Autumn Unlocked (Summer Unplugged) (4 page)

Chapter 7

We sleep until noon the next day. I had always thought that sleeping next to a guy would be awkward or so nerve-wracking that I’d never actually fall asleep. It wasn’t that way with
Jace. I loved every moment I spent wrapped in his arms.

It isn’t until
we’re awake that I have problems.

Jace
pours himself a third bowl of cereal while I’m still working on my first bowl. I’ve successfully eaten all the crunchy pieces and left all the marshmallows, allowing them to partially dissolve in the milk to create a sugary, pinkish mix that will be delicious when I get around to slurping it from my spoon.

“I need to run by the track today if you don’t mind,”
Jace says, but I don’t hear any of it. I’m too busy swirling my spoon around a marshmallow, letting the anxious thoughts in my mind take over. Thoughts about sex. And why I’m so nervous to just
do it
already. I love Jace and he loves me. I held back all summer so there’s no reason to keep holding back now. I mean, my only reservations aren’t about the sex itself, but about myself—my body isn’t perfect, I have no idea what I’m doing.

What if I’m a terrible lay
and he’s grossed out by me? What if I do or say something stupid and ruin the moment?

“Bay-
leigh,” Jace says in a sing-song voice that pulls me out of my thoughts. “Have you heard anything I just said?”

“Huh?” I shake my head to clear my thoughts.

Jace laughs and pours more chocolate syrup into a glass of milk. “I’ve never seen you so zoned out. What were you thinking about?” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively. “Picturing me naked?”

“No,” I snap in defense, but I feel my cheeks blush anyhow. He has no idea how close his little joke is to the truth.

My stomach twists itself into knots not even one minute after we arrive at Mixon Motocross Park. An overly jubilant girl about my age jumps off the bleachers and runs up to Jace as we walk through the grassy area between the parking lot and the dirt bike track. She wears a denim skirt that’s cut so short the fabric lining of her pockets pokes out the bottom.

“Hey Adams,” she says, calling
Jace by his last name. “I thought you didn’t work on Saturdays?”

Her smile is full of shiny white teeth and she doesn’t take her eyes off him. Not even to bother looking at me, the girl who’s standing right
next
to him.

“I normally don’t,”
Jace says as he shoves his keys into his back pocket. “I just have to check on a few things before the races.”

The girl flips her hair over her shoulder. “I’m just watching my brother and dad ride. There was nothing else to do so I came with them.” She motions toward the bleachers where she had been sitting when we arrived. “Unlike
you
, no one needs me here until tomorrow,” she says with a playful flirty tone in her voice that just really annoys me.

I reach over and grab
Jace’s hand, hoping to remind him that I exist and that he can, oh you know, introduce me at any moment.

That moment never comes though, because one second later, someone yells out
Jace’s name. Still holding hands, we walk toward the person who just called for him, who is thankfully a guy and not another cute girl.

I glance out at the track, a large dirt monstrosity of turns and jumps. A few riders are on the track now, their bikes rumbling past us with each lap. Last summer,
Jace had built a track similar to this in his back yard, but it wasn’t nearly this big or impressive.

Jace
shakes hands with the guy in front of us. “Hey Frank, what’s going on?”

Frank is a middle-aged man with shaggy hair and leathery tanned skin, who can’t seem to keep still. “I’m going crazy here, man.” He runs his hands through his hair as he talks. He’s either had way too much coffee today, or he’s got a past I wouldn’t want to know about. “My concession stand is blowing up with customers and they
ain’t wanting any of my food.”

Jace
narrows his brows. “What do you mean?”

“They all heard about
Jace Adams and they want an autograph,” he says.

This makes my boyfriend laugh.
“Are you serious?”

Frank nods. “As a mother
-fucking heart attack, I tell you. They want to pay for it too. So I’ve got a business deal for you, Jace. You get me signed posters of you and we can split the money.”

“Umm,”
Jace says, running a lazy hand through his hair as he thinks. “I’ve got a stack of posters that I could sign, I guess. But people don’t have to pay for them. You can just give them away.”

Frank’s face falls. “I don’t need people standing in line for free stuff! I have to make money. I only get paid when they buy something.”

“So make the posters free with the purchase of food,” Jace says.

Frank nods as his gaze wanders off into the distance. “Yeah,” he says, nodding. “Yeah I can do that. I can make a sign that says that today.” He claps
Jace on the shoulder and thanks him before walking off while muttering to himself.

“That was weird,” I
say.

Jace
shrugs. “That’s just how he is.”

We walk toward a two story white building that overlooks the track as I
replay what just happened in my head. “I can’t believe people want your autograph.”

Jace
squeezes my hand in his and smiles. “And that’s why I love you.”

