One Sweet Ride

Page 10

He leaned back and puffed up his chest. “Won the championship three years ago.
Third in the standings right now, so it’s only a matter of time before I win it again this year.”
“That’s great. I’m sure a lot of that is having a good race car and a great team behind you.”
The waitress came over with menus, which Cal pushed to the side. “You might as well bring me another round, honey. It’s been a long day. And keep ’em comin’, too.”
The waitress nodded and Cal downed his beer in about four quick swallows, then focused his attention back on Evelyn.
“A good team is great and all that, but a lot of my success comes from having a damn good driver behind the wheel. I didn’t get where I am by not knowing what the hell I’m doing. I’ve worked my ass off the past five years, ever since I got to drive in the big series. Winning the championship three years ago has given me a taste of what that’s like. I want it again.”
She heard this over and over again in politics. Winning was everything. The competitive spirit fired the blood of so many politicians, so this wasn’t new to her.
“Drive and ambition will take you a long way.”
The waitress sat Cal’s second beer down in front of him, along with the shot. He downed the shot first, then took two quick gulps of beer. “Like I said honey, keep ’em comin’. It was hot out there today.” He gave the waitress a wink and she scurried off.
Evelyn arched a brow and made a point of opening her menu. “Would you like to order dinner?”
“Not just yet, darlin’.” He tipped his beer to his lips and took a couple more long swallows, emptying it.
Uh, wow. She took a sip of tea.
“So where was I?”
Talking about himself, mostly. Who was this guy? He’d been so nice to her that afternoon, so charming and such a gentleman. All that evaporated as he spent the next hour not only drinking heavily, but regaling her with stories of his superb driving ability, and his entire life story, not once asking her anything about herself. For all he cared, she could have been a stranger he’d picked up on the side of the road and brought along to dinner. Not that there was any dinner on the horizon for that matter, either. She was starving and about to fling herself on the table closest to them just to steal a slice of their bread.
After about two and a half hours, Cal was three sheets to the wind, Evelyn was starving, and it was clear there was going to be no dinner. He was slurring every other word and she was certain if she asked him her name, he’d have no clue who she was.
The waitress seemed familiar with him, because she patiently came back to see if Cal wanted a refill.
Hunkered back in the booth and barely able to keep himself upright, he nodded yes.
“I think he’s had enough,” Evelyn said. “I’ll take a steak salad to go, with a lot of bread on the side. And please bring the check.”
The waitress gave her a knowing smile. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Hey, the party’s just gettin’ shtarted, honey,” Cal said, his eyelids drooping as he slunk back against the booth. “Let’s go danshing.”
“Honey,” she said, exaggerating the endearment. “Your party is over for the night.”
“Are you sure? I could show you shuch a good time.” He made a valiant try at winking, though he used both of his eyes.
She’d wager a month’s salary he couldn’t get it up right now if she stripped na**d and danced on the table.
She paid the bill and a couple of the waiters helped her hoist Cal into the passenger side of his truck. She fired up the vibrating tank and drove it back to the track, grateful she’d paid attention to where they were going when they made their way to the restaurant.
Getting him into the truck had been easy, since she’d had help. Getting him out might be more difficult. Though she wasn’t at all adverse to leaving him in his truck to sleep it off tonight. Dickhead.
She parked the truck and looked over at him. “Cal.”
He was slumped over in the seat and snoring. She shoved at him. “Cal.”
He snorted once, then fell over against the window and continued snoring.
Rolling her eyes, she gave up, slid out of the truck, and shut the door, figuring someone must be out and about who could help her get the moron out of the truck and into his trailer.
She walked to the end of the parking lot and saw a dark shape coming toward her.
Her stomach twisted in knots when she realized who it was.
Gray.
Shit.
*
GRAY’S BROWS KNIT WHEN HE SAW EVELYN WALKING alone from Cal’s truck. He’d hated that she was going out with that as**ole tonight, knowing Cal’s reputation. He quickened his step until he met her halfway.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Cal’s not, though. Can you help me?”
He looked over his shoulder at the truck. “What’s wrong with Cal?”
“Drunk and passed out.”
That didn’t surprise him. Cal’s drinking problem wasn’t a big secret. “What happened?”
She told him about dinner—or their lack of dinner.
“Leave him,” Gray said.
“I can’t just leave him in there.”
“Sure you can. I’ll call his crew chief and he and the guys can pull him out of the truck and shove him in his trailer. I’m sure as hell not doing it.”
“Well, hang on. I have food in there. I sat through almost three hours of his droning on and drinking. I’m starving.”
“I’ll walk with you.”
She gave a quick nod and he walked with her to Cal’s truck.
“Give me his keys. I’ll toss them in the truck and grab your food.” He opened the door and took a look at Cal, wishing he could give the douchebag a swift kick in the nuts for treating Evelyn this way, but since she was right there, he figured that wouldn’t be a good idea. Instead, he grabbed her bag of food and shut the door.
Then he pulled out his phone and called Fred, Cal’s crew chief, explaining Cal’s current predicament. After a few well-deserved expletives, Fred said they’d be out in a few to retrieve Cal and put him to bed.
He turned to Evelyn. “They’ll come get him.”
“Thank you.” She looked around. “I guess I need a ride back to my hotel.”
“I’ll take you.” He looked at her bag. “What have you got in there?”
“Steak salad.”
“Come on back to my trailer and eat first. You must be hungry.”
“Beyond hungry.”
He motioned with his head. “Come on. I’ve got pop in the trailer.”
She hesitated for a second, then nodded. “Okay. Thank you.”
