Stunningly Ruined

Fifteen - "With him, I can see a light at the end of the tunnel."

I pull up in the Chevy truck at the top of the island's volcano for the mountain pass race. When Gabe offered for me to use the pick up while the S14 was being finished, I jumped at the chance to get behind the wheel again without going sideways. This was the first available race that I could sign onto because I'm not running one myself so I'm intrigued to find out how the Chevy does on these windy roads. I know it's been kitted out underneath because Gabriel spent the day racing to win it, so I'm hopeful it will handle well.

I'm surrounded by Mitsibushi Evo's and Subaru Impreza's, all the four wheel drive vehicles. This is definitely going to be interesting. I'm near the back of the group as I was so late signing on but it just makes it more of a challenge. Spectators point and talk between themselves at my choice of car but it spurs me on to prove them wrong. To prove that this truck can do well in this type of race. Because it's always the driver and never the car.

The lights count down from red to orange to green before we surge off the mark. I spend a few extra moments wheel spinning than the other racers because of the rear wheel drive on the pick up but I slam it into second and catch up. The first corner comes up and it's a soft left hander. I know I don't have to brake much so I pass a couple of people who have broke early and power on. This truck definitely has some poke to it.

I hold my position for the next few corners until a hairpin comes up. I slow right down, changing down gears to get round the tight one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn while a couple of the other cars pass me. I press my foot down onto the accelerator but the Japanese cars are still overtaking me. This truck is a fair bit heavier than their stripped out saloons so I'm going to have to get them in the corners.

On every corner, I leave it to the last possible moment to slam all on the brakes so that I can work my way up the grid. We're nearing the bottom of the mountain now and I can feel the brakes getting less and less effective from the amount of heat that's being created from my awkward driving style but I'm nearing on third place and I'm not giving up now. I press the brakes again but there's hardly any stopping it. I'm side by side with third and if I don't get this heap of metal slowed down, I'm going to collide with him. I drop it down to second and use the engine to slow the truck down enough that I don't hit the pretty Subaru. I get past him and red line the Chevy before changing to the third to hold on to my position and cross the line. I ease on the brakes and change down while slowly releasing the clutch so the engine screams. I get it stopped and jump out to check the brakes. A swarm of people congregate around the truck to see what state the brakes are in and to offer me compliments. The discs are glowing red hot and it's clear to me now that the brakes haven't been properly upgraded by the previous owner. The discs are solid which isn't allowing the heat to dissipate. They should be drilled and vented to allow the heat to be drawn away from the wheels.

"Good job on stopping that thing!" I hear someone call out and I chuckle. It definitely isn't the car, it's always the driver. I collect my third place winnings and stand outside the truck talking to different people about the race while everything cools down.

"How the hell did you get that thing around those twisty roads?" Another person calls out and I just shrug my shoulders with my palms turned upwards and raise my bottom lip before laughing with them. Soon, the truck's drivable again so I wave to the spectators before heading back to the hotel to get some sleep before a beach day tomorrow. This island is my dream haven and I don't ever want to leave.

*****

The sun beats down on my bare skin as I lay in the white sand. Most of the boys are playing beach volleyball while us girls are watching on. This is the life. No Jax. No drugs to have to sell. No worries.

"Incoming!" We hear a distant shout before a ball bounces off of Nikki's head. She scowls over at the boys before throwing it further away from them. Levi groans and stares daggers at her before running further to retrieve the ball.