We stay at the track for a few hours, mostly hanging out on the second floor of that white building. It’s an office space that is used to keep score of the race results and it also has the main microphone that makes announcements across the whole facility. Off to the side of the room is a hallway with three offices. One of them belongs to
Jace.

I sit on the edge of his desk, which is empty except for a laptop, a framed photo of us,
a plastic shaker for protein drinks and two apples. He works on the computer, checking emails and organizing his training schedule with all of his clients, explaining all the various aspects of his job to me as he works.

In
the few moments of silence between his explanations, I try to think of a way to bring up the topic of sex again. Namely, the topic of sex and how I’m ready to have it. But it is not as easy as opening my mouth and letting the words spill out. In the back of my mind, I know it is that easy—just open your freaking mouth and say it. But every time my mouth opens, my throat gets dry and my palms get sweaty and I end up closing it without uttering a word.

So yeah, I pretty much stay silent the whole time.

“I’m almost done here,” Jace says. “Sorry it’s been so boring.”

“It’s not boring,” I say with a smile. “It’s actually pretty sexy seeing my man at work. You have an office and everything.”
I wiggle my eyebrows as I sweep my fingers across the desk. “I mean, you know what people do when they have their own office…”

It’s a cheesy line, but it hints at the topic I’ve been dying to bring up all day.

“Yep,” Jace says all matter-of-factly. “They work a lot.”

I roll my eyes. “You know what I meant.”

He leans forward on his elbows, looking up at me since I’m taller than he is when I sit on his desk. “And what exactly did you mean?”

It’s so quiet in the next few
seconds, I fear that he will hear my heart thumping like a marching band in my chest. I have no choice but to talk to break the silence. I get the feeling Jace likes watching me hesitate over saying these words, “I mean…you know…they have
sex
.”

A deliciously evil smile dances on his lips as he leans back in his chair, resting his head in his hands. “Well, my sweetheart of a girlfriend, that situation doesn’t apply to us because we don’t have sex. And that’s perfectly fine, by the way. I’m just saying…”

I groan and roll my eyes. He really enjoys annoying me. But at least I have the opening to tell him that I am ready to take our relationship to the next level. All I have to do is put on my Big Girl Panties, open my mouth and say the words.

A quiet knock at the door ma
kes me jump. My head snaps around in time to see a beautiful girl poke her head in the door. Her long blonde hair is in two braids over her shoulders. “Jace?” she says, seeing him at the desk. “Oh good, you’re here.”

I hop off the desk as she lets herself in and closes the door behind her. She glances at me but doesn’t say hello. In her defense though, I don’t say anything either. I’m too confused about why a
super hot girl just walked into my boyfriend’s office.

“Hey
JoJo, what can I help you with?” Jace asks. He glances at this laptop and pulls up the spreadsheet with all of his clients on it. I see him scroll over to the line with JoJo Hart’s name on it, and verify that the balance owed is zero.

So she’s a client?
Great.

JoJo
walks to the front of his desk, placing her palms on it so that she has to lean forward as she talks. “I was hoping that you’d have time for a quick lesson today?” she asks in a high-pitched voice that I’m sure she thinks sounds endearing. It just sounds skanky to me.

Jace’s
lips squish to the side of his mouth as he glances at me. “Sorry.  This is my day off.”

The girl sighs extra dramatically and flips her braids over her shoulders. “Come on, it’ll only take an hour. My bike is already here and I can be ready in ten minutes. You know I need more practice on my turns or I’ll be screwed for the races tomorrow.”

“I…um, I can’t JoJo. I’m sorry.”

“What is so important that you can’t take just one hour to help me?
Please? I’ll pay you double.” She says the last part with a smile that makes Jace chuckle. I don’t even want to know why her form of payment is
funny
to him.

I roll my eyes from my place in the corner of the room. Her desperation is so great, I can almost smell it.

Jace glances at me again, only this time it’s as if to ask permission. I lift an eyebrow. He isn’t seriously asking me if he can ditch me to spend an hour with some girl?

“What?” I say in response to his look.

“Do you mind if I help her real quick? You can hang out on the bleachers with Alyson.”

Blood trickles into my mouth from how hard I’m biting the inside of my lip. I cannot believe that my boyfriend brought me here for the weekend only to ditch me for this girl. I know it’s not for the money, either. He has plenty of that. I guess what he’s missing in life is another set of boobs to stare at.

“Do whatever you want,” I say as I turn on my heel and walk out of his office, letting the door snap closed behind me.

Thank god I didn’t have time to say I wanted to have sex with him.

Chapter 8

The metal stairs that wind down and around the office tower make an echoing clashing sound with every step I take. I barrel down the stairs two at a home, holding on to the railing because although I want to get out of here as soon as possible, I definitely don’t need to fall face first down two flights of stairs. I’m humiliated enough at having my boyfriend ditch me to spend an hour with another girl—I don’t need a broken nose and black eye added to this nightmare.

