left with a half-naked blonde girl to God knows where O'Connor was too involved in a conversation with two other guys and Becker was failing miserably at sweet-talking another blonde half-naked girl. So instead of staying where I was told to, I decided to wander off and look around. Connery was taking his time, so I figured I'd be back before he was.

The place reeked of alcohol, cigars, and weed. There were tons of girls throwing themselves at the racers while they showed off their cars. Out of everything I was looking at while I wandered through the place, a certain person caught my eye. Tommy Scott. He was arguing with a red-headed girl and the conversation was pretty heated. Tommy yanked her arm and brutally pulled her away from the small crowd that was with them. Instead of staying put and minding my own business, I meddled and followed them, but not without filming what I was witnessing first.

After a few minutes of walking, they both stopped in their tracks and their argument got even more heated. Before I knew it, the palm of Tommy's hand hit the girl's face. I gasped. Son of a bitch. I paused the recording and I walked over to where both of them were standing. I didn't know if I was going to end up regretting it, but I couldn't just walk away.

"Hey!" I shouted at Tommy captivating his attention. "What do you think you're doing? Leave her alone."

Tommy laughed. "It's funny that you think that you can tell me what to do. She's my girlfriend and I can do whatever the hell I want with her. Especially if she thinks she can just disrespect me and not suffer the consequences. I suggest you mind your own fucking business before I make you regret it." He warned coldly but I was not going to back off. Not after what he did to Macy and Emily.

"I would like to see you try." I challenged getting closer to his face. He wasn't going to lay a finger on me, at least not here. "You're a piece of shit, did your mother forget to teach you how to respect women?"

"Stop being a bitch about it, she's fine. Now, get out of my face before I do the same to you." Tommy warned.

I didn't even think twice about it and I probably should've because the minute my fist hit Tommy Scott's disgusting face I was in excruciating pain. "Fuck, that hurt," I whined.

"Everest, what has gotten into you?" Connery asks concerned whilst he grabs me from behind. It probably was the best idea because I wasn't done with him.

"What has gotten into me?" I mocked. "I'm teaching this asshole how it is that you respect women because his mother apparently forgot to." I tried to get out of Connery's grip but it was too strong.

"Connery control your girlfriend or I will," Tommy warned whilst he held his bloody nose. I must've broken it. So far, he's been all bark and no bite. And I was waiting for the bite because the bitch was going down.

"Calm down Tommy," Connery also warned. "Go get help, you're clearly in need of it."

Tommy walked away with the red-headed girl and Connery finally let me go. It was about time. Connery grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to where the guys were standing. He was giving me a scolding look and it was making me uncomfortable. "What?"

"Everest, you can't just go around punching people in the face." Yes, I can. Connery called me by my full name, he hasn't called me Everest since the night we went to his safe spot. He must be pissed, but I didn't care. "At least not in here, what were you thinking? I told you to stay with the guys, this place is not safe for you to be wandering all alone."

It's not safe? What did he mean by that? "You didn't see it did you?" I shake my head. Of course, he didn't, because if he did we wouldn't be having this conversation. "He slapped that girl in the face for no reason, he had it coming Connery. Someone needs to put him in his place and if no one dares to, I will."

I crossed my arms around my chest. "Connery, the race is about to start, you have to get going." O'Connor interrupted us.

"I have to go," Connery tells me. "I'll see you after. And please don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

"I make no promises, good luck out there," I tease with a smirk. "Be safe."

And I meant it. No matter how many times he's done this before, it scared me that somehow something might happen to him because here in the streets there are no rules. He walked over to his car and he drove it to the starting line. Connery was competing against a guy named Xavier Lowe and according to the boys they have history. And it isn't a good one.

One of the girls stood in the middle of both cars. "Are you guys ready?"

The only sound you could hear was the sound of the engines of both cars. The crowd started screaming and cheering before I knew it they were both off. The course was a short one, but the part that scared me was the part of the street that had obstacles a few feet away from the finish line. Only one car could fit through it, so you had to make sure you were in the lead because if not it could end badly.

"How do you think he's doing?" I asked O'Connor. So far you couldn't see anything and I was a nervous wreck.

