Pole Position (29 page)

She waved a hand
, “Sweetie ya’ll are in Boone…he won’t care.” She told me.  She turned and asked Asher if she would do it.

Asher laughed
, “If Chassis will I will.” She said with a shrug. 

“I think we are a few trailers down from ya’ll, aren’t ya’ll with Jet and his crew?” she asked. 

We moved forward with the line, “Yep that’s us.” I told her. 

“I will come talk to you in a little bit.” She said then walked away. 

Asher and I each bought our stuff and went back to the trailer.  Jerod, Jason, Jet and Mitch were having what appeared to be a very intense conversation.  It was more than obvious Jet was getting mad and so was Jason.  We put our bags in the trailer then walked out to the guys,

“What’s going on?” Asher asked as she put her arm around Mitch’s waist. 

Mitch shook his head, “Don’t even ask, but I think there’s about to be a throw down between these three.” He said talking about Jet, Jerod and Jason. 

“Why?”
, I asked as I tried to grab Jet’s hand but he yanked it away from me and stormed back into the enclosed trailer. 

I turned to follow him when Jason grabbed ahold of my upper arm stopping me
, “Just leave him alone let him cool down, he’s gotta race in about an hour.  I’m not wasting my breath arguing with him anymore.”

“About what?” I threw my hands in the air. 

Jason just shook his head, “That’s Jet’s story to tell, I’ll just say Riley is a dumb bitch.” He said. 

~~~~

An hour later they called for the modified’s heat races to start lining up.  Jet was in the second heat race, so we all hurried to the cat walk since the races here obviously moved along faster than normal.  They would have “farming sessions” after about every ten races, each farming session took about twenty minutes or so.  A farming session was when they completely tore the dirt track up then packed it back in creating another racing surface. Once one heat race was finished the next group was circling the track waiting for the green flag to drop. 

W
e got up on the cat walk it was packed and lined with people.  Luckily Mitch was big and most people had no problem scooting over to make room for all of us.  Lawrence came up to us on the cat walk, “I’m supposed to babysit Chassis and Asher.” He told Mitch.  Mitch just laughed and shook his head as he looked back at the track.  “When he’s done with his heat race, you guys come with me and I’ll share some apple pie.” Lawrence whispered to Asher and me.   

Jet

****

Once I was back at the trailer after hot laps, I felt really good that my car was going to be bad fast on the track.  I got out of the car and Chassis was standing there with a big smile, “They said your car is fast, sorry I didn’t get up there to watch I talked to mom the whole time.” She told me. 

I kissed her, “It’s bad fucking fast, it’s all good, you have to watch the heat races though.” I told her as we walked into the trailer. 

I walked back to the mini fridge to get a bottle of water and my cell phone off of the work bench.  I looked around for my phone, patted down my fire suit and my jean pockets but my phone was nowhere to be found. 
I knew that I hadn’t left it in my pockets, I’ve raced with it on me before.  The amount of people that called me knowing I was racing about drove me nuts so under a caution I threw it out the window towards the infield of the track. 

“Where the fuck is my phone?  I swear it was laying right here.” I said to the people in the trailer. 

Chassis walked over and handed it to me, “Riley text you, I didn’t get a chance to tell you she talked to Asher and I earlier.” She told me with a smile.  I yanked my phone out of her hand, walked out of the trailer and started checking my messages.  I held my breath that Riley hadn’t text anything about the past to me, obviously she hadn’t because Chassis didn’t bring it up.  I read the message from her then put my phone back in my pocket and started helping scrape mud off the car.  Suddenly my brother Jason started mouthing off to somebody, I quit scraping mud looked at Jason then at who he was clearly pissed at. 

I threw the mud scraper onto the back decking of the car and walked over to her
, “What the fuck do you want Riley?” I growled at her. 

“I just want to talk, nice to see you too Jason.” She said and glared at him then looked back at me and crossed her arms over her chest. 

“Jet, we are going to talk, we NEED TO…”

“Why don’t you just fucking take your ass back to wherever you came from.  His girlfriend is right there in the trailer, we don’t want or need your god damn drama.”
Jason told Riley while trying not to yell. 

“Rile
y, I have nothing to say to you, what’s done is done.  We ended a long time ago, move on.” I told her. 

She bit her bottom lip as her eyes filled with tears, “
When did you turn into such an asshole?  I know your dad is partially to blame but you know as well as I do we will never really be over each other.”

I shook my head, “I am not doing this right now god damnit.” I said and walked away from her. 

I glanced at Chassis, she was looking at me with a concerned look, luckily she didn’t try to come talk to me to see what was wrong.  She and Asher left to go get a hoodie, as soon as she was gone my brother Jason laid into me. 

“Don’t be a god damn idiot, Riley is just trying to fuck with your head.” He said as he poked me in the chest. 

I pushed his hand away, “Fuck you, didn’t you hear me tell her I didn’t want her over here, I don’t have shit to say to her.” I said leaned against my car. 

Jerod walked over, “You two knock it off, Jet he’s right and none the less how do you suppose Chass is going to feel knowing you’re getting all worked up over that bitch?” he asked. 

I ground my teeth, “I’m not going to fucking talk to her, do you need me to draw you guys a fucking picture or what?” I seethed. 

Jerod and Jason both rolled their eyes, Mitch walked over to us
, “Boys boys, it’s just a sex crazed ex she’s not worth all of you fighting about.” He told us. 

I looked at him
, “I’m not fucking fighting with anybody, they just need to shut up and drop it.  I can’t make myself much clearer that I have told her to stay away.  You know as well as we all do that she is more than a sex crazed ex.” 

“See, this is what I’m talking about!” Jason practically yelled.  I looked past his shoulder as Chassis and Asher walked towards us. 

“Fucking drop it!” I said through clenched teeth. 

After Asher and Chassis put their things in the trailer Asher walked over and asked what was going on. 

“I think these three are about to have a throw down.” Mitch said with a chuckle.  I glared at him, Chassis reached for my hand but I yanked it away from her.  I couldn’t stand there with them all staring at me, I stormed into the trailer, Jason stopped her from following me.  I had to figure out how I was going to break it to Chassis who Riley was.  None the less if I was going to be one hundred percent honest with her, I’d have to tell her that a part of me still cared for Riley. 

