Chapter fourteen Clay
Chapter fourteen
Clay
St. Louis, MO (East/West showdown)
How could I have been so stupid? He had a girlfriend. He was trying to tell me he had someone all week, and I thought he meant he wanted me. He kissed me. We fooled around a lot. That made him an asshole.
I couldn’t help storming around the pit. I slammed a wrench down in the toolbox.
“Uh oh. What’s wrong? Didn’t you win that heat?” Ryker popped open an energy drink.
“Mind your business.”
“Wow.” Cole sat in one of the stools they put up for us to use when signing autographs and turned it to face us. “You sound like I did back when I was pissed at the world. What’s going on?”
I threw my hands up. “I thought someone liked me but doesn’t. I’ll get over it.”
Coop walked up. “Sorry to overhear but are you sure? I mean sometimes messages get mixed up.”
I wanted to say she was in his pit, hanging all over him, but I also didn’t want them to nose into my life.
Ryker asked, “How well do you know them?”
I rubbed my face. “I don’t want to talk about this.”
Cole squeezed my shoulder. “Hey, we hear you. But don’t give up so easily. We race Supercross. We’re the most badass guys in the world. We don’t give up when the gate drops.”
“We go for it.” Ryker threw a fist in the air, and Coop gave him a high five.
They were ridiculous, but just maybe they were right. Maybe I needed to go see what the hell was up with him. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be lining up soon?”
They all laughed. “LCQs first, dude, and they’re doing extra stuff before that. The rugrats are on the track now.” Ryker waved his hand around, supposedly to indicate all the other things happening.
“I’m out of here.” I huffed and started walking. I needed to get to the bottom of this mess before it got any worse.
I headed to the Zahr parts pit a few rows back and got stopped along the way by a few fans.
I took a minute to sign their T-shirts because without the fans, we didn’t have a sport.
It also helped me calm down a little before facing Slade.
The girls were there with his mom, who waved me over. “Hi. Your Clay Preston, right?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Nice to meet you.”
The girls waved at me, and I glared back. “Do you know where Slade is?”
She pointed to the trailer, and as if she magically conjured him, the door opened, and he stepped out. “Hey man what’s up?”
I should have thought of some kind of cover story before getting here, but I had nothing. “Uh, wanted to talk to you about my bike and how the track felt.” Yeah, that worked.
The girl in question asked, “Didn’t you just win your heat?”
“So?”
“We train together a lot. Yeah, it’d be good to get your thoughts. Come on.” Slade bumped into me as he walked by, and I followed with a quick glance back at the girl who was looking after us. “What’s up, Clay? I thought you were pissed at me.”
“Why would you think that?” Did that sound as snarky as it felt?
“You took off fast after your interview, and I was waiting for you.”
“Well, I figured you had to get back to your girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” He sounded horrified, but the front of my brain wasn’t paying attention.
I gestured back toward the pit. “Her. That girl.”
“She’s Brooke’s friend. That’s it. And I didn’t invite her. They showed up on their own.”
“Mmm…seemed like she was—damn. She was hanging all over you.”
“Yeah, overly friendly. Weird, right? I told her to back off. I think my parents gave her the idea that I needed a friend and maybe she took it the wrong way.” He even put the word in air quotes.
“Or maybe she thought she could just move in.”
“You sound jealous, but Clay, there’s nothing to be jealous of. Even if we weren’t doing this qualifying round thing…” He gestured between us. “I wouldn’t be interested in her. I’m not bi. I’m gay.”
“Great. Now I have to worry about all the guys on the track.” But then I laughed to let him know I was joking, and Slade gave me that cocky grin that I could not resist. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
“I’m not stopping you.”
I leaned in right then and there and gave him a gentle, sweet kiss, then held his hand as we walked back to the BikeMax pit.
Everyone there gave us wide eyes when we walked up, except Johnny.
He set down his clipboard and walked over, hand extended.
“You must be Slade. We haven’t officially met, but I’m Johnny Peri. Gavin’s husband.”
“Nice to meet you.” Slade shook his hand.
“Great race. I expect to see you two on the podium after the shootout.”
“Hey! I’m going to be on the podium,” Nate, normally quiet, piped up.
Coop hooted. “Heck yeah.”
Johnny held up three fingers. “Last time I checked, there are three spots up there. And I’m the least experienced one here.” He might have come from outside of racing, but he’d picked everything up very quickly.
I gave him a fist bump, then pointed at Slade and Nate. “I’ll be first, you two can fight it out for second.”
All that goofing off helped break any tension that was left until we had to get down to business.
Slade went back to his pit to get on the stationary bike, and Nate and I did the same at ours.
I didn’t want to see him go but felt a lot better about it now that I didn’t have to worry about that girl.
Cameron, Craige and Cole’s coach, walked up and waved to everyone. “There’s a rumor that the new kid, Slade, is dating two people, a guy and a girl.” He held up two fingers.
“What are you talking about?” Johnny asked.
Cameron held out his phone to show the social media pics of Slade and that Maya girl. Johnny frowned as he looked at it.
“Nope. They’re just friends.” News sure got around fast, but I felt smug as hell knowing the truth.
“Okay but what about the guy?” Cameron was all over this story for some reason, but I knew he was about to get shut down.
“Anyone say who it is?” Johnny asked. Had he missed our hand holding earlier or was he just fishing?
“No. Not yet.” Cameron shook his head. “I’m not sure I like this kind of rumor going around about someone we’re associating with. He’s practicing with ya’ll out in North Carolina, right?”
I raised my eyebrows, waiting for Cameron to get it, and see what was going on, but he didn’t. He stayed focused on the rumor and whether we were practicing together.
Finally, Nate put an arm around his shoulder and pointed at Clay.
“What?” Cameron finally took a good look at me, and his mouth fell open as realization must have finally gotten through to him.
“Yeah, we’re trying things out. So, this guy someone saw him walking with is me.”
Coop snorted. “Weird how it didn’t come out the other way. Like Clay Preston was seen walking around with a guy. Slade is still so new.”
Nate flipped his head, which flicked his bangs out of his eyes. He really needed it cut. “Yeah, but Slade has been the news so far this year. The privateer kicking ass on the track. Probably a hater trying to dig up dirt.”
“I don’t care what they say.” I knew the truth. I knew who Slade was and what—and who—he was doing. Me. End of story.
The actual race that day was amazing. Of course, I took first. But it was Sarah Bolster in second, and Nate with a big comeback took third.
Slade finished fourth, which wasn’t great for him, not being on the podium, but the second and third were both from the West, so it didn’t kill him in points, since for our East division alone, he would be second.
For him to be finishing even in the top ten each week would be amazing, but he was getting consistent podiums, and everyone knew that led to race and championship wins.
I wasn’t bull shitting him when I’d said he’d be challenging soon.
Hell, he already was. The race left him second in points standing.
The rest of the season was going to be a hell of a lot of fun.