Ridin' Dirty (Beautifully Dirty #2) (5 page)

I was asked to finish out the Motocross season for them when one of their current riders was injured. As incredible as it’s been, it’s also been crazy . . . riding and training, Monday through Friday and racing on Saturdays.

Out here I share a house with five other team members. I’ve gotten to be good friends with a couple of them, and then there are a couple jackasses, too. There always are. Jesse Anderson is one of the coolest guys I’ve ever met and we’ve become great friends. We both ride in the lites class on the team and practice together. The house we live in is pretty awesome. Besides having its own private practice track out back, there is a huge gym and an in ground pool with a hot tub attached. Each of us has our own private bedroom suite. Our bathrooms are state of the art . . . with a killer walk in shower, sporting a raindrop shower head, as well as several sprayers on the wall. Which is perfect after a long day of beating our bodies out on the track. The kitchen . . . well it’s a chef’s dream and the rest of the house is incredible as well.

I just finished practicing with three of my teammates, while the other two are going out a bit later; they are working out right now. I walk into the house and head up the stairs, taking them two at a time. I need to jump in the shower. It’s Friday and I’m heading out to meet up with Ryan for the weekend. Even if we are competitors, it doesn’t stop our friendship. Though we don’t get a chance to see each other as much as we would like to lately, we still text and call as often as we can. This is one of our free weekends to do as we like and we don’t see too many of these. We usually have practice all week, including the weekend mornings. But when we do get downtime, it means there’s still Friday morning and late day on Sunday practices, but Friday night, Saturday all day and Sunday morning is ours to do as we please. I still try to get some sort of workout in, as well as some fun. I’m driving down from Brentwood to Danville to stay at his place. After I throw on a pair of board shorts and tank, I grab my bag and am out the door.

I have some big news to share with Ryan. I was asked to race the Supercross circuit for Team Yamaha. I guess I showed them enough in the last few races in Motocross because they’ve asked me stay on longer. Ryan switched teams last year and is riding for the Factory Honda team now. He starts on the line for them and took fifth overall in points last year. Supercross is harder, in some ways, to ride than Motocross. We need to qualify every week to be able to race in the main event. The races are held in football stadiums across the country. Many of the jumps are higher, corners sharper, and sections of the track have straightaways with several jumps in a row, also known as the whoop section. Those jumps are all close together and lower to the ground, but you need skill to keep the bike steady as it glides across the top of them. Where you place in the main event determines what points you are given at the end of the night. Once the entire season is over, which runs from January to early May, the points are added to see who will receive the number one plate and million dollar cash prize. For a rider to be asked to ride both Motocross and Supercross is a big deal and I am blessed that they are going to give me a shot at it. I can’t wait to see what I can do against the big dogs on all the different teams.

I arrive at Ryan’s at about three in the afternoon. We’re going to head out to get something to eat and have a couple beers. Nothing too extreme, we are still in training for the upcoming season. But I need to tell him about what happened between Ansley and me; it’s time for me to lay it all out, so he knows why it’s been so awkward.

“Holy fuck, it’s good to see you, man.” We give the half hug, half pat on the back to each other.

“Damn right it is,” he says as we walk into his house. I can say his house is as large as ours and as nice. A couple of his teammates are still home, they only nod to acknowledge me, when Ryan introduces us. I’ve gotten to know that there are some people that are great in this industry, but there are others, well, let’s just say, who aren’t worth your breath to speak to.

I set my stuff down in the spare room that is at the end of the hallway, just down from the kitchen on the first floor. After shooting the shit over a beer here, we decide we’ll head out for dinner at a local bar that Ryan says has killer burgers.

“Nice bar, man. Love the laid back feel here. I like it.”

“It is. We tend to come here a couple times a month because the locals leave us alone to eat in peace. Let’s order at the bar then I’ll kick your ass in darts.”

I laugh. “Oh, really? I see some things never change.”

