Alex's Destiny (Racing To Love)

RACING TO LOVE

Book Four

Alex’s Destiny

AMY GREGORY

Copyright 2013 Amy Gregory

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior permission of the publisher. The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Names, characters, and plots are a product of the author’s imagination. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Dedication

To Brian—thank
you for your unending love and support! I know Molly has been your favorite girl from day one, I hope you fall equally in love with Alex. Thanks for being as crazy as I am and letting these characters be “people” in our world!

To Katie—wow…I can’t even list all the things you do for me, and thank you doesn’t seem to suffice, so I’ll send you my love and hugs across the miles.

And…to my “other Katie”.  I fell in love with you years ago. You’re the best German Shepard I’ve ever known, and your soul is so incredibly sweet. Thanks for being the inspiration for Ruby…you’re quite a girl!

Acknowledgements

Brian—for arguing with me. (Eye roll) :D I love you, and I know you only want the best for me and my work.

Katie—the hours of editing, formatting and marketing—you’re amazing!

David Snodgrass—this cover is already creating waves! It’s so beautiful, I love it.

And to all those that are helping with cover reveals, tours and spreading the word about this book and my others. I know now, writing the book is by far the easy part. I couldn’t do it without each of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Present Day

Wiping his palms across his face,
Dallas swiped at the tears that had started, but to no avail. He’d broken the one woman he loved more than any other. Blinking and swallowing hard, he wiped away a few more tears, trying to get himself together. Finally with one deep breath he nodded and followed Carter into the small curtained space in the emergency room. When he saw her though, he knew he had lied, because nothing could prepare him for this.

Her face was bruised, swollen, bloodied, and one eye was completely swollen shut with two steri-strips butterflying a gash. A black stitch held a cut together at the corner of her mouth. Her breathing was low and shallow, and when she did open her left eye, it was glassy, almost as if he could look right through her and she wasn’t there. Her finger held a pulse monitor on the tip as it rested on her thigh and the monitor beeped as the blood pressure cup inflated.

Her mother sat by her side, carefully stroking her long golden curls, avoiding the bloody patch of hair on her head where more stitches had been needed, and whispering quietly to her. Alex stared straight ahead, almost as if she was zoned out. Dallas took a breath and stepped forward, the movement caught Alex’s sight. The moment they made eye-contact, both of them teared-up. Dallas rushed to her side, carefully folding her into his chest and apologizing profusely for not being there to protect her.

Words fell from his mouth, to the point he had no clue as to what he was even saying or promising. All he wanted was to turn the clock back, twelve hours—or two weeks, when he’d first hurt her. He’d do anything to take it all back, to make it better, to make all her hurt go away.

Two weeks prior…

CHAPTER ONE

Alex stood at the front of the double, her aviators on, her long hair twisted into a loose quick braid laid over one shoulder. With the morning breeze, her bangs kept blowing into her face, but it didn’t bother her. She didn’t even notice, since her attention was solely focused on the fourteen-year-old rounding the tight corner and heading straight for her. Her foot stood on the line she’d drawn in the dirt. He’d know exactly where she wanted him to shift gears so he could hit the face of the hill, and make the jump safely. As he cleared it, she got the nod from her Uncle Jesse that he’d landed perfectly on the other side.

“Now, just repeat that fifty or so more times and you’ve got it kid.” she mumbled to herself.

She stood watching her student ride out the corner, high on the berm. Without meaning to, the young boy’s back wheel sent loose dirt flying toward her father.

As Carter brushed himself off, she chuckled and yelled across the track. “Sorry, Dad!”

“You may look just like your father, but you’ll always be your mother’s daughter.”

Alex whipped her head around to the laughing voice behind her. “Dallas!” That line was one she’d heard a hundred times over the last decade. Each and every time, he came home to her, without fail.

Chuckling, he added. “And I’d bet money you told the kid to do it.” Alex took off running in the cumbersome riding boots she was wearing as he walked toward her. When she was close enough, she launched herself, knowing the man she’d loved for twenty years would catch her, just as he had every time before. With her arms and legs wrapped around him, she hugged him tight, the pangs striking harder and harder each time he returned, knowing it would only hurt that much more when he left her again.

He hugged her back with arms she knew were pure steel. She pulled back to smile at the man who stole her heart before she even knew what that meant. The light gray of his eyes could be cold and make him seem unapproachable to some, but when he looked at her they were full of love. Alex spent so many nights thinking about Dallas, with his boyish charm and the surfer boy looks he’d never outgrown, he was the epitome of the ‘all American boy.‘ Though he never lost his sense of humor, the man he’d become was many faceted. Most of the facets she had long since discovered, but she knew there was one side to Dallas she didn’t have the courage to explore.

