One For The Road - Chapter 37: Chapter 37

"Is everything okay? Your phone keeps going off," Drake said.
"I'm sure everything's fine. It's not like I have much else besides this."
Griffin and my old friends from my racing team were all that really came to mind anyway, and they were all thriving without me. Well, except Griffin couldn't even make it through an entire race without taking too much damage to the car.
"You should probably take that. Everyone else you care about is in a pretty risky line of work, you know?" Drake said.
Sure, I almost died one time, but that was years ago.
He took a step back and didn't take his eyes off of me. The phone stopped ringing.
"You didn't even look to see who it was," Drake said.
"I like to live on the edge like that," I replied, and when my phone started to ring again, I let out a sigh. "I should probably get that."
Drake nodded, and he headed back inside for a moment. I had no idea how long he and Josiah were out working on the robot, but they were at least out there since I got up in the morning.
I took the call outside, and although it was an August morning, it was still kind of cool outside. The grass was wet with dew, and the tree that guarded the front door didn't even cast a shadow on the porch quite yet. I looked at my phone, and of course, it was Griffin who called me.
"Guess who failed inspection four times?" Griffin said.
Four? Jesus. There was no way he'd have his crew chief for the race, and he'd have to start in the back of the pack.
"Wow, that sucks. Did they fine the shit out of you and take away points?" I asked.
"Fortunately, it wasn't that egregious, but even though the whole thing is supposed to be mechanized, I'm starting to think the officials have it out for RTR," he said.
"That's real funny, especially since they loved to pick on me."
"Well, they keep drug testing Elizabeth too, so it wasn't just you."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"Not really. Anyway, I was calling because there are some rumors in the garage here, and I wanted to hear something from you. You've been talking to Team Moretti, haven't you?"
Team Moretti? They were one of the best overall teams in NASCAR, owned by an Italian former F1 racer who figured he could make quite a bit of money in stock car racing. He was right, and he was one of the biggest threats in the garage.
"Uh, no. I haven't been talking to anyone really. Wait." Did I seriously ignore some calls from my agent? I grimaced. "Oh my god. You really think Andre Moretti wants to sign me for next season?"
"Well, that's what I've been hearing. Bailey's pissed about it," he said.
Of course. Tyler Bailey was the centerpiece of Team Moretti. And that meant that if this deal happened, we would be teammates.
But when it came down to it, the label teammates only meant that we weren't allowed to wreck each other for shits and giggles. The only reason it was important when I was on RTR was that Griffin and I made it mean something.
"I don't know whether I should sort this out now or put it off and make out with Drake instead," I said.
"What?"
"What?"
"Drake? Wasn't that the one that was an asshole, but not as much of an asshole as the other one?"
"The thing was that he was just pissed at me the day you met him because I kissed him, and he was kind of afraid that I didn't actually mean anything with it. We've sorted it out, and now—"
Griffin interrupted me. "What the fuck, Kate?"
I rose my eyebrows. "What do you mean? I sometimes like hanging out with the guy."
"I mean, he just never really seemed like your type to me," he said.
"I don't even have a type, Griffin, besides maybe more toxic than me."
"I just—I don't know what the fuck you could ever see in him." He paused for a moment. "I don't."
Was he jealous? He was definitely jealous.
"Griffin, there's no reason to get upset about this. One, it's not going to change anything with you and me. You know I'll pick you over any guy or girl any day. Two, if what you're telling me is true, I have no reason to stay here."
As soon as the words left my mouth, my heart sunk into my stomach. It was true, but it sounded ungrateful for everything they had done for me. They kept me out of trouble, gave me a place to stay with good people, and let me buy that beautiful Corvette.
But I gave them half a million dollars and a chance in that tournament that they never would have had without me.
I couldn't just leave, especially when Annie needed someone to support her. Drake earned some loyalty from me. As far as I was concerned, someone who had fun wasn't a bad role model, but someone who took and took and took and never returned was.
Team Moretti sure as hell didn't pride a moral compass over winning (Tyler Bailey was the gold star example of that), but Team Sacrilege was too good to me. If they ended up qualifying for that televised tournament that Drake wanted, then I owed it to all of them to give it everything I had.
And if anyone wanted to tell me that I was the worst possible example for young girls after that, then they were assholes.
Drake told me that the tournament started in a couple months, and the new racing season started in about six and a half, so the timeline would hopefully work out.
"So you'll be back next season?" Griffin asked.
I took in a breath. "No matter what. Whether it's with Team Moretti or someone else, it's happening. Promise."
"That's all I wanted to hear, so I'm gonna let you go. Roger wants me to tell Helen Keller how the fuck she's supposed to handle this track. Little does he know that I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing either. Watkins Glen sucks."
"Road courses are the best. If you want, I could teach you a few things," I said with a laugh. Two of my many second-place finishes were at Watkins Glen, and although I never got my win there, I sure as hell preferred the challenge over the superspeedways like Daytona or Talladega.
Griffin laughed too. "I don't take advice from people who are unemployed."
I rolled my eyes. Would he always hold that over my head? "Fuck you." And with that, I hung up.
Even if it was a joke, I really didn't want to hear about it anymore. I had made myself a nice little path back to where I wanted to be, and no one was going to ruin the fact that I was fixing my career. People tore my plans apart all the time, but it wasn't going to happen again.
I kept myself together when Truscott took the keys to my career away, and as much as I wanted to just lose my shit, I didn't. In fact, I probably cleaned a few parts of myself up.
What happened wasn't my fault, but damn, I was making the best of it.
Plus, Griffin and I rarely even argued. There were a few times we yelled at each other in Truscott's office and more than a couple times when we got pissed for silly, pointless things, but I wasn't even sure why he would be upset that I was kind of maybe going out with Drake. As soon as Tyler made me choose between him and Griffin, I picked Griffin and that was that. Griffin didn't have a damn thing to worry about.
I headed back inside, and Drake and Josiah were back working on the robot. I wasn't really sure what else I expected.
Drake told me once that he would probably never get used to having a famous hot athlete in his bed, but of course, that wasn't true. I really wasn't all that charming, and the magic of the situation wore off pretty quickly.
I had talked to my agent, and while it was still pretty early in the process, it was true that Andre Moretti, a legend in his own right, thought I would be a good addition to his team. But I had to keep my lips sealed about it. Not a damn thing was set, and I couldn't risk pissing off Drake before we even heard anything about the tournament.
I was in a waiting stage in my life, which I was never really good at. It meant I had to keep still for a moment.
And with Drake beside me, it was almost like I couldn't even dare to think about it, or I might accidentally puke out some details that I couldn't share quite yet. But it was all that ran through my mind. Soon I could have my life back, and while it would definitely be different, maybe this time, it would be what I always thought it would be.
"You want to talk?" I asked, but when I looked over, he was comfortably asleep. I laid my head back on the pillow, and I lowered my voice to a whisper. "I'm sorry. I know you've been nothing but good to me, but I'm not cut out for this. But I want you to know that I'm going to give the whole robot fighting tournament everything I have. You deserve that."
If he wasn't actually asleep or if I accidentally woke him up, I didn't really care. This maybe game was exhausting, and as much as I didn't want to commit to a thing, I wanted something to commit to me.