Trading Paint (Racing on the Edge) (43 page)

“Pretty good,” Ryder nodded. “These assholes like to make fun of my limp but yeah
...
I’m feeling good.”

“I walk with a limp too.” Dad replied.

“That’s
cause
you’re old.” I added sending a text to Sway.

I need the luck. Thanks.

It felt good racing sprints again and I was pleased to see I was able to pull off another win. It was nice to know I hadn’t lost the ability to race open wheel but it was a gratifying feeling knowing I could battle it out in the Busch series each week and then jump back into open wheel and compete.

I ended up dodging whoever that Nikki or Natalie pit lizard was and for good measure, I left as soon as the hauler was loaded so I didn’t have a chance at meeting up with her. This was happening way too often.

After what transpired with the nurse in Las Vegas, I swore off women.

I was being paid to race—not fuck around.

I saw the way other drivers were looking at me and I didn’t want to be that guy. So I focused on what I did best, racing. If I wanted to run with those cup guys next year and compete for a title, I’d need to up my game. No more of this getting a feel for things and if I won; even
better
. This needed be something where I let Simplex, my dad, and my uncle, know that I was the right driver for this team.

We spoke habitually about the plans for next season. It was decided around May that we would move to the Winston Cup Series and add another car to the team.

In August, dad and Randy approached Bobby Cole as his contract with Durham Motorsports was ending. Having Bobby as a teammate was exactly what I needed. He was a patient, methodical driver and let’s face it, I wasn’t. It would be good for someone like me to learn from Bobby.

Bladder – Sway

Every time I opened the paper, Jameson was in it these days. It made me feel closer in a way, seeing him everywhere but it also held a sense of yearning, I missed him.

I opened my laptop, searching the latest articles on him. The article on him in
PEOPLE
magazine was posted on so I clicked on the link waiting for the article to load.

I smiled to myself like goon when I saw the picture they used. Jameson was in the most form fitting, tailored, black suit I had ever seen as it clung to the strong lines of his body. He was standing tall, against the side of his Busch car, with his arms crossed. On the other side of him was one of his sprint cars. His hair was more styled than it had been in the past but his face and eyes were still the same.

There was a fire behind him that I adored and it turned me on immensely although that wasn’t anything close to the way he looked at me. Even though he was slightly inebriated at times, something about him was calling me and always had been. It was like I was drawn to him and it was annoying because he was my best friend. I was even scaring myself.

He was almost too stunning to look at and my eyes kind of hurt but I couldn’t not stare at him. What I wouldn’t give to have him on my bed, tied up and naked. I don’t know why he had such a hold on me but it was starting to get annoying and creepy.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” I played with the ends of my hair as I read the short biography under the picture.

Most Eligible Bachelor

Jameson Anthony Riley

Age
: 22
Birthday
:
June 22, 1980

Hometown
: Elma Washington

Current Residence
: Mooresville North Carolina

Jameson Riley comes from the inert Northwest where you wouldn’t expect dirt track racing. But it was there this brooding prodigy made his mark. Now he’s tearing it up in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series and breaking hearts along the way. His World of Outlaw Champion father, Jimi Riley, and mother Nancy, have raised two boys and a daughter but Jameson seems to be the only one making his name in the racing community. As an aggressive, up-and-coming driver, the youngest Riley brother has already been dubbed a revamped James Dean type with piercing green eyes that can mesmerize any pit lizard.

“A guy likes confidence in a girl. I love a confident girl who will come up and talk to me but I also find the shy ones enduring and adorable at times.” Riley told PEOPLE.

While Riley isn’t planning on settling down in the near future, with a 36-week schedule, he hardly has time but he doesn’t kiss and tell as he puts it. “I can be a gentleman when needed and I don’t talk about things like that. I’m private.”

Most women from 15-35 know who Jameson Riley is these days and would quite literally kill for a chance to run away with the hothead; preferably inside his car. Jameson laughed with a slight flush to his cheeks. Looks like this one might be shy too ladies.

Shy?

I don’t think so. They clearly don’t know him well.

“Pull yourself together, Sway.” I rubbed my eyes to try to break Jameson’s spell on me.

I was a fucking junkie with my coffee next to me on the table and my laptop powered up.

Since I couldn’t sleep, I spent my time on the internet reading about his races.

Raise your hand if you are a pit lizard stalker.

Despite talking to myself, I did raise my hand in the middle of the library.

