“I want to do it.” He cut in.
“Might be some traveling involved when I start doing interviews and shit.” I warned.
He nodded once. “I’m in.”
Thank God. The thought of leaving town for any amount of time and leaving him behind sort of made me feel sick inside.
I pushed away that thought.
“Sweet. It will probably be a while for stuff to really get moving anyway. Gamble has a lot of calls to make and a lot of doors to get open.”
Trent nodded. “It’s not going to be easy, getting all the money involved that’s needed to basically start up a new division of racing.”
He was right. Gamble was rich, but he couldn’t finance the entire thing on his own. Well, maybe he could. Hell, I had no idea how rich the guy was. But even so, it would look bad if he paid for everything and then I won.
People would say he bought me a title.
No way in hell.
Plus, for something as big as this to get all the exposure it needed, there had to be a lot of heavy players involved. Networks and car dealerships, corporations and companies. All that was on Gamble and his people.
He was going to start immediately. Until then, I was supposed to do what I was already doing: focusing on driving.
Oh, and one other thing.
My shadow.
Trent seemed to follow my line of thought. Or maybe it was the gloomy look suddenly in my eyes. “When’s your babysitter due to arrive?” he cracked.
I gave him the finger. “He ain’t a babysitter.”
“Sorry,” Trent corrected sarcastically. “I mean the professional driver that’s showing up in town to sit in the car with you while you drive to give you some ‘pro’ tips and train you.”
“I don’t need a trainer,” I growled.
“Okay then, to help give you an edge over all the other indie drivers that will likely be fighting for the championship.”
God.
Part of the deal with Gamble was I would drive with someone of his choosing to help hone my skills. He didn’t want me to be too “green.”
I didn’t mind the help, and I wasn’t so arrogant I thought I didn’t need improving. What bothered me was I had to “learn” from someone I’d never met. I had no idea what kind of driver this guy was going to be.
But I was stuck with him.
At least for a little while anyway.
“Supposed to be here day after tomorrow,” I grumbled.
Trent laughed.
“Guess that means when he gets here, you’ll be regulated to the backseat.”
He stopped laughing. An irritated look crossed his face.
It made me feel satisfied, almost like I hoped it made him jealous.
Now why on earth would I want Trent to feel jealous?
My mind instantly went to the hug.
The hug.
Of course I’d hugged people before. Lots of people. Even guys.
But never like that.
Deep down, I knew what it meant. I just wasn’t ready to confront it.
Trent
It was pancake Sunday.
Pancake Sunday = a tradition started by Rimmel (Romeo’s girl) where the entire family got together every Sunday morning to eat breakfast.
At first, I’d kind of been included by default, having been friends with Romeo and Braeden for a while. When Drew showed up, it seemed my place in the family became a little more solid, and I was expected at all family dinners, meetings, etc.
I didn’t have any brothers or sisters by birth, so having them now sort of filled a void in my life I hadn’t realized was there.
Basically, I loved them.
Last night, I managed to slip into the Omega house unnoticed. That almost never happened in a house full of college guys. Someone was always around, and being alone wasn’t something I ever expected unless I was in my room with the door locked.
Hell yes, I kept my door locked.
These guys were assholes.
(I mean that in the nicest way possible.)
If I didn’t lock my door, I’d wake up in the morning with a mustache drawn on my face, or worse yet, a dick.
Tom Barris would never live that shit down. The pics of him with a dick on his face (drawn in Sharpie) would haunt him forever.
Being the president didn’t exempt me from shit like that. It made me more of a target. That’s why I invested in a good lock.
It was late when we got back to town last night, since we stopped about an hour out of the way at some big car parts store we didn’t have around here. The Fastback needed some new shit after Drew pushed the engine so hard at Gamble Speedway.
Then we stopped for dinner at an Applebee’s nearby.
I wasn’t in a hurry to get back anyway. My spur of the moment support of Jack as president caused some waves. I wasn’t anxious to swim in them.
Shit, I was tired. It was nice to get away. Just Drew and the open road. We went somewhere no one knew us. I didn’t realize it would affect the way we interacted, but it had.
We were more relaxed with each other… more open. Which in turn led to moments of awkwardness.
So we were relaxed and awkward with each other almost all at once.