Over the last few years there were times when his gray eyes darkened, seriousness would wash over him, his jaw would set, his eyes would narrow and he made her feel like he could see her soul. She’d freeze in her spot, afraid to take the next step, and yet too petrified to step back. Those moments sent a jolt of electricity through her entire system, leaving her edgy and frustrated. Yes, she knew she loved him. She had her entire life. Yes, she lusted after him and she knew this because, after all, he was freaking hot. It wasn’t until was about nineteen and read an article in Cosmo, that she finally understood what
Dallas was doing to her. She’d been flipping through the magazine when an article caught her attention and she stopped, turned back the page and was soon totally absorbed. The author’s words laid out all the feelings she had bouncing around inside her, everything she started to feel for Dallas was spelled out in black print on a two glossy pages. Forget black and white, that article spelled out her feelings in bright, flashing neon colors.

She was horny!

From that day on she devoured her Cosmo subscription, learning everything she could when it came to sex. Of course, she subconsciously knew sex must be exactly as amazing as the articles always said it was. They would not lie about toe-curling, mind-blowing, fireworks exploding at one precise moment kind of sex. Exaggerate maybe. But it didn’t matter, she was determined to be ready when Dallas finally noticed her—when he finally
saw
her.

One thing was for certain, she would wait for him—forever. But God help her if it took that long.

She’d heard the story so many times she could recite it word-for-word about how she’d been sitting on the front porch of her grandparent’s house, waiting his arrival back when he was just visiting the academy as a student years ago. Twenty years and three months ago as a matter-of-fact. How she had run down the steps, as fast as an almost four-year-old at the time could go, anxious to meet her Uncle Eli’s car. A moment later, she’d taken Dallas by the hand and had never let him go.

Later that summer Eli married
Dallas’s mother, Honor. But Eli wasn’t truly a blood-related family member as much as he was a christened uncle. Her father Carter, Eli, and Jesse had been friends since they were kids, morphing into a brotherhood over the years, and Alex never thought of either of the two men as anything but family. However, she never saw Dallas as a cousin-figure, big brother, or protector. He was just, Dallas. She’d told him she loved him when she was three—and every day since.

They’d grown up together. A seven-year age difference should have hindered their friendship, but it never did. He never treated her like a little girl, and she never put him on the pedestal that his winning records and adoring fans did. They spent more hours together than either of them could possibly count chasing around the track and racing neck-and-neck. With every bit of her mother’s spitfire determination she jumped every jump
Dallas did, rode through the whoops side-by-side with him, and beat him to the finish a handful of times without his ego being bruised. She and Dallas talked about every subject known to man over the years, especially recently. He turned thirty-one, but her birthday fell just weeks after his, taking them back down to the seven-year span. Alex never really ever saw the gap, and now that she was in her twenties, it seemed insignificant. He was her best friend, tied for the title with her twin brother, Jack, but so close there were no secrets.

Except one.

Alex knew without a flicker of a doubt Dallas was hers, her soul mate, her best friend, and her future husband. She’d waited for him, never giving the teenage boys who enrolled at their academy a second glance. Once she turned sixteen, she turned down dates by the handfuls. Nothing changed when she hit eighteen, twenty-one, or any day since. Alex was waiting for the one man who held her heart in his hands. The one holding her in his arms at that very moment.

Alex pulled him tight again before tipping back and placing a loud smacking kiss on his cheek. She
missed him when he was traveling on the race circuit. When he wasn’t racing he was at the factory track working with his team and sponsors. She stayed in Pennsylvania, teaching at the riding academy her reputation was attached too.

She had never once thought of doing anything but teaching. She was part of a legacy, a dynasty, a school that had become the gold standard in the industry. Their racing academy was revered in a sport that could make or break heroes. A sport in which excellence was necessary and mistakes could be fatal. Longevity in the industry was nearly impossible, but her family had achieved the impossible. Her birthright came with prestige, but also responsibility. It was family pride that had her striving two-hundred percent, her heart and soul dedicated to their empire.

The arms around her squeezed her tight once more. Once in a while, Dallas came home to visit and Alex would soak up every minute she had with him until he left again. It was a merry-go-round relationship she was used to. Saddened to see him leave again, she knew if she was patient, he would retire soon—and never leave her ever again. All she had to do was hold on another year, maybe two. Surely not three, but she would support him fully as she always had no matter what. Alex was living out her dream, and she wanted nothing less than the same for him, because she loved him.

Movement in the distance behind him caught her eye. Still within his hold, Alex glanced over his shoulder to see a young woman walking in their direction. Alex took her in quickly. Short dark hair, medium build, shorts with no tan, and big sunglasses.

