Authors: Audra North
Of course, that was the point at which Nancy and Lee, Kerri’s mother and younger brother, had happened upon them.
Lee had taken one look at Kerri’s face and stormed off without being introduced. Ranger hadn’t seen him again until this morning, when he arrived at the track to find Lee and Nancy—Kerri’s mom had insisted on him calling her by her first name—already in the skybox.
He raised his hand in greeting. Nancy gave him an exuberant wave in return, but Lee continued to stare out of the glass that ran across the entire the front of the box, his arms crossed over his chest in silent protest.
The Hart siblings made stubborn into an art form.
Ranger made his way over to them slowly, pausing to shake hands with a couple of other team owners who were sharing the box. They approached him with wide smiles and jovial claps on the back. Ranger tried to keep his surprise from showing, even though Kerri had stressed to him last night that this was a family sport.
We go head-to-head on the track, but cut one of us down and you cut us all. It’s a family that thrives on cooperative competition
, she’d said, while tracing a finger over one of the lines in the copy of the contract that Ranger had been showing her.
He just hadn’t understood until he saw it. The team owners were mingling happily, complimenting one another, analyzing one another’s drivers, and occasionally trash-talking—but with a hefty dose of respect behind the good-natured insults.
Cooperative competition
. Nothing like the rat race he’d left behind, where everyone was gunning for the few positions at the top, and few ever stopped to say nice things about one another, much less know their family members by name.
Of course, he knew his
own
family members’ names. Christine, his mother, and Al, his sonofabitch father.
That’s all you need to know. All you need to know is who you need to protect and who you need to destroy. Cooperative competition can suck it.
So why was he feeling oddly sentimental, seeing all this togetherness?
He brushed it aside. Right now, he couldn’t bother with things like that. Kerri’s performance in this race would lay the groundwork for what he needed to do over the next six months to propel Hart Racing to the top. He’d gone over the numbers last night, after Kerri had left him sitting alone in the restaurant, and he still didn’t have a fucking clue how to tackle this stupid challenge. He
hated
the way it made him feel, like he was that poor, struggling kid all over again.
Fuck Al Colt.
When he finally reached Nancy, Lee had moved away from his mother to sit near the far wall, but Ranger didn’t push the kid. Kerri’s words after Lee had stomped off last night echoed in his mind.
Lee might be one of the best truck racers out there, but he is still a kid in so many ways. Losing Dad was hard enough. Losing Dad’s legacy is just reinforcing to him how little he’s in control of.
He and Lee probably had more in common than the kid wanted to admit.
“Good morning, Ranger.” Nancy’s smile was bright and bubbly. So different from all three of her kids. He wondered for a moment if Kerri, Lee, and Grady all took after the late Mr. Hart in temperament.
It wouldn’t be a surprise, given how much time the three siblings spent at the track.
“Good morning, Nancy. Did you sleep well?”
She nodded enthusiastically, but Ranger didn’t miss how her smile faltered.
Of course she hadn’t slept well. The hotel where the team was staying was a dingy ’60s throwback, with peeling paint outside and in, lumpy beds, and horrible ventilation. The free breakfast had consisted of a stale muffin and watery coffee.
It was one thing for him to stay in a less-than-desirable place. He could even tolerate the idea of the Hart siblings dealing with the discomfort. They all came across as being made of granite, anyway. But somehow, the idea of a woman who was about the same age as his own mother, having to suffer through these things for the sake of her hard-nosed children made him angry.
Later this morning, he was going to call his assistant and have her rebook the hotels for the rest of the season. The payoff was worth well more than the minor hit they would take to the bottom line.
“They’re about to start the qualifying.” Nancy patted the seat next to her. “Have a seat and keep me company while I bite my nails.”
He smiled at that and did as she asked. She really did remind him of his own mother, right down to the careful way she was carefully made up and dressed in her best clothes despite the fact that they were having a rough time financially. Mom always made the best effort she could, too.
As much as he hated to admit it, not having money to fall back on had been a blessing, in a way. It had made him pay more attention to little things like that. Appreciate them.
Don’t go getting sentimental. Al doesn’t deserve any glory for what he did.
