Ignite

by Kelly Elliott

  “How’s it going, Adaline?” Malcolm asked.

  “It’s going good.”

  Malcolm moved back and forth on his feet like he was nervous as he finally looked back and me said, “Good luck tomorrow, Emmit. I’ll see you around.”

  Tipping his hat at Adaline as he walked by, I wore a shocked expression. “What in the hell is wrong with everyone tonight? Was that Malcolm being . . . nice?”

  Adaline laughed as she walked up and took Lola’s leash from my hand. “Go shower so we can go to dinner. I’m starving. I’ll walk the baby girl.”

  As I shrugged my shoulders, I leaned over and kissed Adaline on the cheek. “It won’t take me long to get ready.”

  “Don’t rush, we’ll take a little walk and then meet you back in the bus.” I was captivated by my wife’s beautiful smile.

  As I jogged back to the bus, I glanced over at Malcolm’s bus that was parked across and down a bit from mine. I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was honestly bothered by what my sister thought of him. I made a mental note to talk to Ashley about what had happened and why she got so upset.

  I COULD HEAR “MANNISH BOY” by Muddy Waters coming through Emmit’s headphones as I stood across from him. We were down on pit row and the race was about to start. Emmit liked having a few minutes to himself before each race. I usually left his side for a few minutes so that he didn’t feel pressure to talk to me, but for some reason I felt the need to stay close by him today. I had a feeling I knew why, but I wasn’t going to think too much about it right now. We just needed to get through this race and then I’d tell Emmit.

  Dragging in a deep breath, I glanced around and wrapped my arms around my body. My body relaxed the moment I felt his lips on my neck. “Are you okay, baby?”

  I dropped my head against Emmit’s chest and looked up at him. “I couldn’t be better.”

  Emmit raised a brow and asked, “Are you sure?”

  Turning, I placed my hands on his chest and reached up on my toes to kiss him on the lips. “I promise. How are you feeling? Did you get enough water?”

  “Yep.”

  “Everything feel all right with your suit?”

  Emmit pulled his ear buds out of his ears and handed me his iPod and the ear buds. “Yep.”

  “Don’t be nervous, baby. You’ve got this. Just listen to Waldo and your spotter.”

  The sound of Emmit’s neck cracking made me look over to my father for some reason. Chewing on my lower lip, I brought my attention back to Emmit. “I love you.”

  Emmit’s whole body froze. Cupping my face with his hands, he smiled and rubbed his nose on mine before he softly kissed my lips. “I love you too, pumpkin. I promise I’ll be careful.”

  I wanted more than anything to wrap my arms around him and deepen the kiss, but there was now a camera shoved right in our face.

  Ugh.

  As I took a step back, I smiled as I felt the heat move across my cheeks.

  After “The Star Spangled Banner” was sung, the drivers started climbing into their cars. This was the part I hated. Having to walk away while he got ready to drive. Leaning into the car once more, I fought to hold my tears back. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “Yep!” I said as I popped my P. “Meet me over in victory lane after the race and I’ll give it to you.”

  Emmit laughed and gave me a thumbs-up. “See you in a few, baby.”

  I walked a few steps back as I watched them get Emmit ready. Turning, I bumped into Ashley. “Ashley! Hey it’s good to see you.”

  Ashley glanced over to Emmit and lifted her hand as she smiled weakly at him. “I didn’t get to talk to him today. I was upset and ignored his calls.”

  My heart dropped for a brief second. “You can still talk to him really quick. Come on before they put his helmet on.”

  Walking Ashley over toward Emmit, I stopped just short of the car and let her walk over to him.

  “Hey, big brother. I just wanted to say good luck. Kick ass. I’ll talk to you after the race.”

  “Hey, baby sis. I love you and I’ll see you soon.”

  Ashley smiled and took a few steps back as Emmit glanced over to me. He put his helmet on and now all you could see was his eyes. For some reason I thought it was the hottest damn thing ever . . . just seeing those gray eyes looking back at me.

  With a smile, I turned and headed toward my father with Ashley walking alongside me.

  Robert smiled when he saw Ashley. “Johnny seems to be smitten with your friends.”