~~~~

About forty five minutes later and some damn awkward silence between everybody they finally called for the modified heat races to line up in the staging area.  I had backed my car into the pit stall so I didn’t need anybody to guide me out, I pulled my fire suit sleeves up, zipped it up, pulled my fireproof sleeve over my face, climbed into the car, and started getting ready.  Jason came over, put my window net up and walked away. 

I idled over to the staging area and sat in lineup waiting for the first heat race to finish.  I sat there shaking my leg back and forth singing ‘
Thrift Shop
’ by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis to myself.  I was starting on the forth row outside, the sun was just starting to sink down that would cause a blind spot in between turn three and four for a split second but nothing most race car drivers weren’t use to. 

The first heat race pulled off the track,
a few minutes later they flickered the green and yellow lights for us to get on the track.  One thing about Super Nationals, they moved the races along fast with little wasted time between.  We circled the track one time to get all twelve cars in the right line up, on the second lap I reached down and pulled my belts tighter as we drove into turn three.  The green light flashed on and stayed on, out of turn four. Everybody was throwing their car half sideways down the front stretch.  The guy beside me blew into turn one and pushed up causing me to lift so I wouldn’t tag him and spin us both out.  “Mother fucker.” I muttered under my helmet, then mashed back down on the gas.  I passed him and the third place guy on the back stretch, I was now right on the bumper of the first place car.  We sped into turn three, him on the bottom of the track me running the high side, “God damn sun.” I said to myself as I blinked to get rid of the fucking spots I was seeing.  Out of turn four the first place car and I were side by side, I reached up and ripped a tear off.  I tried to keep track of how many laps were left in my head but couldn’t thankfully the guy in the guy that talked to us into the race-receiver had fixed the technical issues from earlier. For a few laps we would go back and forth pulling out ahead of each other, the white flag came out.  “Thank fuck.” I said then blew into turn one on the high side.  I could see the nose of his car out of my peripheral vision on the low side of the track.  I felt my rear tires grip some tacky track as I slingshot out in front for the lead.  I was through turn three and four and across the line for the heat race win.

I slowed down as I pulled out of turn two and pulled off the track to go across the scales.  I pulled onto the scales
so they could weigh me and the car, they waved a hand letting me know I was good to go.  I spotted my brother, Jerod and Mitch running back to the hauler all had big smiles on their faces. 

Once I was backed into the stall Jason pulled my window net down
, “Mother fucker you were grippin' and rippin' out there.” He yelled and patted my shoulder.  Once I had my helmet, HANS device, and fireproof head sock off and unbuckled my belts I climbed out.  I blew out a breath as Jerod and Mitch patted me on the back. 

“Great job Jesus you were
hookin' up out there.” Jerod said as he started scraping mud. 

“Eh he look
ed alright I guess.” Mitch said with a grin as he started scraping on the other side of the car. 

I flipped him off, “Where’s Chass?” I asked. 

“Lawrence is babysitting her and Asher like you told him to.” Mitch told me. 

