“Uh, as ready as I can be. The days leading up to the race, I’m nervous as hell, but as soon as I get to the track, everything seems to calm.” His hand reached out for his soda, and I had to assume he took a drink since I vowed not to look at him. The only thing I was allowing myself to look at was his hands. Though I was starting to appreciate his long fingers and tanned skin a little bit too much.
“You still get nervous?” Ash asked. “Don’t you do it like every week?”
I was with Ash. How in the hell did he still get nervous? He was one of the top drivers and was always coming in the top ten.
“Yeah. I don’t really get it either, but just knowing you’re strapping yourself into a car going over three hundred miles an hour can be a little daunting even if you’ve done it before.”
Well, when he put it that way. I guess being a little nervous made sense.
Ash turned to Luke, who was sitting next to him. “Do you get nervous when you race, Dad?”
Luke shook his head. “I don’t, but I know your mother does. Though, in Brooks’ defense, he goes a hell of a lot faster than I do. He’s got a lot more horsepower running though his funny car than I do in the Mustang.”
“What’s it feel like to go that fast?” Leelee asked Brooks.
“It’s intense.”
Kurt snorted. “I think that’s putting it mildly. Over three hundred miles in ten seconds is more than intense. I’m pretty sure that’s shit-your-pants intense.”
Violet smacked Kurt. “Can you go one dinner with us without saying shit?”
Kurt propped his head on his hand and batted his eyes at Violet. “You just said it. Why can’t I?”
“I said it to tell you to stop saying it.”
“But you still said it.”
I could see where Leelee didn’t want to have kids since she had Kurt.
Violet and Kurt bickered back and forth, and I snuck a glance at Brooks. One could only imagine the things that were going through his head as he experienced his first family dinner with my dysfunctional relatives.
Of course, he was looking right at me, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his gaze. “You came all the way to Illinois to watch my family fight.”
He shrugged. “I like them.”
A simple statement, but it surprised me. “Well, I do too. They’re my family.” They were mine to like, not his. Whenever he opened his mouth, I had to automatically best him.
“You’re lucky, Frankie.”
“Why? Doesn’t everyone have a crazy family?”
He scoffed and shook his head. “You’ll never catch my family sitting around the dinner table talking and eating dinner. Never.”
“That would be a normal family, Brooks.” I glanced over at Kurt and Violet who were still bickering. “This is far from normal.”
“Well, normal or crazy, I don’t have either.”
“Hey, Frank. You think you can help out at the shop tomorrow? I promised Lee I would take her out to lunch and I completely forgot.” Kurt pulled me out of the bubble I was in with Brooks, and I straightened in my chair.
For once, I was okay with Kurt interrupting me. I had no idea what to think about what Brooks had just said. Who doesn’t have a crazy family? Or even a normal family? “Uh, I think you could have left out the part about forgetting about taking her out,” I muttered.
Leelee laughed. “He forgot, but then remembered before we were actually supposed to go out. I’ll still classify it as a win.”
“What time do you need me there?” I asked. I shoved a huge meatball in my mouth and slowly chewed. I could feel Brooks looking at me. Having your ex-boss watch you try to mow down on a huge ball of meat was less than ideal.
“Eleven. You shouldn’t have much to do. Nos will be there to help out.” This came from Leelee because, while both her and Kurt owned the shop, everyone knew that Leelee was the one who ran that place.
“Or you could just be there at eight when it opens, and we don’t have to come into work at all,” Kurt suggested.
He, of course, would try to pawn off running the shop for a day on me. “I’ll be there at eleven.” It wasn’t like I was expecting to be paid so Kurt would have to deal with working for a couple of hours before I got there. “Make sure you leave a few donuts for me.”
“Be there right away at eight and you’ll be guaranteed to get warm donuts from Mike’s.” Of course, Kurt would use Mike’s donuts to persuade me to show up early.
“Or I could sleep in until nine, make my way over to Mike’s, and show up at eleven.” That was a much better plan than Kurt’s. I still got donuts, and I also helped Leelee.
Kurt grumbled, not liking my plan, but it didn’t matter what he thought.
The rest of the meal went off without a hitch. The good thing about having a crazy family was there was never a shortage of conversation and things to distract me from Brooks sitting beside me.
Though every time he bumped me with his elbow, and those five minutes he reached behind me and rested his arm on the back of my chair, made me realize things I didn’t want to about Brooks.
He was handsome. So handsome.
The low timber of his voice was downright sexy.
He smelled good. It was ungodly for a man to smell that good after traveling across three states with not even a nickel to his name.
And lastly, he didn't act like the selfish, self-righteous, pretentious prick he was whenever he came into the shop or racing trailer. He was nice.
That was the biggest blow to my hatred for him. It was much easier to hate someone when they were just a huge dick no one liked.
Violet made Ash help me clear the table while Violet and Leelee sat at the island sipping on a couple glasses of wine. The guys went back into the living room to watch the season opener of some show about guys who built and raced drag cars.
It seemed like a pretty cool show from what I could hear while I washed dishes, and I made a mental note to try to catch it in reruns during the off-season. Traveling for races most every weekend didn’t leave much room for binge watching TV. That was for the people who didn’t have to be out of town most every weekend and weekdays working late to get the damn funny car online.
