Happy Hour (Racing on the Edge) (53 page)

“The ten is outside—keep low,” Aiden advised me as we came out of three. “At your door, still there, still there,”

“What the fuck is his problem?” I grumbled when Tate once again bumped me coming across the backstretch. “I give him room and he just pushes right back.” I glanced over as he flipped me off.

Real mature Tate.

“He just flipped me off.”

“What did you expect him to do?” Kyle asked. “He thinks you’re messing around with his girl. Just drive through the windshield, bud. Don’t pay any mind to him.”

“Cole
...
you got me? Am I lifting?” I felt like I was lifting too soon allowing him to catch me in the corners.

“Yeah, 10-4 Riley, wait longer coming out of four. He’s holding back but when you lift he’s right there.”

“I can’t wait any longer
...
I’ll be hung out to dry.” I huffed.

“GET DOWN, get down, fourteen spinning in turn two, stay low.” Aiden cut us off. “Cautions out,”

I saw Darrin in the wall as I drove past, smiling to myself.

Darrin’s car was junk which made me smile wider. He was walking towards the aide car when I passed by and like the child I could be at times, what did I do?

Flipped him off.

Now who’s immature?

 “What do you think, bud?” Kyle asked. “Any changes?”

“I’m tight coming out of two and three. Maybe free it up but other than that, I’m good. If I could get past Tate I could get up there with the leaders.”

“All right, let’s do four tires, air pressure adjustment, down a round, and fuel.” Kyle ordered. “Pit roads open
...
watch your speed, keep coming
...
keep coming
...
here you go. Three
...
two
...
one
...
wheels straight, foot on the break.”

It seemed silly for him to say that, I knew to do all those things but in the rush of everything on pit road, those little reminders were appreciated.

The crew went to work as I watched the rest of the field come by in the pits. I had an excellent pit stall right before the entrance to the garage, leaving the stall directly in front of us open—it made it easier on the exit.

“Spencer, watch the right rear. Gentry tear the tape off the front
...
” Mason shouted orders at the crew as I took a drink of my water. The inside of these cars easily reached over a hundred during a race leaving you incredibly dehydrated towards the end.

The front left tire changer reached over the windshield yanking the tear-off and then scrapping along the nose of the car to brush away any debris that gathered. If kept there, it raised the engine temperature by creating less fresh airflow in through the vents on the bumper.

Keeping my right foot securely on the clutch, my left foot slipped from the break when the jack let go and moved to the throttle revving the RPM’s in anticipation.

“One lane, one lane
...
hard, dig dig dig!” Kyle yelled as I jostled out of the pits, other drivers doing the same all trying to avoid a collision that could ruin our day. “Nice job! That’s
how
you do it!”

“Fuck yeah guys.” We gained four spots on the pit stop. “That’s how you do a pit stop—you guys are awesome!” I told them feeling hopeful.

No doubt about it, I was amped. Not only did this put me ahead of Tate, but I had only six cars in front of me and I knew none of them had
anything
on my car today.

“Coming to the green this time by,” Aiden announced.

“How many laps left?”

“You’ll have forty to go when you take the green.”

Forty to go and six cars to pass
...
I could do that.

How awesome would it be to have Sway here and win, on my birthday?

When I took the green, I was on a mission. I said little, only asking for lap times occasionally. This was my way of seeing how close I was running to the lap times on the leader. With twenty to go, I was running in second and battling with Paul for the lead. Getting a nose under him, he put up a good fight for a while.

“Paul’s spotter just came over,” Aiden said. “he said go high, and Paul will let you go.”

“Yeah right,”

“No, they think they’ve got a problem, engine maybe.”

“He smoking now,” I replied and went high.

Sure enough, Paul’s engine blew coming out of four but thankfully didn’t bring out the caution.

“How many laps now?”

“Fourteen to go,” Kyle told me. “Hit your marks and stay focused. You’re running lap times a second faster than the rest of the field.”

I went back to singing
Purple Rain
.

“Two to go this time by, it’s all clear in front of you. You’ve got a 2.1 second lead on the forty-eight.” Kyle said when I passed the start/finish line.

I was quiet again aside from the rumble of the engines. It was the only way I could focus on hitting my marks I set and keeping the car straight. The last few laps were also the crucial ones because drivers tended to get carelessly aggressive, me included.

When the white flag was displayed, Sway came on the radio again singing in her best Prince voice.

“You are so adorable.” I crooned back at her when she finished and as I came out of turn four to the checkered flag, I yelled, “This one’s for you, honey!”

The emotion of the last few weeks got to me as other drivers that passed, waved and congratulate me.

