Page 127 of The Champion
And that’s putting it lightly.
I was ready to kill the shady five-foot tall bastard whenI got out of the car. Once again, my temper flared in front of hundreds ofthousands of fans. I pushed him, he pushed me and before you know it we had anall-out pushing match similar to the ones Darrin and I got into back in theday. Only difference here was this Shelby kid was a lot smaller.
Shelby had a folly understanding of who I really was andhe was about to find out.
“What the fuck was that?” I asked not calmly.
“What? I had position on you.” He answered shrugging.
“Position, really?” I shoved him again. He fell backagainst his car scurrying to find his footing as I stepped forward. “You callone inch position?”
We didn’t get to finish the debate before NASCARofficials were separating us.
I clearly didn’t think about NASCAR and all too soon Kylegave me the word as I trudged toward my hauler. “They want to see us in thehauler.”
They were calling me to the hauler along with Shelby andhis crew chief that’d apparently been having some physical words with Aiden aswell.
This was when Nadia Henley got in my face. “What the fuckwas that?”
“What?” I spat in disbelief.
Alley, who was standing beside me, pulled on my arm.“Jameson, let’s go.”
I think she knew there was temptation on my part to shovethis kid/woman.
That’s when Nadia reached out and grabbed my arm too.
“You think just because you win championships you can dowhatever you want on the track, don’t you?”
I laughed bitterly and flung my arms out of their grasps.
“Yeah, well,” I winked at Nadia. “Welcome to the bigleagues sweetheart.”
Alley snickered to herself but kept step with me as Iheaded to the hauler.
“Nice. Two fights in one night.”
“I’m on a roll.”
When I stepped inside the hauler, Kyle and Clausen’s crewchief, Matt, looked up at me. I made sure I slammed the door.
“Do you ever think about what you have at home when youpull shit like that?” Kyle greeted me when I threw myself in the chair next tohim.
I wasn’t sure what the fuck he was even referring to.Surely, he didn’t see everything out there—he must have missed the part whereClausencausedthe wreck.
“I knowexactlywhat I have at home.” My tone washarsh but hushed given the various people in the hauler. “You act like thisisn’t personal to me and I should just treat it like a job. It is personal—thisisn’t just a job to me. This is my fucking life, Kyle!”
“I know that.” He shot back just as forcefully. “All I’msaying...is that Ido notwant tospend this season in this fucking chair!”
We both needed to calm down so I walked away. Kyle washeated because once again, our team had to repair a damaged car. We had toanswer to the sponsors, and worst of all, Jimi Riley.
Lisa told Shelby and me both this was our warning. I knewthe next time we got tangled together we’d be paying for it but it didn’t stopthe anger.
I steered clear of Clausen once we left the NASCARhauler. I had a feeling ifIwas alone with the little fucker I’d showhim just how pissed I really was about his supposed “position” on me.
The media caught up with me as I left and I wasn’tlevel-headed.
“Jameson, can you tell us what happened there? Is thisrivalry with Shelby Clausen escalating into what happened with Darrin Torres?”
