Lisa shifts into the pit area and then
Dawson
,
“
Hey
,
”
they both say.
Dawson
leans against one of the walls and as Lisa walks by he reaches out and pulls her to him. I raise a hand up towards them as if I am trying to shield my innocent eyes.
“
Hey, you two, I do believe when I signed the registration forms it strictly forbids fornication while in the pit area.
”
Dawson
tilts his head up to me after
kissing Lisa and says with a rough
voice,
“
There
’
s no rule or law that will keep me away from her, plus I didn
’
t sign a damn registration form.
”
Marc looks over at me and says jokingly,
“
Babe, remind me to put some bail money aside, for these two.
”
Dawson and Lisa both look at each other and laugh.
I saunter over to the
Shelby
and throw my bag towards
Marc;
he catches it in mid
-
air.
Casually
I say over my shoulder,
“
Open it up
love, we
’
ve got work to do.
”
Snapping my fingers twice and looking at Megan,
“
m
usic girl.
”
David opens the hood of the car.
“
Hey, were you out stalking the prey?
”
I
teasingly ask
. He
gives a look that clearly states ‘I’m definitely on the prowl’. I send him
my infamous eye roll. Marc touches my crescent
mark along my back,
which sends an intense wave of sensations through me,
and
I glance up to him.
With a
slight
quirky
grin
he
says,
“
I think I understand why Megan is complaining about your packing, Alyss.
”
I position my hands on my hips and g
ive him an inquiring expression.
“
Oh?
”
I watch Marc place my bag on top of the metal table and begin removing the contents, a socket set, a Mag
-
lite flash
light, dark grey heat resistant gloves, an assortment of wrenches, among many other tools. David pat
s Marc on the back and smirks.
“
You
’
re lucky that
’
s all she
brought;
usually she brings her
whole
tool box.
”
David gives me a knowing smile.
“
You have it in the semi, right Alyssa? You never leav
e home without it
.
”
I i
nstantly rais
e
my hands up
and say,
“
I surrender.
”
“
Ok
ay
, ok
ay
, you got me.
”
Megan moves beside me and points at her
iPod
.
“
Which song do you want to play?
”
I notice her long, red hot acrylic nails tapping on the Dirty Dancer title, but I shake my head and point my finger to
Pump it.
Megan glides inside the car and plugs in her
iPod
and turns the volume up.
David moves to the music and
starts’ checking the motor over, Lisa giggles
softly and leans over to whisper in
Dawson
’
s ear. Marc and I grab a cloth and begin wiping the car down. I move to the beat cleaning the windshield when I hear
Dawson
bust
out in laughter, I look over at them.
“
What
’
s so funny?
”
Lisa covers
Dawson
’
s mouth.
“
Don
’
t
Dawson
, don
’
t stir the pot
.
”
I turn around completely now.
“
Oh, come on, mates, tell us what you and Lisa have stirred in the brew this time.
”
Dawson
clears his laughter and
tries
desperately to look as serious as possible.
“
Well… Alyssa, don
’
t you think we should know exa
ctly why you were
so late in getting here?
”
Lisa again
,
covers his
mouth;
all you can hear is muffled mumbling.
Just when I think Megan isn
’
t paying attention
,
she struts around the
Shelby
, looks over at Marc and gives him a scandalous smile.
“
Did Alyssa tell you, Marc
, w
hy she was late?
”
She walks her seductive fingers up his arm.
I
’
m being ganged up on,
traitors
. Marc doesn
’
t seem the slightest bit concerned. Finally, Megan leans her body on the car right beside him.
What a drama queen she is.
David peeks around the hood
of the car
, and grins.
This should be good, if it has
Dawson
laughing
hysterica
ll
y
. I raise an eyebrow at him and decide to ignore them all together by cont
inuing with wiping down my
car, thinking
seriously about just plugging in my
iPod
.
Yeah
, I can see now how this is going to go down.
Megan begins playing with Marc
’
s hair gently
playfully
pulling
on
a few stray spikes.
“
Alyssa is a very naughty girl, Marc. She found this hot Italian guy and put a wicked spell on him.
