Burndown (Nitro Crew Book 1)

by Winter Travers

  He sighed but didn’t tell me to get out.

  “I like Remy. He’s a good man.”

  “They always start out as good men, Harlyn. Your mother used to say the same thing about me.”

  He was right. Mom had always said things were great when they first started dating. It was after he got his job as a crew chief things started going south. “That’s your story, Dad. Not Remy’s.”

  Roc turned around. “No, Harlyn. The way Remy is right now is the exact same way I was. Hungry. Ready for his shot. I got that shot and messed everything up in my life. I ignored your mother, forgot about you, and only cared about racing. I don’t want that for you, Harlyn. He may say he’s there for you now, but there is going to come a time where he can’t keep the promises he made, and then you’re alone. I’m not letting that happen to you.”

  “So instead, you’d rather me give up something that makes me happy because you made the wrong decisions over twenty years ago? That’s bull-crap, Roc. I get to make the decisions about my life. Not you or anyone else.” I wasn’t going to back down about this. After spending the weekend with Remy and his family, I knew that he was the type of man I wanted.

  He was the man I was hopelessly falling in love with.

  “You can’t see it right now, Harlyn, but I’m right. I may have been a shit father the past twenty-seven years, but I’m here now, and I won’t let you make a mistake that can be prevented.”

  I shook my head. “You’re wrong, Dad. You are so wrong.” I wiped a stray tear from my face. “I’m going to be with Remy. His job doesn’t define him. He may be gone physically sometimes, but he’s always with me. He calls because he misses me. He texts when he has a few spare seconds. He cares about me, and I’m falling in love with him.” A hiccup escaped my lips. “And you wanna know what's truly crazy about all of this? He doesn’t even know I love him, but I just told you.”

  He shook his head. “Harlyn. Just please think about what I’m saying. He may be good now, but what happens when the work goes late, and he’d rather sleep than talk on the phone? Or when those few spare seconds he has disappear and you’re left wondering what he’s doing instead of texting you? He may not mean to hurt you then, but it’s still going to hurt.”

  I dashed away the tears that were rapidly falling now. “I love him. I can’t take it back. I can’t make my feelings stop. I love him, Dad, and I hope one day, you can see the type of man he really is, because what you paint him as now is completely wrong.” I sighed and gathered my courage. “If you fire Remy, then I quit.”

  Roc just stared. I didn’t have anything more to say. Except for one thing.

  “I’m taking the rest of the day off. And however long Remy has off, I won’t be here. You can’t punish either of us for loving each other.”

  I walked out of his office, grabbed my purse from the desk drawer, and hitched it over my shoulder. Part of me wished Roc would chase me down, tell me he was wrong. But a larger part of me knew Roc admitting he was wrong was something that rarely happened.

  I waited a few seconds, hoping he would say something, but I was once again disappointed by the man who was supposedly my father.

  *

  Chapter 31

  Remy

  “Got any leads on a new job?”

  Frankie laughed. “Why? Are you looking now too?”

  I sighed and closed the door to the house behind me. I beeped the locks on the Challenger and climbed inside. “Well, as if right now, I’m suspended, but I have a feeling I don’t have a place at Cummings Racing anymore.”

  “What in the hell did you do?” Frankie demanded.

  I put the key in the ignition and turned on the car. “Roc walked in on Harlyn and me going at it on her desk.”

  “You were having sex on her desk?” she exclaimed.

  “What? No, we weren’t having sex. We were just making out. A lot.”

  She whistled low into the phone. “Lordy, Remy. I told you Roc was going to shit a brick when he found out about you two.”

  I backed out of the driveway and headed to Harlyn’s. It was half past five, and she had just texted letting me know she was home and wanted me to come over. I had spent the day in my room, trying to not freak out over the fact I was suspended from my job. A job I needed to make my car payment and keep the lights on in the duplex. “I’m gonna talk to him. He has some crazy idea in his head I’m going to abandon Harlyn or something.”

  “How are you going to convince him otherwise?” she asked.

  “Not a fucking clue, Frankie, but I know I need to think of something.” I turned into Harlyn’s neighborhood and slowly made my way down her street. “So, you gonna tell me what the hell is going on with you?”

  “Not much. I haven’t heard from Roc, so I’m assuming Saturday my suspension will be over, and I’ll be able to come back to work.”

  “And what are you going to do if they don’t let you come back?” Roc would be an idiot to get rid of Frankie, but as my situation with Roc proved, the man made decisions irrationally.

  “Then I find another team. Last year, Megan Proctor and her team were looking for a car chief. I’m sure they found someone, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give them a call.”

  “Working for a female driver. That might be good for you.” I pulled into Harlyn’s driveway and killed the engine.

  “It shouldn’t matter if the driver is a man or woman. All I care about is getting their car to run as fast as possible.”

  “Well, I know you’re right, Frank, but as you can tell from the whole Brooks situation, sometimes that's not always the case.”

  “Yeah,” she sighed. “I better get off the phone. With me being home, Luke has put me to work in the shop doing all of the shit jobs no one wants to do. I swear, it’s like he's trying to get me to hate working here so I’ll leave.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  She laughed and told me should would talk to me later.

