Read Online Fade by Kailin Gow - Free Book Online Page A

gorgeous you can be. And having lost you for a short while has shown me how much I care for you. I’m not letting you go, Celes.”
    His hand brushes over my cheek, and I lean into the touch, sighing as I think about how good this feels. I’m so busy enjoying the sensation that I barely notice that the van behind us has been joined by a couple of sedans. When I do, my chest tightens. They’re making some kind of move.
    I put my weight on the accelerator, squeezing every ounce of speed from the Aston Martin, and just hoping that Jack is going to be in time.
     

TEN
     
     
     
     
    I return my attention to the road after that. And even without many other cars on the highway, I still have to concentrate hard at the speeds we’re going. We’re easily doing more than a hundred in places, but even that isn’t enough to get rid of the cars chasing. It’s not that they can catch us, but they’re simply relentless. As soon as I have to slow down again, they’re back.
    Worse, they seem to be determined to close the gap. Where before they hung back, now the black cars come close, forcing me to push forward again and again. I don’t realize what they’re doing at first, because there’s no way that they can catch me like that, but then I get it. Each burst forward is burning fuel, and driving like that, it’s a pretty good bet that the sports car Grayson and I are in will run out of gas before their vehicles do.
    I realize that the only chance now is speed. Sustained, relentless speed to leave them so far behind that they can’t hope to catch up. I power along the road, overtaking cars while barely looking at what might be coming the other way, driving recklessly, even dangerously, in my need to get away. I don’t know for sure what will happen if the cars behind catch up, but if what happened at Jack’s apartment is anything to go by, I don’t want to find out.
    So I drive. I drive as fast as I can for as long as I can. I drive until there hasn’t been a sign of the following vehicles for long minutes, until the fuel gauge is on the red line, and I know I’ll have to start looking for a gas station soon, or Grayson and I will grind to a halt on the side of the road. We have to be safe by now, don’t we?
    “Celes…”
    Grayson is looking behind us, and there’s real fear in his tone. I know what I’ll see even before I glance in the mirror, but I do it anyway. Three black cars, all sedans this time, have pulled in behind us.
    They’ve beaten us. Run us ragged so that now there isn’t any way for us to escape. The cars start to pull forward, gaining ground on the Aston a little at a time. What will they do when they catch up? Force us off the road? Shoot us without bothering to stop? I swallow nervously as I realize that, whatever they plan to do, there isn’t anything I can do to stop it now.
    It’s at that point that I glance back again, and I see something. A flash of red somewhere behind the sedans. A second look shows that it’s a sports car. A Ferrari this time. It speeds past the sedans, and then settles into the space between us and them. In the mirror, I catch a glimpse of the driver, and my heart leaps.
    Jack.
    He revs his engine, and I get the message. I push my car into a last burst of speed, Jack goes with it, and the three sedans try to follow on behind, pushing up this time, their drivers apparently confident that they will soon catch us.
    Then, with that little bit of space gained, Jack does the one thing they can’t possibly expect. He spins the Ferrari almost in place, turning to face the oncoming sedans, and speeds straight towards them. He’s playing chicken with them. On an open highway, he’s actually playing chicken with three cars at once.
    The sedans split, trying to go around him, and for a moment it looks like they might be able to avoid Jack, but then he changes the angle slightly, and I realize that he’s anticipated their move. Anticipated it, and adjusted perfectly. He sends