“So, are you going to spill about Brooks, or are we going to have to drag it out of you?” Leelee asked quietly. At least she was trying to lower her voice so Brooks wouldn’t hear us talking about him. Although, I wasn’t going to say anything about him that he didn’t already know. I still thought he was a dick.
I couldn't forget about the way he had treated me before. “There isn’t anything to spill.”
“Why is he here?” Violet asked. Apparently, she was now in on grilling me about Brooks. It was now a complete family circle of people bugging me about him.
“He’s trying to get me to come back to Cummings Racing.” I grabbed the large pot I had simmered the sauce in and dunked it into the steaming hot water.
“So when do you leave?” Leelee laughed.
I shook my head. “Not anytime soon. At least, not with him.”
“Tell me you don’t think he is hot, Frankie.” She leaned forward on her elbows and grinned. “If you do, I’m going to have to check your pulse because I may be married to hottest guy on Earth, but Mr. Brooks Cummings comes in a very close second.” Violet wiggled her eyebrows and clicked her tongue in her mouth.
“Really?” Leelee asked. “I think he’s okay looking, but I don’t think he’s the hottest guy ever.” She held her hand out to me. “No offense.”
“Do you really think I need to be hearing my mom talking about how hot a guy is?” Ash shook his head and tossed the wet dish towel on the counter. He held his hand out to Violet. “Five bucks, and I won’t tell Dad and it won’t scar me for life.”
Ash got an A+ for blackmailing people.
“I’ll add it to the tally I owe you. Now, go finish your homework.” Ash shrugged and strutted down the hallway. “I swear to God, Leelee. That kid is all Kurt. If you two ever hav
e a kid, don’t ever leave it alone with Kurt. You’ll forever be in debt to the kid.”
“How much is the tally that you owe him?” Leelee snickered.
“I’ve lost count, but I know he showed me a hover board the other day he said he wanted to cash in on.”
“Holy shit balls. Those things are over three hundred dollars,” I sputtered. The only reason I knew this was because Remy and Jay were looking at them a couple of weeks ago as a way to get across the pits of the tracks faster. They decided against it after watching two hours of hover board fails on YouTube. While it was hilarious to watch someone wipe out on one, they didn’t want to be the person falling.
“The one he showed me was over four hundred.” Violet cringed and shook her head. “It’ll be here Tuesday.”
Leelee slapped her hand down on the counter and laughed uncontrollably. “You’re killing me,” she wheezed.
I grabbed the towel Ash had tossed down, and I wiped my hands. “Don’t you think Luke is going to wonder why you bought it for Ash?” It was hardly Ash’s birthday, or anything remotely close to something that Violet could use to explain buying the hover board.
“He may, but then he’s going to have to explain to me just why Ash needed an expensive ass new remote control car two weeks ago.”
I nodded. “Of course, he played both of you. He’s already gotten ten bucks out of me since I’ve been here.” Though obviously, he used his power of blackmail on everyone.
“You are both suckers. He’s never hit me up for hush money.” Leelee sat back smugly.
“That’s 'cause he knows you’ll backhand him,” I laughed.
Leelee pointed her finger at me. “You’re right.”
“Though I’m kind of wondering where you went wrong with Jay,” I pondered.
Leelee waved her hand. “My brother is a good guy, he just doesn’t have the thing to motivate him. It’s gonna happen one day. He’s smart and hardworking.”
“When he wants to be,” I muttered. Jay drove me absolutely batty sometimes. Okay, a lot of the time. He could do the bare minimum and yet he still looked like he had done the most work. I busted my ass twenty-four-seven and got absolutely no recognition. The man sitting in the living room was the biggest culprit for giving credit to everyone but me.
“But,” Leelee drawled, “I will be the first one to tell you that he’s got a horseshoe shoved up his ass because he is the luckiest son of a bitch I have ever met.”
And that was why I loved Leelee. She may love her brother and always have his back, but she’ll be the first one to call him on his shit. “Well, I think he might be having to show that hard work buried deep inside him more now that I’m gone.”
“Oh, you are more than right.” Leelee laughed and shook her head. “He’s called me three times already complaining about being tired and having to actually work. You taking a little break from Cummings Racing is one of the best things that has happened to him.” She lifted her beer toward me. “Silver lining, girlfriend.”
“Well, he’s gonna have to keep picking up my slack because I’m not going back.”
Violet and Leelee both rolled their eyes.
“Babe, you got anything for dessert?” This came from Luke, who was always hungry.
“No, but someone can run to George’s.” Violet leveled her stare on me and smiled. “I think two people need to go.”
Oh, hell no. George’s may have the best ice cream in all of Illinois, but there wasn’t a chance in hell I was going. At least, not with Brooks, which is exactly what I knew Violet was thinking. “Leelee can go.”
Leelee held up her beer. “No can do. I just finished this bad boy, and I’m feeling a bit tipsy.”
“I had one with dinner, so I can’t go either.” Thank God I had drank that beer because it just knocked me out of the running to drive with Brooks to George’s.
