Jesse's Soul (2) (11 page)

Anthony walked toward Reid to argue, but Reid threw his hand up and shook his head. “Don’t bother. You’re done.” He pointed for the mechanic to go.

“John, bring me a radiator and hurry.” She felt rushed and her pulse made her think her heart was about to pound out of her chest, but she was still instantly calmer with the rest of her team. The proverbial shoe had dropped, and she’d like nothing better than to chuck it upside that asshole’s head. But first she had a bike to get back on the track. And a shell-shocked teenager to ride it.

Mike hurried over to Lance’s bike with a new back tire with more traction and began to change it without being asked.

“Thanks, Mike.” She nodded her approval for the tire and for him listening to what she was trying to get through to John.

“I’m sorry, Emery.” Lance’s eyes were still glazed over and he appeared stunned with what he had just witnessed.

He was just a young rider in his first season of lites. This was a whole new world to him. Emery had watched him in the amateurs and rooted for him from the minute he’d gone pro. He was a sweet kid and she had a soft spot for him. It made her a nervous wreck to put him on the bike after what had just happened, but this was make it or break it time for Lance. He needed to learn to let that stuff go when he pulled into the gate. Emery was going to do everything she could to ease things for him.

She turned to face him, taking a brief minute to give him her full attention.

“Don’t you worry about it, Lance. You do what you need to do to win races. I’ll do what I need to do to help you, okay? I need you to listen to me, all right?” She waited for him to nod. “You have to forget what just happened. Let it go, we’re starting from scratch. Don’t you take that to the track with you, you understand me? You’ll just get hurt.” Again Lance nodded, his eyes as big as silver dollars. “Okay, now how much time do I have?”

He looked at the clock on the table. “About thirty minutes.”

“No. Exactly how much time do I have?”

His eyes opened even wider and he looked back at the clock. “Um, twenty-eight minutes.”

“Thank you. Go get me the wrench I have the third from the left and the red screwdriver on the end. Hurry.”

John st
arted thumbing through the toolbox close by to find her the tools she had asked for. Lance came back first. “That’s why no one touches my shit. You all can’t find anything. None of you will be working like that again. I just had to prove to you why first.”

She continued on, showing Lance how to change his radiator. Not because she expected him to do it himself, but that was the way she was taught, and her rider should know about his bike. She also knew it would help clear his mind and put him in a safer state to race. She finished and turned to the clock.

“There you go, Lance. You’re all good. John, check his gas and get him out of here. He needs to be down there in seven minutes.”

“Thank you so much, Emery.”

She patted his arm, and for a brief moment, a smile touched her face. Letting Lance in on the private war, she gave a quick jerk of her head motioning over her shoulder.

“You’re welcome, now go win me a race. I’ve got prove that jackass wrong. He’s been over there watching me this whole time.”

She didn’t have to check, she could feel it. She could feel the heated look of hate searing into her back, making the hair on her neck stand on end for the last twenty minutes. As uncomfortable as it was, she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of a glance his way to acknowledge it. Let him know she could sense him? Hell would freeze over first.

Lance peeked behind her.

She didn’t need to look. Emery knew exactly what the young rider was seeing. Anthony, standing there like he was all that, trying like hell to look imposing, his Italian ego stepped on by a woman. She could picture it clearly, him leaning on the corner of the back end of the trailer, his arms crossed over his chest glowering her direction. Emery had dealt with enough men in her career to put the actions with the attitudes. It equally pissed her off and amazed her at how quickly she’d assessed him. He’d been a prick from the get go and now she had to find another mechanic.

He turned back. “Sure thing, Emery. Let’s do this.”

Emery could tell she’d nailed her assumption and appreciated the smirk and the cockiness of Lance’s newfound enthusiasm. She would remember to laugh about it later, when there was time.

Emery eyed the rest of the mechanics who had stopped for a minute to look over at Anthony. “The rest of you listen for a quick second. This goes for all of you. Without our riders, we have no jobs. You
will treat them with respect. I won’t allow them to talk to you that way, and you will not be allowed to ever speak to them that way. We are a team, and together we win races. You either play by my rules or you can leave now, and don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. I will not have this conversation again with any of you.”

Leaving their faces in shock, she walked the eight feet or so back to Jesse’s bike to check it one last time. John may want to be as good as a Kincaid, but she was never going to trust him fully, not with the team’s most important bike. A snicker escaped after realizing Jesse had been watching her.

“That’s one.” She put one finger up. “Told you.”

Jesse winked at her, then
smiled that crooked grin of his.

“You ready?”

She was right about some men not being able to work for her since she was a woman. It was just frustrating to her that rumors would fly that she was a bitch, not that Anthony was in the wrong. Emery blew out a huff, the air moving her bangs out of her eyes. It wasn’t anything she hadn’t dealt with before. When her bikes were up on the podium week after week, they’d figure out what she knew all along.

Emery nudged Jesse’s arm. “Hey, did you hear me?”

Jesse blinked at her, seemingly lost in his thoughts. “What?”

“Are you ready? It’s time for you and me to go.” She slung her backpack with various parts and tools that might be needed in an emergency down on the track over one shoulder and whirled back around to see him staring intently at her.

“Yeah.” He paused. “I’m ready, Em.”

The glazed look across his face stopped her. With her brow scrunched in confusion, Emery waited. She should have looked away.

A crooked grin first tipped his mouth and then slowly spread. The smile drew her eyes to his. The light brown pulled her in, but until now, she hadn’t been close enough to see the flecks of gold in them. For a fraction of a moment, all she saw was…him.

Something shifted.

She stood motionless, barely able to breathe, much less pull away from his gaze. Things were different now. Emery didn’t know why, but she could see not only the warmth but the absolute certainty in his eyes—and that scared the hell out of her.

