AllFreeNovel
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My cheeks flame red, and I choke on my beer.Very smooth.Luke responds before I have to, “Allie is my friend.” I have no right to feel the twinge of hurt in my chest that rises at his quick denial, but I feel it just the same.
“That’s dumb. LP never has a girl,” Dylan, the taller and likely older boy, replies.Never has a girl? How is that possible?
“Doyouhave a girlfriend?” Luke asks him, playful accusation in his voice.
The boy shakes his head no. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Luke says. “Worry about yourself.” The other two kids laugh, and I do my best to stifle my own.
“Does my dad know you’re here today?” Addison asks.
“I gave him a heads up,” Luke replies, turning back to me. “Addy’s dad is Rick Weaver. He’s one of the best guys out here, on and off the track.” Addison’s posture grows proud at Luke’s description of her dad. “I was his lead race mechanic for years.” I nod along like I know what a lead race mechanic is.
“Yeah, and then he ditched us to move to the middle of the nowhere and open a bar,” Dylan adds.
“Oh, I was there for that part,” I say, taking another sip of my beer.
“Now, get out of here.” Luke waves them away. “You’re going to be late for your qualifier.”
“Oh, shit!” The taller boy exclaims. He yells over his shoulder at us as the kids hurry away from the tent, “I’m number 383! Look for me, I’ll be the one out front!”
“It seems like they really like you,” I say to Luke after they’ve cleared the tent.
“Fuck if I know why.” Luke shakes his head.
“They’re racing motorcycles?” I ask, nodding in the direction the kids went. “They’re so young.”
“They’re probably twelve or thirteen,” Luke explains, like that’s a perfectly normal age to be racing anything. “Cam and Iwere that age when we started.”
“We were what age when we started what?” Cam asks, reappearing and sitting on his truck’s tailgate.
“We were the same age as Bill’s boys and Addy are now when we started racing,” Luke says.
“Oh, shit yeah. Probably younger. Fifteen, twenty years ago now,” Cam agrees. Picturing Luke and Cam at that age, hanging out around racetracks and visiting the adults they liked, just like those kids were, brings a smile to my face. I bet they were adorable. “Of course, our parents didn’t have money like their parents do. Luke and I were always coming up with new money-making schemes to support our motorcycle habit.” Cam laughs. “Some things never change.”
Luke reaches over and places a light squeeze on my thigh just above my knee, the same way he does when we’re riding two top. “Did I tell you Allie’s a great mechanic?” he asks Cam, pride clear in his voice.
“I am not!” Leaning forward in my chair, I clarify for Cam. “Luke replaced my starter, and I helped a little.”
“She did the whole damn thing herself. I barely touched the car,” Luke says.
“Bull. Shit,” I say with exaggerated emphasis on both syllables.
“I dunno, Allie. Luke’s the best mechanic I know. If he says you’re good, I’m with him,” Cam says, jumping down off his tailgate. Well, stepping down is more like it.He’s so fucking tall.“I’m going for a walk to clear my head before qualifiers. See you two cuties later.” He pulls cordless headphones out of his pocket and pops one in each ear before disappearing from the tent again.
“He never sits still, does he?” I ask Luke.
“No, never.” He chuckles and smiles warmly in the direction of his best friend. “Never has. Cam’s all energy. Gotta get itout somehow. Today’s a big race for him. He’s lined up to get a couple of big new sponsors, and he’ll be able to move up to a higher racing league for next season depending on how this one plays out. His last two races didn’t go as well as he wanted, so he’s got to pull it out today.”
Luke speaks about Cam with genuine care and affection. The way he knows so much about him, his struggles, the specific details of his life, reminds me of how close I am with Devon. For the first time, I’m realizing how much he’s had to do by himself in Palm Springs. I’ve always thought he was kind of a solitary guy, but maybe that’s not it at all. Maybe his community is somewhere else.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out to see a new group text.
Devon: Your location is showing as the middle of nowhere. Do I need to come out there?
Sadie: I wanna see where you are! Share with me too!
Bea: You’d better write back soon. Dev’s losing her shit over here.
Me: Sorry!! forgot to check in. I’m safe. We’re watching motorcycle races.