When I arrive safely on the ground, I head straight toward the bleachers, not because I want to go sit with whatever-her-name-was, but because I have no idea where I’m going. To my left is the dirt bike track which is marked off with a fence of multi-colored plastic triangle flags. To my right is a whole bunch of nothing exciting. Trucks, motorhomes, even some camping tents.
Parked dirt bikes and people lounging around in lawn chairs. It’s a massive field of parking lot and camping sites and none of that appeals to me. So, with nowhere else to go, I head to the bleachers.

When I’m halfway there, the delicious smell of kettle corn fills the air and makes my stomach grumble. I haven’t eaten in a while, and damn, that smells amazing. I look around and find a tiny box truck parked behind the bleachers, painted a bubble gum pink.
The concession stand. My cold, angered heart softens a tiny bit. If gallons of sugar and salty snacks can’t make me feel better, nothing can.

I wait in line behind a mother and her toddler-aged children who can’t decide which flavor snow cone to order. I hadn’t realized I was hungry back in
Jace’s office, but now as I wait for what feels like a thousand years, my stomach cramps up in hunger pains that threaten to make me drop dead on the spot. Plus the smells coming from the food truck aren’t helping one bit.

When the kids decide on cherry snow cones and the mother orders “just a water because I’m watching my weight,” they finally freaking leave so that I can order.

“Hey there lady,” the man behind the tiny ordering window says. He wears a disposable paper chef’s hat that makes him look like a cartoon character but I recognize him from earlier this morning. He’s the one who wanted to sell signed posters of Jace.

“Hi,” I say, feeling like he thinks we’re friends when I don’t even know him.

“What can I get for you?” he asks.

“Kettle corn,” I say without bothering to look at the menu. I know he has it in there because I can smell it.
“And a Coke.” I glance at the hand-painted menu to my right and gaze over the selections. “Um…and a pickle, please.”

He laughs and shakes his head.
“Can’t say anyone’s ever ordered kettle corn and pickles together. That’ll be six-fifty.”

“Thanks,” I mumble as blood rushes to my cheeks. I hope that wasn’t some kind of pregnant joke.
Because I am so not pregnant. I reach into my back pocket and as my fingers glide over nothing but denim material, a lump forms in my throat. Shit. I don’t have any money. My purse is in Jace’s apartment and Jace isn’t here to bail me out.

Now the blood really rushes to my cheeks. “I’m sorry,” I say as quietly as possible since I know there are people in line behind me. Not wanting to admit that I’m broke, I lean forward and mumble, “I…uh, left my wallet back in the car. I’ll come back.”

The strong scent of men’s body wash fills my lungs as someone steps in front of me, slapping a twenty-dollar bill on the counter. “Nachos and Redbull, please.” The blond shirtless guy turns toward me and winks. He
winks
at me. “Plus whatever she ordered.”

“You don’t have to do that,” I say quickly but he shakes his head.

“It’s no problem. You clearly forgot your purse or something, right? Plus I haven’t done anything nice in a while so I figure I’m overdue.” He smiles this captivating smile and if I didn’t have a boyfriend that I love (despite being a little pissed off at him right now) I’d probably flip head over heels for this guy.

“Well, thank you,” I say as the guy in the chef hat places my kettle corn on the counter. I take it and shove a handful in my mouth as lady-like as possible.

Mystery guy helps me carry my food over to the bleachers where we sit on the bottom row. Normally I wouldn’t want to talk to some strange guy, but right now I like the distraction from how angry I am at Jace. Plus this guy and his cocky attitude just kinda screams douche-bag, so it’s not like I’m flirting with him. I’m just being polite.

“So I take it you don’t know motocross,” he says after asking my name and a few other pointless questions.

I shake my head. “Not really, why?”

He shoves a nacho chip in his mouth and shrugs.
“Because you aren’t batting your eyelashes at me and begging for an autograph or a picture to make your Facebook friends jealous.”

I ponder that for a moment, wondering why the hell I would want his autograph. “Are
you some famous guy, too?” I ask.

He laughs. “I’m Ryan Russo. Number ninety-six on Team FRZ Frame Energy.”

He watches me expectantly, I guess waiting for the metaphorical light bulb to turn on in my brain, making me remember who the hell Ryan Russo is. “Sorry,” I say with a shrug. “The only famous motocross guy I know is Jace Adams.”

“
Psh,” he snorts, almost choking on his nachos. “That guy ain’t famous.”

I cock an eyebrow. “Excuse you, yes he is.”

He shakes his head. “Not anymore. He went and let a girl fuck his head up. Now he’s ruined.”