He didn’t know why he invited her to come back with him, other than he felt bad for the way Cal had behaved with her, and for the way he had acted today. He’d been angry about last night, but that didn’t give him the right to treat a woman the way he’d treated her today. He’d shut her out, and given Cal the opening to pounce. He took responsibility for that. There were nice guys in his sport, and the opportunistic type.
Cal was the latter, and it irritated him that Evelyn had to spend the evening with a drunken piece of shit like Cal.
Of course, it had been Evelyn’s choice to go out with Cal, but he knew she’d done it just to piss him off.
It had pissed him off. He didn’t like admitting that, because it meant she mattered to him. And she didn’t matter to him. He hardly knew her, and it wasn’t like they were dating. He might have kissed her once, but other than that they were nothing to each other. She worked for his father and they were supposed to spend time together. He was still trying to figure out how they were supposed to handle that.
In the meantime, maybe he’d have to learn to temper his anger over stuff about his dad and not jump all over her.
They entered his trailer and he got her a drink. She slid into the booth and opened her bag, dragging out a salad and some bread.
“Did you eat?” she asked. “I have plenty here.”
“I ate earlier. Go ahead.”
She dove into her food and he could tell she was hungry, which only served to make him angrier with Cal. He refilled his drink and took a seat across from her.
“Cal has a drinking problem.”
She took a few bites of salad and then a sip of her drink. “No kidding. That was obvious after his eighth beer and fourth shot of whiskey.”
“The bad thing is, he’s an awesome driver. When he’s sober, he’s one of the best out there. He just can’t lay off the alcohol. It’s been a problem for a while now. The year after he won the championship, it went to his head. Big time. He thought he was hot shit, really bought into all the hype and the media bullshit. Women flocking to him, fans all over him, it messed him up. He ended up losing a really great wife who couldn’t handle his cheating.”
Evelyn paused and looked at him. “I’m sorry to hear that. He was so nice to me earlier today.”
“Like I said, when he’s sober, he can be a really nice guy, but then it’s like there’s this switch inside him, and when it gets flipped, he turns into someone completely different.”
She bit into a slice of bread. “Yeah. An asshole.”
“Exactly.”
After she finished her food, she took a long swallow of soda. “I’m sorry about Cal.
I see a lot of parallels to that in Washington. Nice people get elected, their heads filled with all the great things they think they can do. Then all that changes when they come to Washington. All that power corrupting and all.”
He shrugged. “Some people are weak. They can’t handle fame and fortune and being handed things. You go from nothing one day to having a staff of people asking what they can do for you the next. They don’t know what to do with it and it affects them negatively. Their egos explode.”
“I agree.”
He wanted to throw his father into that mix, but they were having a good conversation right now and he didn’t want to f**k it up.
“Has anyone talked to Cal about rehab?” Evelyn asked.
He let out a laugh. “Yeah. Tons of people, from his ex-wife to his crew chief to the head of the racing division. He won’t listen. And he never drinks when he’s racing, he’s never late for a practice or a qualifying or a race. He’s never had a DUI, so they can’t sanction him. When he goes out drinking, he tips the places well. And he does a lot of his famous partying in his trailer, surrounded by people he trusts. His fans don’t know about it because he keeps it on the down low.”
It wasn’t very down low tonight. She wondered how many of his fans were at the restaurant. It was dark and private and there weren’t very many people there. Maybe that’s why he brought her there, because he liked the anonymity of the place.
She nodded. “He has to want to help himself anyway. Until he does, there’s really nothing you can do.”
“The other drivers worry, though. Everybody’s afraid that someday he’s going to show up drunk for a race and hurt himself—or one of us. Then all hell is going to break loose.”
“God, I hope that doesn’t happen.”
“Me, too. It’ll end his career. Or one of ours.”
They both went silent then, and Gray knew this was the moment he needed to man up and say something about last night.
“I’m sorry.”
She lifted her gaze to his. “About what?”
“Last night. About jumping all over you about helping out Miranda. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“You’re sensitive about anything having to do with your father. I understand that.
Instead of talking it out with you, I reacted negatively. I’m sorry, too.”
She’d let him off the hook a lot easier than he deserved.
“I’m sorry about today, too. You wanted to learn about the cars and I was a dick about it.”
“Yes, you were. But the whole thing with Cal was my doing.”
“To make me mad, I know. You obviously aren’t attracted to him.”
She crossed her arms. “And how do you know that?”
He nodded toward her outfit. “Look at what you’re wearing.”
“Hey. What’s wrong with my dress?”
“You look like you just stepped off the Mayflower. No woman who wants to impress a guy would wear a dress like that.”
She laughed, obviously not insulted. “Okay, fine. You’ve got me there. So, we’ll start over?”
He smiled at her. “Yeah. We’ll start over.”
Her lips lifted too, making his gaze gravitate to them and stay there. He remembered last night and what it felt like to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her again, to take up where they left off. She’d felt good against him, her body molded to his, pliant and welcoming. He wondered what would have happened if they’d been someplace more private.
Like here.
He lifted his gaze to her eyes, saw the desire and wariness mixed there. Maybe Evelyn was remembering the same thing.
She should be wary. The two of them together wasn’t a good thing.
He took that back. Getting her in his bed would be a great thing, followed by the morning after, which would mean he’d still have to see her, work with her, and be reminded that she worked for his father. It would be a hell of a mess, which was why, despite her killer body and sexy mouth, he wasn’t going to take her to bed.
“I should go.” She stood, and despite that ugly-as-hell dress and the even worse shoes she wore, she looked as sexy tonight as she had last night. He didn’t think it had anything to do with the attire. Had to be the woman.