"He's doing fine, he never loses," O'Connor says confidently. "It will all turn out fine, Everest."

After a good fifteen minutes, both cars came into view. They were neck to neck and neither of them was backing down. No one was in the lead, how the hell were they going to get past the obstacles? A lump formed on my throat once they were merely inches away from the obstacles. I was getting frustrated with Connery, he wasn't backing down and he didn't. Xavier pulled the brakes and Connery went through. Why didn't he back down?

Everyone was cheering him on and he got out of his car grinning, proud of his accomplishment (some accomplishment if you ask me). While everyone was happy and celebrating, I on the other hand wasn't. He could've gotten himself killed.

"Ev, did you see that? I made him back down." Connery grinned. That grin fell off his face as quickly as it appeared once he saw the look on mine. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" I ask sarcastically. "You're an idiot, that's what's wrong."

I turned around and I began to walk away. I needed to blow off some steam and I didn't know exactly how since I didn't have a car to get out of here so the first thing that came to mind was to walk away. Connery was clearly confused, but he didn't understand. Like I have said before, the only people that know about what happened to my parents are Peyton and Stensby. I haven't shared that part of my life with him yet.

Watching Connery almost getting himself killed in that car, triggered a part of my memory that I've been trying to suppress for years. I was only two, but I still have a vague memory of how it happened. I was in the car that night. "Ev, can you please stop walking?"

Connery pulled up next to me and he was driving next to me. We were already far away from everyone, in spite of my terrible athletic figure, I'm a fast walker. "I'll walk myself home, you can go back to do whatever the hell it is you like to do back there."

"Are you mad about what happened with Tommy?" Boys can be so clueless.

"Wrong answer." I continue to walk and I hear Connery sigh.

"Can you be the mature person I know you are and get in the car? You can't walk back to your apartment, it's a forty-minute drive Everest. You'll get there tomorrow if you don't get kidnapped first." I stop in my tracks and I get in the passenger seat of the car.

I focused my attention on the music that was playing through the car speakers and I laid my head against the window. Connery didn't even attempt to speak a word to me, he knew me already too well to know that I wasn't going to speak to him. It didn't take long before I realized that Connery wasn't going to let me go home without fixing this first. He was taking me to his safe spot.

"I thought you were taking me home," I break the silence. "It's late and we have a five am practice tomorrow Connery."

"I will take you home," He confirmed. "After we talk this out. I don't want to go to bed knowing something is wrong between us."

"I'm not in the mood to talk about it," I tell Connery while I look out the window. "Please, take me home. We can talk about it tomorrow."

"Unfortunately for you, I am in the mood. So we will talk about it."

My blood began to boil. "Fine. Do you want to talk it out? Let's talk it out." I got out of the car infuriated and Connery followed me out of the car. "You're an idiot, that's what's wrong with me."

"I am most of the time," Connery admits. "But I don't know what I did this time to make you so pissed of that you can barely look me in the eyes when you talk."

"You didn't stop!" I raised my voice. "Why didn't you stop? You could've gotten yourself killed Connery."

"Why would I?" Was he being serious right now? "I was certain he was going to stop."

I hadn't realized that my eyes were welling up with tears. Stupid hormones. "You couldn't know for certain Connery."

"I could," Connery pauses. "When the boys and I started racing on our freshman year we met Fai, he was two years older than us. He was the one that showed us the ropes. A few months after we got the hang of it, on a Friday night Fai was racing Xavier in a race just like the one we just had. It was the same scenario with the only difference being that Xavier didn't stop, none of them did. Fai ended up losing control of the wheel and he ran into the concrete wall. He died instantly, after that night Xavier wasn't the same. Each time he raced, he stopped at the exact moment a few inches before the obstacles. That's how I know he was going to stop, he relives the same scenario in his head over and over again."

"That doesn't matter Connery, he could've changed his mind this time," I say frustrated slamming my hands on his chest. "We probably wouldn't be having this conversation right now. I have lost so many people in my life already, I almost watched how I lost you too."

Connery grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug. "I'm not going anywhere, you're stuck with me."