We shoot a couple of games before our food comes out. We sit at the bar, ordering two more Coors Lights to go with our burgers. It smells incredible and I’m starving. I don’t veer off the meal plan that we are to follow very often, so on our off weekends, I usually indulge a bit. I’m taking advantage of it now.

“So, how’s Mom and Dad?” I missed his parents. There were like family to me.

“They were out just about three months ago but only for the weekend. They wanted to get over to see you, but I knew it was when Yamaha was ready to sign you. I didn’t want you to have any distractions. They said they would catch up with you the next time they come out.”

“Damn, I wish I could have gotten to see them. But I understand why you didn’t bring them by.”

“So, what else is going on?”

“Well, I was just asked this week to race on the team for the Supercross season. One of our riders is still on the mend from an injury. They are just going to keep him out till Motocross, for more healing time.”

“That’s incredible, Coop. Congrats!” Ryan raises his bottle to me and drinks down the rest of his beer.

“You know how I told you I wanted to talk to you about Ansley?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Well, things haven’t been right with the two of us since we left for college.”

“Ok.”

“Ok?” I can’t figure it out, he is acting like he doesn’t care or like he already knows.

“A while ago, she kinda said that same thing.”

“What else did she say?” I ask it with a sharp tone in my voice, but I don’t care, I’m irritated.

“Relax, Coop, she said that she didn’t know what to say to you since the kiss.”

He is eating while talking, as if it isn’t a big deal at all; to me it’s huge. I’m getting more and more irritated by the minute.

“What the fuck, Ryan? If you knew that happened between us, I wish you would have said something to me.”

“Really? I knew something was going on and figured one of you would spill it when you were ready. And honestly, a kiss isn’t a big deal, so I don’t know what the problem is.”

“Agreed, but she won’t talk to me, and I don’t know how to fix that. Did you tell her that?”

“Yes, pretty much. Now, let me ask you a question . . . did that kiss mean something to you? Do you have feelings for Ansley?”

“Shit, I don’t know, to tell ya the truth. I mean she’s my best friend, or at least I think she is.”

“Coop, she will always be our best friend. If you called her tomorrow and told her you needed her, she’d come running. It’s not in her to be mean to anyone, especially us.”

“I know that, but right now, I feel like she’s running further away from me. I just need to talk to her once, so I can explain to her I didn’t plan for it to happen, it just did.”

“Well, give her a bit longer, she’ll come around when she’s ready.”

“She’s never been able to stay mad at us before. This has been going on over four years.”

“The difference is she isn’t mad, she’s confused.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

We shoot the shit and play a couple rounds of pool before a couple of blondes that have legs that go on for miles come in. Did I mention that those legs are sexy as hell? Well, they are. I have met a few beautiful ladies out here, but they are never good enough for more than a night or two. Yep . . . I am still waiting for the one that gets me, and so far, there hasn’t been one. They just want to say they slept with a factory racer, and I’m happy to oblige.

“How about we go put these two to bed?”

“You know, Coop, I like the way you think.” We both start laughing as we tap our beer bottles together, before we get up to walk over to meet our soon to be bedmates for the night.

After spending some time with these hotties, we decide to take this back to his house. They follow behind us with their car. Once we arrive at Ryan’s, we decide we’ll all go for a late night swim and maybe hit the hot tub. It doesn’t take either one of us long to convince the girls that they can go without suits. I mean, with his roommates out for the evening, why not take advantage of it with a skinny dip? Ryan has staked his claim on the one with long blonde hair with streaks of hot pink underneath the back of it. She is hot, but I am drawn to the one with a bit shorter all blonde hair. She has gorgeous eyes. Neither one of them can hold an intelligent conversation, but that is okay with both of us because we aren’t here to talk to them really.

I have my little lady pressed up to the side of the pool, loving the way her body is responding to my every touch. She isn’t stopping me either, as I start to whisper in her ear that we need to take this inside. The only rule I ever live by is . . . no glove, no love and since I didn’t have anything out here with me, we needed to head to the room I’m staying in. I’m not about to take a chance now, when my life is on the track that I’ve always wanted it to be on. Ryan has already moved to a lounge chair when I pass by him. He’s getting pretty hot and heavy with his pink haired freak. My night finishes up with a smile on my face and a very satisfied lady lying next to me.

