I nod again and respond with
confidence powering my voice,
“
Even if I
was
to have wreck and I didn
’
t walk away, I would still race today and everyday for that matter because I don
’
t have that kind of fear.
”
He walks right in front of me
, pinning
both hands on either side of my body
and asks
,
“
But, why Alyssa?
”
I focus on
his
striking
eyes
,
a
nd without any hesitation I blurt out
,
“
Because I love –
”
Just
then my fuzzed libido mind slowly comprehends
what he
’
s doing. I race knowing very well of the dangers and even how fatal it can be, but I do it because I love racing.
And
I played right into his
line of questioning, I l
ove Marc, even though he broke my heart
and he bro
ught me back to that conclusion that he still holds
it
.
I know we are bou
nd and that bond is eternal, and
physical
. The proximity between us heightens every sense in me.
His
decadent
scent
makes me crave him and I bite my lip to curb my need. My eyes dip lower, avid
ly watching his soft lips as he
licks them and then, out of the blue I snap out of my
longing and remember their kiss
.
Like a bucket of icy, cold water splashing over me, killing the moment, I slip underneath his arm and redirect the mood. Marc
stand
s upright with his back to me for a moment but he doesn’t give me any grief and follows my lead. I begin to ramble on about anything that comes to mind and then it
occurs to me,
for
the first time ever, I was just in my father
’
s office and I didn
’
t even find out what my time was from the race.
My tone betrays me with a nervous ting
e
as I state,
“
Hey,
Um,
I need to go
,
and
ah,
find out what my time was, if you want, you can go get some groceries in your car, I won
’
t be long. I
’
ll probably catch you before you get to the store.
”
“
Ha, ha, very funny
.”
Marc laughs
l
ightly with a beautiful curve to
his sensual mouth
.
I turn
and walk inside feeling light-hearted
than I have in weeks and head straight to my father
’
s office. Finding the track sheets and there it is, the
Shelby
ran a 9.03 at 152mph.
I yell with elation in my tone
,
“
Yeah
, now that
’
s what I
’
m talking about!
”
Marc stands by the doorway shaking his head.
I take a quick glance at what Marc
’
s Camaro did 12.9 seconds at 121mph.
“
Looks
like we have a new project car,
”
I tell him jokingly, laying down the paperwork. Megan shifts in next to me, swinging an arm over my
shoulder;
she peers over me reading Marc
’
s time and guffaws
.
“
Aww
, look
Alyssa we found a puppy and he wants to hang with the big dogs.
”
I quickly reply,
“
Yeah
, he
’
s kind of cute, guess we can keep him around.
”
I smile with a flirting gaze towards him. Marc slides a hand in his pocket of his jeans and rolls his eyes at us.
“
You wouldn’t want me if I were a tame little puppy, would you?
”
and then we winks over to me
, and I smile impishly in agreement
.
Lisa prances
in grinning with
a knowing
liveliness,
“
Hey, I think your dad is closing the track down, Alyss.
”
She stops in front of the desk and drums her
pretty pink
nails across
the
top
in anticipation,
“
Are we going
to
do
our
,
burn
it
down
or what
?
”
Marc looks at me with uneasiness as I walk by him
,
“
What
’
s gonna get burned down
,
”
he questions.
I grab Marc
by the hand and pull him toward
the exit
doors
,
“
Just watch and see.
”
We leave the office and start helping with the garage, locking it up and making sure everything is secure. I feel sad, knowing it will be a while before we are back. I hope it won
’
t be too long. I get that tingly
intense
feeling as I see Marc standing next to me. He gently places his hand on my lower back.
“
Is there
anything else we need to do,
”
Marc offers.
“
If there
is anything left, we
’
ll have our crew ship it off to storage. I think we are done.
”
I take his hand and walk with him back over to the office.
Lisa shifts next to us and says,
“
Everyone is driving over.
”
“
Okay, good, hey
where is
Megan?
”
I
suspiciously
question
as I search for her
.
