Page 32 of Dirt Driven

“Axel seemed surprised,” Lily noted, unscrewing the cap to the water bottle she was holding.

“Surprise good or surprise pissed?”

“Good.” She set the water bottle on the counter and glanced up at me with nothing but sincerity in her eyes. “He didn’t want anything to do with owning a team.”

“Yeah, me either.”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “You guys didn’t talk about it, did you?”

I must have been wearing the same expression I had the night I told them we were remodeling our house. Probably because we stayed with Axel and Lily when Rager decide to tear a hole in the side of our house. Without telling me. Or the time he came home with a million-dollar motor home. Without telling me.

Noticing a trend here?

Exactly. And the fact that my dad hadn’t warned me about the team only pissed me off more.

“Dad still technically owns the team,” I pointed out, keeping one eye on Hudson as he laughed and tried to hide from Rowyn underneath the trailer. “But Rager is now a co-owner.”

“I had a feeling that was coming soon when he signed over CST Engines to Casten this winter,” Hayden added, handing a T-shirt over to a customer.

Lily shook her head, stacking the rack cards she’d brought in with her. “And told Axel he inherits Grays Harbor Raceway.”

Fear worked through me. Why was dad suddenly releasing all this responsibility? I held up my phone. “I need to take care of some things. Can you guys keep an eye out on the trailer and Hudson?”

Kinsley sat down on the ground where Hudson was now trying to catch a lizard he’d found under the trailer. “I’ve got the Hornet… but I might not be able to get up from here.”

I laughed, smiling down at her. “I remember those days.”

I kneeled next to Hudson and made him look at me. He blinked, his precious blue eyes locked on mine, cheeks pink from the afternoon sun. Sweeping his dark hair from his eyes, I kissed his forehead. “You need to be nice to Ms. Kinsley.”

He frowned, as if he couldn’t agree to such a demand.

“He’s fine,” Kinsley assured me. And he was always nice to her, so I shouldn’t be too concerned. He liked two people in his world. Okay, three if you counted my boobs. But Kinsley and my dad, they could do no wrong as far as Hudson was concerned. It was everyone else he had a problem with apparently.

I made my way back into the pits to see if I could find my dad. He was in Rager’s pit, along with Axel and Lane trying to get the engine into the car. They’d at least made progress. When I saw the car this morning, it was still only a roll cage.

A cloud of dust hovered in the air, along with the sounds of tools clanging metal while my husband frowned like his rebel toddler as he sat inside the car. He wasn’t in his racing suit yet, but I assumed he was in the car for a reason. Probably to put it into gear when they were ready.

“No mechanical errors. No fuck ups,” Dad yelled over the front of the car at Tommy and Willie both lying near the rear end changing out the gears.

I, for one, agreed with that. There was no room for error with these cars. My husband’s safety depended on it.

My eyes landed on my dad, his hat on backward, black JAR Racing T-shirt clinging to his biceps as he reached for the handle of the jack beside him. “Coming down.”

“All the way,” Lane told him, rolling out from under the car, his hands covered in grease. He glanced over at Jenson, who stood near the rear tires. “Is the air pressure the same as other night?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” Lane stood and wiped dust off the front of his shirt. “Six off the right rear. Hey, bud.” He leaned into the cockpit. “Put it in gear for me.”

Despite Rager looking my direction as he put the car into gear, I kept my eyes on my dad. I stared at him, attempting to find a fault. A reason as to why he’d be giving away everything he worked so hard for over the years. Was he sick?

“What’s up?” Dad finally asked when he noticed me hovering.

Rager smirked. “You’re in trouble,” he told him, sliding out of the car.

I glared at my husband. “So areyou.”

“I didn’t do anything.” His shoulder bumped mine as he made his way into the hauler with Lane.

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