Legends and Lies (18 page)

JARED didn’t come back to his motor home until close to midnight and Annie wondered if she should go find a hotel room of her own to stay in. She’d heard that Tucker’s team had filed a grievance with the officials stating that they believed that someone outside Tucker’s team had tampered with his car.

“Who do they suspect tampered with the car?” she asked as she mixed Jared a drink.

“Thanks,” he said when she handed him the scotch and soda. “Tucker is looking hard at Dave and his team.”

“I don’t think they’d do anything like that. I’ve known most of them for a good ten years at least. Some of them I’ve known my entire life.”

“It’s hard to believe someone you know is capable of doing something illegal, but it is possible.”

She wasn’t naive. “I understand that. Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot.”

He held his hand up. “I wasn’t. Honest, it’s just been one hell of a long day.”

She sat next to him on the couch. He put his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer to his side. The silence built between them as he continued to sip his drink. But she knew he wasn’t relaxing. If anything he kept getting more tense. She knew he was going over the entire situation in his head.

“Other than Dave’s team who else does Tucker think could do it?”

“No one. He’s pretty focused on Dave and I can’t say I blame him.”

“I can,” she said. No matter the rivalry between them, she couldn’t see her brother tampering with another driver’s car. It went totally against everything that Dave stood for.

“Of course, you can. Dave’s your brother.”

“And Tucker’s your best friend,” she said. “I don’t think either of us is objective where they are concerned.”

“True. But the two of them have been going at it since February and it’s logical to look to each other’s camps when something like this happens.”

“Did he suspect me?” she asked.

Jared leaned his head against the back of the leather sofa and closed his eyes. She knew the answer before he uttered it out loud.

“Yes, he did.”

“What reasons did he use? Just the fact that I was related to Dave?”

Jared turned his head without lifting it. “No, the fact that you’d stayed out of his garage today.”

“But I’ve been staying away for weeks. I only did that because I know his team now and they talk to me because I’m your girlfriend. I didn’t want to accidentally let something slip to Dave like I did to you a few weeks ago.”

He lifted his free hand and caught one of her curls around his finger. “That’s what I figured.”

“And he listened to you?”

“After a fashion.”

“Maybe you can get him to stop suspecting Dave. I’m sure my brother—”

“That’d be impossible. Someone is going to have to find concrete proof that Dave had no knowledge of what happened for Tucker to even come close to believing it.”

“That’s ridiculous. Everyone knows that Dave’s a Jenner and we don’t cheat. You know if Tucker wasn’t such a maverick, he wouldn’t have this problem.”

She knew her words weren’t fair but she didn’t like the tone of accusation in Jared’s voice. It was like he believed Dave might have had something to do with Tucker’s problems.

“You know when you accuse Tucker of being a rebel you’re condemning his entire team.”

“So? You just did the same thing with me and Dave.”

“Are you saying you think I’m a wild card, too?”

“I think you don’t care what Tucker does as long as he wins and gets you owner points and makes you more money.”

Jared sat up, drawing his arm from behind her back. “Don’t hold back, Annie, tell me what’s really on your mind.”

“You’re accusing the Jenner Racing team of spying and sabotage. That’s something we would never do.”

“And I guess now I know where you fall in all of this. Somehow I thought you’d see it differently.”

She shook her head, shades of Malcolm coloring this entire situation. Was she supposed to look the other way and keep her mouth shut so that their relationship could continue? She couldn’t do it. Couldn’t pretend not to see the obstacles in their path.

“Why? Because we’re sleeping together?”

“No. I’d think you’d be the first to defend Tucker because you know how it feels to be accused of something you didn’t do.”

She blanched. She did know exactly what that felt like. Clearly she recalled that moment when Jared had accused her of sabotaging Tucker’s car, which should have warned her where he’d fall in any kind of conflict. “That was a totally different situation.”

“Why? Because you’re a Jenner and above reproach?” he asked, pushing to his feet. He stood there towering over her.

She shook her head. She should have expected this to happen sooner or later. She was grateful that it had happened now before she’d made a deeper commitment to Jared. Yeah, right, she thought, as if she could get any more deeply committed to this man than she already was.

“Somehow I knew this was going to come back to my family.”

“It’s hard to separate you from your family,” he said. “Especially since they are always in my face.”

“What are you saying?”

He shrugged at her.

“I knew that you didn’t really trust me and this proves it.”

