by Megan Faust
“I didn’t see him in passing! I went to see him. I was with him the whole time.”
As soon as the words were out of her mouth she knew everything was over. There was no back-pedalling, there was no covering anything up. It was only a matter of time, and that time would be minutes, if she was lucky. She had made Trey promise to keep their relationship a secret even though she could see it wounded him and then she’d gone and spilled that same secret not four hours later.
Seth stood frozen in shock. Brant’s face was livid. His voice had dropped into that dangerous calm that shook with rage along the edges. “Just what were you doing with Trey Williams all night?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said, desperate now. “You were wrong about him Brant. You have to get over that.”
“How the hell are you going to race tomorrow?”
“The same way I raced the other day. I intend to win, Brant. You may not realize it but I do know how important this is to you, and your all-holy career. I wasn’t planning on fucking this up for you.”
“Really? Because you’ve been pretty set on doing your own thing this whole trip.”
“So I wanted to have a little fun! What’s wrong with that? This is New York City, for crying out loud. What’s wrong with wanting to explore one of the most fascinating cities in the country?”
“Did your fun include Trey Williams?” Seth asked. He had that thoughtful look on his face and Chloe knew he was putting pieces together.
“Why are you both so obsessed about this?” she dodged, looking from one to the other.
“Is he the friend you went out for coffee with?” Seth pressed. “Because you got back awfully late that night. And you looked exhausted this morning.”
“It’s exhausting dealing with the both of you,” she muttered.
“You’re sleeping with him,” Seth said, very matter-of-factly.
There was nothing calm or rational about Brant. “Chloe, what the hell is wrong with you? You don’t know the man. You do know he’s trouble and a suspect in MY accident, and a rival racer. Those are damn good reasons to stay the hell away!”
“Yeah, and those reasons are all about you!” She cursed. “Look, I didn’t ask for this to happen, all right? When I met him I didn’t know the charming man buying me coffee was Trey Williams.” She opted to leave out the night club details. “After I got to know him a little it didn’t matter anymore. I do know him, Brant, and he didn’t do this to you.”
Brant strode calmly across the room and picked up the phone.
“What are you doing?” Chloe demanded.
“Yes, please put me through to Ticket Services at the New York International Airport.” He glared at Chloe. “I’m sending you home.”
“You can’t do that! I’m not a child Brant. And you need me, remember?”
Brant was ignoring her again. “Hello, I need to reschedule a ticket to an earlier flight for Chloe Bye from New York to Sturgis, Michigan. As early as possible. Yes, tomorrow morning is fine. Coach is fine. Yes, I have all that information right here, hold on.” He grabbed her flight information and began reading numbers and dates to the airport staff. “Thank you very much. She’ll be there at six am on the nose for pre-boarding and confirmation. Thank-you.”
In this arena she was beaten and she knew it. She sighed. “Is Seth going to drive for you tomorrow?”
“Seth can spot tomorrow, I’ll drive,” Brant replied. “It’s just too important.”
There was a flash of hurt on Seth’s face but Brant didn’t notice, he just went right on ranting.
“I should never have let you drive in the first place.”
“Brant, your foot, the doctors said you couldn’t drive.”
“The doctors don’t know everything and neither do you.”
“Fine. Just don’t kill yourself out there. Now, can I go pack? And I’ll need to call Mom and get her to pick me up at the airport early.”
“You’d better do that. And get some sleep. We leave for the airport at five am.”
“You need to sleep and still be ready to drive. I can get myself to the airport. You two worry about winning that race.”
“You’re giving up?” Seth said, obviously suspicious.
“What am I going to do? Trey probably hates me now and if I don’t go home tomorrow I won’t have any way home at all. I hate both of you right now and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.”
“I’ve never seen you lose this graciously,” Seth said.
She shrugged. “I guess I’m the only one growing up. Good night. And good luck out there tomorrow. You’ll need it.”