"Don't make promises you're not certain you can keep. I was two when I lost my parents in a car accident," I pause. For the first time in a while, I felt comfortable sharing my past with someone aside from my two best friends. "A drunk driver hit us from the front, the car flipped upside down. The car was a wreck, both of my parents were killed upon impact. I was in the car, nobody knows how I survived it. Aunt Claire told me that the firefighters that pulled me out thought I was gone for good, but I wasn't."

Connery looked shocked. I bet he wasn't expecting to hear that. "I didn't know, that's why you got so pissed at me. I'm sorry if I had known I would've never taken you there."

"I don't really like to share my past with anyone, this is the first time in a long time that I actually feel comfortable talking about it. Aside from wanting to share it with you, I just thought that you would understand me better if you knew where I was coming from."

"Thank you for sharing, I know it's not easy for you to talk about it." Connery pauses. "I may not be able to promise that you won't lose me, but I can promise that I will do everything and anything I can to not let that happen."

A smile curved on my lips and we were both silent. Even though Connery let me know the reason why he didn't stop back at Laguna Seca, I still had a lot of unanswered questions and I wasn't going to let it slide.

Connery and I both walked to his safe spot which somehow became our safe spot and we sat on the rocks just like last time. "I know it's not of my business, but I need to know."

"It's okay, I know you already well enough to know that you were going to ask questions eventually." Connery lets out a laugh. "There are no secrets between us, so you can ask whatever you want to know."

"Good," I smiled relieved. "Why was it so important for you to race tonight and win? I mean it's just a race."

Connery sighs. "After Fai showed us the ropes, we all became very close. When he got killed in the accident he left behind a big debt."

"What kind of debt?" I asked.

"He owed Maddox money," Connery pauses. "Twenty grand to be exact. After he died, someone had to pay Maddox the money he was owed. Fai had a girlfriend, her name was Lexi. She was a pre-med student at BGU at the time. When Fai died in the accident, she was in her junior year. So with Fai gone, the debt fell on her."

"I understand that, but what does that have to do with you?" I asked confused. Nothing was making sense. If it was up to Lexi, why was Connery the one racing?

"Lexi was a good girl, one of the best people you will ever meet." Connery smiles. "She had a future she was working so hard to achieve, she didn't have a way to pay Maddox back. So I offered to pay the debt for her by racing until I graduated. She had a whole future planned out, I wasn't going to let a stupid debt ruin it for her."

"I get that, but so did you. You still do. Why would you sacrifice everything for her, for Fai?"

"I was the one who was supposed to race Xavier that night, not Fai. Practice ran late that day and I couldn't make it time." It all made sense now. He felt guilty about what happened. He felt responsible for Fai's death. "And you never turn your back on family Ev, not even how many times they turn their back on you."

"It wasn't your fault Connery, I'm sure they both know that," I reassure. "I still have one question though, how are you supposed to pay the debt? It's twenty grand. How much do you make racing?"

"A good amount," Connery pauses. "The way things work with the races at Laguna Seca is that everyone bets on their racer of preference and I'm talking big money on racers. Maddox always has a guy that bets on me every time I race. Every time I race he gets the money of everyone who lost the bet plus and an additional thousand from the winning racer."

"In what kind of shady business is Maddox involved in? You can't tell me he's just a regular guy."

"He's bad news Ev, he's the kind of guy you never want to cross," Connery warned.

"Why? Is he a gang leader or something?"

"The less you know, the better it is for you."

Call it intuition but somehow I knew that there was a connection between Maddox and Tommy. And I needed to know what it was. Because something told me those two had something to do with what happened to Macy and Emily.

A/N

Hi everyone! I hope you're doing all okay. I wanted to pass by and let you guys know that I may have to reschedule Monday's update. I have 3 big exams this week and a ton of work so I will be very busy this week. I hope you can understand, if anything changes I'll let you guys know through my Instagram account or through a message on my profile.

Thank you for your support always, I'm very excited to continue this journey with you guys. Also, if you have any questions or if you ever want to talk my dms are always open. Have a great weekend x

ps. I'll leave this gif of Everest for you guys!

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