Adrenaline (Speed Series Book 2)(25)

“Let’s find HGTV, shall we, buddy?”

I rolled my eyes as I followed Dalton out of the bus. He spun around and held up his index finger. “One rule. We had one f*cking rule about the women. No f*cking them on race day before a race. I walk in and see some knock out sitting on your damn floor. Are you kidding me?”

Right on cue, Autumn and Ashley walked up. Both of them looked between us as I pushed my hand through my hair.

“She’s not some girl I’m f*cking. She’s a . . . a um . . . well she’s . . . ah.”

All three of them leaned in closer to me. “She’s what?” Dalton asked.

“More than that.”

Autumn and Ashley screamed as they raced past me and onto the bus.

“Great,” I whispered as I turned back to Dalton. “At least she was before those two showed up. Now she’ll be running away from them for her dear life.”

Dalton held up his hands and motioned for me to stop talking. “Wait. She’s more than that? Are you dating this girl?”

“No.”

He gave me a hard stare. “No?”

“No,” I repeated.

“Sleeping with her?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “No.”

His eyes widened. “What’s wrong with her?”

“Nothing,” I said with a chuckle.

“So, let me get this straight. You’re not dating nor are you f*cking her and all because she is . . . more. You’re doing exactly what with her then?”

I shrugged. “I have no f*cking clue. I’ve only seen her four times since I’ve met her, and all I know is I want to see her more.”

Putting his hand to his chest, Dalton acted as if he was dragging in air. “Oh. My. Fucking. Hell. You finally fell for someone?”

“No, I didn’t say I was falling for her. I said I wanted to get to know her. She’s not like all the other girls I’ve met. She’s . . .”

“Different,” Dalton said with a smile. Pushing out a fast breath, he waved his hands around. “Fine, whatever. I just need your head in the game. Is your head in the game?”

I nodded. “It is.”

“All the way? Dude, I can’t have you day dreaming about Presley.”

“Paislie.”

“Whatever. I think I liked it better when you f*cked them and didn’t know their names.” I glared at him as he turned and headed back to the garages. “Head in the game and get your ass down to the garage. Now! And leave Preston with your sister and Ashley.”

Laughing, I called out, “Paislie!”

“What the f*ck ever!”





THE DOOR TO THE BUS flew open and two women came rushing in. Standing, I watched as Deuce jumped up and made a beeline straight to them. They each pushed one another out of the way as they walked up to me.

“I’m Autumn, Malcolm’s sister.”

Feeling slightly at ease, I reached my hand out for hers. “Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Paislie . . . a friend of Malcolm’s.”

His sister looked me over quickly. “Uh-huh,” she said with a wink.

Okay. That’s awkward. Did she assume every female around Malcolm was someone he is sleeping with?

I turned my attention to the other girl. “Hey, I’m Ashley. Malcolm’s recent f*ck buddy.”

My smiled dropped and Autumn jerked her head to look at her. “Ashley!”

She shrugged and said, “Well I am, I mean we’ve know each other for a while, but then we . . .” She looked back at me and smiled. “I mean we’re not anymore! I met someone and we started dating.” She frowned as if regretting her loose lips. “Anyway, my brother is also Emmit Lewis.”

“The driver who retired,” I absentmindedly said while I tried to process everything that just came out of her mouth.

She pointed to me and said, “Yep! You know your NASCAR.”

A part of me instantly didn’t like Ashley. I wasn’t sure if it was because she made it very clear from the get-go she’d slept with Malcolm, or if it was because she was so amazingly beautiful. Why wouldn’t Malcolm be attracted to her? From the sounds of it she was more than a one-night stand. How much did this Ashley mean to Malcolm? Did he have feelings for her?

I shook my head. “No, I know nothing about NASCAR. Malcolm told me about him.”

“Oh.” She waved her hand as if to dismiss my lack of racing knowledge. “Don’t worry if you don’t know anything. Malcolm won’t care about that. I mean, even though it’s a huge part of his life, you can pick it up easily.”

My lack of NASCAR knowledge hadn’t even fazed me until she pointed it out. Autumn cleared her throat as my attention fell back on her. “So, this is kind of exciting. Malcolm hasn’t really had a friend since Cas . . . well I mean since high school he hasn’t really been with the same girl. Oh gosh.”

The air quotes around friend made me smile. It was obvious Autumn was younger than Malcolm. I wanted to ask her how old she was. She must have had her daughter young and most likely missed out on a lot of things girls her age did. My heart hurt for her knowing her husband up and left her and her daughter.

Ashley turned to Autumn and said, “Well besides me, but we weren’t dating.”