Once in her own room she threw the chain and picked up the phone. When the hotel operator answered she said, “I need to reach another guest, Mr. Trey Williams, room 1603. It’s urgent.”
“Stay on the line, I’ll see if he’s in his room.”
The line went silent except for an intermittent beeping, then there was a click and Trey said, “Hello?”
“Oh thank god, I was afraid you’d still be down in the bar.”
“Chloe. Are you all right?”
“Angrier than a shaken up hornet but I’m fine. What were you trying to do down there?”
“I stupidly thought I could make your brothers like me so they wouldn’t yell at you when they found out. You’re really okay?”
“Yeah, but they found out so they’re sending me home. I have to leave in the morning.” She sat down hard on the chair and buried her face in her free hand.
“Can I see you again?”
“Yes. But Seth will be coming to check on me, I know it. Once he’s gone I’ll come up, I promise.”
“I’m sorry, Chloe. I guess I messed things up.”
“My brothers are just asses sometimes. Wait for me. I’ll be there.”
“All right, I’ll see you soon.”
She was halfway packed when someone knocked at her door. She opened it without undoing the chain and peeked out at Seth. “What do you want now?”
“Can I come in?”
“Why? So you can look under my bed and make sure Trey isn’t hiding there?”
He looked down at the tacky carpet and scuffed an old stain with his toe. “I know you’re angry…”
“Angry is an understatement, Seth. I am beyond angry, hell, I’m beyond furious. I think Trey could have been the one for me, do you understand that? He was romantic and respectful and a race car driver. It didn’t get any more perfect. Now I’ll be lucky if he’ll even look at me. You two are sitting in there obsessing over this race, and yeah it’s important to Brant but did either of you stop to consider what’s important to me? I could have raced tomorrow, Seth, I could have been objective, but no, I’m just some addlebrained female and I can’t be trusted. So go to hell, Seth, and take Brant with you.
“Going home is a damn good idea at this point. I don’t want anything to do with you or Brant and I’m not sure that I’ll want anything to do with you when you do haul your sorry asses back to the farm.”
“Okay.” He looked stunned. “I guess I’ll see you off in the morning and…”
“Don’t bother. You just don’t get it. You’ve ruined my day and my entire trip. You ruined my love life and what may be my one shot at happiness. You don’t need to show up and ruin tomorrow for me, too. And if Brant has any smart ass ideas about double checking where I am or what I’m doing for the rest of the night or tomorrow morning I’ll call security and report it as harassment. Give me the spare key.”
Seth fumbled in his pockets until he came up with the card. He passed it through the two-inch gap to his sister. “I guess I’ll see you at home.”
“Don’t count on it.” She could see pain and regret creeping into his eyes but she held her ground and closed the door hard enough to drive her point home. She leaned against the door, her knees suddenly weak. She didn’t move until she heard the other door close. Through the wall she could just make out their raised voices and she half expected Brant to storm over but then things
quieted down again and she forced herself to breathe.
He hurt me. He took Brant’s side like he always does, like everyone always does. I don’t have to feel bad for hurting him. This has to be done. Oh, I hope he forgives me when this is all over.
She finished packing then, with bags in tow, she moved quickly down to the front lobby. The clerk at the front desk smiled at her. “How can I help you?”
“There’s been a change of plans with my room arrangements. I’ll be checking out of 1213 immediately and I’ll be staying in 1603 for the remainder of my stay.”
“Well, this isn’t something we generally allow without penalty but since I assume this has to do with the scene in the dining room early this evening,” she took Chloe’s blush as an affirmative, “I’ll see what I can do.” She did some typing on her computer. “1603 is registered to one Mr. T. Williams, single occupancy. Let me call and confirm with him.” After a moment on the phone she smiled at Chloe. “That’s all fine. All that remains is the balance. You’ll be paying the additional occupant’s fee?”
“Yes,” Chloe nodded.
“I’ll take that off your room refund. Just a moment.”
