Behind the Wheel (Hearts & Horsepower Book 2)

by A. K. Evans

  “Good news,” he said.

  “Yeah. But I’m sorry you had to bring me here for no reason,” I lamented.

  “It wasn’t for no reason,” he insisted. “I wouldn’t have felt right not bringing you and being sure that everything was okay.”

  “Well, it’d make me feel better if you’d tell me what I can do to show my appreciation for everything you’ve done for me today,” I remarked.

  Knox stared at me for several long moments. I didn’t know if he had something in mind and didn’t want to share it or if he was trying to come up with something crazy. Either way, I was completely surprised when he said, “You can let me take you home and feed you dinner. We’ll stop and grab something on the way.”

  “I’m buying,” I stated.

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” he started. “I’ve got lots of groveling to do, so I’m starting with dinner.”

  “Knox?”

  “What?”

  “You beat a guy up for me, carried me to the trailer, held me in your arms while Kendall tended to my face, brought me to the hospital, and waited here with me,” I reminded him. “I think you got started earlier today.”

  For the first time since I met him, Knox didn’t just smile. He laughed. He laughed and my heart exploded in my chest at the sight and sound of it.

  When he stopped laughing, he got serious again and said, “We’re still not going to talk about this right now. That said, I figure what I did earlier today makes up for your first day at LT Motorsports. I’ve got a lot of work left to do.”

  I wanted to tell him he was crazy. He beat a guy up for me. I didn’t know a whole lot about redemption, but I had a hard time thinking that getting into a fight for someone else didn’t rank pretty high up on the scale.

  Even still, Knox seemed determined. And I didn’t think I’d win the argument. So, if it was going to make him feel better about how he’d treated me, I figured I should let him.

  “Okay,” I acquiesced. “You can feed me dinner.”

  When I saw the relief sweep through him at my agreement, I realized just how much this had been upsetting him.

  And in that realization I came to the conclusion that it was possible Kendall was right. Maybe Knox and I were going to have a rocky start. I didn’t know that it was possible for us to end up where she and Logan did, but at the very least, I liked the idea of Knox and I being friendly with one another.

  I watched from the opposite end of the couch as Avery set her plate down on the coffee table and leaned her back against the arm of the couch. I was still trying to come to terms with the fact that she’d been physically assaulted only a few hours ago. The scene continued to play over and over in my mind. All I could see was her gorgeous face being blasted into the hood of Ricky’s car.

  The thought was making me sick to my stomach.

  So, I’d been trying to focus on the positive aspect of the whole situation. Avery and I were at least being cordial with one another. No, that’s not right. I think we’d moved past cordial to friendly. When we were alone for the first time in my truck, there was no denying the tension between us. But as the hours ticked by, it seemed she was slowly opening up to me.

  I couldn’t have been more grateful that she was willing to give me the chance to make things right with her. And considering her first words to me were an apology for telling me to never speak to her again, I had a feeling she was feeling just as strongly about our fight and subsequent kiss last Friday.

  While I had every intention of talking to her about it, I hadn’t wanted to do it when all of my focus and attention wasn’t on her. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was, why I reacted the way I did toward her from the beginning, and apologize for every horrible thing she’d endured at my hand.

  But I still felt so distracted by the events of the day. I got the distinct feeling I was going to need to resolve that before I could deal with anything else.

  So, now that we’d both finished our dinner—sandwiches from a local Italian restaurant—I thought it might be a good time to delve into more serious matters.

  “Avery, can I ask you a question?” I said.

  At the tone of my voice, it wasn’t a surprise her body tensed. She knew this wasn’t going to be a lighthearted conversation.

  “Okay,” she replied hesitantly.

  “Had you been planning to go over to Ricky’s pit the whole time? Is that why you told Kendall you were going to use the bathroom?” I asked.

  “No,” she deadpanned. “I legitimately needed to use the bathroom. But when I was walking back to our pit, I saw him there. Nobody else was around, so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to confront him.”

  “Confront him?” I repeated, thinking it wasn’t a wise idea for her to have gone over to confront someone who had done what he did to her car.

  “Yeah. I mean, well, you don’t know this because I decided to yell at you instead, but Ricky or one of his other employees tampered with the coolant hose on my car. The line from the overflow tank was pointed right at my front tire. They intended to see me crash.”

  “I know,” I told her.

  Confusion washed over her. “You do?”

  Nodding, I confirmed, “Yeah, Ryker told me on Saturday. When I walked into the break room he confronted me. I had assumed when I walked into the shop that morning, you told them about what happened between us the night before. I quickly learned that you never shared that with them. Of course, that also means that I did.”

  Avery’s eyes widened.

  “Don’t worry,” I said, hoping to reassure her. “He was pissed at me.”

  She pressed her lips together, attempting to stifle a smile. “You know, everybody says how grumpy Ryker is, but I don’t think he’s that bad.”

  “Considering how I was these past couple of weeks, Ryker was a saint in comparison.”

  There was an extended silence while Avery digested those words and eventually asked, “Why were you like that?”

  I sighed. “I’m going to get into all of that, but can we first talk about what happened today?”

