Chapter 159

Ella

The scent of rubber and gasoline was thick in the air, familiar and yet so foreign in this new context. Logan, noticing my trepidation, gestured for me to follow. We headed into a more private area behind the garage, where there were fewer prying eyes.

“You okay?” he asked, his voice lowering.

I blinked, still in shock from the whole ordeal. “You race?” I found myself asking, incredulity lacing my voice. “Logan, I thought you just watched races.”

Logan’s eyes met mine, and there was a flicker of something there that I couldn’t quite read. “I do race,” he said. “I’ve been racing for about five years now.”

I bit my lip, still trying to process all of this. “But… It’s dangerous,” I hissed. “You could get hurt. You could get killed!”

He leaned back, the corners of his mouth turning upward into a half-smile. “Ella, I know what I’m doing. Trust me. Remember that joyride we took?”

How could I forget? The world had been a blur of lights and colors, the roar of the engine crowding out our laughter and wild yells of freedom. “Yes, I remember,” I admitted, my words slower now. “You were... impressive.”

He nodded. “I know cars. I know races. And I’m damn good at it.”

His confidence was palpable, but it did little to ease the knot of worry in my stomach. I paced a few steps, trying to rationalize what I had just learned, but it still felt so utterly absurd.

“Impressive or not, it’s reckless,” I finally said, turning to face him once more. “What if something goes wrong?”

He straightened and closed the space between us with two long strides. “Ella, I’ve been doing this for years,” he said, his voice firm yet gentle. “And tonight, you’ll see why there’s nothing to worry about.”

I met his gaze, searching for the arrogance I expected to see, but instead, I found sincerity. It was disarming, unsettling even, how this hidden part of him seemed to fit so seamlessly with the man I thought I knew.

“And if you’re wrong?” I countered, hoping beyond all hope that he couldn’t hear the tremor in my voice. But my voice was hardly more than a whisper, and my eyes were as wide as the full moon in the sky.

His smirk returned, playful and even a little challenging. “Ella, you have to trust me. I promise, after tonight, you’ll see how great this is. And besidesI could use someone on the sidelines rooting for me. Someone like you.”

He was close now, close enough for me to see the excitement in his eyes, and it made me melt just a little bit. I quickly looked away, still biting my lower lip.

“Why did you wait so long to tell me?” I asked.

He shrugged and ran his hand through his hair again. “I guess I didn’t know if you could handle it,” he said. “Hell, I’m just not used to sharing this aspect of my life with anyone on the outside.”

“The outside?”

“The outside,” he said, “as in, people who aren’t part of this underground racing ring. It’s something that I’ve always kept to myself—separate from my day-to-day life.”

I couldn’t help but scoff. “That’s rich coming from a mobster,” I teased. “But really, Logan, this is dangerous. I hope you’re right, and that I don’t regret finding out about this.

“I promise. You won’t.”

There was that damn grin again. I took a deep breath, steadying myself against the tidal wave of emotions that threatened to come. “Logan,” I said, my voice stronger than I felt, “don’t look at me like that. Like this is a game. Because it’s not a game. It’s dangerous.”

“Trust me, I know,” he cut in, the mischief in his tone replaced with something a little more serious. “But life isn’t just about playing it safe, Ella. It’s about taking risks, about doing what makes you feel alive. And this?” He motioned to the garage, to the suit, to the helmet that was still tucked under his arm. “This makes me feel alive. More than anything else.”

I didn’t know what to say. The light in Logan’s eyes never felt brighter, and suddenly I felt as if I was finally seeing him; not the mobster, nor the son looking for an inheritance, but the man. The man who just wanted to live and let live. And in a way that I never expected, that softened me.

“Alright,” I finally said, my shoulders slumping slightly in defeat. “Just… Promise you’ll be careful, okay?”

Logan was silent for a moment before he took another step closer, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. “Tell you what. Just in case, how about a good luck kiss?”

My heart skipped a beat. Or two. The world seemed to tilt, and I was speechless. His scent seemed to overwhelm me; no perfume, gasoline, or rubber, but just… Logan.

“No,” I said abruptly, the word escaping my lips before I could stop myself. “I won’t kiss you, Logan. I only came here to see what you’ve been doing, nothing else.”

“You want to kiss him,” Ema said. “I know you do. The way you’ve been looking at him… Just do it.”

“Shut up!” I retorted, my cheeks flaming with heat.

Logan’s laughter bounced off of the concrete wall of the garage, oblivious to my conversation with my wolf. “You’re cute when your face is red, you know that?” He grinned, and his eyes were filled with that mischievous smirk again.

The heat in my cheeks intensified, and I quickly looked away, folding my arms tightly over my chest. “Pig,” I murmured, although my voice lacked any real anger, just like the day we went hiking together.

Suddenly, before any other words could be uttered, Logan closed the distance between us with two more quick strides. His free arm snaked around my shoulders with a practiced ease, and I instantly recoiled despite the lurch in my heart.

“Logan, I—I can’t—”

But my protest died as he bent down, his lips pressing a soft, lingering kiss not onto my lips… but onto my forehead.

“Thanks for the good luck anyway, even if I had to steal it from you,” he murmured, his breath warm against my skin.

Then, with a final glance that seemed to see right through me, he pulled away and fitted his helmet onto his head.

I watched in abject silence as he finished fitting his helmet, the strap under his chin tight around his jawline. Beneath the darkened visor, I couldn’t see his eyes, but something about his stance told me that he was looking right at me.

And I felt frozen to my spot, in complete shock. My forehead still held the remnants of his kiss, a soft and gentle gesture that was so, so domestic in a painful sort of way, and it made me think back on what my wolf had said earlier.

Was pushing him away really the only way to protect Daisy? Or was I just trying to protect myself from the fallout of my scheme?

“Well?” he said, flipping up his visor and drawing my attention back to the present. “Wanna meet my pit crew?”