Al hadn’t done anything for them, while Mom had worked like a dog, given Ranger everything she could. Now, he took care of her. As soon as he’d gotten his first job out of college, he’d bought his mom a new car. He’d never forget the look on her face when he’d handed her the keys.
“Are the qualifying rounds that intense?” He knew his words must sound condescending, but one or two laps around the track didn’t seem like that big a deal. Either you were fast enough or you weren’t.
Nancy nodded. “Jimmy used to tell me that it was the part he hated the most.” Ranger noticed that her face looked so much younger when she spoke of her late husband. “In the race itself, you can make up for small mistakes in three hundred laps. But in qualifying, you only get two chances. One lap each. Lots of pressure on a driver and the crew.”
“But she only needs to be in the top ten to qualify, right? So even if she just gets in under the wire, she’ll race later today.”
He heard a scoff and turned to see Lee scowling at him. “You really don’t know shit about racing, do you?”
Nancy gasped. “Lee! Apologize to—”
Ranger shook his head. “It’s all right, Mrs. Hart. I can’t disagree with Lee that I don’t know nearly enough about racing as I should.” He leveled a look at Lee, whose stubborn, jutting chin dropped slightly when Ranger met his eyes.
Still a pup, wanting so desperately to be a grown wolf.
Well, that he could understand. Ranger might not be the best role model for Lee, but he could at least show Lee that he was worth listening to. He remembered how few people had treated him with even that much respect when he’d been Lee’s age, and how much he would have welcomed the chance to practice being a man.
He cleared his throat. “Actually, Lee, who better to teach me about what I need to know than someone who’s been in racing all his life?” Ranger raised a brow. A question. A challenge. “Care to educate me?”
He waited for a long stretch, watching as Lee’s expression went from belligerent to proud. The kid was as bad at keeping his emotions in check as Kerri was.
“I guess I should, so at least you don’t embarrass our family when you go mouthing off to the other owners and shit.” Lee shrugged, trying to make it look like he didn’t care one way of the other, but Ranger didn’t miss the way his posture straightened.
“Language, Lee,” Nancy called over to him. “And come sit next to me again so you’re not shouting across the room.”
Lee rose slowly and shuffled over to the chair next to his mother, but Nancy pointed to the other side of Ranger. “I’m not going to let the two of you talk over me like I’m not even here.”
The glower that Lee was wearing now was so amusing that Ranger had to suppress a smile lest the boy get angry and stomp off. Instead, he ignored the exchange and dove right in. “We were talking about qualifying.”
Lee crossed his arms over his chest, but this time it wasn’t in defensiveness. Instead, he leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out in front of him, clearly at ease with how he fit into the world of racing. “Thirty drivers have already qualified for the race regardless, because of owner points.” At Ranger’s confused look, Lee sighed, but this time there was no intentional offense in it. “Drivers get points for their positions in races, but owners of the racing teams that the drivers have signed with accrue points for all their drivers. Thirty slots in the Diamond race are reserved for owners with the most points, and the other ten have to qualify. Hart Racing isn’t very big, and Kerri just started in stock cars. We’re getting there. If she can place in the top five in the next couple of races, we’ll have enough points to automatically qualify.”
Diamond Insurance was the company that sponsored the mid-range racing series that Kerri competed in. There was a higher level, sponsored by Intercomm, a telecommunications company.
“If some of these guys are already in the race, why are they bothering to race in the qualifiers?”
“Because now they’re going for pole position—not all forty cars can line up right at the start line, after all. So they have to go in order of their qualifying time. QT ends up being the faster of two tries, one lap each.”
“Think she’ll qualify?”
Lee tightened his mouth and lifted his hands in a small shrug. “Usually I’d say yes without thinking. But yesterday was kind of a mess. Damn Earl.” He shook his head. “She didn’t get a chance to take the car out again after the crew did the adjustments. And if a driver makes changes to the engine after the qualifying rounds, they get sent to the back of the pack when the race starts.”
“So if her car isn’t performing well…”
“Well, I’m not
that
worried. She’s still a damned good driver. Can pound the shit out of most of those guys, even the Ringers.”