Jared shook his head. “All this proves is that you’d choose blind loyalty to your family over anyone else.”

“Don’t act like you’re the injured party here,” she said.

“No, I’d never do that. I guess this is where the ride ends for you and I, right?”

She wrapped her arms around her waist, wondering how this had gotten so out of control. He just stared down at her and she knew she needed to find some words. Any words, something to say that would make him stay, but in the end she just shrugged her shoulders and watched him walk away.

DAVE WAS BEGINNING to believe some of the rumors he was hearing out of Tucker’s camp about someone messing with his car. The other driver had been such a fierce competitor all year long it made no sense that he’d cheat in such an obvious way and get himself kicked out of the race.

NASCAR had decided not to let Tucker race today in Phoenix. Though a part of him was relieved he wouldn’t be racing against Tucker another part knew that victory wouldn’t be as sweet unless he got it honestly.

With the race a couple of hours away everyone was tense. Dave took a few minutes to himself in his hauler.

What a difference a few weeks made. His father had been at the last two races looking more like his old self than he had in years. This morning Annie looked miserable and Jared looked the same. He tried to get Annie to talk about it but she wouldn’t.

And his team was really doing well. They had the car in the best shape it could be in.

When Dave came out of his hauler he saw Rob Mandelay walking toward him. “Do you have a minute?”

“Not really. I’m getting ready to race.”

“This won’t take long.”

Dave smiled genially and led the way back toward his hauler, but didn’t go inside. He needed to keep this short. Rob was becoming nothing short of a pain in his butt. He’d liked the man but just had no room for him right now.

“I wanted to talk to you about a job.”

“We still don’t have anything open, Rob. I’m aware that you want a job with my team but we’re fully staffed,” he said, offering the man his hand. “As I mentioned we’ll probably need some new guys in January. I’ll call you then.”

“But I’ve already proven my loyalty to you,” Rob stated.

“Ah, what are you talking about?” Dave asked, afraid to guess what Rob had done.

“When you guys got fined for lowering the motor mount, I told everyone that clearly that was Vinnie’s idea,” Rob said.

“Thanks, Rob. But we’re a team. We all work together. I appreciate the support though. Listen I’ve got to get going. We’ll talk again later.”

“There’s one more thing,” Rob added.

“What?” he asked, glancing around the garage area for Mel. He was going to have a long talk with her about staying close by so she could rescue him from people like Rob who didn’t know when to move on.

“I fixed it so you could win the championship. Tucker’s completely out of the way now. I think that deserves some kind of thanks.”

Dave glanced at the other man, afraid to believe what he heard. He took Rob’s arm and drew him farther away from the people milling just a few feet away.

“Why would you do that?”

“I figured if I helped you win then…well, you have to give me a job.”

Rob must have been half-crazy to think that idea would work. All that he’d done was place the blame squarely in his court. Oh, hell, how was Dave going to fix this?

“Don’t say anything about this to anyone else. We’ll talk as soon as the race is over.”

Dave left his hauler area and walked to the garage, not sure what to do. He should say something to the officials but he didn’t want to be implicated in Rob’s scheme. And the race countdown had already begun. He couldn’t afford to get his head out of the game at this point.

But how could he compete knowing that someone had sabotaged Tucker’s car for him? How could he hold his head up as a man and not say anything?

“Dave, we need to talk,” Annie said, coming up next to him. She looped her arm through his and drew him to a stop in the middle of the garage area.

“I can’t now. Let me run this race and then we can talk.”

“I heard what Rob just said to you.”

Dave glanced down at his sister, into eyes that were like his own. “Don’t judge, Annie. I didn’t ask him to do anything crazy.”

“I know that. But we have to tell the officials so that Tucker can have a chance to race.”

“It’s too late for today.”

“It’s never too late for the truth.”

“It is today. I’ll go to them after this race is in the bag.”

She shook her head and gave him a look that would have melted a lesser man on the spot. “I can’t believe this. That’s one step above cheating.”

People were starting to notice them and he didn’t want their conversation overheard so he led her back across the pavement to the hauler and opened the door. She climbed inside and he followed her.

“I know you didn’t just call me a cheater. I had nothing to do with Tucker’s problems.”

“Yes, you did. Rob thinks that you’re going to give him a job now.”

“Well, I’m not. I never promised him a job or told him to do anything crazy like this.”

