Racing Heart/Chapter 1

***Spoiler warning:** Spoilers ahead. Proceed at your own discretion.*

## Chapter

I sipped my coffee in the breakroom. I was chatting with Courtney, my best friend who also worked at Sunset Hospital. We had both just finished our shifts and decided to take a well-deserved break and unwind in the staff lounge.

Although Sunset was a hospital, they weren’t always terribly busy because they were close to the beach, but being so close to Sunset Beach they had a steady flow of patients coming in due to shark attacks, other animal attacks, or anything that could possibly go wrong past the shore.

“...Me and JJ got plane tickets to Costa Rica,” Courtney was saying. “We’re planning on going once I get time off work.” She sighed. “And if she can find time in her schedule…”

JJ was Courtney’s hot blonde girlfriend that worked as a lifeguard at the beach. I’ve never met her, but from what I’ve heard has been approached by quite many a man at her beach chair.

JJ was of course a volleyball girl and sported a deep tan from the time she spent outside and lifeguarding, and playing volleyball. She often had trouble balancing her job and volleyball, considering she was a seriously competitive player that traveled all around the country participating in national competitions with her team, which mostly consisted of her volleyball friends from high school.

Courtney stirred her finger in her coffee mindlessly. “She has Regionals coming up in a few weeks, and the girls have been busting their asses keeping up their winning streak,” she said.

I was tuning out of the conversation, but Courtney didn’t notice. Once we both parted ways and I was driving home, I got a text from Jeremy.

Jeremy was my boyfriend. My tall, loyal, sunkissed, muscular, hot, handsome, savvy boyfriend. He played varsity hockey and worked at a snack bar on the beach. We had been together for a while. His message read: “Text me when you’re home safe.”

I blushed. I loved getting messages like this, especially from Jeremy, judging how protective he was over me. If anyone ever laid a finger on me, he’d kill them. In short, I love having a protective teddy bear boyfriend.

Once I arrived home, the front door swung open to reveal Teddy, our Aussie shepherd, wagging his tail happily at seeing me home.

“Teddy boyyy!” I sang, tossing all my work stuff aside and wrapping my arms around him in a big warm hug, him almost bowling me over with kisses while I laughed.

“You’re a sweet boy,” I teased in a high pitched voice, kissing Teddy’s forehead. Noticing the rest of the house was silent, I cocked my head in confusion. “Where’s Jeremy, Teddy? Have you seen him?” I asked him.

In response, Teddy just stared into my soul with his huge brown eyes, his tail thwapping the ground.

“I guess not…” I murmured, getting up and walking into the kitchen. I noticed the windows were wide open for some reason, which was odd. “Where is that little—“

I was cut off by an angry scream from the street

“Fuck off!”

Jeremy.

“Shit, shit, shit shit!” My head shot up in alarm and I cursed as I raced towards the backdoor, slamming it open to reveal the chaos. Luckily the garage was open and I could see what was going down.

Jeremy was beefing with the gang from across the street. They were pushing each other around while the gang laughed, which ignited a flame of fury inside me. “Hey horndogs!” I yell from the garage. “Cut it out!”

The leader, Kato, immediately looked at me, and so did the rest of his gang. But he slowly smirked wickedly. “Is this your girlfriend, pretty king?” He sneered at Jeremy.

Jeremy looked at me, scared. “Claudia, get back inside right now! This isn’t safe!”

“Shut it,” Kato scoffed, shoving Jeremy into the arms of one of the gang members, two gang members holding each of his arms to stop him from reaching Kato, as the huge gang leader walked toward me.

As Kato approached me, a cloud of fear unfurled in my stomach as I stared dauntlessly into the eyes of the man that had been harassing my boyfriend. “You’re a pretty one, eh,” He teased, drawing a finger out and running it across my chin, making me quiver in fear.

Noticing my sudden flinch, Kato moved closer. “Not as brave as you were before, huh princess?” He laughed.

Jeremy struggled furiously against the two gang members holding him back. “Get away from her! Claudia!”

Kato looked back at me. “Well, we better be going.” He flashed Jeremy a glance. “You can have your little princess back now,” he beckoned to his goons with a snap of his fingers. “Release him.”

As soon as the two goons released their hold on Jeremy, he came running to me and scooped me up in his arms, shielding me from the Kato’s gang watching us. I could feel a growl rising in his throat as Kato watched us intently.

“Watch your back, Jeremy. Next thing you know, we might come for her,” he threatened with a smirk, and then slunk away with the rest of his goons.

Jeremy cupped my face worriedly. “Did he touch you? I swear to god, if he hurt you—“

I pushed his hands away. “I’m fine, Jeremy. What’s really important is what happened to you. Why did that whole thing happen?” I asked seriously, staring into his big ambers.

“Well…” He scratched the back of his neck, wearing a guilty look. “I was making a deal with one of the Vipers for heroin, and when I was heading back to see if you had gotten home he and his goons cornered me and demanded the heroin, thinking I had the stash hidden somewhere.”

I arched my brow. “Where’s the stash?”

“Locked in a safe hidden in your dresser. Third drawer.”

“What the fuck, Jeremy?! You hid heroin that Kato and his gang are searching for in my dresser?! Do you want him to come after me?” I snarled.

Jeremy grabbed my shoulders. “Of course not! I had no other place to hide it baby, so I picked a familiar spot. I promise I’ll fix all of this, and I’m sorry. Even the thought of him coming after you makes me want to protect you even more. I swear I’ll tear his throat out if he ever comes close to you,” he told me, pulling me into a tight hug.

I felt my tense body relax in his muscular arms, realizing with a bodyguard like him, Kato would regret threatening me. “Okay, fine.”