  I glanced up at Harlyn’s house and saw she was sitting on the front porch again. She was trying to hide behind the overgrown bush, but I could see her arm and the top of her head.

  “Baby, are you hiding again?” I asked as I stepped out of the car.

  She stood up and smiled brightly at me. “How did you know?”

  “Uh, because I could see you.”

  “Dammit,” she cussed. “I was trying to be all stealthy.”

  I climbed the porch steps and stood in front of her. “And why were you trying to be stealthy?” These were times when Harlyn reminded me of my mom. Sometimes, I had no idea what was going to come out of her mouth.

  “I wanted to watch you without you knowing I was looking at you.”

  “Huh?” It was like I was talking to my mom. What Harlyn had just said made sense to only herself.

  She waved her hand at me. “Never mind. It really doesn’t make sense when I say it out loud.”

  Well, at least she could admit when her ideas were a bit too harebrained. “Did you miss me, baby?”

  She shrugged. “It’s a pretty good possibility I did.”

  She never was the one to give away her feelings too quickly. It was like I had to warm her up to me every time. “We sitting out here, or going inside.”

  “Do you promise to take all my clothes off if we go inside?” Guess she was warmed up to me. That didn’t take as long as I thought it would.

  I held out my hand. “I guess you’re just gonna have to find out.”

  *

  Harlyn

  “Remy…”

  “Wait for me, baby. Just wait for me.”

  I reared back onto him, pushing back while he pounded into me. I was a tenth of a second away from exploding around his cock, and he was telling me to wait for him. “Hurry, please,” I gasped.

  After Remy pulled me into the house and waited a full five seconds after the door shut, we were both naked. Not long after, he threw me over his shoulder and proceeded to show me just how much he had missed me in the
bedroom.

  His hands framed my waist as I was on all fours, my ass in the air, and my face smashed into the mattress. Remy groaned as he pulled out and slammed back into me. “You’re mine,” he grunted. “You’re mine.”

  I was his for as ever long as he would want me. Ever since I had told Roc how I felt about Remy, it was like the words were on the tip of my tongue, waiting to explode out to tell Remy I loved him. “Yes, yes,” I moaned.

  Remy’s hands snaked around my waist, honing in on my clit. He leaned down, his body covering my back, and his mouth next to my ear. “You ready to come, baby?”

  Dear God, I was more than ready to come. I nodded, and he nipped my earlobe with his teeth.

  “I love you.” He didn’t give me time to think. He pulled back, his thumb slid back and forth over my clit, and his cock slammed into me. It was more than I could take.

  His words played over in my head as my orgasm crashed over me. His loud groan echoed against the walls, and I called his name as he pumped his cum inside me.

  “Fuck, Harlyn. Fuck,” he panted.

  That was a pretty accurate assessment. “Yeah,” I gasped. We both fell to the side, and Remy gathered me in his arms. I closed my eyes and tried to gather some kind of thought about what had just happened. “You love me.”

  Remy’s body shook behind me. “Yeah, I do,” he said on a laugh.

  “I’m okay with that.”

  “Good.”

  “You wanna know why?” I whispered.

  “I got a pretty good feeling of why, but it’s be nice to hear it from your mouth.”

  I closed my eyes and felt the words on the tip of my tongue. “I love you, Remy.”

  He hissed out a breath, and hugged me tight. “Yeah, I was totally right.”

  My elbow bumped in the chest, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “You wanna keep the cockiness down to a minimum while I profess my love for you?”

  “Should have done it when I had my dick buried in you, baby.”

  “I was a bit speechless at that point,” I muttered.

  He brushed my hair off my shoulder and pressed a kiss behind my ear. “Give me five minutes, and I’ll make you speechless all over again, baby.”

  *

  Chapter 32

  Harlyn

  “What are your plans for the day?”

  Remy looked up from the bowl of cereal in front of him. I had pulled out all the stops with breakfast this morning after professing our love to each other. Cinnamon Toast Crunch and orange juice. I was a regular June Cleaver.

  “Run to my house, change, then go to the shop.”

  “You’re suspended, Remy.”

  He shook his head. “For the next hour or so. After, I’ll either have my job back or I’ll be looking for a new one.”

  Jesus. I thought maybe Remy would let Roc calm down the week he was supposedly suspended. Apparently, that was not in his plans at all. “Uh, what exactly are you going to do?”

  “Talk to him, Harlyn.” He shoveled a bit of cereal into his mouth.

  I don’t know how the man could be so calm when he was about to face the firing range in an hour. “Maybe you could wait until Monday?”

  Remy slowly raised his head. “I’m not waiting ‘til Monday, baby. The way I feel isn’t going to change from now to then.”

  “I know it’s not, Remy, but maybe if we give Roc a little time to calm down that might help.”

  Remy pushed his stool back and patted his leg. “Come here, Harlyn.”

  I took a sip of my coffee and looked down at his lap. “If I come over there, I’m never going to make it to work to make sure Roc doesn’t kill you.”

  “I promise to keep it quick.” He held up his hands and parted his legs.

  I moved between his legs and rest my hands on his thighs.

