Black Flag (Racing on the Edge) (33 page)

The media mercilessly
exaggerated his faults to the point where the public had this image that wasn’t
even close to the man behind the wheel. Harboring weakness and displaying his
violent temper tantrums was their goal and Jameson knew that.

Instead, he was closed
off and his regard for them was pure aggravation.

In many ways, Jameson
was a victim being destroyed by the very people who worshiped him.

11.
              
Engine
Block – Sway

Engine Block – An iron
casting that envelopes the camshaft, connecting rods and pistons.

“What are you doing?”

“What the hell does it
look like I’m doing, Sway?” Charlie shot a glare my direction before looking
down. “I’m looking at the menu for Christ sakes.”

“Well, honestly it
looks like you’re about ready to have a heart attack, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he mumbled,
his attention focused on the menu.

Maybe being a pit
lizard was wearing on him. Either that or him getting arrested last night with
grandpa Casten had done a number on him. Stupid assholes took it upon
themselves to have a talk with the official that made all those shitty calls on
pit road. Needless to say, old Duane decided he’d had enough abuse from
Jameson’s words and he wasn’t putting up with the talking or lack of talking
they decided to have.

Giving him space, I
focused on the Charlotte Observer newspaper in front of me from a few weeks ago
remembering my happy place. Sprawled across the front page was a picture of me
sitting on the hood of Jameson’s car in victory lane and him down on one knee
looking up at
me.

Rowdy Riley tamed at the Lady in Black?

If Sway Reins ever wanted validation of
Rowdy Riley’s love, she got it Saturday night after his dominating charge to
win the Mountain Dew Southern 500 Winston Cup race on August 23. Under the
lights and the shower of champagne, Jameson Riley, driver of the No. 9 Simplex
Ford, dropped down to one knee in front of his long time childhood friend Sway
Reins and proposed. The fans in attendance got one heck of a show when she said
yes and proceeded to seal the marriage proposal with a fairytale kiss.

At least this article
was a good one. The other papers spread across the café didn’t exactly paint my
soon to be husband as a nice guy. But like I said before, they didn’t know him
and they didn’t try too. They had their theories.

Charlie leaned forward
tearing the paper from my hands. “Listen, I need to talk to you about some
things.”

“Okay,” I set my water
glass down on the table and removed my legs from the other chair they were
resting on. “What?” I gave him all my attention.

Charlie leaned back in
his chair and sighed. If I had to guess, by the way he was
acting,
he was trying to figure out how to tell me something.

Charlie and I were
having breakfast together at a small outdoor café before we all left for Vegas
to celebrate my birthday. Andrea, Charlie and the Lucifer twins were going to
fly home later today, so while Jameson was with his physical therapist, Charlie
took me to breakfast, alone. It was nice to be alone with him for once and
without the twins tagging along.

“Have you and Jameson
thought of a day yet?” he seemed to be fidgeting.

Recalling the moment
Jameson asked me to marry him; I smiled looking down at the ring, my mother’s
ring, my grandmother’s ring.

Lately, I couldn’t keep
my eyes off this thing as it meant I’d forever be his.

“Yeah, we talked about it
last night.” Images of our time at the house flashed through my mind. Though
the night wasn’t the dirty sex I had promised him before the race, I made up
for it last week.

“I wanted to get
married on Mom’s birthday. Originally I wanted to get married on the
anniversary of her death, Valentine’s Day, but Jameson doesn’t want to wait
that long and neither do I.”

Charlie smiled.
“So December fourth?”

“Yeah, December
fourth,” Looking around the café, I noticed Van standing off in the distance
watching us. I felt safer knowing he was there, especially after that night in
Summerville.

“You know, I miss your
mother very much.” I watched as his usual steady gaze glistened with tears. The
morning light reflected the shine from his brown eyes.

I started bawling right
there in the middle of the goddamn café. “I
...
do
too
...
I miss her so much.” I
wailed. Usually I wasn’t this emotional but I’m sure it had something to do
with my hormones, Jameson’s epic proposal last week and the baby hormones that
seemed to be consuming me. Lately it’d been a
shitstorm
of emotions.

Charlie got up from
across the table and pulled me into his arms. “
Shhh
...
it’s
okay sweetheart
...
shhh
.”

My baby hormones took
over and I cried—blubbering crying even. And you know
what,
you’d be surprised how good it can feel to just cry sometimes.

Charlie and I sat
there, in the middle of the restaurant crying and holding each other. Well, I
was crying, Charlie was trying to comfort me and not freak out that his
emotional pregnant daughter was having a nervous breakdown.

Soon, I gathered my
wits and pulled back. “Sorry,” I wiped the tears and snot away. “I just
...
with the baby and Jameson proposing I’m
a little
emotional
.” I waved my hand around trying to convince him, and
me, that’s all it was.

Charlie stared at me
for a long moment, his chocolate brown eyes that matched his hair examining
mine. “Have I ever told you how your mom and I fell in love?”

“No.”

“Well, I think it’s
about time you hear this story. It’s a good one.” His eyes brightened at the
thought reminding me of when they were together.

I was all for a good
love story so I sat back and listened, tears slipping down ever so often.

