Lee knew that Wayne was right. Anything that was going to happen was pre-destined, but that didn’t mean he didn’t worry. Since they had been little kids, Lee had taken care of Wayne; it wasn’t about to stop now.
“You just go out there and take care of yourself. We’ll do our best to keep you away from Kevin and anybody else who wants to see local-boy-doing-good wrecked. Don’t do nothing stupid.”
A slow smile spread across Wayne’s face, and he ground his cigarette into the dirt with the tip of his boot. “When in the hell have you known me to do something stupid?”
A loud laugh escaped from Lee’s belly, causing him to wipe sudden tears from his eyes. “You really don’t want me to answer that question, do you? I have years upon years of proof of that. Trust me; we don’t have all night to sit here and for me to give you a dissertation of it.”
“Oohh, dissertation, huh? That college girl who just got hired at the mill must be givin’ you some tips on what to say. I didn’t think you knew a word so big.”
“You’re a fucker and you know it! I don’t have time to sit here and insult you and neither do you. We got to get to the track. Better make sure your hair looks good for your Victory Lane photo. You know you’ll be posing with Clem.”
“Whatever, man. She likes the hot, sweaty look.”
Lee’s eyes widened and he took the chance to rib his brother. “Oh she does, does she? Just how did you find out she likes the hot and sweaty look? Ya’ll been hanging out more than you been letting on?”
“No more than you’ve been hanging out with the college girl at the mill. I gotta be outta here. We’re running a bit earlier tonight because of the rain that’s in the forecast. See ya when I get there?”
“Yeah, I’ll be leaving here in less than ten. I’m bringing Momma and Daddy. Be safe, Wayne. Don’t do anything stupid before I get there.”
Climbing into the truck, Wayne flipped him off as he pulled out onto the road heading to the track with the car in tow. Lee hadn’t wanted to tell his brother, but he too had a feeling about tonight.
Chapter Nine
‡
Wayne got to the track a lot earlier than he figured he would. Instead of staying with the car, he decided to walk around and find out what everyone else would be doing. For some reason, he was more anxious than he had ever been before getting in the car. As he made his way back to the car, he saw his crew had arrived and were going down their checklist to it to assure it was in race shape.
“Hey, fellas. How’s it going?” Wayne asked, smacking high-fives around to the crew that was assembled around his car.
He’d grown up with many of the men who helped out on the crew; most of them had graduated with him the spring before. Since then, he’d been making his living racing cars. He was enrolled in an automotive college already for the fall term. He figured if he couldn’t continue making his living as a race car driver, at least he could work on them.
“You’re gonna be puttin’ this bitch in Victory Lane tonight.” Someone from under the car laughed as the crew hooted and hollered.
“He won’t be if I have anything to say about it.”
Wayne knew that voice well; he’d heard it so many times in his life—since kindergarten, to be precise.
“Well, if it isn’t Kevin I’d-put-my-momma-in-the-wall Grimes.” Wayne smirked as he turned around to face the man behind him.
“Wayne,” Kevin acknowledged with a tilt of his head.
“You really think you’re going to beat me out there tonight?” Wayne asked, putting his hands in his front pockets and rocking back on his heels.
Wayne knew he made an intimidating image. He wasn’t tall by most standards at 6’1, and he wasn’t anywhere near large, weighing in at a lean 190 pounds, but he had a glare that could knock a man down. His eyes were sometimes so intense that they scared his own mother.
“You said it yourself, I’d put my mother in that wall if it came to me or her winning. Suffice it to say, I have no problems putting you there.”
The two men stood face to face, along with their crews that had gathered around them. Kevin wasn’t sure what had gotten into him, but that dream he had pissed him off. He wasn’t going to kill anyone, but maybe it was telling him that he needed to take control of his life. Maybe it was telling him that he needed to take control of his own destiny and show Wayne he wasn’t scared. That he was ready to do whatever it would take to make him win. He was ready to take charge and show everybody, especially his dad, that he deserved everything he had ever been given. No more would he be used as a pawn between his parents. No more would he be laughed at regarding his skills on the track. He wouldn’t be the laughing stock who got made fun of even though his parents had enough money to give him the equipment he needed to win out on the track. Tonight, he would make all those people pay, and tonight he would show them just how good he could be.
