AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Unfortunately. I wish I could say something to Hunter about him, but I don’t think it’ll do any good.” I pull my helmet over my head and open the visor. “Let’s do this.”
I climb into the car, and Mac secures the harness. I give a thumbs up to the guys and fire the engine. I like the sound of the motor, the vibration of the car. I give another quick glance to the crew and pull out onto pit road to head towards the exit.
I feel more confident this go around. Practice yesterday was a little nerve-wracking, but today, today I feel good. I ease into turn one and two before pressing on throttle into three. I focus on increasing speed a little through four and five, which I feel good doing.
“How’s the adjustments?” I hear Saint ask over the com.
“So far, they feel good. I’ll let you know after the next few laps; I’m going to add a little more speed next go round.”
“About time,” Bud mumbles as I focus on the turnout of nine. This street course has only five left-hand turns and nine right-hand turns. I focus on my rhythm. It’s the car and me, the track and the car. I zone out the fear of the other cars on the track with me, because although I know they are there, my spotter has my back.
I run about twenty-five minutes of the forty-five for practice before pulling down pit road again. “The car is looser in the area I needed it to be, but we do sacrifice a little control in the heavier braking zones,” I funnel the feedback through the radio as I pull into our pit box and kill the engine.
“Are you going back out?” Bud barks into the com.
“Nope. Have sponsors to entertain, I’ll be back in two hours for qualifying,” I reply, handing my helmet to Mac and walking past the pit box. Elle is waiting for me in the garage area.
“Good practice run,” she greets me.
“Thanks. I took what you said and used it.” I wink at her.
“That’s my girl. Now, we have sponsors to schmooze and then qualifying to get through,” she comments as I nod, and we head to meet the small group of SiriusXM employees.
***
Sunday
Race Day
“You ready for this?” Elle asks as I double check myself in the hauler mirror.
“Not really, but there’s no turning back, right? We’ve come this far, time to prove to all the haters that girls can race.” I smile as we take a selfie to post on my social media accounts, which she manages on race weekends. I’ll post some behind the scenes stuff during the week.
“Go get ‘em, tiger,” she laughs as we step out of the hauler and walk towards the garage for one last run-through with the crew. Today, they get to shine with me and hopefully get us in good track position.
I qualified eighteenth, which I really wasn’t too keen about. This is a race where the higher you qualify, the better you finish.
“Goal is top fifteen,” Elle reminds me, and I smile. We round the corner to the garage, and Bud, Saint, and Neil are discussing something. Saint does not look happy.
“What’s up?” I question as I approach them.
“We failed inspection twice,” Neil tells me as I look at Saint.
“How’s that possible? We kept the changes within the guidelines,” I state looking at Saint.
“We did, but this morning the car failed twice. What doesn’t make sense is the fact that I fixed what they wanted, and it failed again.” He shakes his head and runs his hand through his hair.
“Okay, so what does that mean for the race?” I ask before the sponsors arrive.
“It means you’re starting at the back of the pack,” Bud snickers as I look at Elle. I plaster on that fake smile that I’m used to putting on to mask the anger in my body.
“Well, then that’s where we start,” I reply holding my head high. “Is everything right now?” I shoot a glance at Saint.
He nods.
“Very well, if you’ll excuse me, I have sponsors to entertain so that we can continue to race this season.” I turn and start walking out of the garage area with Elle in tow. When we are out of ear range, I turn to look at her. “That doesn’t make sense, El. Saint, Neil, and Mac made sure multiple times that what I was asking for was legal.”
“It doesn’t make sense at all. I know you’re not one to blur the lines…” she trails off as the special guests arrive. “Time to work.”