“
Guess,
”
Lisa says as she
elbows me and
points to the tower where the PA system resides.
The song
,
“
Burn it down
by Awolnation”
starts playing and I laugh,
“
Of course, Megan.
”
I catch an intrigued
look on
Marc
’s face
,
and comment,
“
You can watch or play,
it
’
s
your choice.
”
His
hand grips mine more firmly as if to tell me he’s in. So, I explain what our ceremonial burn it down is exactly
,
with a light chuckle,
“
I promi
se you
,
there is no burning pyre
or human sacrifices
.
When we close a track for the season we
have this little tradition. Before
we exit the
main
gate
s
, under the Worthington Raceway sign, we
each
burnout, the grander the burnout the better. It’s a last tribute to the good times we’ve had all season.”
Chapter 28
After our
traditional
,
b
urn
it
d
own
tribute
sh
ow we decide to head to a party
,
Megan and her endless knowledge of part
ies and events never fails.
“
Alyssa, this is not another mansion party, okay?
”
Megan reassures me.
I walk over t
o my father, before we leave
and
give him a tight hug
,
“
I
’
ll be home later D
ad.
”
He ki
sses me on the forehead
and smiles
wittingly as he states,
“
I know, I have n
o worries,
Alyss.
”
With
Dad
’s validation I’m off to some shindig of Megan’s
.
We drive out to this
“
phenomenal
”
party Megan is dying to get to. Soon we arrive at a very precarious looking house sitting on the edge of
a
cliff. Reluctantly
,
we all have to park on the
jam-packed
street.
The house is a
contemporary
white
and has geometrically elaborate
styled
arches an
d angles forming the structure, f
rom unique rectangular forms intersecting oddly to the solar panels lining most of the roof. I know this place will be quite interesting according to Megan
’
s comment of it being
“
different.
”
Once we saunter
in and I am right,
it
’
s
impossible to have more than maybe
forty
or fifty beings inside a house this size
,
at least from the outside anyway.
Inside though, there are more like eighty people
if not more
. The
magick
radiating from this building is awesome,
and
I
’
m awe-struck. The music is te
chno which I love, so I’ll feel quite comfortable here already
. We move through the crowd and find our way to an area w
h
ere everyone is dancing.
The song changes to something I haven
’
t heard before and it h
as a good rhythm so,
I start dancing. Dawson and Lisa move closer together. Those two are dancing
fanatics
; they could do the Tango, the Fox Trot, and the Cabbage Patch, and still look sexy as hell together.
Feeling the rhythmical tone I move to the all
uring beat as Marc glides his hands protectively over my hips,
delegating our bodies to together, as he leads me around the dance floor.
David shifts nex
t to me; he leans over and shouts over the music,
“
Do you guys want a drink?
”
I incline
my head back to him
and
reply
,
“
Sure, why not?
”
And
Marc and
I continue dancing. I
’
m
not really wearing anything provocative, but this
music that
’
s playing makes me feel like moving seductively. I
begin to
run my hand
s through my long hair and dance
slower, closing my eyes allowin
g the sounds to fill me. Marc takes
his
time roaming his
hands around my wa
ist,
and easily pulls
me closer to him.
Another song comes on, slowing the beat down even more. Opening my eyes I see Marc looking
intrigued at me
. The music has a soft beat
that we can sway our bodies gent
ly to. I wrap my arms around his neck, and we dance together to the drumming, enthralling rhythm.
We’
re lost
for a moment
in each other and the music until,
“
I have our drinks!
”
David boasts
.
We walk off the dance floor and sit outside by
a grand marble
in-ground pool. Lisa and Dawson are al
ready here, but they are so caught up in
each other that I don
’
t really think they would even notice us, even if we all jumped into the pool naked. I look around for Megan
, but
don
’
t see her.
“
If
you
’
re
looking for Megan, she was on the dance floor teasing some guy with her Megan-
n
ess.
”
David comments as
he hands out drinks.