  “Okay. What do you want to know?”

  “What did you say to him?” I pressed. “I mean, I know you wanted to confront him about the car, but is that the reason he ended up getting physically violent with you?”

  “Ricky’s a dickhead,” she blurted. I wanted to laugh at that, but she continued, “I wanted to know why he did what he did. He played stupid, acting like he didn’t know what I was talking about. After I spelled it out and told him I knew they’d tampered with the car, I learned that he found out I had interviewed with LT Motorsports. He knew how much I wanted to work in the industry, so it didn’t make sense that I’d leave my position there unless I had something else lined up.”

  “Alright, but he knew that weeks ago, right?” I asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Then that doesn’t explain what happened today,” I pointed out.

  Avery grunted. “Yeah, well, that’s because I sort of provoked him,” she shared.

  “Before you go any further, you need to know there’s no explanation you can give me that’s going to justify him putting his hands on you,” I told her.

  “Oh, I know that. If I hadn’t been so stunned by it, I would have fought back,” she declared. “Anyway, I got the best of him. I was going to walk away at one point, maybe you saw, but I stopped because I needed him to know something.”

  “Which was?”

  “That no matter how hard he tried he’d never come close to being anywhere near as good as the men I work with now,” she shared.

  I closed my eyes and dropped my head. She never deserved anything I’d handed her over the last two weeks. None of it.

  “Avery…” I trailed off, struggling to find the words.

  “It was the truth, Knox,” she defended.

  “But it wasn’t worth what he did to you because of it,” I noted.

  Without an ounce of hesitation, she declared, “I
’d do it again.”

  It was time. I needed to give her something, not that I believed anything could make up for everything I’d done and said to or about her. But it was all I had to give her for now, so I hoped it would give her the answers she was seeking.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, my voice husky.

  “What?”

  “I treated you like shit, Avery,” I started. “And you didn’t do anything to deserve it.”

  She held my gaze a moment before she asked, “Why? Why did you do it?”

  “Stupidity… and probably a little bit of what caused Ricky to do what he did to you tonight,” I answered.

  Tipping her head to the side, she wondered, “What’s that?”

  “Jealousy.”

  “Jealousy?” she repeated.

  “I saw you at the track weeks ago,” I informed her. Taking in a deep breath, I prepared myself to share the truth. “I thought you were the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.”

  Avery’s gorgeous lips parted in shock.

  I did my best to ignore how badly I wanted to kiss her again and continued, “Seeing you there by your car, suited up, ready to race, I knew you were a woman I wanted to know. And just as I was about to approach you, Ricky came over and kissed you.”

  She became visibly uncomfortable and the disgust was written all over her face. “He always did that. And no matter how many times I asked him not to, he still did it. I told Logan that was one of the reasons I wanted to leave. Aside from the fact that I didn’t like seeing how he treated his customers or would lie to them, he made me uncomfortable most of the time.”

  “Wait. So, you two never dated?” I asked.

  “No!” she cried. “Ricky made it clear he was interested, but I told him from the start that I wasn’t.”

  This was getting better and worse all at the same time. Better because I was obviously thrilled to know that she hadn’t been with Ricky. Worse because I treated her horribly believing that to be the case.

  “I feel like an ass, Avery,” I admitted.

  “Why?”

  “I regret not giving you a chance,” I said. “Even if I didn’t completely trust your motives in the beginning, I shouldn’t have just assumed you were planning to be conniving.”

  A look of understanding washed over her. “I understand it, Knox,” she began. “I could tell during the first week that the guys were a bit more cautious. It didn’t bother me because I realized they had a reason to doubt me. But the difference between you and them was that none of them were unkind.”

  “I know. I feel horrible about it. I really am sorry,” I stressed.

  “I believe you, but I guess I still just have one question,” she returned.

  “What’s that?”

  “How do you feel now?”

  That was a loaded question. I wasn’t quite sure there was a single answer I could give her. Deep down, I had a lot of feelings about her, a lot of things I wanted to say that I didn’t think I should. At least, not yet. In time I would share more, but for the time being I think we both really needed to have some time to get to know each other a little bit better.

  Since the question had several answers, I decided to go with the one that was most closely related to what we’d been discussing.

  “There’s no way that anybody would ever put themselves through what you’ve experienced at the hands of Ricky,” I started. “Crashing your car that you clearly love and then going up to confront him today only to be assaulted. That’s not what someone does when they’re trying to deceive others. So, even though I started feeling it toward the end of the week last week, I have zero doubt about it now. You should know that I completely trust that you have no ill will toward LT Motorsports, and I think you’re genuinely committed to being a part of the team.”

  There was emotion hidden behind her eyes. It was something I couldn’t read, but it was clear my words meant a lot to her.

  “Do you really mean that?” she rasped.

  Nodding, I promised, “I do, Avery. I’m really sorry that I ever doubted you. And I’m embarrassed by how horribly I treated you. I hope we can try to put everything behind us and move forward together.”

  Avery gave me a beautiful smile before she said, “I think I’d really like that, Knox. And thank you for the apology.”

