Wreckers or Checkers: In It to Win It (2 page)

“Okay, is there any chance you mother fuckers can be normal for the next, (I looked down at my watch), I don’t know hour maybe?  I don’t EVEN want to know how any of you knew the lyrics.” I said then walked in and looked around the restaurant that was packed with families and little kids playing in a big play ground.

“Have I ever told you how much clowns creep me the fuck out?” Jerod whispered and stepped away from the Ronald McDonald statue. I shook my head and started to walk toward the back where the play area was.  The guys told me they were going to order then they would come find me. 

I walked to the back and scanned the playground, a guy that looked to be in his thirty’s wearing blue jeans a black hoodie that said Super Nationals 2013 across the front and a baseball hat walked over to me. 

“Jet?” He asked with his hand reached out.

“Mike I take it?” I said with a smile and shook his hand.

He shook his head and laughed, “Great to meet you, after seeing you there is absolutely no denying that Chase is one hundred percent yours!  Let’s go back here and sit down. Kim is trying to get him out of the crawling tube, I offered but she insisted to go in after him.  I just hope she doesn’t get stuck.” He told me and shook his head.

We sat down at a big table, a few minutes later Jerod, Jason, and Mitch found us and introduced themselves to Mike.  After they were all seated, a
short lady with dark blonde hair pulled up into a pony tail, and one very pregnant belly came walking towards us holding the hand of a little boy that looked just like me.  She blew out a breath and rested a hand on her stomach, “Hi!  You must be Jet?  It’s great to finally meet you.” She said with a smile. 

I shook her hand then knelt down in front of Chase, “Hey there little man, are you having fun playing back there?” I asked him. 

He stood there staring at me and clinging to Kim’s leg, “Yeah” he replied shyly. 

I stuck my hand out to him palm up, “My name is Jet, can you give me a five?”

He hugged tighter on Kim’s leg and shook his head no.  Mike knelt down, “Chase it’s okay he’s not going to hurt you, he drives a race car!” He told Chase.  Chase looked at me with big eyes then pulled one hand off of Kim’s leg and slapped my hand with his. 

“Let’s get si
t down so we can eat.” Kim looked down at us and smiled.   We walked over to the table, I sat across from Chase while Kim and Mike started visiting with the other guys. 

Chase would grab a French fry, dip it in ketchup
, lick the ketchup off, then dip it back in the ketchup and stuff the fry in his mouth.  My brother started laughing, “Not only is he your twin but he’s got the same love for ketchup!”

Chase looked at Jason, wrinkled his little eyebrows together scowling at Jason, “Stop!” he said in his little growly voice and pointed a fry at Jason, then popped the fry into his mouth and looked back at me.  I was trying not to laugh but I couldn’t stop myself.  Chase narrowed his eyes at me, “You stop!” he s
aid and balled his little fists up while still scowling at me. 

I raised my hands in surrender and swallowed back a laugh, “Sorry little man, I just thought it was funny seeing you put Uncle…I mean Jason in his place.” I said then took a bite of my double cheeseburger. 

Kim was trying not to laugh, “He is very vocal when he wants to be, I think he’s just nervous.  So Jet can I ask you some questions?  I have a feeling that your side of the story is way different than Riley gave us.”

“Sure.” I told her

“Well, according to her you were very abusive towards her and forced her to have, uhmm nookie, the night he was conceived.  That your dad was a raging alcoholic and your mom wanted her to get an abortion?” she asked.

I choked on my soda and shook my head, “No that’s not at all what happened, the part about dad being a raging alcoholic is true though but we haven’t lived with him since I was about eight years old.  My mom would never ask a woman to get an abortion, and I can promise you that I didn’t force Riley to do anything.  She is the one that poked holes in the uhhh contraception.” I told her. 

Mike was shaking his head, “You know, I told Kim that she seemed pretty sketchy when we were going through the adoption process.  Then after she had Chase she seemed relieved and was ready to leave the hospital in a hurry the following day.  I have told Kim all along that something about her just wasn’t right, other than giving birth to this handsome little guy and allowing us to start a family. I don’t much care for her.  Is that harsh?” He asked then leaned back in his chair and put his arm around Kim’s shoulders. 

