Surge: Bad Boy Racing Romance (Fastlane Series Book 1) (4 page)

Almost too sick to my stomach to read it a second time, I unfolded the letter from the Board of Education and gave Jillian the bad news.

Apparently, due to a series of cutbacks, we were going to lose the scholarship money that kept Simon in private school. It was the exact opposite of what I’d expected to read. Namely, that the school would receive payment for him as usual.

According to the letter, only students coming from the direst of financial situations would continue to receive grant money. Although we weren’t poor, things were far from great. Even so, what we did have was above the minimum threshold for support.

Jillian covered her mouth with her hand. “That’s terrible. Poor Simon.”

I felt a lump gather in the center of my throat. I’d worked so hard to get him out of the public school.

“I know, I know,” I began, fighting back the heat of tears.

She sat down next to me. “What are you going to do? If he has to go back, the bullying…”

I dropped my hands between my legs, crumpling the paper at its edges. I had no words for the feelings inside. My poor nephew. He’d been through so much at such a young age. He was finally happy, and now, it looked as if all of that was about to be ripped away from him. The worst part of it all was there was nothing I could do about it.

Jillian draped her arm around me. “He’s come out of his shell so much over the past year or so.”

I nodded and stared down at the wrinkled page.

“What about you?” she said, as she leaned away. “I mean, you’re never going to get back into school at this point.”

I just shook my head. “I don’t care about that, Jillian. Right now, I’m just worried about Simon. What the hell am I going to do?”

“Aunt Ava?”

I swallowed hard and snapped my head upward. My seven-year-old nephew stood in the doorway. How long had he been there? I only hoped he hadn’t heard.

“Yes, honey?” I replied.

“What are we having for dinner?”

I let out a shallow, uneasy exhale, relieved for the moment that he didn’t know. Dinner was the last thing on my mind. But still I managed a smile for him.

“How about pizza?”

He smiled in return. “Extra pepperoni?”

“Extra pepperoni,” I said. “Now go get cleaned up. Aunt Jillian and I will get it taken care of soon.”

He started to walk away, when I remembered my conversation with Dyson.

“Simon, wait,” I began, gesturing for him to walk in my direction. He drew close and I took his small hands in mine, wrapping them in the warmth of my own. “I wanted to talk to you about something, but I’m not sure if you’re going to think it’s cool.”

I noticed Jillian leaning away from me. I hadn’t mentioned the invitation to her. It would be a surprise for both of them and a much-needed one at that. I proceeded to tell him all about the race and going to watch qualifying as a special guest of one of the drivers. I honestly had no idea if Simon would be excited or not. While he was talkative and engaging with people he knew, he could be far from it with strangers.

“So, what do you think?” I said, leaning towards him and smiling. “Doesn’t that sound like fun?”

To my surprise, he wasted no time in replying. He nodded his head and smiled right back at me. “Yeah!”

Later that evening, after we’d ordered pizza and eaten, I got Simon ready for bed and began to do the same. In less than a day, our entire lives were turned upside down, and to top it off, I was apparently going to have to deal with Dyson Vix at least one more time.

DYSON

Gearing up for my runs, I was talking to my head mechanic when I noticed her.

I gotta be honest. I didn’t think she’d show. Things had gotten off to a bit of a rocky start between us. That didn’t bother me so much. Just because a woman’s angry doesn’t mean she’s not interested.

On the other hand, since we hadn’t really talked, I didn’t know much about her. And, I didn’t suspect she had a kid. I watched as she, a boy and another woman walked around the pits looking at the cars. I guessed that could be her friend’s boy, but if it wasn’t, then she made my decision to come on to her a no-go.

The last thing I needed right now was to raise someone else’s son.

My mechanic, Jesse, distracted me for a second with a question.

“You said the oversteer was the worst in turn three? Right Dyson?”

I looked down at him and nodded. “Yep.”

I immediately looked up towards her again. Before long, Ava noticed me noticing her. Unbelievably, she gave me what appeared to be a smile, followed by a wave of her hand. Surprised, I nodded in return and gestured for them to come over.

Just then, Jesse, fired up the engine. I reached down and patted him on the shoulder.

“Be right back!” I yelled.

He nodded and returned to what he was doing. All around, teams were doing the same as us - getting the cars set up and ready for qualifying. I loved the buildup, the tension that came along with getting ready.

So many things have to go your way if you want to have a chance to win out here. The way we’d been running the past month or so, I felt fucking awesome about our chances. Everyone else knew how close we were. It was a matter of time before we got things dialed in. What we needed right now, more than anything, was consistency.

We’d get there.

Or I would die trying.

Approaching the three of them, I nodded my chin in Ava’s direction.

“Glad you could make it.” I began, gesturing towards their badges. “Any problems picking everything up at will call?”

