P. M. | Completed

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Chapter 9:- Answers

I looked up at him.

He sighed deeply and then, met my eyes with his hard ones.

"You need to know." he said, firmly.

"What?" I asked, my voice hardly a whisper. I hoped to God that this wasn't something I wouldn't like to hear. He closed his eyes, putting everything together, I suppose.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked, near tears again. I was trying to stop crying. So much, but, my throat just closed up.

He looked at me and his eyes softened.  "I'm not mad at you, love. I'm the farthest person who could be mad at you." He smiled, "The only person who should be mad in this room is you." And then, his smile turned into a pained twitch of his lips.

"Why?" I asked, touching his lips, wanting the smile back.

"Perhaps after I tell you what you've always wanted to know, you'll not see me....in the same light as before." he said, holding my hand pressed to his cheek.

"You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." I said, meaning it.

"I want to. Just don't know where to start." he confessed.

I stayed silent.

After a short lapse of time, he started, "Lucas and me were freshmen in the college when we met each other at the track. We had similar interests and did a few projects together. We were friends. Luke, is what I used to call him. And he went with Alex." He answered my unanswered question from the other day.

I stayed still, listening with rapt attention to every detail, every word of the story.

"More than once, Lucas had used dangerous ways to win a race, when I had warned him against it." he said.

"Dangerous ways?" I interrupted.

"Yeah, turns that were too quick, accelerating beyond what is safe..." I was quick to give him a hypocritical stare because he continued, "Even in racing, Norah, there are limits to the risks and recklessness we can take. Unless you want to end in a bad shape, you shouldn't cross those."

"When I warned him, however, he admitted to me that he needed the money."

I suppose my face held a questioning expression for he continued, "When Lucas paid no heed to my warnings, I asked him his reason for needing that kinda money, because, believe me, he was making a lot. He brushed it off. And I didn't question further. I should've known, that this was the biggest mistake I would commit."

My eyes met his and I held my breathe.

"Soon enough, Lucas was doing real illegal shit."

"Illegal?" I asked. What kind of person was I standing next to on the race track today?

"He wasn't into anything major. He was just a pawn. He was scary enough to get people talking. And get people pay up. Delivering stuff. Just the minor things, but sketchy." he explained.

"For whom was he working?" I asked, now sitting upright, instead of leaning on his chest.

"Rick." Alex answered.

"That blonde guy?" I remembered.

"Yeah, him. He's a small time gangster. But, dangerous enough."

I nodded and encouraged him to continue. In my head, I couldn't help noticing that finally the moment had arrived. When he'd actually tell me about his past.

"I didn't approve of Luke's way of making money, but, he never listened. It was the same old excuse all the time. Once, just once, Lucas fucked up. A huge consignment was lost. Someone stole it from Lucas, not before beating him to pulp. I'm just summarizing about what happened that night, because, believe me, it's just lucky that Luke escaped alive." He looked down a little before speaking again.