“For the last time, you’d better watch your language, young man,” Nancy cut in then, and Ranger jumped, surprised that he had been so engrossed in what Lee was telling him that he’d forgotten about her. She leaned over Ranger and pinned her son with a hawkish stare, and for the first time, Ranger realized that he might have been mistaken about her. As soft as she seemed, at the moment she was intimidating as hell. “I’m still your mother and your legal guardian. If you keep up this kind of nasty behavior, I will pull you from the season so fast you won’t know up from down.”
Lee’s cheeks flushed bright red, but he mumbled out an apology to Nancy, who sat back with a satisfied nod. Poor kid. Ranger gave a soft chuckle. “My mom’s the same way, except I’m thirty-three and she’s got nothing to hold over my head except her disappointment.”
Lee rolled his eyes, but this time it was in commiseration, and Ranger grinned outright.
“Kerri was talking about Ringers yesterday. What are they?”
Lee laughed. “You mean
who
are they. Some people call ’em Coate Tailers, from back when Coate Plastics sponsored the races. Anyway, they’re drivers who usually race in the Intercomm Cup but compete in the Diamond Series. So, you know, now they call ’em Ringers because of the whole Diamond thing. You get it, right?”
Lee leaned forward and looked questioningly at Ranger, who suppressed a groan and nodded.
Lee sat back again. “Cool. So Intercomm Cup races are usually on Sundays and Diamond races on Saturdays, so some of the Intercomm guys will run in both. Sometimes, it’s just practice for the next day’s race, or to draw fans, or for more exposure for their sponsors. Or all of those. But it makes the competition for slots in these races even more fierce.”
“Shit.”
Next to him, Nancy made a sound of protest, and Ranger actually felt his ears heat.
“Sorry, Nancy.”
She pursed her lips disapprovingly. “I hope that’s not Kerri’s influence.”
Ranger gave a serious look. “Of course not. She is the epitome of ladylike refinement.”
Even Nancy had to laugh at that.
“What’s going on with you and my sister, anyway? Apart from the fake engagement.”
For a second, Ranger considered giving Lee the brush-off, but he realized quickly enough that Lee would know he was lying. And whatever fragile bond they’d started forming would be left in the dust. So instead, he started with the truth. “It’s … complicated. I—”
Lee cut him off with a shake of his head. “Wait. Never mind. I don’t wanna know.” He lowered his voice and leaned in close. “I know this is just for the press. But I swear to God, Colt, if you hurt her I will kill you. And since I’m sixteen I’ll only have to serve two years in juvy for it.”
Holy fuck, the kid was nuts. Maybe that was why Ranger couldn’t help but feel a weird sort of affection for Lee. He suppressed a grin and cleared his throat. “Fair enough. Now tell me more about racing.”
* * *
“She qualified!” Lee shot out of his seat, fist punching the air. After giving Ranger a few more lessons on topics ranging from qualifying rounds to driver gossip to a rather alarming discourse on how to supercharge an RV, Lee had fallen silent for the remainder of the qualifying session, lasering in on everything that was going on down at the track. But as soon as Kerri’s name and time appeared on the leaderboard, he let loose.
“Second position, too! She even beat out almost all the Intercomm Cup guys!”
Ranger laughed, watching as Lee leaned against the glass as though he were trying to fly down to the pits from the box. “Is that common?”
Lee looked back over his shoulder and grinned. “Fu—” He stopped when he caught Nancy’s eye. “I mean,
heck
no. Usually the Ringers are whipping ass down there.”
Next to Ranger, Nancy gave a heavy sigh.
Ranger was just glad he knew what a Ringer was now.
“Come on, let’s get down there. I want to see Kerri before the race.”
He’d promised her last night that he’d try to stay off the race channel. Nothing in the contract had said that he wasn’t allowed to be in the pit, though. “Sounds good to me. I think I’ll stick around down there for the actual race, too.”
Lee shook his head. “Good luck with that. She’s already banished me during races. Said one hotheaded brother in the pit at a time was enough.” He grinned, as though Kerri’s words were some kind of high praise.