Mike bumped her from behind as he passed by. Jesse snaked a hand out, grabbing her elbow to stop her from stumbling. The mechanic’s apology was lost in the haze Jesse had her under.

“I’ve got you.”

Three simple words, the knowing look, and his hold on her arm combined to knock the air right out of her lungs. Reid nudged her shoulder handing her a radio,
and turning to reach for it broke his hold on her, both with his eyes and the hand he had on her. Her dad walked on like he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary, the guys were all still busy with their tasks, and Lance walked by with another of their lites riders deep in their own conversation. Reality came roaring back. What had felt like slow motion, had been just a blip of time, unrecognizable to anyone around them. Emery glanced back up at Jesse, sure she’d imagined the whole thing.

She hadn’t.

This time, she closed her eyes and slowly lowered her head. She couldn’t afford to get lost in him. The price was too high.

~

She hit the wall with the force of a Mack truck. Emotionally exhausted and physically drained, Emery wasn’t sure if she had it in her make it to her bed. After all, her dad’s motorhome was a good six minute walk down the underground wing of the stadium. The thought of curling up on the bench in the bike semi she was currently sitting on was very appealing at the moment. She’d made it through their quick wrap-up meeting after the races were done for the night, but only thanks to several cups of coffee throughout the day and evening. Unfortunately, even the caffeine could only do so much for so long.

“Okay, well
...” Emery paused, covering her mouth as she yawned. “I’ll make those changes when I do the rebuild.”

“Sounds good. Well that’s about it then. Second place, that’s great, Frost. I’m so proud of you, son.”

“Thanks Reid, but it was all Emery. I didn’t do anything that I hadn’t done before. It was the bike and that’s all you, Em.”

The tired smile barely graced her face and she didn’t have the energy to sound upbeat. “We’re a team, it’s all of us. You done, Dad?”

Business had been hammered out, decisions made, congrats given, and plans for the upcoming week finalized. The rest of the riders and the mechanics on the team were outside the semi, packing to head to the next city and relaxing—not necessarily in that order. One end of the trailer was fitted with cushion-covered benches on three sides, and a small rectangular table was bolted to the black diamond-plate floor in the middle. Only Emery, her dad, and Jesse remained, still gathered around the table, each with notepads in front of them and one form of caffeine or another.

Funny thing about a table shaped like that, when the rest of the team had been inside and trying to make room around the table, Jesse and Emery had been pushed together in the middle. The team had since cleared out and there was plenty of room, yet there Jesse sat. How convenient for him. Closer than just being in her personal bubble, his body was pressed against hers from the knee, bending at the ass, clear up to their shoulders. Only she was too tired to bother moving.

She felt the strength of his shoulder push against hers as soon as the word
Dad
left her lips. He was quite the comedian tonight—in his own mind anyway. She needed to remind him not to quit his day job. With no power behind it, she put her elbow in his side. His amused snort earned a curled lip and snarl from her in return. “Yeah, Em, I’m done, honey.”

She closed her eyes and sank down against the padded back of the bench so she could rest her head against the wall of the trailer.

“You tired?”

“No, Dad, I’m fine.”

“Uh-huh. You’re about half asleep,” Jesse said as he lifted an arm, draped it across her shoulders then pulled her close so she could rest against him.

“It’s just the downside of the adrenaline rush,” she said on a tired breath.

The three to four hours of race time was the hardest part of the whole week on her. It was the sheer weight of knowing that if something went wrong on any of the bikes, it was all on her. That was why she demanded perfection on the front end.

Jesse lightly stroked her shoulder, and she knew she should’ve sat up when he pulled her to him, but he felt so good to lie against, plus she was just too tired to argue. The hard pl
ane of his chest was comforting under her cheek, making her slip further into relaxation. He should be sweaty and stink something awful from racing, but all she could smell was his cologne. She breathed deeper, taking more of it in. The masculine scent was intoxicating, crisp, and she was pretty sure it was one in the Hugo Boss line. She remembered that specific scent from shopping for her dad’s last birthday gift, and she hadn’t smelled it since. On him though, she could drown in it.

“Well, I’m going to finish up some paperwork and
I have some stuff to get ready so we can leave in the morning. You kids go have fun. I’ll come drink a beer with you all in a little bit.” Reid stood and walked to the counter, closing down his laptop and unplugging it from the outlet. “Good job, you two.”

“Thanks, Reid.” Jesse nodded. “Hey, Em, you want to go hang out with us for a little bit?”

“I don’t know, Jess. I’m exhausted and I’ve got pack my tools up and help get the bikes loaded. I’m assuming the guys haven’t even started picking their crap up yet. And they probably won’t until I go out there,” she said quietly, on the verge of being lulled to sleep by Jesse’s heartbeat.

“I’ll help you, and then we can go have one beer. Please?”

“I’m way too OCD about my tools. You might get hurt.”

“Tell you
what, I’ll help and I’ll do exactly what you tell me to do. Then if you’re still tired, I’ll walk you to your motorhome. If you wake up a bit and want to, then we’ll go hang out with the group.”

He kissed the side of her head and set her up to get his arm out from behind her.

Oh man, I was so comfy.

The sudden realization made Emery’s heart race. She couldn’t let herself be that comfortable with him. He was drawing her in closer and closer with his little gestures—his sweetness. She couldn’t afford to get attached to him. Her heart couldn’t handle that kind of hurt again.

Pulling back was the only answer. But how when they were together sun up to sun down? It wasn’t like she could go incognito, not answer the phone for a few weeks, hoping he’d get the hint. Thinking about it made her head hurt, though, so Emery decided she’d just have to worry about it tomorrow.