Page 79 of Trading Paint
“I don’t know...my arm itches. I don’t think I stepped in my pee, why?”
“You’re not getting inside my truck with pee on your shoes.” I stated stopping short of the truck.
“Well how am I going to know if I stepped in it? It’s wet out there.” She reached for the handle. “What’s the matter with you?”
“Take your shoes off.”
“No, I won’t.” She huffed. “Get in the goddamn truck Jameson.”
We were all tired by that point but the thought of pee in my truck was not all right with me.
“Take off your shoes and throw them in the back.”
“Fuck you Jameson!” she yelled and jumped inside.
Eventually I got in but I was still angry that she didn’t care enough to take her shoes off.
“That was rude.” I slammed my door shut wishing I didn’t have a suspended driver’s license.
“Really,” she drew out putting the keys in the ignition. “We have been sleeping in this truck for months. Alley and Spencer have fucked in that back seat more times than I can count and you’re worried about pee on my shoe?”
My head spun around toward Spencer in the backseat who was suddenly not so vocal arguing with Alley any longer.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I lost it.
One thing was certain and that was I would be selling this truck when we got back to civilization.
They all got a good laugh out of it and when we got to the hotel, I made them all sleep in the damn truck while I enjoyed the freedom of the hotel room to myself just for being assholes.
I was in one of those moods where nothing was going to make me happy. I just wanted to be left alone. I was tired and not only tired; I wanted to sleep in my own bed and not have to get up in the morning. I also wanted a vacation away from my brother and sister. I was literally ready to kill Spencer and Emma.
By the time Perris Auto week rolled around and I was in my last week of the USAC titlechase. I was thankful when the week flew by. I finished third the first night and then won the other two of the three-day event.
We wouldn’t know who won the Triple Crown until after the final USAC sprint race in Hanford the following week but I was hopeful. With those two wins in both the midget and sprint races I slid into the lead with just an eight point lead. Justin was behind me with six hundred and seventy nine points with Ryder right behind him with six hundred and seventy eight points.
It was the closest Triple Crown battle USAC had ever seen and I was right in the middle of it. Even though I wanted to win badly I enjoyed the points being as close as they were. It meant that I was battling with guys that could compete with me. If it had been an all out wash where no one stood a chance much like the past championships I’d won at the tracks on the West coast, it wouldn’t mean as much to win.
Now that I had competition, when I won, I knew it was because of my talent not just because I had the cars with money. You see in the divisions like USAC and NASCAR the cars are all similar and the drivers racing in them had money. When you go to local tracks, there is a huge difference between cars because of lack of money. When you start racing in the divisions with money, you see what you’re made of and how other talent stacks up.
I snuck off to World Finals for the World of Outlaws in Charlotte prior to the race in Hanford. One more weekend in sprint cars was exactly what I needed.
Sway, Alley, Emma and Tommy stayed in California with my mom while Justin, Ryder and I flew back to North Carolina to race. It was fun to hang out with my dad and friends that weekend but I rarely got to see him beside the few times during the drivers meeting and the pill draw for the trophy dashes.
I enjoyed hanging out with Justin and Ryder that weekend too even though we were so close in the championship points together. We had become good friends this season and I didn’t realized how refreshing that was. Sway was different from my guy friends. They were fun to bullshit with and talk trash about other drivers and setups whereas Sway wasmentallywhat I needed.
It took me until the third night to realize why I felt so abnormal these last few days. Sway wasn’t there.
Our relationship these days was still the same though after that night where I attacked the poor girl in my hauler I had left her alone.
I stopped with the innocent touching and kissing and whatever else my dick decided it wanted to do because nothing about it was fucking innocent. I couldn’t take any more chances. That night prior to the race, I had been moments away from ripping our clothes off and fucking her against the wall in my hauler. She didn’t deserve that and I knew her well enough to know if she thought that’s what I wanted or needed, she would have let me. I wouldn’t have been any different than that douche Dylan Grady.
How could I have even risked that?
I was beyond upset with myself after that night but it didn’t change anything for her. She was still Sway. Still the same caring, witty and supportiveSway. No matter what I did to fuck things up, she just blew it off and continued to be my roll cage.
I’ll never understand why she did it but again, I was glad she did.
My dad ended up winning his twelfth championship that weekend. I caught up with him after the trophy presentation.