Alex’s blood ran cold, and she hurried to slide down the front of Dallas until her feet were on the ground. Her knees buckled and breathing was suddenly impossible. “Who’s that?” She whispered without taking her eyes off the woman.

“Well. Ah. Um, Alex I wanted to introduce you to her. Her name is Heather.”

Turning, they both faced the average looking woman who was smiling as she approached. Pulling out of Dallas’s hold, Alex kept her face blank and started to walk toward her grandparent’s house, also known as the
main house
since it was the original one the Noland Property. Passing the stranger, she mumbled a polite greeting because her manners were too deeply ingrained in her to ignore the stranger.

“Nice to meet you.” She never stopped walking, just continued up the slate stone path to her grandparent’s house. She wanted to run—far and fast but, but felt all their eyes on her. There would be too many flags raised already, her father and her Uncle Jesse had both been close by, and she didn’t have to turn to know what look was on each of their faces.

“Alex. Wait.” Dallas called to her.

She ignored him, determined to get to her Jeep before the first tear fell. Letting him see her break down was not an option. Shock and embarrassment kept her from letting him explain.

“Alex!” he yelled again.

The top was off of her Jeep, and would remain off until it was so cold in the fall she couldn’t stand it anymore. Alex never parked by the academy doors, mainly because she knew her grandmother would have her hide if she didn’t stop in there first to say hello. Since she was parked in her grandparent’s driveway, she’d left her keys and her purse sitting in between the seats. She could still hear
Dallas calling after her, even after she started the vehicle and shifted into reverse. Turning to watch behind her as she backed up, Alex saw him jogging in her direction. Pretending she didn’t see him she turned in her seat and shifted into first. Proceeding down the long winding driveway, she passed all the old maple trees that lined it. Their leaves rustled in the breeze like they had for over fifty years as she pulled away from the house, the school, the property, and from him.

Not until she was on the main road and in third gear did she allow the first tear to fall.

Hitting the steering wheel with her hands, she yelled into the empty space around her, letting the wind muffle her pain. “How the
fuck
could I have been so stupid. All these damn years. So fucking stupid.”

She reached for the radio and cranked it louder. There was brief silence between songs, then the melody started. “Are you kidding me?” She yelled at the radio, at the station, at the DJ playing the one song that would make her cry harder. And it did. Keeping one hand on the wheel, she snaked the other over to punch the button for the next preset. At the last second, she couldn’t do it. Instead, she turned up the volume.

For some, music was
just
music, something to fill the silence surrounding them. For Alex, music and lyrics had always been more. Different songs, different lyrics—different messages. A sharp pain gripped her heart as the words poured through the speakers in her Jeep. Chills covered her body as the artist laid out her life and her pain on a piece of paper full of half notes and the truth.

Always listening to a song for more than just a catchy tune, Alex often heard the story behind it, listened to what the writer was going through at the time.
She wondered if they were a random bunch of words that came to them—if they were hurting, celebrating, or maybe just numb—only words falling onto the paper as a way of self-medicating. On a regular basis, she would track down the backstory, an interview here or a blurb there that explained certain songs. Finding the hidden meaning behind the stories became a guilty pleasure of hers. The songs that said the most, always found their way onto her iPod. Alex didn’t acquire material items like expensive shoes or purses. She was a girl content in jeans and t-shirts. However, her prized possession was her iPod. The playlist she’d gathered was priceless, and she never went anywhere without it.

From the first time she heard that song over a year ago it stole the breath from her chest. The lyrics haunted her. They spoke to her.

They were her story. By the chorus, tears rolled down her cheeks in a steady stream.

At the first stoplight in town, she downshifted and crept up to the red light. Resting her forehead against the steering wheel she closed her eyes. Her phone rang, peeking to see if she had a green yet, Alex looked down at her phone sitting flat on top of her purse. Seventeen missed calls.

A warm gust blew through the open Jeep. Hitting the decline button, she added one more from his number to the count.

He never meant to hurt the one woman he loved with all his heart. Seeing first the shock, then the flash of pain in the prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen—destroyed him.
Dallas stood with his hands clasped behind the back of his head, watching the red taillights disappear down the long drive. She was pissed. Alex loved this property with all her heart and usually took her time to soak in every little thing, even something as small as driving down her grandparent’s drive. She’d ease her way along, her arm out of her Jeep, the breeze floating between her fingers.

Not this time.

She wasn’t driving like a bat out of hell, and Dallas knew that was only out of respect for her grandparents. When she hit the main road, she hit the gas and the pain shot through his heart for a second time in less than three minutes.