Bits of kettle corn crumble under my fingers as I try to contain my anger at this stupidly-handsome idiot.
I inhale a deep breath and then stand up, taking my food with me. “He isn’t ruined. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

Ryan shrugs and glances out at the track in an effort to dismiss me. Well, I won’t let him dismiss me because I’m dismissing him first. With my food clutched to my chest and my drink in my other hand, I storm away from the bleachers and I don’t look back. I’m sure he has his own reasons for not liking my boyfriend, but I’m not going to sit around and listen to them.

I’m especially not going to listen to stories about Jace’s ex-girlfriend.

With nowhere else to go, I end up standing behind a row of plastic triangles that mark off the track from the rest of the motocross park. I set my drink on the ground in between my feet and munch on kettle corn while pretending to care about the bikes going around and around on the
track. I know somewhere out there is that stupid girl Jace is training, so I don’t pay attention to the riders as they pass.

Someone clears their throat next to me and I turn to see a girl with long brown hair, wearing a purple
Mixon Motocross Park t-shirt. Walking up behind her is another rider, a guy dressed in riding gear with dreadlocked hair.  The girl smiles at me in a friendly way. “Ryan is an asshole.”

I shrug. “I
kinda deserved it.”

She shakes her head. “No one deserves to be treated the way he treats girls. I saw you yell at him just now and I had to come tell you that even though Ash told me to mind my own business.
I love him and all, but the boy should know that I never mind my own business.” She tosses her thumb backwards toward the guy behind her, who I assume is Ash.

“Thanks,” I say. “I don’t even know him. He just insulted my boyfriend and I couldn’t handle it anymore.”

Ash snorts as he messes with his cell phone. The girl punches him in the arm. “I’m Hana Fisher. Yes,
that
Hana Fisher,” she says with a quick roll of her eyes. I’m getting a little tired of people assuming I know who they are. Maybe in a town as small as Mixon, everyone is famous.

“I’m
Bayleigh,” I say with a shrug. “I have a last name but it doesn’t matter because you won’t know who I am.”

“Wait,” she says, holding out her hand and glancing back toward her boyfriend.
“Bayleigh as in, Jace’s Bayleigh?”

I nod. I really like the idea of being called ‘
Jace’s Bayleigh’ even though I am currently mad as hell at him. “How did you know that?”

Ash slides his phone into the back pocket of Hana’s shorts.
“Because the boy doesn’t shut up about you.”

Hana nods eagerly. “I’m so excited to meet you.
Jace gave me special instructions to keep you entertained if he got busy, but I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.”

My heart floods with butterflies and mushy feelings about
Jace that quickly freeze up and crack into pieces. I cross my arms over my chest. “Well it would have been nice if he’d asked you to find me today too, since I’ve been ditched for some peppy blond skank.”

Hana lifts an eyebrow. “You’re
gonna have to explain that one.”

I tell her about how
Jace practically begged me to come to Mixon with him a day early and then when we were supposed to spend the day together, he left me to go teach lessons to some girl. Halfway through my story, Ash excuses himself with a kiss on Hana’s cheek, saying something about practice, but I think he just wanted to escape girlish gossip. When I finish telling her what had happened, it takes a lot of energy not to cry. Even though it’s not that big of a deal, my heart still feels broken.

“I mean how many other hot girls does he see on a daily basis that will make him forget all about me?” I say, tugging at the ends of my hair.

Hana had kept quiet during my story but now she gives me a sad puppy look. “Girl, you’ve got it all wrong, I promise. Jace is crazy about you.”

I swallow the lump in my throat and shake my head. “How do you know?”

“That girl you’re talking about was most likely JoJo because she is the only female client he has, I promise.” She points to the logo on her shirt. “My dad owns this place and I work here full time so I’d know if Jace trained other girls.”

“Okay, so there’s just one girl. Why do you think I shouldn’t be worried about her?” I ask.

Hana laughs. “Because she’s his cousin. She’s going to be the first girl in Texas to race in the all-male Pro class at the races tomorrow. She’s been trained by Jace for her whole life. That’s why she said she’d pay him double…it was a joke because she doesn’t pay him anything.”

The tight pain in my chest slowly unravels, releasing my heart from the grip of heartbreak. Then embarrassment sinks in. I’ve been a total idiot. “Oh god,” I say with my head in my heads. “I can’t believe I was so stupid.”

Her hand touches my shoulder. “Don’t stress. It happens. Hell, I’m pretty sure Ash is going to propose to me any day and I still freak out when girls ask for his autograph.”

We hang out on the bleachers for a while, chatting about motocross and boys. Hana seems like a really cool person and she’s just as crazy in love with Ash as I am with
Jace.

“Hey honeybun,” Hana says, noticing Ash walk around the side of the bleachers before I do.
He’s talking with someone and my heart skips a beat when I see the guy next to him—Jace.

His skin glistens with the sweat of having been outside in the sun for the last hour. Ash sits next to Hana and
Jace sits to my right. Ash kisses Hana on the cheek and Jace… well he doesn’t do anything.