Page 127 of Happy Hour

Jesus Christ...it feels like a damn child is sitting on me.

I went to push him away but instead he dug his claws into my bare stomach causing me to wince in pain. I didn’t like cats, I just didn’t. I would never harm one, it’s not like I was some serial killer or anything that started off by killing animals. I just didn’t actively care about them.

“Let go...” I whined trying to pull him off.

What the hell is his deal or name for that matter? Sway told me, what it was.

Mr. Jingle...Mr. Jungle?

“Mr. Jangles...leave him alone.” Sway moaned reaching for the cat, ripping out my skin as she did so.

Right, Mr. Jangles.

My phone continued to buzz so I reached for it.

It was Emma.

“Well?” Emma quietly asked me. I could tell she was smiling on the other line.

“Do you ever sleep?” I groaned. “Why are you calling me?”

Rubbing my eyes, I drank from the bottle of water next to the bed. It was too early for her to be this excited andwaytoo early for her to be asking me questions about Sway but that never stopped my overly obnoxious sister before, why would it now?

“How did it go?”

“Fine,” I whispered, I didn’t want to wake Sway. “I have to go though, my flight leaves in two hours and I still have to make it back to Olympia.”

“We are talking when you get to Loudon.” She ordered. “Now go cuddle with Sway for a few minutes.”

“Later,”

Sighing, I quietly rolled over. Sway was still asleep, curled around Mr. Jangles. I smiled and carefully crawled back into the bed next to her. She was beautiful, even asleep. Her cheeks still held a soft pink color, and her full lips were slightly opened. The darkness of her hair framed her face, making her skin seem paler.

She was perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect for me and she loved me, not the famous race. She loved me.

“I’ll take care of you,” I whispered softly brushing her hair off her face. “I promise.”

My arm wrapped around her side, holding her closely to me before I had to leave. I hated leaving her, especially after last night. We’d talked for hours about what would happen after Charlie passed away, which I knew bothered her.

No one wants to have both their parents gone at the age of twenty-two, or any age for that matter. Sway never displayed hate or resentment for anything that’d happened throughout her life, she just took it as it came and made the best of the situation. I envied her in many ways for being able to do that. Some thought she was crazy but that was Sway.

Most could learn a thing or two from her.

So many times I got asked the question, “How do you do it at such a young age?”

I assumed they were referring to the lifestyle I lived and the commitments I had, but their cagey expressions towards me said something along the lines of, “You’re fucking it all up, aren’t you?”

I got this from everyone too. The media, the fans, my family, and now my sponsors, who shelled out millions for me to do this, all questioned me.

That wasn’t exactly the image I wanted them to see but in actuality, I didn’t think I was fucking up. Sure, I’d made some questionable decisions so far but Iwasin control, so I thought.

“Mr. Riley, can you tell us what your involvement is with Chelsea Adams?” Marcus Harding, the President of Simplex Shocks and Springs, asked as I sat across a table from him.

I’d flown to Grand Forks North Dakota of all places to meet with Marcus and the Vice President Bill Helm, to discuss possible sponsorship of my sprint car team but alas, here I sat discussing my recent involvement with Chelsea. I really wanted to say: “What the fuck does this have to do with sponsorship?” but I knew how involved Tate was with Simplex. Being a family owned business themselves, personal relationships were something they valued, as they did with Tate.

So I kept my thoughts to myself.

I cleared my throat before answering. “My only involvement with Ms. Adams was to retrieve legal documents she supposedly had for me. When I went with her, she indicated she didn’t have them.”

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