Pace Laps (Racing on the Edge Book 10) (2 page)

“Do you think he’s nervous?”

Nervous? That was actually laughable.

I raised my eyebrows. “His girlfriend’s pregnant, and this is the first big race since he was, like eleven. What do you think?”

“I guess you’re right.” Tommy smiled at me, his luminous eyes brightened by the lights wrinkled at the edges. “He’s totally fucking calm.”

Shaking my head, I watched Casten a little closer as he held Hayden’s hand in the pits of the Chili Bowl. It was different seeing him here, not only with a girl but racing. When Ryder died, Casten quit racing altogether without a second thought. Wouldn’t even step foot in a car.

I understood why he walked away, and I understood in every way why he returned. Racing was a way of life. You couldn’t walk away from it and say to yourself, I’m never going back. It didn’t work that way. Not when you’d been around it your entire life like our family had.

Sway approached me, her arms wrapping around my waist as she leaned into my back. “They look so cute together,” Sway noted, giving a nod to Casten and Hayden.

Tossing her a wink, I asked, “Remember your first time at this race?”

Blinking slowly, her cheeks warmed. “I do. I remember thinking to myself, holy shit, I need to up my whore game if I’m going to keep his attention.”

Raising an eyebrow at her, I shook my head. “You were the only one I wanted.”

“Technically, that’s not true, but are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, why?”

“You’re being nice. Usually you’re moody before a race.”

“It feels good to be here with you guys.”

“You always hoped he’d come back to racing, didn’t you?”

“I did. I’m proud of him.”

To our left, Tommy walked back over to me with my helmet. Sway smiled as if she knew something was up. “Why do you have Jameson’s helmet?”

“That’s a good fucking question. Why do you have it?”

“We chubbed it for good luck.” Tommy actually looked fucking proud as he said that.

“What the fuck is chubbed it?” Stepping toward him, his face paled. “And who is
we
?”

“You know,”—he grabbed his crotch with his right hand and cupped his junk—“rubbed our dicks on it. Me, Willie, Logan… a few others.”

I’m going to be sick. Right after I fucking kill him.
And they thought I’d wear it after that?
Yep, I could feel the vomit rising.

Sway pointed in my face. “Don’t you dare throw up. Be a man.”

Be a man? Was she serious?

All the blood left my head. My face had to be white. Pure fucking white and fuck if I wasn’t starting to sweat.

Sway looked at me, concerned. Her brow furrowed. “Jameson, you’re pale.”

I look at her, stunned. After all these years did she not know me? Of course I was fucking pale. Those asswipes rubbed their dicks on my helmet. Their DICKS.

It was a constant battle between me and the guys of JAR Racing to play pranks on one another. To me, this was crossing the line. Mostly because I hadn’t thought of this one yet and they one-upped me for the weekend.
Fuckers.

Sway took the helmet from Tommy and moved to stand between us as she placed her hand on my chest right before I lunged for him. “If you know what’s best for you, fire crotch, I’d run far away. Maybe even outside the building.”

Tommy may be a dumbass on a regular basis, but even he knew good advice when he heard it. The asshole took off, laughing all the way.

“You better fucking run!” I yelled after him. And then I looked at Sway, glared actually. “Can you fucking believe them?”

She rolled her eyes at me as if my anger wasn’t warranted, shaking her head. “I don’t see why you’re surprised at all. You left your helmet in the hauler, dumbass. Clearly one of them was going to mess with it. Just be glad it wasn’t glitter this time.” She began walking away. “Remember, you got an eye infection from the glitter?”

I hadn’t forgotten that one. I still had a spec of glitter in my left eye that had been there for years.

I kept pace with her as we headed back to the hauler, darting in and out of the crowds. “And what do you think their dicks have on them? I need a new helmet.” There was absolutely no way I was putting
that
helmet on. I was going to burn it.

“You do not and there’s no time. You left your spare at the hotel and the main starts in twenty minutes. I wouldn’t have enough time to get to the hotel and back to get the one you left there.”

Man, she’s really domineering and moody tonight.
Fuck if it wasn’t turning me on.

“I can’t believe you would think I would wear a helmet they put their dicks on,” I pointed out to her when we reached the hauler. Casten and Axel stood there with Jack and Jonah beside them.

“What’s a dick?” Jack asked curiously. He looked up at me, waiting for an explanation.

I turned to Axel. “You explain that one. I have to find a new helmet.”

“Well, Jack,”—Casten wrapped his arm around him, his voice taking on a diplomatic approach—“it’s a man’s—”

He clearly didn’t finish before Axel’s hand flew over, smacking him in the ear. “Shut the fuck up, man. The last thing I need is him telling Lily. She’s already pissed at me tonight.”

Casten shoved Axel’s hand away rubbing his ear. “Dammit! What’s with this family and smacking me in the ear? Besides, when is she not mad at you?”

Just then the horn sounded for the drivers to get to their cars. Sighing, I looked down at my helmet. I would steal someone else’s. That was all there was to it. No fucking way I was wearing this one.