Chloe glanced at the stairs, nervous.
“It’s done. Here’s your key card, I’ll just take the two for 1213, and your refund. Is there anything else?”
“If anyone from 1215 or 1211 asks about me, this didn’t happen,” Chloe replied, slipping the woman a twenty. “Thanks for your help.”
The elevator seemed to take forever but when the doors finally slid open Trey was waiting for her in the hallway.
“You could have warned me when we talked you know.”
“I didn’t think of it then.” She dropped her bags on the floor and fell into his arms. She was almost in tears with shear relief. “Tell me you don’t hate me,” she said.
“Of course not. You handled everything beautifully, I’m just sorry I put you in the middle like that.” He could have stood there all night with the warmth of her in his arms and the smell of her shampoo. Instead he grabbed her bags. “I’m glad you’re here, Chloe. We’ll get this whole thing sorted out.”
“I hope you’re right.”
* * * *
Once her necessities were unpacked and her bags stowed they curled up on the couch together with steaming mugs of coffee. Sullen, Chloe said, “I have to go home tomorrow morning. Brant rescheduled my ticket. I won’t even get to see you race.”
“So call the airport,” Trey said. “It’s your ticket, isn’t it?”
She sat up straighter. “That’s brilliant. Oh, I have to call my mom, too.” She handed him the mug of coffee, grabbed the phone, and once she was through to ticket services she said, “My name is Chloe Bye. Some of my personal effects were stolen, including my boarding details. I’m afraid someone may have tried to reschedule my flight or assume my identity.”
The ticket agent said, “I’m calling up your ticket information now. Yes, your flight was rescheduled for six a.m. tomorrow morning.”
“Well, that certainly wasn’t me. The wrap up for the conference I’m attending doesn’t start until eight a.m. tomorrow.”
“We’re very sorry about the mix up. Your original flight is booked full…”
“Then cancel the ticket. I don’t want anyone trying to use it.”
“Of course. It’s taken care of. We’re refunding the ticket value onto the credit card that purchased it. I am very sorry about all this.”
“You really need better security there. Allowing people to reschedule by phone without some kind of identity check system in place is dangerous.”
She hung up and grinned at Trey. “Well, that’s done. Now let’s see if I can get a few lies past my mother.”
She dialed the number by heart and prayed she’d get her mom and not her dad. Luck was with her and a sunny, feminine voice said, “Hello!”
“Hi. Mom.”
“Chloe! How’s New York? Hold on. Oh, your father wants to know how the races are going.”
“New York is, well, it’s a lot of everything. Brant placed first in the trials. His big race is tomorrow.”
“I’ll let him know. I’m so glad you checked in. I can’t help but worry.”
“Well, I don’t want to worry you but Brant and I got into a pretty big fight and he tried to send me home early but there was a mix up at the airport and my ticket got cancelled. They refunded it to your card so don’t worry about the money.”
“Money? I don’t care about the money. How are you going to get home?”
“It’s okay, I’ll get that sorted out. Brant doesn’t know it was cancelled and I don’t want to worry him before the big race. If they call to check in on me just tell them it’s under control, okay? I’ll call you as soon as I have a flight time, but it’s getting late here and I don’t know how much longer I can get a person at the ticket service counter.”
“Well, if you’re sure. I’m glad you called, Chloe. I would have been all in a panic if your brothers had called to make sure you got home and I didn’t have a clue what was going on.”
“No problem, Mom. I’ll see you in a few days.”
She hung up, slightly in shock, and stared at Trey.
“She bought it?” he asked, handing her back her mug.
Chloe nodded. “I didn’t think I’d get that one past her. It must have been the phone—she can’t see my face.”
“Her loss, it’s a beautiful face.” He kissed her then wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Tell me everything about the sabotage so I don’t get caught unawares again.”
“I’m sorry about the glasses, Trey. I didn’t want to wreck the afternoon by bringing all that up.”
“Can’t change it now but you can start talking.”
