Page 8 of Dirt Driven

Rosa sat down in a folding chair outside the motor home and pulled a juice box from her fanny pack. “Exactly, sister.”

Shaking my head, I handed my mom the diapers for the night. “Okay. I’ll be back after the main, and then I’m going to help the girls close down the merchandise trailers.” I handed Hudson over to her and she frowned.

“Has he eaten anything today?”

“He had some yogurt earlier, crackers he found on the ground, and my boobs.”

“Who’s that?” Pace asked from beside me, pointing at the chocolate-haired boy trying to play with him and handing a toy car with Easton’s number on it.

“Sorry about him!” a voice urged from behind me. “He loves other kids.”

Mom, Rosa, and I all turned around at the same time to see Jessie, Easton’s assistant and now wife. Yep. He’s remarried now. I didn’t know he had a kid though. Even Lexi, my cousin whose husband raced in the series with Ethan hadn’t said anything about him having a child. Or maybe I hadn’t been paying attention.

Rosa grinned at me. “I love all this drama.”

“Shut up,” I whisper-shouted.

“Hey, Arie,” Jessie greeted me, smiling and adjusting her bag on her shoulder. “I hope you don’t mind me bringing him by. He saw other kids and wanted to play.”

Pace leaned into my legs, shyly wrapping his arms around them. Bringing my hand down, I ran my hands through his thick dark hair.

Pace withdrew his hand, refusing to take the car.

“His name is Reed,” Jessie told Pace.

I looked at the boy closer and realized he was older than Pace. At least he had to be, or I had short kids. Which might be true, but still, something about the boy’s size stuck with me.

I motioned toward the boy and then at Pace. “You can play with him if you want.”

He looked to the boy, to me, then back to the boy. “No, thank you.” And my son walked away.

Pace took after Rager with his attitude, but at least he said no thank you.

“How old is he?” Rosa asked, slurping her third juice box.

“Oh.” Jessie’s eyes moved to her son and then mine, nervousness in them. “He’s… five.” Her eyes locked on mine, as if to say, whoops.

“Wow, you look like your daddy,” Rosa noted, taking her sunglasses from inside her fanny pack and placing them on the boy’s face. “Yep. Spitting image.”

Jessie looked at Rosa like she’d lost her mind and handed the sunglasses back to her. “He does.”

I was still stewing over the age. Five? No fucking way. That meant… I drew in a deep breath. I didn’t care. Ishouldn’t, but it still hurt because I knew what him having a five-year-old meant. The model wasn’t the only one he’d been sleeping with.

Nausea rolled through me as I let go of Pace’s hand. “I have to catch the trophy dash,” I told my mom, hearing the cars rumbling on the track.

Bristol, my only daughter, and the sweetest soul ever, sat down beside Reed, touching his arm. “I’ll play with you, boy.”

Please don’t fall in love with him, honey. Your daddy will kill us both.

Kinsley texted me from the stands asking where I was. I held my phone up and walked away. “I’ll be back shortly.”

Easton had cheated on me, not once, but twice? Who knew how many times.

Arm Restraints – Straps attached to a driver’s arms to limit range of motion and keep the arms and hands inside the car in case of a flip.

I passed by Hayden on her way to the merchandise trailers with Lily. We made small talk about who would cover what times tonight, but all I could focus on was the heavy beating in my chest. How could Easton have done that to me time and time again? Why?

“Are we out of the JAR Racing hoodies?” Lily asked, making notes on her phone.

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