Tossing it inside the hauler, I grabbed Justin’s off the counter. He didn’t make the main, so it wasn’t like he needed it, right?

Only Justin stared at me once I was by my car as I held it up in the air. “Hey, man, do you mind if I borrow your helmet?”

“Why do you need my helmet? What happened to yours?” The look he gave me was more amusement than curiosity.

“Tommy and Willie rubbed their dicks on mine.”

That was all I had to say before his face screwed up in horror. “What the fuck?” He looked as if he was going to throw up and I’d be right there with him. “Yeah, take mine, dude.” And then he was quick to add, “If they ever chub mine, I’m gonna kill ‘em.”

How did I not know what chubbed meant until ten minutes ago? “Yeah, well, I’m still thinking about it.”

ONCE I WAS inside my car for the race, I kinda forgot about the chubbing incident. Racing had a way of doing that to me. It was my fifth year straight racing in the Chili Bowl. I always enjoyed it mostly because it was a chance to get back to what started my love affair with racing.

Midgets.

During the pace laps, I was calm, as always, but it threw me a little seeing Casten and Axel in the same race.

The race was much like any other midget race, and while I definitely preferred sprints to midgets, it was still fun. Axel was a man on a mission and came out of nowhere in those final laps passing me on the inside. I knew his driving style; he never passed on the inside.

Never.

But he did, and I couldn’t be happier he pulled that move. I managed to snag a second place finish with Casten behind me right on my ass.

Tears formed in my eyes seeing my boys in the victory lane together. “I can’t even begin to tell you how proud I am of you two.”

They’d never understand this feeling; I was sure of it. I thought of my dad right then, the tears burning more and what he’d said to me when I won my first Cup race.

“Nothing in the world can come close to seeing you live this dream of yours.”

I finally understood that.

“He’d be proud right now,” Tommy noted, wrapping his arm around me. Figured he would know what I was thinking.

“He would be.” It was an emotional moment for all of us.

Until Tommy said, “Sorry about rubbing my dick on your helmet.”

I gave a nod to victory lane. “Carry me and I’ll think about forgiving you.”

I had at least twenty pounds on Tommy. Maybe thirty.

“I think I threw my back out.”

“I hope you broke it,” I flat out told him, picking myself up off the ground.

“You don’t mean that,” he groaned, rolling onto his back on the concrete. His arms flopped over his face.

“Pretty sure I do.” I kicked his thigh. “You chubbed my fucking helmet.”

“That was hours ago. Let it go already.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Casten asked, standing with a beer in his hand, his arm around Hayden as they celebrated in victory lane.

I gave the bottle of muscle relaxers Tommy had to Casten. He had so many back problems that Tommy literally kept his muscle relaxers on him. “Keep the bottle. He’ll take the whole damn thing if you don’t watch him with it.”

“SO I TAKE it that helmet isn’t going in the showroom?” Sway asked, gesturing to my helmet in the back of the truck. I refused to put it inside with us.

“Not a chance. I’m burning it.”

Sway and I were in the truck on the way back to the hotel that night when Casten called.

“We have a
problem
,” he said immediately. Casten downplayed everything. Someone could be dying and I swear he’d tell me it was a scratch. So for him to say, there was a problem, something was wrong.

“Why am I not surprised by that?”

“Shut up. Tommy took like six muscle relaxers.” I groaned just at those words, knowing damn well what happened.

Tommy threw his back out giving me a piggyback ride after the race. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t the best idea we’d had, but screw the fucker. Served him right.

As far as I was concerned, Tommy could die and I wouldn’t give any fucks about it. Okay, that wasn’t entirely true, but he did rub his dick on my helmet so I wouldn’t care as much. “I told you not to let him have the bottle.”

“I didn’t.” And then he was silent as I heard screaming in the background. “Fuck, I gotta go, Dad. Come to the hospital. Hayden’s in labor.”

Dropping my phone onto the center console, I turned around and headed in the direction of the hospital, laughing. I almost feel bad for the kid.

“What’s so funny?” Sway asked, smiling over at me.

“Hayden’s in labor.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and apparently Tommy took a bunch of muscle relaxers.” At a stop light, I looked over at her. “He’s an idiot. If it wasn’t for us, he’d be dead already.”

“Remember the time when he ate that entire chocolate laxative bar?”

I cringed remembering that day. “I try not to.”

The drive to the hospital was quick. Walking up to the emergency room doors, Sway was digging in her purse mumbling about finding her damn phone so she could take pictures as soon as the baby was born and talking about hoping it was a girl. “I just really want a granddaughter.”

“You have a daughter. I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“It’s different. And Arie never liked me much.”

“That’s not true and you know it.”

Looking down and shaking my head, I couldn’t help but chuckle because I couldn’t understand why anyone would want any pictures of a baby as soon as it was born. I didn’t care what anybody said, babies are not cute as soon as they were born. They were the opposite actually. Covered in goo and shit. No. Not cute.