Page 188 of The Champion
“No.” his eyes met mine. “I never meant to hurt him butJesus...he’s got to stop sometimes.”
“He’s twelve Axel and he will always be your littlebrother. He doesn’t always know when to stop. Look at my siblings...they still piss me off daily.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything.
“Axel...you needto think before you react with him and Arie. They’re your family.Andonthe track, well the sooner you realize how mental this sport is compared to howphysical it is, the better off you’ll be.”
Axel chuckled. “Grandpa tell you that?”
“Yeah, some of his timeless wisdom,”
When we headed back to the hotel, Lily sent him anothertext messages telling him she loved him and wished him good luck for tomorrow.“See I don’t get it,” he showed me the message. “She tells me she’s hanging outwith other guys and then she tells me she loves me...what the hell?”
“Just give her space. Being sixteen is hard enough. Thenyou add on having a boyfriend who is a professional race car driver at sixteenand that’s a lot to handle. Think about how she feels with girls all over you?”
“She hates that.” He groaned. “Mom does too, huh?”
“I’m sure Lily does but your mom is different. Beforebeing my wife, she’s my best friend and understands what I go through everyday. She’s seen it from the beginning.”
Axel nodded again buckling himself into the front seat ofthe truck we drove here. He looked like he was going to respond to the messageLily sent him but he stopped and slipped the phone inside his coat pocket.
“Do you know that girl that kissed you on the cheek?”
He didn’t look over at me, just stared out the window asI pulled out of the parking lot. “Yeah, that’s Shaylee. Her dad is a sponsorrep for Wyle.”
“Do you know her well?”
“Not really,” he shrugged. “She’s at most of the racesbut we don’t talk that often.”
“Be...careful.”
Again, he didn’t say anything and part of me wondered ifsomething had already happened between them.
I made a mental note to talk to Sway about this. She’dknow what to say.
The rest of the week through all the heat races, Axelkept advancing. They had two hundred and sixty three drivers here this yearwith 10 main events planned for Saturday. The fastest four qualifying cars werein the A-main with the top two cars from each main advancing to the next main.
Since Axel broke the control arm in practice Monday, wehad some trouble getting the set-up to the point where he felt comfortable sohe ended up starting in the D-Main event.
What improved his mood the most was when Lily showed upon Friday night.
Looking back on the way I acted at events like this whenI was his age, Sway was always what I needed. It wasn’t any different for Axel.
Casten made an appearance shortly after Lily arrived. Hesmiled but surprisingly didn’t say anything.
Tommy and Greg were changing the gears on Axel’s midgetbefore the last heat race when Axel pulled Casten inside the hauler with himleaving me and Aiden standing in his pit wondering if we should follow themafter what happened Monday.
Even though you fight with your siblings, there was nevera time when I didn’t love them. Yeah, I’ve hated them on occasion but I neverwanted to hurt them. As I said before, Axel never wanted to hurt Casten.
After about three minutes, they came walking out and wentdifferent directions.
“What was that about?” I asked Casten making sure he wasall right. Since he and Axel had gotten into it on Monday, he hadn’t been thehigh-spirited little boy he usually was.
Casten shrugged retrieving a Gatorade from the coolerbeside the hauler and sitting down in a pit chair. “He told me he’s sorry.”
“And you said?”
“He better be.”