“I met Rachel when I
was four years old, she lived next door. She threw a baseball at my face and I
was in love.” Charlie chuckled softly. “We grew up together, dated all through
high school. The day she turned eighteen we drove down to Vegas and got
married. Her father hated me and didn’t approve of the wedding so we eloped.
Nine months later to the exact day
...
you
were born and changed our lives forever, in a good way. You showed us that it
didn’t matter whether or not people approved of us, we had this tiny baby and
in her eyes
...
we were everything.”
Charlie smiled. “We had no idea what the fuck we were doing. I’m amazed you
made it to a year old at times.” He told me letting out a laugh.

I couldn’t really laugh
at that. Jameson and I had no business having children and here we were, having
one in five months. Jameson had the maturity of a seven year old. Put us together
and we’re
maybe
sixteen.

“Roger never talked to
me again after we got married but your Grandma; she came by to see you every
day.”

“What was it like for
you when mom died?”

Charlie got this far
away look in his eyes and took a deep breath. “I don’t even know how to
describe the feeling. I knew she was sick. I found out when she started going
through treatments in July of ‘85. She kept it from me for a long time but when
she started losing her hair and puking all the time, she couldn’t hide it any
longer. It was hard, especially saying goodbye.” He offered an uneasy smile.
“It was easier having you around. You were such a carefree child that it made
it hard to be depressed. I felt like I needed to be strong for you. Or maybe it
was you being strong for me?”

I wanted to lighten the
mood so I changed the subject quickly on him.

“Grandpa didn’t approve
of you eh?” I laughed remembering the hard proper man I called grandpa when I
was younger. Though I don’t remember him well, I remember he was always to the
point.

“Nope,” Charlie shook
his head. “He thought I was some kind of asshole for taking his daughter away
from him.”

“Sounds familiar,”

“I never thought
Jameson was an asshole. I do question that kids’ sanity at times but I just
wanted him to come to his senses and realize you two were meant for each other.
He looks at you the same way I looked at Rachel. He loves you.”

“I should hope so, he
knocked me up.”

Charlie scowled with a
settled frown. “Anyway, I hope that I’m here to see the little one born. It’ll
be interesting
watchin
’ you two as parents.”

“You will be dad.” I
told him with confidence I didn’t know I had.

For a moment, he was
quiet until a heavy sigh filled the air. “I uh
...
there are some things we need to talk about with my will.”

“Oh,” I sat up in my
chair knowing this was important to him. “What?”

“Well, the track is
taken care of. The title is in Jameson’s name now. He will remain the owner and
you will remain the General Manger and Director of Operations. Mark is named as
the Track Facilitator. The house is in your name but I’d like it if you would
let Andrea continue to live there.”

“Dad
...
I’ve uh never asked this in the two
years I’ve known Andrea but uh
...
who
are the twins’ father?”

Charlie looked down at
his feet quickly shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

“DAD!”
I yelled entirely too
loud and then slapped my hand over my mouth.

“What?” He responded
glaring at me for causing a few bystanders to take notice.

“Are you
...
?” I pictured the twins in my head
trying to find any resemblance. They were identical twins, sometimes you
couldn’t tell them apart but Logan was about three inches shorter than Lucas
was, so that’s how I could tell. They had brown hair that Andrea kept entirely
too long, brown chocolate
...
oh my god!
“DAD!”

“Jesus, stop saying
that Sway!” his eyes scanned the café.

“Well, answer the
question then.”

“I uh
...
I’m not exactly sure.” His gaze moved
from me to his feet again.

I giggled. This was
really
funny to me. “What do you mean you’re not exactly sure?”

“I’ve never asked her.”

“What do you mean
you’ve never asked?”

“Will you stop
repeating my questions
...
?” he glared. “Your
junior year
...
when you flew to Mexico
with Jameson and his family, do you remember that?”

“Yes.” I smiled. I knew
where this was going. “Keep talking
...
”

“Well I
...
umm
...
well
...
” his brow furrowed as though he was
concentrating. “I
...
”

“Spit out dad.” I
laughed. “You had a one night stand, didn’t you?”

“Jesus Christ Sway!”
his voice took on a hushed tone as though this was embarrassing for him. “Don’t
say that so fucking loud.” Despite his words, he smirked this boyish “I’ve been
caught” smirk.

“So you had a one night
stand and she got pregnant
...
?”

“I don’t exactly know.
I met her at a bar, she took advantage of me
...
or
I took advantage of her
...
someone took advantage
and then she left the next morning. Four years later, when you were in college,
she came back with Logan and Lucas. We started dating and then she introduced
me to them. She needed a place to stay so I told her she could move in. I was
lonely without you around and now, I’m insane because those kids are shit
heads. There really is something wrong with them, especially Logan.”

“You’ve never asked her
if they’re yours or not?”

Charlie shook his head.
“No
...
but
when I do the math, it
adds up. And Christ
...
look at them, they’re
spitting images of me!”

Now that I actually
thought about it, he was right. “Do they know who their dad is?”

“Andrea and I have
never talked about it. I think she knows I have an idea they might be mine but
I’ve never heard them ask who their dad is.”

“Wow.” I shook my head.
“My dad is a slut!”

“Sway!” he looked
appalled. “Don’t say that too loud.”