“Get out of here, Kevin. Save that shit for the track. You know you aren’t going to get into his head. Just let it be.” Lee was always the voice of reason. He situated himself between the two young men and grabbed his brother around the shoulders, pulling him away.
“What’s going on here?” a female voice asked as she approached the large group of men.
“Nothing, Clementine. We were just talkin’, right?” Kevin smirked.
Clementine looked him over in disgust. “Looked like a little bit more than talking to me, boys.”
“Aww shit, Clem. You know how he is. He’s just blowing smoke up my ass. Go on over there and tell your Daddy he’s going to win tonight.” Wayne winked at the young woman as she smiled.
“Good luck, maybe I’ll be seein’ you in Victory Lane.” She winked, kissing him on the cheek. She really wished she could kiss him the way she had the night before, but it wouldn’t be appropriate with everyone around. Especially not with her dad in attendance, sitting in the stands.
“What about me? Don’t I get a good luck kiss too?” Kevin asked, leaning down to the smaller woman.
“Nope, what you need is something greater than I could ever give you, Kev. You need some divine intervention tonight. I hope Wayne kicks your ass, and if you so much as disturb the air around him, I myself will make sure you are never able to have children,” she threatened, turning on her heel as she waved goodbye to the men in Wayne’s crew.
“Bye bye, Kevin. Go pray for your divine intervention. I have a race to prepare for.”
By this time, Kevin’s face had turned a dangerous shade of red.
“Save it for the race track. You touch my brother, I touch you. Got that?” Lee threatened. “Come on, boys, we got a race to win.”
*
Wayne went behind a hauler and put on the worn out fire suit he always wore. It was a good luck charm for him, his only superstition. It had been passed down from his grandfather, and while it had seen a lot of action, it had carried them through a whole bunch of bad wrecks.
“Wayne!”
He glanced around as he heard a female voice call his name. Looking around the corner, he saw Clementine gazing from side to side.
“Over here,” he called out, waving his arms for her to see him.
She grinned, jogging over, her long ponytail flopping in the breeze as she ran. She stopped in front of him, the top of her head almost reaching his chin.
“What can I do for you, Clem?”
She pulled him into the shadows of the cars and pressed him against the back part of the hauler. “I wanted to really tell you good luck. I wanted to kiss you before you went out there tonight,” she admitted, a blush covering her cheeks.
“You did kiss me. On the cheek back there with the crew,” he reminded her, wondering what she was getting at.
She stopped him, putting her finger up to his lips. “No, I mean the way I did the other night. I don’t want to send you out there without it. I just want you to have something to think about while you’re out there on the track. I mean I don’t want you distracted, but I just want to give y
ou something to remember me by.”
With that she stretched up, coaxing his lips apart as she carefully pressed herself against him. Her arms snaked around his waist and her hands fisted his fire suit. There was something about the heat of the night, about the feeling she had, that made her want to inhale him into her body and never let him go.
“Wayne, we’re ready to go,” Lee interrupted then cursed softly as he saw them. “Sorry, I didn’t know you had company.”
“It’s fine,” he assured his brother. “I’ll be there in just a second.”
Wayne wiped his lips with the palm of his hands. “Is something wrong?” he asked her.
She shrugged, but she couldn’t stop the words that came tumbling out of her mouth. “Can’t you feel it? It’s hanging over this place like a storm ready to rumble. Something’s going to happen here tonight, everybody is talking about it. I hope it’s you winning another race, but be careful out there, huh?”
“I’ll be a careful as I can be. You and I both know that nothing is ever promised in life. Will you be sitting up in the stands with your daddy?” he asked, beginning to walk towards his car in the lineup.