  Ashley laughed and nodded her head. “Yeah. They helped him walk Lola.”

  That sparked my attention. “What?” I asked.

  “Oh, we stopped by the bus and little Johnny was outside playing with Lola. My girlfriends, Becca and Janet, walked Lola with Johnny and played for a little bit.”

  I nodded my head and said, “Well, Johnny is going to be a little heartbreaker. I can see why your friends were smitten with him.”

  Ashley chuckled. “Speaking of, I’m going to go find them. Emmit was sweet enough to give full passes to each of them. They’re probably in their seats. See you after the race, sis!”

  Waving, I said, “See ya, Ashley.” I couldn’t help but notice how Ashley looked over at Malcolm’s car. And I really couldn’t help but notice how Malcolm never took his eyes off of her as she walked by.

  “Oh shit,” I mumbled as I turned back and looked at Emmit. “That’s not going to turn out well.”

  “What isn’t?” my father asked.

  I shook my head and looked at my father. “Oh, just the fact that Malcolm Wallace seems to have taken an interest in Ashley.”

  My father looked over at Malcolm and sighed. “Let’s just hope he uses his head with this one.”

  Smirking, I climbed up onto the tower. As my father and I both got situated, I said, “You mean the head between his shoulders right?”

  My father’s mouth dropped open as he closed his eyes and shook his head. “Jesus, he’s already rubbing off on you.”

  I was on pins and needles the entire race. Emmit started off in third position then fell back to tenth, and now he was racing against Malcolm for first with only six laps to go.

  “Number seven is right on your inside. Easy,” the spotter said as I kept my eyes on Emmit.

  “Ten-four,” Emmit said. He had been quiet a good portion of the race. Once he asked Waldo to ask me what was for dinner.

  “Keep off the apron,” my father said as he raised his eyebrows at me.

  “This is fucking stupid. Why doesn’t he just get the hell out of my way?”

  Emmit’s car was a few seconds faster than Malcolm’s, but Malcolm blocked Emmit every time he tried to pass.

  “Two to go.”

  I stood up and placed my hand over my stomach. Race day always made me queasy. Emmit running in second with just two laps to go during the Daytona 500 made me feel like I wanted to throw up and pass out.

  “Emmit, you know what to do,” my father said as I looked over at him.

  “Yep,” was all Emmit said as I chewed on my thumb nail and went back to watching my husband race around the track. Emmit made it look like he was going to go up and Malcolm drifted with him, but Emmit shot down and quickly passed Malcolm.

  “Fender. Door. Door. Clear!” the spotter said as my father jumped up and fist pumped.

  “White flag. One to go.”

  “Emmit,” I whispered as I held my breath and watched him pull further away from Malcolm.

  “You’re pulling away so don’t push it. You’ve got this. One more turn.”

  My eyes were glued to Emmit’s number thirty-seven car as I grabbed onto my father’s arm. “Daddy!” I shouted as Emmit came around turn four and went straight for the checked flag.

  “Oh my God!” I screamed as I watched my husband take the checkered flag at the Daytona 500. My father and I both turned to each other as Emmit cheered over the radio.

  “Yeah! Yes! Woo hoo! We
did it, boys. We fucking did it!” Emmit said as my father kissed me on the cheek and Emmit’s entire pit crew went crazy as they cheered and shouted.

  My father climbed down and began congratulating everyone on the win as Chris helped me down. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face if I wanted to. Daddy walked up and guided me over to victory lane.

  Emmit revved the engine as he pulled up and the crowd went wild. I was so proud of him as I watched him climb out of his car. Confetti was flying everywhere along with champagne and soda being sprayed everywhere.

  Emmit flashed that amazing smile and dimple of his as he celebrated his win. The moment he jumped down, the sportscaster was right there to interview. Emmit scanned the area and smiled bigger when our eyes met. He answered all the questions as he took a sip and laughed when asked if this was the best moment of his life. “It’s certainly up there with some other pretty amazing moments.” Our eyes met again and I couldn’t help by cry.

  If he only knew how much more amazing this moment was about to be as I made my way over to him. As soon as the interview was over, Emmit pulled me into his arms.