I agreed with him then told him the story about everything that happened after Riley found out she was pregnant, then told them what had happened at the race track the night before.  Kim sat there shaking her head, “We had asked her numerous times who the father was but she refused to tell us and wouldn’t put you on the birth certificate.  We WANT him to know both parents as long as they are good people.” She told me and I agreed.

We all sat there in silence and ate the rest of our meal, Chase would stare at me then look over at the other guys beside me.  I looked up at Kim when I heard her sniffle and watched her wipe away tears.  I looked nervously at Mike then back at her, “Are you okay?” I asked her. 

She nodded her head, “Yes, I just keep watching him watch you.  It’s like he’s looking in a mirror and he knows it.  Then add my pregnancy hormones and I turn into a blubbering mess.” She said around a small laugh.  I looked at Chase that was still staring at me, then he
pointed at Mitch, “You play football like on TV?” he asked. 

Mitch smiled and gave him a small nod, “Yep, I play football, but only college some of the games are on TV.”

“Name?” Chase asked him.

“Mitch Hesstin” He said with a smile.

“Cool!” Chase replied then looked at Jason and Jerod and asked their names.  When they both told him he smiled and pointed at his little chest, “My name Chase, is Chase, My name IS Chase I’m three!”

We all laughed and gathered our trays, “Do you guys want to come to the track so you can see the cars?” I asked Mike.

He smiled, “Hell yes…I mean Heck yes!” he said and helped Chase out of the high chair. 

“Wait, Riley is still there.  I’m not real sure why though.” I told Mike and Kim as we walked out of McDonalds. 

Kim smiled, “It’s okay, I doubt she’s overly eager to see him.  She usually only comes by on his birthday.”

Once we were all outside Mike looked around the parking lot, “What did you guys come in?”

“That hot rod right over there.” I pointed on the purple PT Cruiser.

Mike busted up laughing, “Your man card just received a red mark man!” Kim swatted him on the arm but started laughing.  “I’d say you could ride with us but there’s absolutely no way you will fit in our Ford Focus with his car seat in there, so we’ll just follow you guys.” He told me.

We all piled into the little PT Cruiser, Mitch pushed buttons on the CD player until he settled on
Britney Spears ‘One More Time’
.  I looked over at him, “Are you fucking serious?  Turn that shit off!” Mitch just smiled and started singing along and bobbing his head with the beat of the music.  Jerod was belting out the lyrics while Jason was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe.  I pressed the skip button, “Why the fuck does this have to be broke, this CD is going to take a flight out the window as soon as I get it out.” I grumbled and kept hitting skip.  When
Katy Perry’s ‘I Kissed A Girl and I Liked It’
, I sighed and shook my head, “I fucking give up!” Everybody started laughing when I started singing along with Katy the rest of the drive to the race track. 

Once we got to the track and I pulled Carley’s car in beside their trailer, we all got out of the ca
r.  I threw the keys to her, she was smiling, “You look pretty hot in that.” She said with a laugh.

“Woman, I make anything look good!” I told her with a huff.

“His man card is gaining more red marks though, that CD was enough to almost make him tear the dash apart.” Jason told her. 

Carley gasped, “That’s my favorite mix disc you jerk!”

I laughed then turned around when I heard Chase yelling, “LOOK AT ALL THE RACECARS DADDY WOW!”

Carley looked past my shoulder, “Whoa!  He’s your twin!”

Kim, Mike, and Chase walked up to us, Chase tugged on my hand, “Where is your car?” he asked with excitement. 

He never let go of my hand as we walked through the pit area over to our pit stall, “Well little man do you want to see the one that I wrecked or the one I’ll be racing the rest of the weekend?” I asked him.

He  chewed on his bottom lip and wrinkled his little forehead, “Hmm, both!  Yeah I want to see both!” He said nodding his head.

