Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
STUCK IN THAT HELL
Adrienne
Three days later…
Las Vegas, Nevada
Iclimb out of my car at the practice track and hand my helmet to Erin as Rowan preps the car to be towed off the track. I pull each of my arms across my chest and stretch to loosen the kinks. It’s no use.
This week is the Las Vegas 500 Mile, the last race I need to win to gain control of DHR. This is also the race Bobby and I are both in.
Sometimes, I think my dad has a twisted sense of humor. I think he’s turning up the heat to see if I can stand the fire. Or maybe he just wants to see if I’ll say uncle and walk away like Bobby said I should, before he hands our family legacy over to a man instead of the actual heir.
At this point, I have no idea. I wonder if this is how a lobster feels as it’s boiled alive. I was stressed at the beginning of this hunger-games-meets-family-feud from hell but now I’m two seconds away from being a total basket case and needing a grippy sock vacation. Maybe permanently.
We’re all here in Las Vegas—my mom, my dad, Candy, Bobby, both DHR crews, and Gabe and his men. For such a large city, it’s feeling a little overcrowded. That could also be because things did change in Texas between Gabe and me.
I was right when I said it felt like everything altered in that parking lot.
He still protects me every day, but where we merely lived in close quarters before, now, we’re just…
close. We share more thoughts, although not always freely, and we eat meals together.
We make love every night until we fall asleep wrapped up in each other, and he stays all through the night.
But there is still a distance between us that I can’t explain.
We’re together, but we’re not. It’s almost like he’s letting himself be with me, but he’s given it a firm expiration date. Like old milk.
That does not do good things for a girl’s ego.
I see Gabe standing off to the right, watching me.
I could go to him and let him hold me, walk with me, talk with me, and he would.
He’s been living this fantasy out in public for those who are carefully watching to see.
It’s like he has one foot in the shadows and one in the light.
It’s everything and it’s nothing. And it’s frustrating as hell.
I need to get my head in the game, so I turn and walk in the other direction without looking back.
He might be disappointed, but then again, he might not.
With Gabe, I never really know where I stand.
Although I’ve had a sinking feeling that the fault line I’m standing on is bigger than the San Andreas.
One false move and it’ll all come crumbling down around me.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” a voice near me asks, and I look up and see Jett Kingston.
“Hi,” I say with a genuine smile. Kingston and dad were competitors for years before he retired, and even though the media liked to spin it as a rivalry, it was anything but. In fact, Kingston Enterprises and DHR are very similar. “Has Dad seen you yet?”
“No,” he replies with a smile. “I was just down here visiting Jamie Johnson. He says you’re going to give him a run for his money this year.”
“I just might. You never know.”
“So, I’ll ask again,” he says before nodding in the direction opposite of where I was moving. “Are you sure you want to do that?”
“Yeah, why?” I feel my cheeks heat. I’m mortified that he’s noticed the attraction between Gabe and me. It’s unprofessional, and it’s always been more than a little toxic. The fact that I keep coming back for more does not say great things about me either. “Trust me, there’s nothing there.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he says with a sparkle in his eyes. “There’s definitely something there.”
“No, really,” I admit sadly. “There’s nothing. Chalk it up to a hard lesson learned.”
“Look, Addie, I don’t know his story, but I know the look on his face and the pain behind it. I’d still be stuck in that hell if my wife, Eva, hadn’t pulled me out all of those years ago.”
“Yeah,” I say softly, because everyone involved in the racing world knows about their love story and how it changed both of them for the better. Unlike my parents, they managed to hold onto what they had.
“Don’t give up on him,” Jett says again.
“It’s not what you think—” I start to deny what he’s saying but he stops me again.
I hate the knowing look in his eyes. Like he sees that I’m halfway in love with Gabe and if I let myself, I’ll fall all the way. If I haven’t already.
“Stick with him, give it a chance.”
“Okay,” I whisper, because there’s power behind his words. and just like at my mom’s that day at lunch, it makes me wonder if I’m strong enough to fight for what I want. Because the more I learn about Gabe, the more I know he isn’t strong enough to fight for us himself.
He’s broken. I didn’t know what broke him before when we started things, but now I do. I don’t know if I can compete with the love of his life, even if he’s the love of mine.
“Hey, Bobby,” Jett calls out. “Wait up.”
“Well, hurry up, old man,” Bobby calls back, shooting me a weird look over his shoulder.“I got shit to do.”
This weird competition may ruin our friendship once and for all. When it’s all over, I could have nothing left. No legacy, no relationship with my dad, no Gabe, and no Bobby. I’ll have my mom and her elderly golden retriever. Maybe she’ll feel sorry for me and let me move back in with her.
Jett shakes his head, a smile on his face for his friend before turning back to me. “You’ll be okay, won’t you?”
“I think so,” I lie, and the sad smile he flashes me says he knows exactly how much bullshit it really is. I’ll never be the same ever again no matter what I choose.
“Good luck tomorrow, Addie.”
“Thanks.” I laugh, thankful for the subject change. “Kingston Enterprises is gonna need it.”
“Okay,” he chuckles. “We gotta watch out for that Dark Horse.”
“You know it.” I wink.
Jett touches my cheek with his index finger, and then he’s off, chasing after Bobby, and I’m left wondering again if I should dare to hope. Or will I be the one left stuck in hell when this is all over?
I just don’t know.
What I do know is that tomorrow, I have a race to win.