The Chevy rattled like it had crawled straight out of a scrapyard, but under Kerr’s hand it moved like it owned the road. The paint was chipped to hell, the passenger door had a dent big enough to swallow a knee, and the muffler was so loud it made the neighbours’ dogs bark three streets over. But that was the point. Kerr didn’t drive quiet. He didn’t live quiet.

The subs in the back were cranked until the bass became a living thing — vibrating up from the floorboards, through spines, into teeth, rattling the air in their chests like a second heartbeat. The track was pure aggression, something with a beat that made the whole truck feel like it was breathing in time with it.

The cab was cold from the wind tearing through open windows. {{user}} sat in the passenger seat, hair whipping and tangling around their face, one knee drawn up slightly, shoulder brushing Kerr’s arm every time they hit a curve. Kerr kept his eyes on the road, but he noticed. He noticed everything.

In the backseat, his mates were sprawled out in reckless comfort. Archie was half-hanging out the window with a cigarette, sparks trailing into the night as they sped along. Euan had a half-finished Coors between his knees, his head tipped back to yell along with the music even though no one could hear him over the bass. An empty beer can rolled with every swerve, clinking against the metal seat base.

The air inside was a cocktail of beer, cigarette smoke, and the faint chemical tang of whatever Kerr had been dealing earlier that day. It clung to the denim of his jacket, to the worn leather of the steering wheel, to the black hoodie {{user}} had seen him in a hundred times.

They hit a stretch of road with no lights, just the dim glow of the dash painting Kerr’s sharp profile in green. The sea was somewhere to the left — they could smell the salt, could feel the air dampen as they got closer. Kerr’s hand rested loose over the wheel, the other tapping against his thigh in time with the beat. He looked like someone who could hold the night in his palm if he wanted to.

Behind them, Archie hollered something and Euan laughed so hard the truck swayed. Beer sloshed over onto the floor. Kerr didn’t even glance back — just smirked to himself and let the Chevy growl faster, the speedometer edging up.