“I’m never going to live that down,” I grumbled.
Remy clapped me on the shoulder. “Nope, you’re going to have to live with that one for the rest of your life, or at least until one of us does something ridiculous.”
Jay wandered off, more than likely to hide away ‘til the first round of eliminations, and Remy moved over by Ronald to help him.
I was finally able to work in peace, and my mind was racing a mile a minute with nothing but thoughts of Brooks.
There were so many questions.
Did I like him? He was…okay.
Just okay? Fine. He was…great.
“Frankie, check those springs and make sure whatever voodoo you did they are good to go.” Roc was always barking orders. I nodded in his direction. I had already checked them, but if Roc wanted them checked a third time, then that was what he was going to get.
What was it I liked about Brooks? He was a dick, but then he realized he was a dick, and now he’s nice. He’s handsome. More like hot with four t’s. I checked over the springs one last time and stood up. I brushed my hands on my jeans and sighed.
I had walked mindlessly through my pre-race checklist, and while I had been thinking through everything with Brooks, there was still one question that needed to be answered but I was too afraid to think it.
What did I want from Brooks? Did I want him to just be the boss, or did I want to be more to him than just his car chief?
“All right. Brooks is headed to the driver intros, and then after that, it’s time to have some fun.” Roc stood next to the car and motioned for everyone to gather around. “Gather round, assholes.”
This is why I got along so well on the Cummings Racing pit crew. We were all a bunch of sarcastic assholes. “Time for Roc’s motivational speech. I wonder what pearls of wisdom he’s going to impart on us today.”
Roc pulled out his phone, typed in a few words, then flicked his finger a couple of times to scroll.
“You ever wonder what he types in?” Jay whispered.
I glanced over my shoulder at him. “Nice to see you made it back in time.”
He shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. “Shh,” he hushed me. “He’s got one.”
Roc cleared his throat and moved his lips as he read over what was on the screen. “That’s not going to work,” he muttered.
“Come one, now you need to tell us what it is,” Remy called.
“Just for you, Grain,” he muttered. “Never let anyone treat you like a yellow Starburst. You are a pink Starburst.”
This was the shit that Roc did that completely contradicted the gruff hardass he was ninety percent of the time. Everyone snickered, and Ronald let out a snort. “What if I want to be a red Starburst?”
“Yuck it up, smartasses.” Roc continued to scroll and let out a little chuckle. “Now this is what I’m looking for.” He looked up from his phone. “You assholes ready? This one is a damn gem.”
Jay bumped me trying to get closer to hear. “I bet it’s about unicorns or raccoons.”
Remy scoffed, and I couldn’t help but smile. “Shh,” I hushed him.
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you learn.” Roc shoved his phone in his pocket. “For the record, we ain’t fucking learning today. We’re fucking winning.” Roc stalked away with a farewell grunt.
“Someone needs to explain to Roc what an inspirational pep talk is.” Ronald shook his head and slapped his ball cap back on his head.
“What would be the fun in that?” I much prefer Roc giving lame, fake pep talks to loosen us up instead of some inspirational bullshit.
The guys worked on pushing the car from the stall out into the pit lane. Ronald backed the suped-up golf cart to the dragster, and I hooked up the tow rope. Remy and Jay both hopped on scooters to lead the way down the busy pit row to get to the staging lanes.
Brooks was in the third pair going, and I saw him duck into the staging car that followed behind the dragster. I grabbed my computer that was hooked up to all the electronics running through the car and hopped on the back of the golf cart that was hauling the car.
This was it.
No matter what had happened today, it all came down to right now.
I may not know what the hell was going on with Brooks and me, but all of that didn’t matter right now.
Right now, we all had the same goals in mind.
Get to the end of the track.
Don’t crash.
Fucking win.
*
Chapter Nineteen
Brooks
I tilted my head back and squeezed a few moisturizing drops into each eye. I blinked a few times and tossed the bottle on the seat next to me.
Roc opened the door to the pit car and handed me my mouth guard and helmet. “We’re ready. One more pair to go, and then it’s go time.”
I nodded and popped the mouth guard into my mouth. Roc knew not to talk to me more than he needed to. The short ride over to the staging lanes was when I got my mind focused and thought only of the next one thousand feet and few seconds.
Mark, one of the pit guys, helped me put my gloves on, and I stretched my arms and legs before I walked over to the car waiting for me. In my ear, I could hear the crew going over last minute changes and adjusting the wheelie bar height.
Remy gave me a thumbs-up. “Good to go, bossman. Keep ‘er between the lines, and we’ll see you on the other end.”
Frankie and Roc were on the other side of the car talking intently. So much goes into a racing a car a measly thousand feet down the track. Granted, those thousand feet flew by when you were going over three hundred miles an hour.
Mark helped strap me into the seven-point harness, and the body of the car was lowered.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. My hands gripped the steering wheel, and I cleared my mind of everything.
“Ready?” Roc crackled over the radio.
My eyes snapped open and everything disappeared. I flipped on the ignition and data-logger switches. Once I heard the car start, I pulled the nitrous lever all the way on, and as it ran, I moved the lever to the right gallons per minute.
After about twenty seconds of idling, Roc gave me the signal to roll through the water box.
I rolled through the water, and after three rotations of the tires, my foot released the clutch and I let the tires roll into a burnout. I let the burnout run ‘til the start line and let the car come to a slow roll.
“One minute, Brooks. How she feel?”
Roc stood by the side of the car, and I gave him a thumbs up. Everything about the car felt right. Roc motioned for me to backup, and I rolled ‘til I saw the twenty-foot line marker and eased on the brake. Five feet behind the start line, I stopped and took another deep breath.
Here we go.
I slowly crept forward while Jay directed me to within six inches of the starting line. Roc made his final idle adjustments and put his hand in front of me. I snapped the visor down on my helmet and took my last final deep breath.
My fingers flipped the fuel pump full-on, and I took my foot off the clutch and inched the car into the staging beam with the handbrake.
My eyes were focused on the tree.
Time stopped and the yellow lights lit up one, two, three, and I simultaneously hit the throttle and dropped the brake handle as fast as I could.