“Dave…”

“Listen, let me run this race, win the championship for Daddy, and then I’ll go and straighten this entire thing out.”

“Win the championship for Daddy?”

“Yes. It’s what I’ve wanted since February.”

“I think that you aren’t going to feel like the real winner unless the field is full of
all
of the competitors. Not just the ones you think you can beat.”

“That’s not fair, Annie.”

“Life’s not fair, Dave. And I expected better of you. If you’re not going to the officials, then I will.”

“I can’t believe you’re going to turn your back on your family,” Dave said, grasping at straws.

“I don’t think I am.”

She walked out of the hauler and he lowered his head into his hands, letting her words echo in his head. What the hell was he thinking? Of course he had to take the steps necessary to clean up this mess. He’d never be able to live with himself if he didn’t.

THE FIRST PERSON that Annie saw when she left Dave’s hauler was Tucker.

She went over to him. “Can we talk?”

“Sure.”

“I…I’m sorry I didn’t believe you or Jared when you said something about sabotage.”

Tucker gave her a weird look and she realized she was making no sense at all. But she wanted to give Dave time to do the right thing.

“A lot of people still don’t believe me so don’t sweat it,” he said. “I think I owe you an apology. I was pretty rough on you when I first suspected someone of tampering with my car. Jared put me in my place though.”

“He did?”

“Yes. In no uncertain terms, he told me he trusted you,” Tucker said.

And she’d told Jared he wasn’t worthy of her trust. She’d chosen her family and loyalty to them over taking a chance on him. Because she felt safer with her family, they’d always been there for her. And she was afraid to give Jared the same trust. She was afraid to trust him not to just let her walk away.

“Listen, I just learned something that I think we need to take to the officials.”

“Annie, you shouldn’t be involved in this,” Dave said, coming up behind her.

“Dave, I’ve made my choice.”

“So have I. Tucker, let’s talk in my hauler,” Dave said in a no-nonsense voice.

She knew immediately that her brother was going to do the right thing. Tears stung her eyes and she turned around to hug him.

“What about?” Tucker said.

“I know who messed with your car,” Dave said, dropping his arm from around her.

“Who?”

“Not out here,” Dave replied. Tucker walked to Dave’s hauler and opened the door.

The two men climbed into the hauler and Annie followed them.

“Okay, who was it?”

“A guy on your team,” Dave said. “Rob Mandelay.”

“My catch can guy?” Tucker asked. Tucker’s fists tightened at his sides and he glared at Dave. “Kind of convenient that it’s one of my guys.”

“I know it sounds far-fetched, but trust me on this.”

“Why would he do that?” Tucker demanded.

Dave looked sheepish but Annie felt proud of him. He was doing the right thing, just like she knew he would. She knew she was going to have to do the same thing with Jared. Go and find him and try to make up for the things she said last night.

“He wanted a job with my team and thought that proving he was loyal to me would help his chances.”

Tucker cursed. “Billy thought it had to be someone on our team because he didn’t remember seeing anyone in another uniform in the garage. But we couldn’t figure out who would do something this stupid. The crew gets financially rewarded if we win the championship.”

“I’m sorry,” Dave said.

“Why? Did you ask him to do it?” Tucker asked.

“No,” Dave answered. “But I was glad that you were out of the race.”

“Heck, if something like this happened to you I’d be happy to.”

“Want me to go get an official?” Annie asked.

“No. I think Dave and I will handle this.”

Dave and Tucker left together to find the officials. Annie wanted to find Jared, but suspected that just because everything was hopefully going to be settled between Dave and Tucker, that didn’t mean their problems were solved, especially since the one thing that had become a wedge between them was her family. And she had no idea how to take them out of the equation.

She pulled out her phone and dialed Jared’s cell number but he didn’t answer. She didn’t blame him; he was probably still mad at her. She was mad at herself for letting the behavior she’d learned from her marriage mess up her relationship with Jared.

She’d found a man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. Yes, she thought, she did want to spend the rest of her life with him. No matter that he couldn’t become chummy with her family. She already knew she loved him and she needed to let him know that.

But he was going to be busy with the officials and Tucker. And she should…

She didn’t want to think about it anymore. She loved Jared and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She couldn’t wait to tell him. If he couldn’t forgive her, then…well, then she’d convince him.

She left Jared a message that they needed to talk and to call when he could. Then she sat in one of Dave’s chairs and stared at her phone as if that would somehow make it ring.