Page 46 of Dirt Driven

I knew the feeling. I hadn’t slept much being so worried about Arie and her doctor’s appointment. I couldn’t shake the nerves. “Yes,” I groaned, tossing Pace his shoes he said he couldn’t find but were right in front of the door. “Rosa won’t do anything.”

Sway laughed. “She never cleaned our house either.”

“I can hear you!” Rosa shouted from inside where she was now laying on the floor, staring at the ceiling with Knox.

“Why are they looking at the ceiling?”

I glanced over my shoulder. “No idea, and I don’t want to know.”

“I’m here to help.” But then Sway frowned. “Although, Arie wouldn’t think so.”

Sway wasn’t happy when Arie decided to fly back to North Carolina for her appointment and only took Bristol. But if you knew Arie, you understood she didn’t want to worry her mom. “She didn’t do it to hurt you,” I reminded her. “I think it was more about spending some one-on-one time with Bristol.”

Her cheeks rose with a smile. “I used to do that with her when the NASCAR schedule was in Florida. I’d take just me and her down to the Keys. Have you heard from her?”

“No, not yet.” I ran my hand through my hair watching Pace struggle to tie his shoes. “Did Solar Seals get that sponsorship proposal back to Jameson for the last five races?” When I decided to become partial owner, I hadn’t thought about what all the business side of this sport entailed. I mean, I knew for the most part because I’d been on this series for fifteen years and around Jameson. But it was taking up more and more of my time. I understood why Jameson wanted help.

“I haven’t talked to him about it. He’s with Justin and Tommy somewhere though.”

“Okay.” I glanced down at Pace and Hudson playing with sticks in the dirt next to the motor home. “You got them?”

“Yep. We’re gonna go find bugs.”

I laughed and ruffled Hudson’s hair. “Be nice to Grandma.”

Naturally he acted as if I hadn’t said a word.

Walking through the parking lot at the track, I noticed the track maintenance crew working the track. I was sure most fans didn’t even realize how much work it took to put on one of these races, let alone the work of the drivers, crews, and owners putting on the show for them. I hadn’t either until co-owning a team. On average, for one car to make a ninety race schedule, with three crew members, it was close to a half a million. Last year alone Jameson spent a hundred grand on tires for one team. It was Casten’s team because that guy can shred four sets of tires in one night. But it gave you an idea of how much goes into a race night. Not to mention around eighty thousand in diesel to get the haulers around the country.

You had race winnings and sponsorship money in there, too, but if you’re lucky enough to be in the top ten spots in the points, you received what they called tow money and point fund money. The World of Outlaws had a point fund spread throughout the top 20. It’s divided 50-50 between the car owner and driver, but you had to be in good standings.

It was a pretty good deal when you stayed in those top spots, which meant winning allowed a team more breathing room. And then when you cut costs of hotel rooms and buying a tire company (like Jameson had), you saved yourself a lot of money throughout the year.

Those were aspects of the business I hadn’t began to understand at all levels but was quickly getting a crash course.

I found Jameson, Tommy, Axel, and Justin in the parking lot where the haulers were starting to line up near the pit gates. And a kid next to them I hadn’t seen before. I made my way over to them. Jameson had a grin on his face.

“Hey, you hear from Solar Seals yet?”

He nodded. “Yeah, they sent over the sponsorship proposal this morning. We’ll look at it here soon.” And then his eyes drifted to Tommy, who was standing next to the kid.

“Who’s that?”

His smile widened. “I feel like karma has finally delivered.”

I wasn’t following the conversation until I heard the kid say. “I’m from Terre Haute. My mom said I’d find you touring with the Outlaws.”

And still I didn’t know what they were referring to, other than Tommy looked really fucking nervous. “How old are you?” Tommy asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

“Fifteen.”

Axel started laughing and shook his head, as if he too knew exactly how this happened. Tommy had always “gotten around” I guessed you’d say. Even now, he was technically married to Rosa—long story that involved them accidently getting hitched and never correcting the problem—but he still hooked up with other people. And her, I had no idea, but it wouldn’t surprise me. So neither did Tommy having an illegitimate child running around.

“Where’s your mom?”

“Oh, uh.” The kid shrugged, the sun hitting his dark brown hair, but if you looked closely, it had a red tint to it. “At home. I took an Uber here.”

“Here?” Tommy’s eyes widened and he sighed.

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