”
Pausing for dramatic effect, her eyes wide and her expression shows shock as she really kicks in her performance.
“
I just can
’
t believe it
Marc;
she subdues him completely with her voice until he passes out. Is she done, oh no, she isn
’
t. She kicks him down some steps for good measure.
”
M
egan looks at me with seduction,
n
ever breaking eye contact as she moves slow and dramatically in my direction reminding me of a snake weaving towards the mouse.
“
Her diabolical play, what
is
it
you ask?
It
’
s
her obsession and she could not resist.
”
Megan turns so suddenly, shaking Marc by the shoulders.
“
She steals the man
’
s Ferrari motorcycle!
”
Marc is truly playing along with mock shock on his face, but he is also definitely paying attention.
To my shock Lisa chimes in. My most trusted ally, dearest and loyal friend that just moments ago was smothering her man in my defense.
Lisa
’
s voice sounds so innocent and if it
’
s not for the fact that she keeps giggling she would be the best witness out of this motley crew.
“
That
’
s not even the half of it. We get Alyssa in the car because we know she is so late and start driving here. Alyssa isn
’
t done with her escapades because she starts doing a strip tease in the car. She takes off her shirt and starts dancing to some erotic song, what was it? Oh,
yeah
,
it
’
s
called
,
“
Dirty D
ancer
,
”
or something like that. It took everything to keep the car under control with
Alyssa gone wild
.
”
Lisa covers her own mouth quickly because her smile explodes behind her fingers. I glance over at Marc and then David, both, now have their mouths hanging open like Venus fly traps.
I throw my towel at Lisa, but she shifts behind Dawson who is still bent over in hysterics. I scan for Megan and shoot a ball of ice at
her;
she dodges and watches it smash against the concrete wall behind her.
She peeks cautiously over the top and waves tauntingly at me before she disappears. Marc wipes his hands off with a towel with such an incredulous look on his face. David taps me on the shoulder.
“
Wow Alyss, just when I didn
’
t think you can get any hotter.
”
Dawson
quickly grabs
David,
“
Dude, I
’
m thirsty, come on.
”
They shift away. Lisa winks at me as she walks by.
“
I told them not to stir the pot, it got kind of contagious,
I
think we all need to chill.
”
One last giggle escapes into the air as she shifts after the others. Catching her mist before she completely shifts away, I blow a frosty blast of air at her.
“
There, that should help you chill.
”
Marc hugs me tight and
I start to clarify the entire morning to him
, but
he silences me with a kiss. He holds me around the waist and tugs
my head back gently by my pony
tail.
“
The only thing I wish is that I didn
’
t miss your strip tease.
”
A wicked grin spreads across
his handsome face.
Marc and I work a bit more on the car. Two more turns on this last bolt and we have it.
“
Ouch!
”
Something scrap
e
s against my
ring;
it
’
s the same
one my mother and f
ather gave me the night of the prom. I have never taken it off since that night.
Marc hovers
,
trying to see how
badly
I may be hurt.
“
May I? I just want to check.
”
He looks it over and then slowly slides it back on my finger, he reaches down and picks up my other hand and kisses my left ring finger,
“
One day you
’
ll have another ring there.
”
Whoa, is this a partial proposal? We stare into each others eyes as time stands still for us.
I will never find any other man in the entire universe that can take Marc
’
s place.
Marc goes after some water for us. We are really just killing time now, waiting for me to get in line to race. I still have the hood up, wiping down the motor. With the music playing it
’
s hard to hear if anyone comes up.
Some of the spectators have pit passes, so a few can walk around and ask questions of the racers. Once in a while I get someone asking me how long I have been racing or something to that effect. Usually from the male witches, I get
“
You run
okay
for a girl
.
”
I
’
d just shrug it off. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
It
’
s starting to warm up, so I unzip my jacket and throw it on the bench and stick my head back under the hood. I drift off a bit while singing more to myself. I think I hear Marc talking, but he sounds different. So I lean over the fender and see Marc talking to four guys that look like they came straight out of east
L.A.
He leans back with his arms across his chest.