“Great.” I said and started laughing. 

We went up on the cat walk and watched more of the heat races, I tried calling Chassis and Mitch tried calling Asher but with all the noise I’m sure they couldn’t hear their phones.  We tried to keep track of who was finishing in the top three of each heat race so we had an idea of who I would be racing in the A-Qualifier race later. 

We went back to the trailer to start getting the car ready, “Those guys are bad fucking fast Jet.  You better make damn sure you’re on
your a-game.” Jason said as he adjusted tire pressures.  I was about to reply when I seen Chassis, Asher, and Lawrence coming towards us on the golf cart. 

Lawrence pulled up
, “They’ve been given the tour of the land.” He told me with a wink.  Chassis and Asher got off the golf cart, I narrowed my eyes at Lawrence.

“How much Apple Pie have you given them?” I asked as Chassis giggled and put her arms around my waist. 

“One red Solo cup I promise, I told them they can’t have any more until later.” Lawrence told me then wished me good luck and drove away. 

I lowered my lips to Chassis, she tasted like apples and cinnamon
, “One cup huh?” I asked with a smile. 

“Just one cup.” She whispered against my lips.
  I don’t think my body would ever get use to the way Chassis made me feel.  Her warm breath against my lips, had my heart rate speeding up and my hands itching to touch every inch of her body.  I kissed her again, once she slipped her tongue against mine I had her pinned against the driver side of my race car.   

“Knock it off you two, we’ve gotta race in a little bit.” Jerod yelled as he put the hood piece back on my car. 

“You win the next race and I’ve got a surprise for you.” Chassis told me.  I raised an eyebrow at her, she backed away from me and went into the trailer to sit down.  I pulled the top of my fire suit back up, then zipped it, I turned around to Chassis she was staring at me. 

I grinned at her then crooked a finger at her to come to me, she walked over to me
, “You are staring at me like you want to eat me for dinner.” I told her. 

“I thought you could eat me for dinner later.” She said.  I chuckled then kissed her
, “Good luck” she said as she backed away from me.  I watched as her and Asher got on the golf cart with Lawrence and drove towards the catwalk. 

I was fastening my belts when Jason came over
, “Okay bud, they’ll take the top four from this race, you’ll be a sure deal for the big dance on Saturday.” He told me.  I nodded my head as I pulled my head sock on then my helmet. 

“You’ve got this Jet.” Jerod said as he banged his hand on the decking beside me.  I started the car and waited for Jerod to motion that I could pull out of the stall.

I was starting second row inside for this race, through the race receiver the guy came on, “Okay boys, we’re going to go green after this lap, top four advance to the big dance Saturday.  Good Luck and keep it clean out there.” He said.  We could hear him but we couldn’t talk back.  I always joked that nobody would want to hear what I was muttering under my helmet most of the time anyways.  After we completed one lap to get everybody in order the green light flashed on steady as we came through the corner of three and four.  My adrenaline was pumping as my engine roared to life down the front straight away, I stayed on the bottom of the track through turn one and two then moved to the middle of the track.  I was running in third place, “Cool heads prevail…cool heads prevail..” I chanted over and over in my head.  My uncles had always told me that,
“Don’t lose your temper out there you’ll end up costing you and others money.  Then you’ll have some pissed off drivers out for revenge.”
They had told me when I first started racing.

This race was set for twenty five laps
, if I could keep my line in the middle of the track I knew that I could easily stay in the top four.  I gained ground on the second place car as the laps ticked off one by one. I passed him off of turn four and took second place.  My heart was beating a hundred miles an hour, “Breath, keep your line Jet.” I told myself as I gained ground on the first place car.  This guy was a seasoned driver, one of the best of the best, his car was fast and he knew how to drive hard into the corners and race clean.  I moved up on the track as we raced lap after lap then a caution came out for a couple of cars that had tangled and spun out.  “Green on the next lap, fourteen to go.” The guy told us in our race receivers.  We all mashed down on the gas out of turn four making sure to stay on the high side away from the cone, running in second place I was right on the back bumper of the first place car as we blew through turns one and two.  Down the back stretch I moved up a line to have the high line since my car was handling better up there.  I entered turn three, the third place car slid up the track as we rounded turn four, suddenly there it was, turn four wall and I was headed right for it.  “This is going to suck.” I said as I braced myself for the impact. With a loud explosion of metal against concrete a voice came over the race receiver a few seconds later, “Red flag one j in the wall on turn four, number twenty you need to go to the back of the field for intentional wreckage.” The guy said in a muffled voice.  My window net was lowered and a safety crew member poked his head in, “You okay man?  Hang tight we’ll get you out.”