At least, not right now.
Frankie was going to come back to Cummings Racing.
There wasn’t a doubt in my mind about it.
She just needed time.
*
Chapter Nine
Frankie
“Shh.” I buried my face in the couch and smashed a pillow over my head.
“Are you sick?”
“Um, no, honey. Aunt Frankie just stayed out a little late last night.”
I felt the couch move next to my head and peeked out from under the pillow to see Violet’s ass next to my head. “Go away,” I groaned.
“Can you run to your room and make sure your hover board is charging? We’re gonna go to the park in a bit and you can drive it there.”
Thank God for Violet realizing I was not up to adulting and telling Ash just why I was dying on the couch.
She patted me on the head and tsked. “Hungover?”
Hungover wasn't even the word for it. Four beers had completely annihilated me. I groaned and slowly nodded my head.
“What time did you get in?”
“Last night,” I grumbled.
“I kinda figured that,” she laughed. “I’m assuming you had lost all sense of time with Brooks.”
I slid the pillow off my face and glared up at Violet. “I’d much rather answer Ash’s questions than yours. Please send him back in and you can leave.”
“Not happening. I need all of the details about your dinner with Brooks.”
I closed my eyes and sighed. “I’m going to need a pot of coffee before I can even start discussing this with you.”
“How about an energy drink?”
I cracked open one eye. She waved a can of my favorite fruit punch flavored energy drink. “Open it.” I didn’t even think I was capable of getting off the couch, let alone getting my fingers to work enough to open the can. She wanted all of the details then she was going to have to work for it.
“Sit up. At least a little bit. I have to deal with Luke and Ash constantly spilling on the couch. I’m not up to figuring out how to get fruit punch out of the fabric.”
Ugh. I closed my eyes and turned onto my elbow. I pushed up and groaned. “I am never drinking again.”
Violet handed me the can. “I think I’ve heard those words come out of your mouth before.”
“Not very supportive, Vi.” I grabbed the can and took a tentative sip. My stomach rolled slightly, and I set the can on the floor. “Can we delay this conversation ‘til May?”
“Frankie, it’s June.”
I knew it was. Hopefully making Violet wait a year before the fifty questions would make her forget about Brooks. “Yes.” I plopped back down on the coach and laid my arm over my eyes.
“I’m taking that yes as you’re ready to talk.”
Sweet Jesus. She wasn’t going to let this go. “You have five minutes, and then I’m going back to sleep.”
“Gah, that isn’t nearly enough time. Let me gather my thoughts.” She was silent for about one point two seconds. “Where did you go?”
“Dinner.”
“What did you eat?”
“Pizza and breadsticks.” These questions weren’t half bad so far.
“What did you drink?”
My stomach rolled at the thought of drinking. “Beer. It was good beer until it made me drunk.”
“That’s kind of what happens when you drink.”
“Rubbing my face in it isn’t nice.”
I felt her settle back into the couch. “That’s what sister-in-law’s are for. If I don’t give you shit, then who will?”
“Uh, my three brothers and Leelee.”
“True,” she murmured. “So what did you guys talk about?”
“Terry McDougal. Pepper flakes. I don’t hate him anymore.” That was the short rundown.
“Hold up, hold up,” she insisted. “We are going to have to go over each of those one by one. Let’s start with Terry McDougal.”
“We agreed he’s a dick, though I think he bugs Brooks more than the average person since he’s the guy who keeps winning.”
“I second the fact that the guy is a dick. I know you’ve more than likely met him, but I can just tell from when Luke watches the races he is a dick.”
Violet always rooted for the underdog, so I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t like McDougal.
“Now onto the red pepper flakes.”
“The pepper flakes intertwine with me not hating him anymore.”
Violet laughed. “You wouldn’t be a Jensen if you didn’t have weird stories that involve things that really don’t belong together.”
“Brooks had to eat a handful of red pepper flakes, and then I wouldn’t hate him anymore.”
“He did it?” she gasped.
I moved my arm and looked up at her. “Yep, and he swallowed it all. I’m sure he’s shitting fire this morning. I bet that’ll be real fun on the trip home.” I couldn’t help but snicker at the thought of Brooks having to climb over a row of people on the plane to get to the bathroom cause his butt was on fire.
“You really do have the Jensen blood running through you,” she whistled. “That sounds like something Kurt would make someone do.”
I had learned it from Kurt, but I wasn’t going to give him credit for it. “It was pretty funny.”
“So what happened after that?”
“Brooks thought him eating it meant that I was going to come back to work for him. I just told him I would stop hating him, not come back to work for him.”
“Sucker,” Violet laughed. “Typical man. Hearing one thing and twisting it into something else.”
I sighed and closed my eyes again. “Yeah.”
“Why don’t you seem happy about him thinking you were coming back to work for him but you weren’t?”
It was pretty satisfying to tell him that I don’t hate him anymore, though it didn’t mean I was going to work for him, but it had worn off quickly. “Just hungover, Vi.”
She stayed quiet for too long, and I opened my eyes to see her staring down at me. “There is a hell of a lot more to it than that, Frankie. What happened after that?”
“Uh, the beers kicked in, and I’m pretty sure I was stumbly and giggly.” Totally not the bitch Brooks had been dealing with before. I probably gave the guy whiplash shifting into drunk, bubbly Frankie.
“How did you get home?”
“Uh, we Uber’d. At least, he Uber’d me home. Not sure what he did, but I have to assume he did that.”
“And now he’s gone?”
“Is the sun out?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Then yeah, he is gone. He had an early flight to get to the track by noon.”
“Now what is going to happen?”
I knew she was talking about the future, but all I could think about was right now. “I’m going back to sleep, and you are going to the park with Ash so I can die peacefully.”
She sighed and stood up. “If you really think Brooks is just going to fly off and you’ll never hear from him again, you’re wrong.”