AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s nice to meet you, Carrington,” he said as they shook.
“Man, you, too. I love watching you race. It’s amazing! When Aston told me you’re his brother, I about died.”
Aston cleared his throat, looking wholly unhappy with his friend’s admiration of his brother. But then Molly called us all from the doorway and like obedient little chicks, we all followed the mother hen inside. Aston seated Carrington beside him and Van made sure to get Ree next to him. With the parents at either end of the table, that left me and Axel on opposite sides, diagonal from each other no less since he was near his dad and I was by his mom. And he was clearly unhappy about the arrangement.
It made me happy. Thrilled. And I mentally gave a vindictive cheer.
“So where are your parents these days?” Benz asked me after we’d started eating.
I set down my fork to give him my attention, carefully keeping Axel as far out of my gaze as possible, which was difficult with him right there.
“My father’s doing an dig in South America and my mother went with him. He signed onto the archeological study until June, and my mom is spending the time learning local traditions and customs.” My parents were quite the pair, one being a doctor of archeology and the other a doctor of anthropology. Made me feel a little of an underachiever.
“That must be exciting.”
I nodded. “Worries me a little, too. They had an earthquake there the other day. Nothing super major, but enough to do damage.”
Molly grabbed my hand, squeezing it. “Baby girl, we’re here for you if you need us. Don’t forget that. If you’re ever worried or you need anything, you call us.”
“I will,” I promised. Once again, warm feelings of nostalgia and cold regret over pulling away from Axel’s family clashed inside me, rousing a storm of mixed emotions. Especially, since I knew Molly had been sick during those first years after Axel and I had broken up. I just hadn’t known how to handle things then. I’d thought that was what I was supposed to do—I was broken up with the boy, so I was broken up with the family. It didn’t make me feel any less guilty.
Axel’s parents had always loved me like one of their own, though. Six years ago, I’d lost so much, but it wasn’t just Axel’s fault. There’d been the accident. The heartbreak. I had pushed the Pendletons away, too. I’d cut them right out of my life, even though they weren’t responsible for what he’d done. I’d just thought I couldn’t be a part of the family anymore. With more maturity, I saw I’d been wrong. I could have been a friend.
“Axel, tell us what’s going on with the team,” Benz cut in, probably sensing my tension and therefore shifting the spotlight onto his son. “Why the hell does Darius have you here when you should be in Daytona? You need to be there, getting ready for the biggest race of the year.”
Despite my vow to ignore him, my gaze settle on the man in question as he shoved food around on his plate then set down his fork. “Image. He wants a photo op to combat the other crap that’s in the news.”
“That’s crazy season for you,” his dad muttered, naming the break time between championships and the start of the new race schedule. “Media sites have nothing better to report on when it’s between race seasons, so they find whatever gossip they can.”
“Or they make it up,” Axel muttered. My eyes widened, and he must have seen it when he glanced toward me. This was news to me, that things would be fabricated about him, a sports figure.
“What do you mean?” Molly asked.
“Are you saying that wasn’t you prancing around in that fountain, wagging around your dick?” Aston asked. “That was priceless.”
“Aston,” Molly admonished on a gasp.
Axel scowled at his brother. “No. Itwasn’tme.”
“And what does Darius say about it?” Benz asked, his tone harsh and more serious than I’d seen it in the years I’d known him. Fury burned in his eyes while a tic, so similar to Axel’s, throbbed near his eye. Benz was pissed. I knew there was no love lost between him and his brother, but I hadn’t seen it so close to a full-on display. Except once. When Ax was getting ready to leave for the professional circuit. He hadn’t wanted Ax to go, not if he planned to sign on with Darius.
Axel’s eyes shifted toward me ever so quickly again before he returned his gaze to his dad. “He told me to clean up my mess…and any messes I may have in my closet.”
“Fucking hell. Typical,” Benz spat. “It’s all about money with him, and it doesn’t matter who gets run over as he rakes it in. He should be helping you, stopping this, not threatening you.”
Axel hadn’t mentioned anything about a threat, but something in the way Benz assumed there was one told me that he wasn’t wrong. Especially when Axel’s jaw clenched, and he didn’t deny that it. And he must be taking the threat seriously. He planned to clean up things.
But…did he thinkIwas a mess he needed to be taken care of? Was that why we needed to talk so urgently? Great.
Eight
Axel
Dinner last night had been…a step forward. My parents got to express their displeasure at my boss AKA my dad’s brother, I got to spend time with my family, and best of all, I was with Bristol in a non-threatening environment for her. Alone would have been better, but I understood she needed the buffer.
She’d been quiet on the way back from my mom and dad’s house, but she hadn’t seemed quite as angry. The only time she’d spoken, though, had been when we’d gotten back to the house and she’d asked me if I needed to use the bathroom before her then later when she’d told me goodnight.
Overall, I was defeated, frustrated, but holding on to a glimmer of hope. After a bad wreck or losing a race, I’d experienced the same mindset. You just got back in the car as soon as possible and tried again. There was no quitting, no wallowing in what had happened. You kept charging forward, aiming for the prize. That was exactly what I would do with Bristol.
