Queen of the track

XXV

Chapter 25.

Gray

I wake up relatively early, considering it's a Saturday, but decide that today's as good a day as any to start doing the odd jobs around our new home.

I'd oiled the screen door—testing it a few times to ensure the nauseating squeak had stopped—and mowed the front and back lawns with a hunk of junk I'd found in the shed. The place was looking a lot better, not exactly a five-star resort, but decent enough that I knew mom would be pleased.

She came home from her late shift a little after 9am, bags under her eyes and with her hair slightly matted, some strands hanging loose from her bun.

"Hey," A small smile pulls at her lips as she approaches where I stand on the front porch sipping coffee. "This place looks great."

Great is an overstatement.

"You're up early." Mom continues. "Where're you headed?"

"I think I'll head to the gym for a while. Ryan's picking me up later for a party." I tell her.

"Another party?" Mom raises an eyebrow with a smile. "Check you out, Mr Popular."

There's no way I'm being honest with her about where we're really going tonight, so I chuckle. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Alright, well, have you eaten?"

I shake my head. "I'm gonna grab some stuff from the store on my way back."

Her shoulders slump. "Shit, I forgot to get the groceries yesterday—"

"It's alright, I'll go."

"No, I—"

"Mom," I cut her off. "It's fine, really. Go sleep."

She stares at me a for a moment and her face softens before she nods. "Thanks hon. Here."

She digs around in her purse and hands me some cash that I then slide into my wallet.

"Alright." Mom sighs as she moves past me to go inside. "Have fun tonight."

"Thanks, don't wait up for me." I stand on the porch for a minute as she heads inside.

After exhaling a deep breath, I head over to my car and drive to the gym.

*

"No, but seriously, Marvel trumps DC all day, every day." Ryan says.

"Hey, I never said otherwise." I reply. He signals right to change lanes on the highway. "Where is this place again? Some old airbase?"

"Yeah, we're about 20 minutes out."

I look out the passenger window of his car. "Seems a bit risky, doesn't it?"

"It's not somewhere you can just stumble across." He tells me. "The back roads are a complete maze to navigate, they'll take you over to Stonegate, other towns or even back onto the highway. You'd have to be really, really lost to get there by accident...which is actually how Harley found it."