  “I want my surprise,” he said into my ear.

  Turning my mouth so that I was right against his ear, I said, “I’m pregnant.”

  Emmit slowly pulled back as tears built in his eyes. I covered my mouth with my hand in an attempt to keep from going full-throttle tears. I’d been waiting for two weeks to tell Emmit I was pregnant. Something told me to hold off until the first race and I was so glad I did.

  “W-what?” Emmit asked as he stared at me with an incredulous look on his face. Giggling, I dropped my hands and started crying harder. “Addie, oh my God.”

  Emmit pulled me back into his arms as he buried his face into my neck and cried.

  “Best moment of my life. You’ve made me the happiest man in the world.” Emmit cried as he held me tighter.

  After a few moments of being alone together, it was time for Emmit to get back to work.

  At the press conference it didn’t take long for a reporter to ask Emmit if his tears from earlier were tears of joy about winning the Daytona 500. Emmit glanced over to me and smiled. We had a few minutes alone before the interview and I was able to tell him I was eight weeks along. If asked, we decided Emmit would announce we were expecting.

  Emmit’s eyes lit up as he smiled a drop dead gorgeous smile. He laughed slightly and looked over at me. “I’m sure winning had something to do with those emotions, but I’m pretty sure it had more to do with the fact that Addie had just told me she was pregnant. They were the first words out of her mouth after she walked up to me.”

  Everyone let out some hoops and hollers as my father looked over at me. Smiling, I winked as he slowly shook his head and pointed to me as he mouthed, I love you.

  By the time the news conference was over, I was exhausted and ready to head back to the bus. Ashley had finally made it through the crowd and to Emmit. She’d lost her friend Becca somewhere in the crowd but introduced me to her friend Janet.

  “You must be so excited. To be married to the top NASCAR racer and be carrying his baby! That’s like so totally awesome!”

  I couldn't help but smile as I nodded in agreement with Ashley’s friend, Janet. In that moment it hit me how much more mature Ashley was over her friends.

  “So what are your plans for tonight?” I asked the girls.

  Janet smiled, “Well, Ashley here has some secret date she isn’t telling anyone about.”

  I peeked over at Ashley and watched her cheeks flush. “It’s not a secret date. It’s not even date.”

  Narrowing my eye at her, I asked, “What is it then?”

  Ashley gave me a nervous smile as she kicked at the ground. “Nothing really. Just an old friend who invited me to catch up. Someone from the old circuit.”

  Taking her by the arm, I looked over my shoulder back at Emmit. He was doing another interview and not paying attention to us. “Ashley Lewis. You know your brother doesn’t want you running around with these guys.”

  “It’s not like that, Adaline, my gosh. It’s just a friend who wanted to apologize for a misunderstanding the other day.”

  My mouth dropped open as my eyes widened in horror. “No. Ashley, you cannot.”

  Giving me a fake laugh, she looked at me like I was crazy. “I cannot what?”

  “Malcolm?”

  Ashley’s smile faded as she glanced over to Emmit. “It’s not Malcolm. It’s someone else.”

  I knew instantly she was lying.

  Closing my eyes, I let out a sigh. “Oh, Ashley honey, Malcolm Wallace is not someone you want to get involved with. I know you had a huge crush on him at one time, but if your brother ever found out.”

  “Oh my gosh, Adaline! You sound like my mother. I'm perfectly fine, I’m an adult woman and I know what I’m doing. I have to go. Tell Emmit I’ll talk to him later.” Turning away from me, Ashley called out to Janet. “Janet, let’s go find Becca!”

  “Ashley! Ashley wait!” I called out as I watched her walk toward the buses. Most of the drivers would be pulling away soon. I prayed like hell Malcolm had already left.

  Rubbing my hand across the back of my neck, I let out a frustrated groan. “Adaline, why don’t you go back to the bus? I’ll let Emmit know where you are.”

  Smiling, I nodded and kissed Kate Elliot on the cheek. “I think I will. I’m exhausted and who knows how long this will take. Is Johnny still at the bus?”

  Kate shook her head. “No, Robert’s mom went and got him a little bit ago.”