  He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. “I love you, Harlyn. I don’t know when it happened, but I do.”

  My heart sighed at his words. “Same thing happened to me. Although, I think it happened when I was at your mom’s.”

  “Don’t tell her because then she’ll somehow try to take credit for getting us together.”

  “You’re probably right,” I laughed.

  “Back to what I was saying.” He cleared his throat. “I love you, Harlyn, and nothing is going to stop that. I’m not going to wait a week hoping your dad will come to his senses about you and me. If he thinks suspending or firing me is going to make me run for the hills, he’s wrong. I talked with Frankie today. There are jobs out there. Jobs just as good as this one.”

  “But you love this one, Remy.” And I was going to be the reason why he didn’t have it anymore.

  “I do, but I’ll live if I have to find a new one. I know I won’t live if I have to give you up.” He slid his hand up my body and behind my head. He delved his fingers into my hair and pulled my head to his. “I love you, Harlyn.”

  “I love you, too, Remy.” I sighed and closed my eyes. “Now let me go or I won’t be responsible for my actions in ten seconds.”

  “Is that so?” he laughed. He pressed a slow, hot kiss to my lips.

  That was why I didn’t want to get this close to him. I lost all my senses when he was close, and I craved his touch. Thoughts of getting to work or dealing with my dad fled. It was just me and Remy in that moment.

  “God damn, baby,” Remy gasped when he finally let me go.

  “Yeah,” I agreed. I took a step back and ran my fingers through my hair.

  “No more touching until we get things figured out with your dad. Hopefully when I see you at the shop, I’ll be able to control myself and not take you right there on your desk.”

  I giggled and moved to the other side of the counter. A safe distance between Remy and me. “Yeah. I’m pretty sure Roc walking in on us again would make the vein in his throat burst.”

  “You saw that too,” Remy chuckled. “Pretty sure he should have a name for that thing.”

  I sputtered on the sip of coffee I had just taken. “Now I’m never going to be able to argue with him seriously because the whole time I’ll be trying to name his vein.”

  Remy held up his hand. “I say we just call it Throbber and move on.”

  “How about Throbert?”

  Remy pointed his finger at me. “That’s it right there, baby. Throbert for the win.”

  I set my cup in the sink and glanced at Remy over my shoulder. “You do know you have a little bit of your mom in you, right?”

  He shrugged and lifted up his bowl to drink the milk. “I lived with the woman for twenty years. You have to think she rubbed off on me in some ways.”

  “You know, if it comes down to it, we could always have your mom come and talk to Roc. There is no way in hell he would be able argue with her. She would start out talking about you and me, and then suddenly, she’d be talking about beer drinking fish and the way cheese binds her up but she’ll never give it up.”

  Remy downed the cereal milk and set his bowl on the counter. “She told you about the cheese, huh?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. It wasn’t pretty.”

  “There’s the class just oozing out of Mom again,” he chuckled. He stood up and reached for his bowl, but I grabbed it before he could.

  “I got this. Head home and prepare for your showdown with Roc and Throbert.”

  “You sure, baby?”

  I waved him off and turned on the hot water. “Yes.”

  “I love you, Harlyn,” he called.

  I looked over my shoulder and smiled. “I love you, too, Remy. Now leave before you kiss me again and we never leave the house.”

  His panty-dropping smile crossed his lips, and he winked. He was out the door without another word, and I was left with a few dishes to wash and my own worries about what was going to happen with Roc.

  I had already said my peace with Roc. There wasn’t much else I could do.

  Now it was up to Remy and praying Roc would actually listen.

  *


  Chapter 33

  Remy

  I didn’t know if I was brave or a damn fool.

  I had parked the Challenger in front of Cummings Racing five minutes ago, and I was still sitting in the car. Nothing in life ever prepared you for confronting your boss and telling him you were going to date his daughter no matter what.

  Roc wanted me to choose between Harlyn and Cummings Racing.

  He thought he knew which I would pick.

  He was wrong.

  “Now or never,” I mumbled. I pulled the keys from the ignition and pushed open my door.

  I made the short walk to the front door and pulled it open to see Harlyn’s smiling face. “I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to get out of the car.”

  “It was touch-and-go for a second there. I considered kidnapping you and running off to Mexico where I could work on dirt track cars while you sunbathed all day.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I kind of like the changing seasons, although margaritas all day, every day sound pretty good.”

  “I’ll just take you out for Mexican tonight, and you can get drunk off margaritas.”

  She nodded. “Sounds like a good plan. I’ll make sure to grab my sombrero when I get home.”

  I opened my mouth and then shut it. Her crazy was showing a bit. “I feel like I should know if you’re joking or not, but I don’t.”

  She winked and sat back in her chair. “I guess you’re just going to have to wait and see tonight.” She nodded at Roc’s door. “He’s in there. His mood is debatable right now. He brought donuts for the guys.”

  “He never does that.” At least, the never bought donuts for everyone part.

  She shrugged. “I know. That’s why I have no idea what you’re about to walk into.”

  That wasn’t helpful. I took a deep breath and walked the ten steps to Roc’s office. I rapped two times on the door, and he barked for me to come in.

  “Good luck,” Harlyn whispered.