Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Emerson
Tomorrow we have our first test of the season in Italy.
But tonight I get to meet the new members of my team.
We always have dinner together before the start of our season.
It’s a great way to catch up with everyone.
And this time the new members will have the opportunity to get to know everyone else.
We have two homes we split our time in when it’s race season.
One is in Ireland, the other in Italy. Our home in Ireland is a castle that my da bought our mama eight years ago.
It’s my mama’s dream home and it took my da years to find it.
Our home in Italy is one my brothers and I bought together.
It was our first big purchase and it has enough room for our family to come and stay too.
It’s always exciting when I’m getting ready for a new season. But after spending the winter with my family, I miss them so much. I spend the day relaxing at the pool and texting with my cousins. The shit they get into makes me laugh.
Emerson: So tell me again why you’re grounded, Ares
Ares: I’m not grounded
Sakura: Yes you are. Your polar bear tried to bite me
I snort when I read their texts. When I found out that the Athanasiou and Nikolaidis families were shifters, I thought I was in an alternate dimension.
But after seeing them shift in front of me?
Holy shit. I wish I could shift into an animal.
The only downside I can see is that they’re huge in their human form.
I’m not a small guy, I stand six foot two and I’m one of the tallest riders on the grid.
But they all make me look like a little kid.
It’s insane. So, as much as I want to be a shifter, I’ll keep my racing form.
Adonis: I was a witness. Ares took a chunk of fur out of Sakura’s tail. I don’t think he can call her ‘Poof’ anymore
Ares: Shut it, Pudge. She’ll always be my Poof and I didn’t bite her
Seraphina: We could call it a nibble
Apollo: No nibbling
Emerson: (I send a pic of my view with the pool)
Sebastiano: I think we need to take a trip to Italy
Emerson: I have three weeks off after Qatar if you guys want to come over here
Domenico: Let me look at my schedule, I wanna go too. But it’s getting to the end of our season and the playoffs
Giovanna: Yeah, you better win this year…
Domenico: … Maybe talk to your husband? I mean he’s the one who needs to score. Not me
Declan: Hey why are you throwing me under the bus? You need to block better
Apollo:
Emerson: I’m hoping to come back and see at least one of your playoff games
Domenico: Well if Declan, Cillian and Milo don’t start scoring, it might be over before it starts
Declan: …
Cillian: …
Giovanna: Leave my husband alone
Fiorella: Cillian is the best player on the team
Giovanna: Um. EXCUSE ME?
Ares: FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Apollo: *Handing popcorn down the row* My money’s on Gia. She’s vicious
Fiorella: Seriously? WTF
Apollo:
Luciana: Wait, what are we betting on? Never mind, I just read the earlier texts. You all have lost it
Ares: Who are you siding with?
Luciana: I’m not taking any sides. I love everyone equally
Adonis: Chicken
Luciana: Who you calling a chicken? Come say that to my face, Pudge
Apollo: *snicker*
Easton:
Emerson: LOL
I laugh as I read the texts. This is why I miss all of them so much. Even though we check in with each other daily, it’s just not the same as being able to hang out with them.
“Hey, can we join you and your crew for dinner? Also, I miss everyone back home.” Ezra asks. He’s laughing as he joins me.
“Sure. Aren’t you guys having your dinners too? We can do one big dinner if you all want to, I’m just meeting the three new guys tonight.”
“That sounds good. I’ll call and make sure they have a room we can all fit in,” Elias says as he gets on his phone.
“I also think Rella’s going to get back at Adonis for that comment.” I laugh.
“He’s a brave one. I would never say that if I was within striking distance of her.” Elias shudders.
“What do you consider striking distance?” I chuckle.
“Anywhere in the United States.”
I snort as I get into the pool. It’s still chilly out, but luckily our pool is enclosed and heated.
“Okay, they said they have a room we can have for dinner. Reservations are fixed,” Elias tells us.
“Awesome. We have a couple of hours before we have to leave,” I say as I float around.
“Do you know anything about your new crew?” Easton asks.
“Only that one’s from Italy, one’s from Ireland and one’s from the United States.”
“Wow. An American on a GP team? How did that happen? Did he work for another rider?”
“No, Matteo said the American has really good credentials from school. And he had a lot of letters of recommendations from the team he’s working for now. So he thought we should give them a shot.”
“That’s cool, I can’t wait to see how they all do.”
I listen to my brothers talk as our da comes to join us. Da comes with us to every race and test. Our mama joins us for most of our races, but the rest of the time she spends either at our castle in Ireland or back in Lake Renegade.
It takes us thirty minutes to get to the restaurant and check in. Besides each of our crew chiefs, we’re the first to show up. We all give the others a hug.
“You ready to meet the new ones?” Matteo smiles.
“I’m a little nervous. Meeting new people is always hard. It’s the worrying about if they’ll fit in with us.”
“Sì, I know what you mean. But I have a good feeling about all three of them.”
After a few minutes, all the others start to show up. In the crowd I spot a woman walking in and holy fuck. She’s holding the hand of the cutest little boy. I don’t see her walking with any of the guys, but I know I’ve never seen her before.
Matteo introduces me to Niall and Tomasso. Then he waves at the woman I can’t take my eyes off. Holy shit…she can’t be Matteo’s woman. He’s never mentioned having a girlfriend. And I know he doesn’t have a kid. We watch her walk towards us.
“Who’s that?” I whisper to Matteo.
“That’s Sawyer Hamilton.”
“You said Sawyer was a guy.”
“I did not.”
“Yes you did. You said ‘he.’”