Sitting back against the large leather chairs in the library at the school, I once again read the article I pulled up on internet of his last race in Knoxville.
I tapped my foot impatiently as Google took its sweet time loading the page.

“Why are you smiling like a fool?”

I swear I jumped out of my skin hearing her voice. “What are you doing here?” I scrambled to close my laptop.

“Came to see you.”
Emma remarked handing me an iced mocha. She held another securely to her lips as though she was drinking crack. “They don’t have these on the East Coast.”

“Is Jameson with you?”

She laughed and sunk down in the chair next to me kicking her tiny bird legs up on the table. “No, he’s racing in Darlington tonight.” Her brow furrowed at me. “I would think you would know that though.”

“I do, I do. I just thought
...
I don’t know.” I wasn’t even making sense to myself right now.

“You thought he’d come see you?”

“Hoped I guess.”

“He wants too
...
believe me when I say, he
wants
to.” She reached over and gave me shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means what it means. He’s a moody asshole when you’re gone and he’s constantly staring at his schedule trying to find openings.” She said lamely. “You don’t know how often he asks Alley if he any free time.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Now let’s go to Bellevue.”

“I have class in an hour. I can’t.”

“Oh please.” She stood straightening out her summer dress and reaching for her lotion in her suitcase of a bag she carried around. “I’m only here for two days, let’s go do something.”

Emma shot me a sidelong glance before lathering her legs with lotion.

“Just because you come to town doesn’t mean I can just blow off class for you.”

“Oh yes it does hooker.” She finished polishing herself. “Now let’s go.”

Emma was about as good at
presauding
as Jameson so in the end, I went shopping. 

Emma talked endlessly about Aiden, Jameson’s spotter, who I had yet to meet. She had never talked about another guy since high school so it didn’t bother me that much.

Aiden, who was from Alabama, sounded like he was nice.

Those two days with Emma were
incedibly
strenuous and I was thankful when she left. Emma was only tolerable in small doses and two days was
plenty.

Also, she redecorated my dorm. I spent a good week trying to find my underwear.

After my Economical Projections class and Emma’s departure that night, I called Jameson.

It was nice to hear his voice and a relief.
He was stressed about racing and I was stressed with school. We both just needed to laugh. I could always count on him for that.

He spoke briefly about his engine specialist Harry and how he had spent most of the afternoon in the hauler for not paying attention to his temps in practice. Harry sounded like a nice guy but the way Jameson described him made it even funnier.

Jameson sighed. “I’m jealous Emma got to see you and I didn’t.”

“I would have preferred to see you over
Em
.”

He laughed and I could hear the faint rumbling of engines in the background followed by Spencer’s booming voice.

“Do you have any plans for Christmas?” I asked Jameson as I took a bite of my left over pizza.

“Who knows? I have to look at my schedule but I think that entire week I’m in Los Angeles filming a commercial and then I fly to Tulsa the following week.”

“It sounds like you’ll be all alone.”

“I could come see you maybe,” he suggested.

“I’d like that
...
but I’ll be here in school.”

“I could just slip in for a day and then leave for Tulsa.”

“No, no, no,” I said adamantly. “If you stay for one day, then I’ll want you to stay for more.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“Well, no, but everyone will recognize you.”

“So?”

I let the thought creep into my head for one second before it fluttered away, “No, do you realize how crazed some of these people are?”

Other students were constantly asking me if I knew Jameson once they found out I was from Elma.

“What is your point?”

“I just, everyone talks about you here and if you come up here, we won’t get to spend any time together. Even if you are here for just one day
...
things have changed Jameson. You’re a star; you can’t go anywhere you like anymore. Besides, my class on Retail Merchandising starts that week and I need to get together with Blake to go over our assignments.”

Jameson stopped tapping his pen he’d been hitting against the table I assumed, whatever it was that he was obsessively clicking, he stopped.

“Blake? Who’s Blake?”

“You know, Blake.” I stammered. “I’ve told you about him.”

I frantically raked my brain to remember if I’d told him who Blake was, not that he was important.

 “Um no
...
I have a strong recollection of each man’s name that has come out of your mouth and not once have I heard ‘Blake’.”

“Oh, well, Blake is just
...
a friend.” I shrunk back into my bed, not knowing what else to say. “We have a few classes together.”

“A friend?
I don’t think so. What the hell does that mean?” Jameson demanded.

“A friend, not like you but he’s just a guy here that I’ve had a few classes with.”

“So, he’s your sex buddy?”

“What?”

“How long?”
Jameson growled.