“Thank you for having us. And no, no problems at all.” She paused and looked around for a second. “Wow, things have sure gotten busy since the last time I was here.”

“Yep, that’s the way it works.” I pointed in the direction of the woman and the boy. “Who’s this with you?”

“Oh,” Ava began, rolling her eyes. “Sorry about that.”

She finished talking and looked in the direction of the woman first.

“This is my roommate, Jillian.” Next, she tilted forward at the waist and put her hand on the kids shoulder before looking back towards me. “And this, is my nephew, Simon.”

Nephew? Much better.

I extended my hand towards Jillian. “Pleasure.”

She reached up and just before she shook my hand, she slid a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

Smiling, she replied, “Nice to meet you, Dyson.”

Dyson? Cool. Someone’s been talking about me.

I let go of her hand and looked down at Simon. “Is this your first time at a car race, little man?”

He looked away from me and nodded his head.

“He can be a little shy around strangers,” Ava said.

“Not a problem. Before I leave town, we’ll all be good friends.” I winked at her and then looked down at the kid one more time. “You wanna see my car?”

Once again, he didn’t say anything, but, unlike the last time, a huge smile came to his face. I stepped to one side and gestured for the three of them to pass.

“Well, come on then.”

Jillian walked in front of me first, followed by the boy, and finally Ava. Just as she passed in front of me, I caught a whiff of her perfume. She hadn’t worn any the first time, when I met her at Dr. Wilcox’s office. I liked it. She wore just the right amount. A nice change of pace from Anastasia and Svetlana, that’s for sure.

“Hey,” I said, as she walked in front of me.

She stopped for a second and looked at me as Simon and Jillian continued to walk away.

“Yes?”

“Good to see you.”

She pursed her lips.

“You know, I’m only here because of my nephew. Don’t read anything into it.”

Once she finished, she looked away from me and followed behind them as they headed in the direction of my car. I chuckled and shook my head. A few minutes later, I’d given all of them the grand tour of the team garage, and while I finished, my teammate, Marco Rhys, approached.

“Hey man,” I began, as I pointed towards his car. “How’d it go out there?”

Marco slipped his hands into the pockets of his fire suit. “Um, all right. There’s still a lot of work to do and not much time to do it. Anyway, I’m not too concerned just yet. Talk to me in a few hours.”

I chuckled while he finished talking and looked past me towards the Ava, Jillian and Simon.

“Friends of yours?”

I nodded and introduced them all to each other. Afterward, Marco looked at Simon and said, “Hey, how’d you like to sit in my car?”

The kid turned and looked up at Ava. “Can I?”

Her eyes darted towards mine. “Is it okay?”

“Yeah, of course.” I looked down at the kid. “Whatever you do, don’t hit the brakes coming out of the straightaway heading into turn one.”

Marco chuckled and gestured for Jillian and Simon to follow him. After they walked away, I turned towards Ava.

“Seems like a good kid.”

She kept her eyes trained on him for another second or two before she looked at me.

“Yeah, he really is.”

“Take a walk?” I asked.

She looked at me for a moment and then glanced towards Marco’s car.

“He’s in good hands.” I began, waving with a causal gesture towards Marco. “I can’t go far anyway. Come on. I promise I won’t bite. I mean, unless that’s your thing.”

Ava shook her head at me. “No, it isn’t. But, okay, just for a few minutes.”

We walked in silence for a bit, eventually making our way out of the garage and along pit road. It was a perfect day for driving. Not a cloud in the sky.

“So you’re Simon’s aunt?”

Ava nodded.

“Too bad his folks couldn’t make it out,” I began, stopping and turning to face her. “Seems to me they’ve done a good job of raising him.”

Just then, a small gust of wind passed between us, sending Ava’s hair in front of her eyes. She moved it out of the way.

“Simon. He…”

Ava paused and turned her head away from me.

“Yeah?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her. “What about him?”

“He, um, he doesn’t have any parents.”

“Oh… Damn. Sorry to hear that. Do you mind if I ask what happened?”

I studied her and noticed a difficult swallow make its way down her throat while she considered my question.

“You know what, don’t worry about it,” I said, shrugging. “It’s none of my business.”

Ava continued to battle with wayward strands of her hair. During a few seconds of still air, she looked into my eyes. It was almost like she was deciding whether or not she could trust me.

“Maybe some other time,” I said, deciding to take the pressure off.

She smiled and nodded at me. “Maybe.”

DYSON

Just then, I noticed the expression on Ava’s face change. Something behind me caught her attention.

“It looks like you have company, Dyson.”

Doing a half turn, I glanced in the direction of her line of sight and noticed Anastasia bearing down on me.

Ava immediately appeared tense. “I’ll leave you and see you back inside the garage.”

I shook my head and gestured for her to stay put. “Don’t worry about it. It’s totally fine. You don’t have to go anywhere.”