Page 24 of Black Flag

“Really?”I asked kissing hertemple. My fingertips traced circles over her collarbone. “What makes you thinkthat?”

“I just have a feeling.I had a dream about a little boy the other night with your crazy rusty hair andgreen eyes.”

I smiled thinking of alittle me running around and then cringed. That was not something I was readyfor. I’d rather have a little Sway running around with her emerald eyes andsoft mahogany curls but I’d settle for either one.

“Mmmm,”I sighed.

“What?” Sway askedturning to face me holding the picture to her chest. “What’s wrong?”

“I can always tell whenyou have a secret.”

Her eyes fell to thephotograph once again tracing the outline of our baby. “I can’t hide anythingfrom you, can I?”

“Nope,” I shook myhead.

“I’m scared it’s toosoon for us to become parents.” Sway blurted out.

I laughed. “You’reprobably right but it is what it is.”

“We’re doing thisbackwards you know.”

When I didn’t sayanything her anxious eyes meant mine.

“That’s what makes itfun.” I told her.

Eventually I ended upshowing Sway the rest of the house and the race shop I was having built.

She loved everythingabout the house but I knew she enjoyed the baby’s room best. After today Icouldn’t wait to finally start our lives together but first I would need topurpose.

I knew that wasn’tsomething I could rush into, especially after the other night. I needed to showSway how much she meant to me and I needed to earn her trust.

Stagger – Sway

We could only keepJameson in the house for so long before he found his way to the sprint car shopand insisted on making some changes to the cars. What he was doing, no oneknew, but it was more of him just needing to be around the cars.

I also knew that eventhough he was out there, he needed to eat. So I stopped by the store, picked upsome food intending to cook for him.

His sprint car shop forJARRacing(his sprint car team that he started) waslocated about a mile from his parent’s house and five miles from the new houseon Lake Norman. It was around twenty four thousand square feet with whitewalls, red and black trim and the JARRacinglogo inthe center of the concrete floor surrounded by a pair of checkered flags.

Don’t think I didn’t alreadyimagine what my ass would look like sitting on it.

I must have walkedright past Jameson leaned against his tool box near the wall when I heard thatsmooth rasp on the phone with whom I assumed was his grandpa. Grandpa Castenwas a crazy old man with a nasty temper much like any Riley, who built all therace engines for both JAR Racing and Riley-Simplex Racing, the Winston Cupteam. Engines were extremely expensive so it paid having family in the process.And for a new team on both sides, it was what kept them going. That and a brandnew engine runs $75,000 - $80,000, and you take around four to each track, youget deals where you get them.

Some teams even wentthe route of leasing engines to the tune of $45,000 apiece. Currently therewere five World of Outlaw teams and nine Winston Cup teams leasing from CSTEngines. They were good and knew how to build strong engines.

“We have too much liftand not enough clearance. They’ll need to have pistons fly cut or we have torun a different cam.” Jameson said to him.

Most thought Jamesonwas just a driver. They were wrong. He knew everything about sprint cars fromthe setups to the engines and could build one from the ground up if needed.Though he was still learning with stock cars, he’d picked up enough that heknew what the car was doing and how to make it do what he wanted.

Jameson turned sharplywhen he heard the click of my flip flops hitting the heel of my feet as Iwalked closer.

My eyes caught his. Hesmirked shifting his position against the tool box to appear more relaxed. Thephone rested against his shoulder as he scribbled notes across a note padlaying on his toolbox.

Dressed comfortably inloose khaki shorts and a Simplex polo shirt, he looked tempting.

I waited patiently forhim to hang up but it wasn’t like his engine talk wasn’t turning me on.

“Grandpa,” Jamesonsighed tossing his pen aside. “The cam is .499intakewith .520 exhaust and 1.6 rockers.” He picked up the pen and jotted down a fewthings before tossing it again. “We’re gonna have a spring bind problem.”

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