I laughed as I lowered the door of the trailer that housed my wrecked car
, Chase stood in front of my pit crew and his parents.  “Whoa!  It’s broken!” he said with big eyes. 

“Yeah buddy it is, but I’ve got the good car in the other trailer.” I pointed at the other enclosed trailer.

“Okay, can I see it?” he asked with a big smile.

“You sure can!” I closed the back gate on the one trailer then walked over and lowered the gate on the other trailer. “You can go inside, if you want to sit in it let me know and I’ll help you get in it.” I told Chase. 

“Can I?” he asked with a big smile while looking at Mike and Kim.  They both nodded their heads yes and smiled back at him.

He walked over to the door, looked at the window then at me, “I can do it!” he beamed up at me.  Within a couple of minutes he was insid
e the car and sitting in the seat looking for the steering wheel.  I unhooked it off the trailer wall and pushed it onto the steering shaft.  Chase grabbed it with both hands and started making loud motor noises as he tried to turn it side to side.  He looked out the window, “Will you take me for a ride in it?” he asked. 

“Sorry bud, I don’t think the track officials will let me do that, but I tell you what.” I knelt down beside the car.  “If I win the big dance Saturday I’ll see if they’ll let me do one slow victory lap with you in the car, how does that sound?”

“REALLY? That would be so fun!” he said then started making his motor noises again. 

I looked back at Kim that was crying again, “Don’t even say a word Jet, I’m telling you it’s the hormones.” She said with a laugh as Mike rubbed her back. 

I pulled out a couple of fold out chairs out for them to set in but Kim chose to set on Mikes knee because she said she’d never be able to get out of the chair. 

“I hope you guys are okay with me seeing him, I don’t want him to be confused.  I just had to see him since Riley never told me about him until the drive here.” I told them both.

Kim wiped at her eyes, “I’m very happy that you wanted to see him, do you think you’ll be able to stay in touch though?  I’m sure this will be a weekend he’ll never forget.” She asked me.

“Oh absolutely, I’m ten hours away from you guys though.  We could do some FaceTime or Skype whenever he asks.”

Mike nodded his head, “That would be awesome, I look forward to getting to know you.  You seem like a pretty awesome guy.  I’m curious where the girlfriend is though.”

Jason coughed and cleared his throat, I narrowed my eyes at him then looked back at Mike.  “Well, there was a problem and I fully take blame for what happened between Riley and
me the other night.  I’ve tried to talk to Chassis but she left, so when I finish Saturday night I’m flying back to Ohio.”

Kim shook her head,
“You men, sometimes you have to screw up really bad before you realize that you had something good.”

I nodded my head, “Well it didn’t go THAT far, but it went far enough and I regret it.  I wish Chassis was here she would have fallen in love with Chase and you guys.” I smiled.  We sat there visiting about college and what they both did for a living.  Mike was a computer program analyst and Kim was a stay at home mom, their baby was due in eight more weeks.  They told me the reason they adopted Chase was because Kim worked at the clinic at the time Riley was living in California. 

“She wanted to get an abortion at first, then broke down and said she just couldn’t handle being a mom.” Kim told me while looking at Chase in my race car.

Chase yelled that he was ready to get out of the car and wanted to know if we would go show him more of the cars.  Each trailer w
e went to, the drivers gave a t-shirt to Mike and Kim and a shirt along with a  hoodie to Chase.  He was beaming with a smile from ear to ear. Kim told us that she needed to sit down because her ankles felt like she was carrying around ten pounds of water each so we went back to the trailer.  Just as we all sat down Riley called me and wanted to go out for supper, I told her no and hung up on her.  Mike guessed right away who it was.  About thirty minutes later Chase came over and crawled up onto my lap.  My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest when he laid his head against my shoulder and yawned. 

“Jet, I look like you.” He said then yawned.  “I don’t have a bunch of marker on my arms like you do though.” He said as he followed the yellow and orange flames up one of my arms. 
I looked over at Kim and Mike, since I had no idea what to say back to him.