She walked beside him, nodding as they made their way to his car. “I will be. See you later?”
He nodded as he watched her climb the stands and take a seat next to her dad. Lee walked up, clapping him on the shoulder. “Be careful out there and put it in Victory Lane. Don’t make me beat your ass,” he warned.
“You won’t have to beat my ass, I know what I gotta do,” he assured his brother before putting himself in the car.
He was nervous, unusual though it was, it made his hands shake. Taking deep breaths, he looked up in the stands. He saw his mother and father sitting together, Clem and her dad sitting next to them. For once in his life, he wanted a race to be over before it began. Frankly, he just wanted to get out of the race alive. Something about this race, this night, and this time made him pray a little harder as he turned the on switch to the car. As he revved the engine, he wondered what the night was going to bring.
Chapter Ten
‡
“That fucker!” Wayne mumbled as Kevin cut him off going into turn two.
The two had been beating and banging for the better part of the 100-lap race. He knew without a doubt that both of their cars wore dents and scrapes like badges of honor. He coughed as the carbon monoxide seeped into his system. Being pissed off always made him breathe harder, and whenever Kevin Grimes was involved, being pissed off was usually the order of the day. Making a snap decision, he broke his car out of line and went directly for Kevin’s bumper, knocking him out of the way. Grinning like the Cheshire cat, he quickly moved his car ahead of the other man’s.
“Stop screwin’ around out there, Wayne,” Lee came over the radio, reprimanding his younger brother.
“What? I can’t hear ya,” Wayne said, slowing down purposely and flipping off Kevin through the window of his car.
“Yes you can, Wayne. Back the fuck off!”
Lee stood atop his perch and watched with baited breath as the two cars barreled around the track. Both drivers were known for their quick tempers and not so good decisions. With them, disaster was just an accident waiting to happen.
*
“What are they doing? They are going to kill each other!” Clementine mumbled as she stood next to her father in the stands.
She watched in numb horror as Kevin cut up onto the track, effectively cutting off any chance Wayne had to get by. As he did, bumpers and quarter panels touched, sending both cars into a spin. Wayne fought desperately for control and overcorrected, sending both cars tumbling upside down onto the pavement and into the infield.
“Oh fuck!” Lee yelled, jumping down and making a run for the two smoking heaps of sheet metal.
He saw his mother and father running with him along with Clementine and her father.
Wayne extricated himself from the battered car and looked around for Kevin. It was the dream come to life. He could feel the heat, could smell the smoke. Almost immediately he knew what was going to come next. No matter what their differences were, he didn’t want to see anything bad happen to Kevin.
“Get him out! That damn thing is gonna blow up!” Lee yelled, running towards the car. “He’s caught in there!”
Everything happened in slow motion as Wayne fought to help. He could see through the shattered windshield that Kevin was knocked out cold. He was caught in his safety harness, and if the car did catch on fire he was a goner.
“What are you doing, Wayne?” Clementine screamed as he went in through the passenger side window.
“Somebody’s gotta help him. If we don’t, he’s going to die in there. I don’t want that on my hands!”
David grabbed her shoulders as she lunged after him, pulling her back from the car. Gasoline leaked from the back and one spark could ignite a fire that would blow all of them to Charlotte. “Get back and let them do what they need to!”
Wayne shimmied in, removing Kevin’s harness. “Be careful movin’ him,” Lee called out. “His back could be hurt.”
Wayne nodded even though nobody could see him. He was beginning to get claustrophobic. He couldn’t breathe inside the car. The smell of motor oil and gasoline was enough to make him gag. It scared him to see Kevin like this. No matter that they had never been good friends. He would never wish any kind of pain on another person. Ever.
“I’m being as careful as I can, but I can only do so much,” Wayne called back out as he dragged Kevin out of the wreckage. As soon as he got him out and a safe distance from the wrecked car, it exploded, causing everybody to scream.