“You need to get your hearing checked, and maybe clean your ears while you’re at it. I never said she was a guy.”
I opened my mouth to argue more, but Sawyer’s standing in front of us.
“Sawyer, this is Emerson. Emerson, this is Sawyer,” I hear Matteo say as I take her hand.
“I saw you on the TV,” a little voice says.
I crouch down to his level. “What did you see?”
“I saw you on your motocyle. Mama was watching it.” He grins at me. “I want to wide a motocycle.”
“Maybe your mama will let me teach you,” I say as I boop his nose. He giggles more and I know that I want to take care of him and his mama. I just need to know if she’s single. Because I know Sawyer’s mine.
Sawyer
I’ve seen Emerson on TV, but seeing him in person is a whole different thing.
I have to keep reminding myself that I can’t fall for him.
I’m on his crew and that wouldn’t be a good idea.
But watching him talk to River makes me wish I could.
Matteo introduces me to Emerson’s brothers, his dad and all the crew guys.
By the looks on all their faces, I don’t think they were expecting me to be a woman.
I take a good look around the room and I realize that I’m the only woman here.
There are no other women on any of the O’Connor teams. I was surprised when Matteo called and told me that I got the job, women on GP teams aren’t common.
I wanted to ask about being the only woman, but I didn’t want to seem like I didn’t want the job. Because this is my dream job.
The best part of meeting the team and all the O’Connor’s teams is no one makes me feel left out. They’re all talking to me and to River. Making sure we’re both okay and genuinely trying to get to know us. I think we’ve finally found where we belong.
“You let us know if you need anything. I know that Matteo has you staying in the same building as some of the other crew. But you can call me if you need something,” Emerson says as he writes his number down and hands the paper to me.
“Thank you. And thank you for tonight. I was worried about meeting everyone. But I love your crew and your brothers’ crews. They’re all so genuine. I didn’t expect that.”
“We’re a family here, we’re all there for each other. Where are you from?”
“I’m from Chicago.”
“I spend a lot of time in Lake Renegade. Most of my family is there.” He smiles at me.
“I’ve been there once, a long time ago. But I remember thinking how much I loved the town.”
“Maybe one day I can take you back there with me. Unless you’d rather visit your family when you go back to Illinois?”
Wait. Is he suggesting he’s going to take me back to Lake Renegade with him? Snap out of it, Sawyer. He’s probably just being nice. Like he is to everyone. I take a deep breath.
“I’m not close to my family. So I don’t think I’ll be going back often. But hopefully one day I’ll get to see Lake Renegade again.”
“Well, we have plans to go back in a couple of months. You could come with us.” He smiles as he steps closer to me.
I look up into his emerald green eyes. If only he wasn’t my boss.
“Thank you,” is all I can get out. I need to watch myself, I don’t want the other guys to think that this is how I got this job. Flirting with Emerson isn’t the best idea. But the way he looks at me? I can’t help it. Especially when he smiles at me. Ugh. I’m screwed. I want my boss.
After we finish dinner, River falls asleep as he leans on Emerson.
I’ve been watching him and the attention he’s showing my son just melts my heart.
Even when Emerson dropped food on him, it’s like it didn’t even bother him.
And now River’s drooling on him. It doesn’t look like anyone’s ready to leave, but I need to get him home and in bed.
“I hate to cut this evening short, but I should get my baby home,” I whisper to Matteo.
“Of course, I’ll help you get him to the car,” he says as he stands up and starts to reach for River.
“Let me,” I hear Emerson say as he picks River up.
Matteo nods as he smiles.
“You don’t—”
Emerson looks at me and I stop.
“I want to,” he says softly.
River doesn’t even wake up. In fact, he snuggles into Emerson and I see a small smile on his face as he sleeps. For the first time, I wish River had a daddy. And I wish that daddy was Emerson. I say good night to everyone and we walk out to my car. He gently puts River into his car seat.
“Are you okay to drive to your place? I’d feel better if you didn’t do it alone. I can follow you there. Or I can have one of my guys that live there go with you.”
“No, it’s okay. I don’t want to take any of you away from the dinner.”
I feel like I can’t think straight when he’s this close to me. Which is going to be a problem because I have to work with him. And I need to be on top of my job.
“You wouldn’t be taking me away from anything. Let me message Matteo that I’m going to follow you home. He’ll let everyone know I’ll be back.”
I start to say it’s okay again, but the look he gives me makes me chuckle.
“I’m sorry, I’m not used to anyone taking care of me.”
Emerson hugs me. “Well, it’s time you get used to it.”
I watch him walk to his car and drive over to me. I get in my car and head to my apartment. It takes us fifteen minutes to get there and he’s out of his car before I can even park. He gets River out and follows me to my apartment. When we get inside, I try to take River from him.
“I need to get him to use the bathroom and brush his teeth,” I say quietly.
Emerson nods and hands River to me, but not before he kisses his head.
“Night.” River yawns.
“Night, buddy. Sweet dreams.” He smiles as he sits on my couch.
I guess he’s not planning to leave? I take River and get him ready for bed. When I come back out, Emerson’s still waiting for me. He stands up and smiles.
“Thank you for making sure we got home safely,” I say to him. “Would you like something to drink?”
“No, thank you. I’m okay. I should be getting back. I’m really glad you’re a part of our family.”
“Thank you for giving me the chance to work with you.”
Emerson closes the gap between us and wraps his arms around me. I feel so safe in his arms. But again, he’s my boss. I can’t have him, even if that’s all I want right now. He kisses my cheek.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he says as he walks out the door.