  For a little while, the two of us sat there in silence. There was still a lot to discuss. At least, I thought we had a lot to talk about. But I didn’t want to push Avery too much. She’d had a long day, and the last thing I wanted to do was to add any more stress to it. So, unless she brought it up, I was content to wait a little while longer. For now, I was happy to settle for where we’d gotten ourselves to today.

  After some time had passed, she sighed, “What a day.”

  “Yeah. How are you feeling?” I asked.

  “Like I’m getting old,” she answered.

  “Old?”

  “Tired,” she clarified. “It’s not that late, and I’m tired.”

  It was just after nine o’clock. Time had flown by since the two of us had left the track together.

  “Why don’t you head to bed?” I suggested.

  “I don’t want you to think I’m kicking you out, though,” she replied.

  Shaking my head, I insisted, “You’re not. I’m going to stay here on the couch tonight. Just in case.”

  Cocking an eyebrow, Avery semi-repeated, “You’re going to stay here tonight?”

  “Yeah. The doctor said to watch for any new symptoms that could arise over the next twenty-four hours,” I reminded her. “I’d feel better knowing I’m here if something changes.”

  “Knox, I can’t ask you to do that. You’ve already done plenty.”

  “I won’t sleep if I leave you here alone,” I told her. “I’m not trying to be creepy, Avery. I’m legitimately concerned about you. Lock your bedroom door if you want; I promise I’ll stay on the couch. I just… I just want to make sure you have someone here for you.”

  She held my eyes a long time, not answering and not giving any indication of what was going through her mind. Eventually, she said, “You can stay in the bedroom.”

  Okay. I hadn’t been expecting that. Not, of course, that I’d ever turn down the opportunity to be in the same bed with her. But it surprised me that she’d made that offer.

  “Avery, I’m okay with the couch,” I told her.

  “But I have a spare bedroom. Two, actually. There’s no reason for you to sleep on the couch when there’s an extra bed.”

  Spare bedroom.

  Right.

  Ah, well. A man could hope, right?

  “As long as you’re cool with that, it works for me,” I said.

  She smiled and assured me, “I’m cool with it.”

  At that, Avery and I got up from the couch. I carried our plates to the kitchen before following her to the stairs.

  “I’m down at the end of the hall here,” she pointed out as she stopped in front of a closed door. Putting her hand on the knob, she turned it and pushed inside. “And you can stay here.”

  “I appreciate it,” I told her.

  “The bathroom is right across the hall if you need it,” she said. “I’m going to hop in the shower quickly and head to bed. But I’ll see you in the morning.”

  I smiled at her and replied, “That sounds good. Night, Avery.”

  Staring up at me, it was clear to see she was struggling with something. It was enough for me to grow concerned. “Are you okay?” I asked.

  After hesitating for another moment, she stepped forward and put her arms around me. Mine immediately came around her.

  “Thank you again, Knox… for everything you did for me today.”

  I wanted to run my fingers through her hair, tug backward, and kiss her again. Hell, I would have settled for being able to just kiss the top of her head. I wanted to so badly.

  Instead, I managed to hold myself back and respond quietly, “You’re welcome.”

  Even though I
didn’t want to let her go, I loosened my hold on Avery when she stepped back. Then she said, “Goodnight, Knox.”

  Before I had a chance to respond, she was gone.

  Convinced she was making strides to get herself to bed when I barely heard her shower turn on in the distance, I walked across the hall to use the bathroom. When I finished, I walked back into the spare bedroom and stripped down to my boxer briefs.

  Nearly two hours later, I was still struggling to find sleep. I tossed and turn for the better part of that time, replaying the day’s events over and over in my head. The worst of it was recalling what Ricky did to Avery, but the best of it was remembering her hugging me before she went to bed.

  I was a mix of emotions, with worry at the forefront of my mind. So I decided to ease my mind and look in on her. I was convinced that once I confirmed she was sleeping soundly, I’d be able to drift off.

  Throwing back the blanket, I slipped out of the bed and toward the door. Moving out of the room, I walked down the hall to her door. Not wanting to barge in, though, I pushed the door open slightly and looked in.

  She was out like a light. And her bare legs were exposed. Even though it wasn’t cold in the house and was a comfortable temperature, I still didn’t want her getting chilly. So, I stepped into her room and looked down at her sleeping figure.

  Damn, she was gorgeous.

  I gave myself a minute to stare at her beautiful form before I covered her back up and returned to the guest room. Once I was back in bed, knowing she was sleeping comfortably, I finally managed to drift off.

  And for the first time in weeks, I had a decent night of sleep.

  The stinging pain in my cheek woke me. My eyes shot open, and I took a second to get my bearings about me. Glancing over at my nightstand, I reached out and grabbed my phone.

  Twelve minutes past six in the morning.

  I’d gotten a decent night of sleep, and now having a few more moments of alertness in my body, I realized I felt great other than the nagging, lingering pain in my cheek.

  I wondered how much of what I was feeling was related to simply feeling physically good and how much was related to feeling good on an emotional level. Obviously, being assaulted wasn’t good on either account, but I started to think that maybe I wasn’t having such a hard time coping with that because I’d expected it.