Kurt walked into the kitchen with a sly smirk on his lips. “The only ones who didn’t drink were Rose, Ash, and Brooks.”
“Well, as much as Ash would like to think that he’s a grown up, he’s not, and it’s time for Rose’s bath so it looks like Brooks is going to George’s.” Violet stood up and grabbed her empty wine glass off the counter. “He’s going to need someone to go with him, though.”
Leelee, Kurt, and Violet all looked at me. “No. No, no, no. I am not going anywhere with Brooks.” My own family was conspiring against me. I should have seen this coming, but one doesn’t anticipate their family to turn against them. This wasn’t Game of Thrones, after all.
“Come on, Frank. It’s for George’s ice cream, and it’s only ten minutes away. You can totally handle being with the guy for that long,” Leelee insisted. “You’re a badass bitch.”
I rolled my eyes. “Nice try.” This shit was not going to happen.
Brooks walked into the kitchen, and I glared at him. Of course, he wouldn’t have drank during dinner. “I can go. Just need a car and some directions.”
Kurt tossed him his keys and pointed to me. “Take the GTO, and Frankie can be your navigation.”
Brooks snatched the keys from the air. “Sweet.” He looked at me and smiled. “You ready, doll?”
Fuck, no. I wasn’t ready for any of this.
*
Chapter Five
Brooks
“You want me to carry one of those?”
Frankie glared at me over her shoulder and thrust a dripping, melting cone at me. “Here,” she growled, “it’s yours anyway.”
I grabbed the cone and licked it. “Shit, that is pretty good.”
“Pretty good doesn’t even cover it,” she mumbled.
She stepped to the side to grab a stack of napkins, and I slipped the fifty dollar bill I had in my hand to the girl working behind the cash register. “Keep the change.” The girl’s eyes lit up, and a huge smile spread across her lips.
“Are you insane?” Frankie whispered. “You just gave her a twenty-two dollar tip.”
I shrugged and grabbed the carrier with four sundaes in it. “It’s good ice cream,” I explained. I always tipped well because I didn’t want to do the proper math in my head. I just gave as close to half of the bill as I could. So far, I hadn’t pissed off any waiter or waitress that I knew of.
“You are insane,” she replied. She pushed open the door and held it so I could walk through.
“Not really, doll.” I pushed past her, and my arm brushed against hers. Then I walked over to the car I had parked in the back of the lot. She may think she knew me and could judge me by the little bit of interaction that we had in the past, but she was way wrong. She also judged me by my father, and he was one person I strived to not be like.
I stood by the passenger door and nodded at it. “Either you grab the keys out of my pocket, or you need to hold this.”
She snatched the carrier out of my hand before I could get the last word out and stood back. “Just take me home, Brooks.”
Instead of doing what she asked, I took a step toward her. “I get why you hate me, Frankie,” I said quietly. “I did things wrong. I have a lot of shit on my plate right now, and I was trying to get everything done at once. Going to Roc about everything and giving him the praise was easier than telling everyone individually. I’m sorry, Frankie. I can’t say anything that will make it better, but I’m sorry.”
I needed to get that out. I knew I had fucked up. The pressure of winning, my dad on my back twenty-four-seven, and my mother slowly slipping away had taken its toll on me the past months.
“We all have things going on in our lives, Brooks. That doesn’t give people the right to be huge douche canoes.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. “I get that, doll. That’s why I just apologized, and I hope you’ll let me make it up to you.”
She shook her head and took a step back. “You don’t just get to say sorry and I’m supposed to come crawling back to Cummings Racing. You say I don’t know you, well you really don’t know me if you think what you just said is going to ch
ange everything for me.”
I followed her retreating step with two steps, putting me close enough to her that the carrier hit my chest. “But it changed something, right?”
She glowered at me but didn’t say anything.
I might not have completely thawed her glacial hatred toward me, but it might have melted a little bit. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I always win.” I pulled Kurt’s keys out of my pocket and beeped open the locks. “We should get going before all of this ice cream melts.”
She ducked around me and yanked open the passenger door. She had the door shut and was buckled in before I had the chance to open my door.
I licked the ice cream that was dripping down my hand and looked into the car.
She was mad at me.
Pissed.
But I had just given her a lot more to think about. I had fucked up before, but I was going to fix it.
*
Frankie
The man was maddening.
I hated him. I truly did.
Well, at least, I had.
Now my brain was trying to figure out what shit Brooks Cummings could have going on in his life. He was the prodigal son of Roger Cummings. Sure, he might have had to prove he was just as good as his dad, but that shouldn’t have been hard since he is as good as his dad was.
My eyes darted over to look at him.
What was going on with Brooks Cummings?
And why in the hell did I need to know?
I hated him, right?
*
Chapter Six
Frankie
“I’m really sorry.”
I pushed my sunglasses on top my head and watched Leelee and Kurt hustle over to her car. “Uh, why?”
Kurt laughed and slipped into the passenger seat.
Well, that wasn’t a good sign.
“Nos called in sick today,” Leelee explained. Nos was the parts guy who took care of the front office for Leelee. I had planned on staying back in the bays with the cars and not having to deal with anyone. But, no.
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