She shrugged. “After the crash someone dropped your name and said you had a certain reputation, nothing solid, just a lot of hints and maybes that added up over the last few years.”
“And Brant believed it?”
“Your name was the only one to come up. And once Brant latches onto an idea he hates to admit he’s wrong. We’d need concrete proof of your innocence, probably something large enough to hit him with a few times, before he’d even consider believing you.”
“But the mirrored glasses in a tool box were enough to convince me?”
“And get me sent home. Well, that and he believes I’ve betrayed him.” She sighed. “I hope he’ll be okay tomorrow.”
“Chloe, why can’t we get proof?”
“Seth’s been over that car eight ways to Sunday. If he didn’t find proof no one will.”
“But he was looking for proof to convict me, not get me off the hook. Chloe, this is my reputation on the line.”
“You’re right, we should at least look. I only hope an answer or two just falls out of the sky or we’re sunk.”
“I never noticed it until now but you really like metaphors and figures of speech and such, don’t you?”
“Do you have a problem with that?”
“Not at all; I think it’s cute.” He kissed her nose.
“Just shut up and get us to the garage.”
He was chuckling as he grabbed his jacket.
* * * *
Rueben had been running all afternoon. Brant had him hitting up possible sponsors, Seth had him tracking down tools and parts, and Chloe had him chasing ghosts and whispers. Sponsors were easy, they were his job after all, and Rueben knew exactly how to play that game. On the other hand, he knew nothing at all about automotive mechanics but he’d found that if he called a service desk and said, ‘I need this, that, or the other thing,’ they said, ‘no problem, come pick it up.’
As long as he quoted Seth exactly he was in the clear. Chasing rumours was turning out to be the most challenging, tiring, and distressing part of his day.
He’d found most drivers, managers, and fans were more than willing to pass along the juiciest bits of news about Trey Williams, racing bad boy, including the hot brunette he’d t
aken clubbing two nights ago. He’d made a mental note to talk to Chloe about that one, in private of course. After an hour of over-the-top stories he noticed that no one mentioned how Trey’s manager fit into the picture. Curious, he asked another manager about Boyd Stellens and got a lot of wishy-washy, non-committal avoidance. With renewed purpose Rueben had gone back out to pump the rumour mill for information.
Now, with too many possibilities swirling around in his head Rueben went back to look at the car to check that nothing had been touched since Seth had finished up just before dinner. The lights were off but he could hear the distinct sound of someone rummaging through a tool box. Moving cautiously he came up to the tool bench and clicked on the lamp. Trey looked up, startled, his hand in Seth’s tool box. Rueben’s heart hit the floor. Everything he’d learned today had convinced him that there was something more complicated going on. He shook his head. “I was really hoping it wasn’t you behind all this.”
Before Trey could answer there was a squeak of little wheels and Chloe appeared from under the car. “Did you find that flashlight yet? Oh, Rueben, I didn’t hear you come in.”
Rueben looked from Chloe to Trey, pieces clicking into place faster for him than they had for Seth. “I should have pressed for more details this morning. Clubbing, Chloe?”
She flushed. “I guess you’ve been asking around.”
“Oh yeah, I’ve got lots of stories.”
“Most of that is pure rumour, or at least blown completely out of context,” Trey said, defensive. “I’m not a bad guy.”
“I’m inclined to believe you, but you two shouldn’t be here, or at least Trey shouldn’t be here. It doesn’t look good.”
“We can’t just leave the car. Someone is trying to hurt Brant.” Chloe got up from the creeper. “Please Rueben. Trey isn’t behind this. Someone needs to watch the car tonight.”
Rueben sighed. “All right I’ll stay here and watch the car. You two should get lost before Trey Williams and his mysterious brunette are accused of sabotage.”
“Thanks, Rueben. And make sure Seth gets here early enough to check the car. I didn’t get a good look and it was unattended long enough for someone to fuss with it.”
“You got it. Now go.”