  I placed my hand on Kate’s arm and smiled. “Thank you so much, Kate. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  With each step I took back to the bus, I had a dreadful feeling move over me and I wasn’t sure why. The feeling of someone watching me caused the hair on my arms to rise as I glanced around. At one point, I stopped and turned back to look at Emmit. He must have sensed it because he looked directly at me and held up his hand to motion five more minutes.

  Thank God. All I wanted to do was crawl into bed.

  Opening the door to the bus, I took a step in. “Lola?” I called out as I looked for her. Huh. That’s strange she isn’t here to greet me.

  Johnny must have turned all the lights out in the bus before he left because it was pitch-black. “Lola!” I called out as I turned the kitchen light on and headed to the bedroom. When I didn’t see her on the bed, I panicked. Shit! What if Johnny left the door open and she got out?

  Turning on my heels, I went to go outside when I ran right into someone. Screaming, I stumbled back and looked at the woman standing in front of me. It didn’t take long for me to recognize her.

  “Cookie?” I asked stunned.

  Her eyes turned black as she pulled out a knife and said, “It’s Becca.”

  Swallowing hard, I barely got the words out, “Becca? I thought your name was—” Then it clicked. Becca and Cookie were the same person.

  I took a few steps back and hit the bed while my eyes darted between the knife in Becca’s hand and the look in her eyes. My body trembled and I wasn’t sure which one I should be more afraid of.

  “Becca, what are you doing here? Why . . . why are you holding a knife?”

  Her smile made my skin crawl as she let out a deep, haunting laugh. “It wasn’t hard finding you. After all, I’m best friends with Ashley. All I had to do was mention how cool it would be to do a girls’ weekend in Florida. It didn’t take her long to put two and two together and suggest coming to the race. I was hoping Emmit would win, but I wasn’t counting on you hanging all over him after he won. You were supposed to come back here over an hour ago. Your damn dog will be waking up any minute.”

  I glanced behind her only to see Lola laying on the floor in the living room. I covered my mouth and gasped. “What did you do to her?”

  Becca reached out and grabbed my arm, pulling me toward her as I let out a small gasp. “Relax, it’s just a sedative. I’d never kill Emmit’s dog. I know how much he
loves that dog.”

  Becca gave me a hard push, causing me to stumble and hit the wall. “Go into the living room. Now.”

  I did as she asked, stepping over Lola who looked to be just sleeping. I shook my head and looked back at Becca. Confusion swept through my mind as I tried to figure out what in the hell was going on. “Wait, I’m confused, what are you doing, Becca?”

  “I’m here to tell you Emmit is mine. He made a terrible mistake by marrying you. I tried to remind him of our night together. I sent him an email and asked him to meet me. He never answered.”

  I continued to stare at Becca as my eyes looked between the knife and her face. My heart was pounding in my chest as I felt sick to my stomach.

  “Then I sent him another email and begged him to reconsider. I even offered to meet him again in Dallas last November. He ignored me again. But then I got to thinking, maybe it was you deleting all my emails, keeping Emmit away from me.”

  My heart dropped as I shook my head. “No,” I whispered.

  “You were getting the emails first and deleting them before my precious Emmit could read them. I even sent him nude pictures of me. He wanted me once before, I knew if he saw what he could have, he’d want me again.”

  My stomach churned and I covered my mouth. Emmit mentioned nothing to me about emails. “I-I don't have access to his emails. Only his assistant does.”

  “Shut-up you lying bitch! Why couldn’t you have just called off the wedding? I destroyed your wedding dress! I did everything I possibly could to ruin that day and you still married him! Even when I gave you the video of us, you couldn’t see how he was looking at me. How much he wanted me. Me! Not you! Me!”

  I jumped when Becca screamed out. I was praying someone had heard her and would be knocking on the door.

  “Why don’t you just put the knife down and we can talk.”

  Becca’s eyes turned evil as she took another step toward me and said, “There is no time to talk, Adaline. You have to get out of the picture. There’s only one way to do that now.” Becca held the knife higher as she took another step toward me.

  Closing my eyes, I prayed Emmit would hear me when I screamed.