Lee kneeled over Kevin as Wayne did the same on the other side. “Kevin can you hear me?” Lee asked. He couldn’t tell if the younger man was breathing or not.
“Are his parents here?” Wayne asked, looking around at the people that had gathered.
Clementine stepped forward. “They didn’t show up. I guess somebody on his crew will go get them. Is he going to be okay?”
Wayne didn’t know; he couldn’t tell if Kevin was breathing, and he noticed that Kevin had not made any kind of move whatsoever. However, he didn’t want to move him either. He didn’t want to do any more damage than they had already had to inflict. “I dunno, Clem. I just dunno.”
As he spoke they heard the blaring of sirens. The paramedics arrived and pushed back everyone that had gathered. They had to work on the young man. Wayne paled as he saw them lift Kevin onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. He felt like what Justin Grimes must have felt like the day he almost killed Billy.
“Are you okay?” His father’s heavy hand came down on his arm. Wayne looked at it, a blank stare covering his face. If Billy didn’t know better, he would say his son was in shock and incredibly angry at what had just happened. Wayne took off at a walk and tried to keep going even when Billy’s hand reached out to pull him back to stand with the rest of the family.
“Let me go. Just let me walk it off, alright? I don’t wanna deal with anyone right now.” He shook his father’s heavy hand off his back and stalked off, tying the fire suit around his waist.
*
Wayne cursed loudly, still feeling the anger and fearfulness coursing through his veins. What he really wanted was to jump into a car, any car, and just drive until he felt himself calm down. Either that or pound in Kevin’s face for scaring the shit out of him, until he felt the anger leave his body.
“You okay?” He heard a soft voice ask as it approached.
“Clem, I thought I told everybody to leave me alone. Newsflash, honey, that included you,” he spat, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket as he continued walking.
“You don’t need to be alone right now, Wayne. You’ll just go off and do somethin’ stupid.”
She watched with wide eyes as he lit the Marlboro Light and inhaled deeply. She’d never seen this side of him, sure not a lot of people had. The violence she could feel emanating from him scared her. It was
obvious that he was angry with himself, but she felt like there was a part of him that was angry at Kevin.
“I’ll be fine, Clem. I’m sorry I’m bein’ such an asshole to you, but I really just need to be alone right now,” he tried again, blowing smoke away from her face.
As they walked further from the track, the only thing she could make out was the dark orange circle of the burning tobacco hanging from his mouth.
“I just want you to know that you aren’t alone, Wayne. What happened out there wasn’t your fault. I know you didn’t mean for anything to happen, but we got to get to the hospital. We got to make sure that Kevin is okay. They were talking about him being really hurt, and I know that no matter what, you want to know what’s going on with him.”
“Yeah, but it also cost me and your daddy a busted up race car.” He flicked the cigarette into the ground and stepped on it, harder than he needed to.
“This is about more than a busted up race car. You and I both know that. You’re feeling responsible. You’re not responsible for that. The two of you were testing each other. You both knew what could happen. Now let’s go and make sure he’s okay. I’ll even go with you.” She offered him a soft smile that he barely made out and grabbed his hand, squeezing it before she walked away.
He watched her until he could no longer make out her body in the darkness. Turning around, he realized that the anger was no longer manifesting in his body. The only thing going through his mind was making sure that Kevin was okay. He had to know that he hadn’t hurt him badly. Until he knew for sure, he wouldn’t be able to drive another lap.
“Clem, wait up!” he called, running to catch up with her.
*
An hour later the two of them arrived at the hospital. It was filled with people waiting to hear what was going on with Kevin. Both people who had professed to hate him and others who had professed to love him gathered, all waiting to see what the doctor would say. No matter what, all of them needed to know that one of their own was not hurt. Kevin may have been an outcast, but none of them wanted anything bad to happen to him. His parents had shown up, but as of yet, no one had heard anything. Clementine and Wayne sat huddled together in the corner. Both stood up, however, as they saw a doctor come in.
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