The next morning I get up to make some coffee as my girl follows me down the hallway. Ryan walks in as his little lady struts in behind him. Neither of us want this to be a dragged out goodbye . . . It’s time to go, ladies. After a cup of coffee, we do what any good gentleman would do . . . we ask them if they want anything to eat before they leave. It’s a polite way of saying . . . ok we are done here, now you may go. They get the hint and leave their numbers, as they walk out the door.

I reach forward, taking the paper with their numbers, and crumpling it up, I toss it in the wastebasket. Ryan walks past me, patting me on the back, chuckling. It just confirms that we are on the same page when it comes to keeping these numbers.

“Well, that was fun,” Ryan says, laughing.

“Yeah, we still got it, don’t we?”

“Hell yeah, we do. Wait and see who comes to the house party we are having tonight. These energy girls are fucking hot as hell and I hear there is a couple new ones too. And trust me, the guys on this team know how to have fun.”

“You know me, I’m always down for a good time.”

“I need to hit the gym this morning. If you are looking to do the same, our gym is out back, across from our pool house.”

“Sounds good to me.”

My cordless Beats are around my ears and I’m ready to sweat. Ryan walks in a couple minutes later, with pretty much the same look. He nods in my direction and goes straight for the treadmill. We spot for one another and push each other to get just one more rep in. After a couple of hours, we’re both covered in sweat and in desperate need of a shower. Just as we are walking out of the room, in walk a couple of his teammates. We stop to talk just for a bit about later tonight and who is coming. I really don’t know anyone they mention, other than Ryan’s teammates.

“We stink,” I say, downing a whole bottle of water.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Ryan says, as we walk back into the house.

“I’m jumping in the shower, then relaxing by your pool. I don’t get a chance to do that very often.”

“I’ve learned already that there isn’t much downtime in this industry.”

The rest of the day consists of us hanging around in nothing but a pair of board shorts by the pool. It kinda feels like old times, other than we are missing Ansley. The three of us were always hanging out by my pool. Not knowing how she’s been is bothering me. I’ve spoken to her mom off and on throughout the years, to see what’s been going on with her, but she would only say that she was doing well. Though she did tell me when I called last time, which was when we both would be graduating from college, that she had just landed a great job with some huge drink company in their marketing department. She’s traveling quite a bit, which is keeping her really busy.

Ryan and I talk about my dad’s business and how he is making millions. He is trying to be cool about this “whole lifestyle I am living,” as he calls it. Mom has started texting me on race days, telling me to stay safe. I actually think they care how I do. Though they’ve never come to watch a race, so who knows. Dad is always too busy, and Mom can’t miss a meeting regarding an event to plan, or she’d feel out of the loop with all the ladies she hangs out with. Well, maybe one day they’ll make it out this way.

“What are you doing for the holidays this year?” I didn’t know if he is going to try and make it home or not. I know we get a week off, but we have to be back on December twenty-seventh. Practice will start back up again for the Supercross season; it starts the second Saturday in January.

“I’m headed back to hang with Mom and Dad for a bit. Are you going home this year?”

“Yeah. It’ll be the same old thing, but I want to get away for a little while, too. We get a week, what about you guys?”

“We get the same. I fucking love this time of the year. The training is intense to get ready for the first race, but it’s worth it.”

“I want to make it over to see your parents while home and maybe we can get a few workouts in together.”

“My parents love you. Dad is always asking how you’re doing, so if you don’t come over he’ll be pissed at you.” I know Ryan is serious when he says it, even though he is smiling at me. His dad and I are close. I feel bad that I haven’t been back to see him or even kept in touch with him recently.

“Definitely!”

We both head in, after a couple of hours, to grab something to eat and to get ready for tonight’s festivities.