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“Well, don’t you have anything you want to say to me?” I asked.
“No,” he began, reaching up towards his mouth and sliding the back of his palm across his lips. The muscles in his forearm and bicep flexed.
“But there is something I want to do.”
Just then, he reached for me, thrusting his hands around the back of my head, sliding his fingers into my hair. Dyson curled his fingers under and pulled my mouth towards his, crushing our lips together. I resisted at first, caught off guard by his sudden movement. But soon, my hesitation melted away in the heat of his embrace.
Dyson inhaled, groaning as he thrust his tongue inside of my mouth. I consumed him, overcome with the need to be with him again. For what seemed like several minutes, we continued to embrace under the warmth of the late morning sun. I’d almost slipped away entirely under his spell, were it not for a familiar voice calling out from across the parking lot.
“Get a room!”
We separated from each other and I snapped my head in the direction of the voice. Jillian had just come home and was walking towards the apartment. She gave us a casual wave and a smile and then continued inside. If she was displeased, I’d hear about it later. For now though, I laughed a little and turned to look at Dyson.
His full lips, still wet from our kiss, curled upwards in a wry smile.
“Well, at least that wasn’t embarrassing,” he said, winking at me.
I shook my head and smiled in return.
“So,” he began. “Am I forgiven?”
I shrugged. “That all depends on you. Are you going to race again?”
He glanced at me for a moment before reaching up and running his hand through his hair. “I wish it was that simple, Ava. I’m still suspended, remember?”
“So you never heard from Marco or Dieter?”
Dyson shook his head. “I, um, broke my phone before I wrecked. I told my family I didn’t want to talk to anyone right now, so I haven’t been answering calls coming to the house. Is there something I need to know?”
I told him about the conversation I’d had with Gunter. It probably goes without saying that Dyson was shocked by the turn of events. If he was ready, nothing stood between him and getting back in the car. The suspension was lifted and he was free to return to the team.
“Wow,” he said, leaning against my car once more. “So they came to you to try and convince me to come back?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Hmm, well, I gotta say I’m more than a little surprised.”
“So does that mean that you’re going to race?”
Without speaking, Dyson raised his hand and motioned for me to approach with his index finger. I narrowed my eyes at him for a moment.
“Come on,” he said. “Come here.”
I stepped towards him, stopping between his feet. “I’m here.”
He reached for my hands, wrapping his fingers around mine. “I’ll go back out there on one condition.”
I leaned away from him a bit, arching an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“That you go with me. I won’t do it without you.”
DYSON
When I rejoined the team in New York, the first thing I did was sit down with Dieter, Darren and Marco. Things weren’t ever going to be perfect between us, but we still had a shot to take the championship from Gunter.
More than anything, I wanted to put aside our differences for the time being. After the season ended, there’d be plenty of time to talk. The thing about winning though, it cuts through a lot of the bullshit. And now that I was back, winning was the only thing on my mind.
I won’t lie. The first couple of runs on the track weren’t my best. Soon however, the feel started to come back and it wasn’t long before I was running about as well as I ever had. My speed didn’t go unnoticed, and between runs one day, Gunter approached me in the pits.
“Dyson.”
I looked at him, raising my eyebrows. “Gunter?”
If there was one thing you could be certain of where Gunter was concerned, it’s that he loved trying to get under the skin of other drivers. I always thought those kinds of tactics were unnecessary.
My driving spoke for itself.
I guess it was just another one of those things that ticked me off about the guy. I still didn’t like him. But, after Ava told me what he did and I figured he’d approach me sooner or later. I guess today was sooner.
“Walk with me for a few minutes?” he asked, gesturing away from pit row with his chin.
“Yeah, okay.”
We turned and began to walk off. Pretty much all activity with my team came to a stop. Out of my peripheral vision, I noticed the same thing happen with Gunter’s guys. I didn’t know if they expected us to brawl, or what. We ignored them, kept moving, and before long they went back to work.
“You look to be running well out there, Dyson. How does it feel to be back?”
“Yeah,” I began, “It’s going well, no complaints. Feels good to be back.”
We continued walking for a few more steps.
“It’s good to have you back on the track, Dyson,” Gunter began. “It’s not the same without you.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. I think that was the first time he’d opened his mouth without an insult coming out of it. I wasn’t entirely sure that one wasn’t going to follow, so I didn’t say anything right away, but instead kept walking.
“Of course you realize I have every intention of beating you and winning the championship,” he said.
I nodded. “I’m sure that’s what you think is gonna happen.”
Gunter chuckled. “You Americans. All the same.”
“What do you mean? Winners?” I said, reaching up and running my hand through my hair. “Well, that’s what we do best.”
We walked on for a few more steps until Gunter stopped. He turned to face me fully. Bright sunlight overhead had him squinting in my direction.
“You left me with no choice but to get you suspended. You realize that, don’t you?”
I shook my head and leaned away from him a bit.
“Gunter, I don’t see how what I think matters. It’s ancient history as far as I’m concerned.”
He nodded.
“It was for your own good, Dyson. What you were doing out there, you put all of us at risk. This job is dangerous enough as it is. We all want to win and drive as fast as possible, but we have a responsibility to each other as well. You needed to learn that lesson.”
I looked away from him, biting my lip.
“You aren’t my fucking Dad, Gunter.” I replied, glaring at him. “I don’t need you or anyone else trying to teach me a ‘lesson’.”
“I can’t say I expected you to react any other way,” he said. “You might not like it, and it might piss you off. But I respect you as a competitor. You bring out my best driving and I want you here for years to come, pushing me to my limit each race.”
I crossed my arms but didn’t speak. Instead I stayed quiet and allowed him to continue.
“I want you to know that I wouldn’t have considered my championship victory this year complete without you here.”
I gestured in the direction of the racetrack.
“As far as I know, you haven’t won anything yet. And if I have anything to do about it, you won’t.”
“Fair enough. I suppose we have that in common, don’t we?”
I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“Just a natural born instinct to win.”
I nodded. As much as I didn’t like the guy and how he operated most of the time, he had a point. He and I weren’t alike in many ways, but in the ones that we were, we were almost identical.
“Yeah,” I said, looking him in the eye. “I guess I’d agree with you on that.”
And then, he did something that caught me completely by surprise.
“Good luck to you, Dyson,” he said, extending his hand towards me.
I looked down at his fingers, ramrod straight and pointed directly at me. I reached out and shook his hand.
“Yeah, good luck to you too, man.”
With that, he turned and started to walk away. Around that time, I noticed Ava headed towards me. She smiled and nodded at Gunter when they passed by each other. Seconds later, she approached me and turned, looking at Gunter again.
“What was that all about?”
I shrugged. “To tell you the truth, I’m not really sure.”
Ava turned her head towards me. “What do you mean? What did he say?”
“He wished me good luck.”
“Hmm,” she replied, glancing towards him once more. “Well, you know, I think he respects you, Dyson. After all, that’s what he told me when we talked, remember?”
“Yeah,” I began, recalling what she’d mentioned about their conversation. “I guess it’s one thing to hear it from you and something else entirely to hear it from him.”
Ava looked at me but didn’t say anything. Instead, she just smiled.
“What?” I asked. “Why are you smiling at me like that?”
“Because I know you’re happy.”
I shook my head. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’m not happy. Not yet. Not until that checkered flag comes down.”
Just then, the smile she had on her face widened even further, causing a mouth full of white teeth to gleam at me.