So much had happened with Sway, Charlie
...
everything.

Doing a burnout, I knew that was Sway’s favorite part so I did an extra-long one until the smoke was so thick I couldn’t see and I was sure the engine let go.

Once I made it to victory lane, Sway was there waiting for me along with my mom, Emma, Alley and Lane. When I pulled the car in and killed the engine, Kyle stuck his head inside and ruffled my hair. “Nice fucking job, bud!”

“Thanks for giving me a good car, and great pit stops. It’s a team effort,
always
.” I reminded him.

Most thought it was all on the drivers but really, every person within a race team contributed to a win. From the engine specialist to the tire specialist, from the crew chief to the pit crew, it was a team effort and if all those aspects lined up, your team was unstoppable. We were unstoppable. They could fine us, challenge us or whatever else but I knew then we were unstoppable as a team.

Taking my time removing my gear, I tried to gain some composure again. When I pulled myself from the car, my team roared to life, beer sprayed, cameras were flashing but I only wanted to find my girl.

Glancing over my shoulder, I saw her making her way over to me with a huge grin that mirrored my own.

Once Sway reached me, I wrapped her into my arms for a tight hug. “Thank you so much for coming.” I whispered in her ear pulling back to kiss her.

I didn’t care that the entire world was watching this on television or that there was a crowd of people gathered around, I only cared that my girl came for me.

She was choking back tears when I pulled away so I gently brushed them away with my trembling hand and drew in a shaky breath, holding back my own emotions. It’d been one hell of a week.

Sway smiled again. “Happy Birthday, baby,”

“Thanks,” I grinned. “You’ve made it the best yet.”

Reporters were hovering, wanting their interviews so I shifted Sway to my side, keeping a firm grasp around her waist when Neil with ESPN asked his questions.

“First off, happy birthday!” he told me patting my back. I leaned into him because everyone was still screaming around us making it difficult to hear him. “So tell us, how’d you pull of your fourth cup career win?”

“We had an awesome car all day. I couldn’t have asked for a better car here. The crew did great there on the last stop and got me four spots, which helped. I really need to thank them on this one. Not only do they give me excellent pit stops but these guys never stop.” Shifting my weight towards Sway, I continued on, “When I get to go home they are still at the shop getting ready for the next race so I owe this to them, truly I do. I need to thank my sponsor Simplex for standing behind me, they allow me to come out here each week and compete for the win, so thank you.” I took my hat off and bowed my head towards Melissa standing near us to which she gave me a wave. Turning towards Sway, I winked. “I’d also like send a quick hello to Charlie Reins. He helped me get started in racing and I owe a lot of my experience to him for letting me race even when the track was closed for the season.” I said with sincerity towards the camera. “Thanks Charlie.”

Sway couldn’t hold back the tears any longer; I felt her shake beside me.

Cradling her closer, I leaned over to kiss the top of her head.

“We hear you’re the new owner of Grays Harbor Raceway as well.” Neil evoked. “How did that come about? Was this something you’ve been planning for a while?”

“No, it wasn’t planned but the opportunity just kind of fell into my hands and I couldn’t pass it up.” I didn’t dare say anything about Charlie being sick on national television.

Neil patted my back. “Well congratulations on the win and the new ownership birthday boy.”

Soon the rest of the family made their way over to congratulate me as well. The next two hours were spent between pictures, kissing Sway a tad inappropriately at times, the contender’s conference, more kissing, and now finally we were back home in Dirty Mo celebrating the win and my twenty-third birthday.

Oh, and more kissing.

I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my family and team but I wanted to be alone with Sway, so around one in the morning, we finally made it upstairs to my room.

The moment we were alone, I captured her in my arms and carried her over to my bed. I’d been waiting to get her alone all day that I almost forgot and let me hormones lead me.

“There are some things you need to understand.” I murmured against her neck, tracing my nose along her jaw as we lied on my bed, slowly I removed the last bit of her clothing that remained.

She giggled when I tossed it aside.

“You listening?” I ran tongue along the column of her neck. “Don’t get distracted on me now.”

“I can’t
...
focus when you whisper like that.” Sway confessed arching her back against me. “I need you.”

“I’m not going to fuck you, Sway.” I whispered in a low gravelly voice I knew would send her over the edge, taking my lips away for just a second.

“But you said—”

I placed my fingers against her soft lips. “I’m going to make love to you and I’m
not
going to stop until you’ve past out.”

She giggled.

Raising her chin, I forced her to look at me. “No laughing during this
...
you’ll
...
bruise my ego.”