Victory Read online

  Again, that was all the norm for them, Missy thought as she and Sam walked out to the back lot where her father kept a garage just for his racing team.

  Chuck, the head mechanic for the team, had pulled the car off the trailer and was walking around it shaking his head.

  “You’re lucky you only hurt your shoulder in this,” he said, and Missy cringed.

  Damnit, she’d walked away from the accident unscathed. But if she was going to destroy Maverick and Justice on the track, she had to just nod and go along with it.

  “Can you get her ready by Atlanta?”

  Chuck lifted his gaze from the car. “Is he going to let me only work on this? I mean, if he has to have some kiss-ass’s car fixed in between, well, I don’t know.”

  Sam moved toward the car. “We can do it. I’m on to fix this.”

  There was anger and pride in her brother’s voice. He was out to prove a point to their father. “Then I guess we’ll race in Atlanta.”

  Chuck nodded in her direction. “You going to have use of both your arms by then?” He noted the sling she was wearing to immobilize her arm.

  “I’ll be strong enough. Don’t worry about that,” she said shifting to prove to them that she was okay, but she wasn’t so sure herself.

  ~*~

  Jake stood in the garage bay, arms folded in front of him, studying his car.

  “Well,” Bud started. “She has a style. She hits you on the same damn side every time, and that throws you into the wall in the same damn place.”

  “Effective and annoying.”

  “Did you get that thing out of the way?” Bud asked as he took a cigarette out of his pocket and put it between his lips.

  “That’s going to kill you,” Jake warned as Bud took the lighter out of his shirt pocket.

  Bud pointed to the car with his lighter. “That’s going to kill you,” he said as he then lit the cigarette and watched the smoke lift. “Seriously. You and Missy?”

  “Are you kidding me?” He snorted a laugh. “Did we get that thing out of the way? Are you asking if we went to bed, as you suggested?”

  “Well?”

  “I’m not one to kiss and tell if we did, but no. I helped her out. End of story. There’s nothing there, so drop it.”

  Bud held his hands back in surrender. “Just saying I wouldn’t blame you. You have tension between the two of you and I think it would help.”

  “You’re a sick old man.”

  “Nah, I’m practical. But, if you say you’re not interested, then I get it.”

  “Good, then we can drop it. When can we get the car fixed?”

  “Guys will be here at two and we’ll start taking it apart. Then we can assess.”

  “Okay, I have a business to run,” Jake said as he saw Lydia Morgan’s much too girlie pickup truck pull into his lot. “And would you look at that. Now that’s a good looking, unpresumptuous woman there. She’s much more my style. Business minded and focused on what’s important in life.”

  “If you say so,” Bud called after him as he walked toward Lydia.

  He watched Lydia climb down from the truck which she’d customized over the years. For her small five-foot frame, he often wondered how she could even get in and out of it.

  “Hey, Jake,” she said as he approached, and gave her short crop of hair a shake. “She needs an oil change. Nothing fancy, but can you get her in?”

  “Yeah. I’ve got two ahead of you. Can I give you a lift somewhere?” he asked just as Officer Phillip Smythe pulled into the lot too.

  He watched Lydia’s face contort in annoyance.

  “Hey, Phillip,” Jake called out. “Here to pick up that part?”

  “Yeah. Bud said it came in yesterday. Heard you wrecked your racecar again,” Phillip shook his head. “That brewery is going to drop you as a sponsor.”

  “Thanks for bringing that up. Let me get that part for you,” he said and Phillip nodded.

  “I’ll come with you,” he offered as he gave a curt nod to Lydia.

  Jake turned his head to keep his grin from being noticed. Bud should have a word with those two if he thought he knew a thing or two about sexual tension.

  “What’s Lydia got her beast in here for?” Phillip asked as they entered the office.

  “Oil change. I have a few jobs ahead of hers. Told her I’d give her a lift if she needed one,” he proposed, figuring Phillip would jump on the chance to take her.

  “That’s full service,” he said pulling his wallet from his pocket. “Don’t let her give you any trouble now,” he joked as he set the money on the counter and picked up the part Jake had ordered for him.

  “Lydia? She’s not the trouble kind.”

  Phillip simply smiled and with a wave, he picked up his part and walked out of the office.

  Well, that hadn’t gone as he’d have assumed. He supposed he was going to be driving Lydia back to work or home. Thank goodness she’d moved into town. He couldn’t afford an hour out to her grandfather’s house and back.

  When he’d returned to her, Phillip was driving off.

  “He’s in a mood, huh?” Lydia scoffed.

  “Didn’t seem to be.”

  “I don’t remember a time in sixteen years where he didn’t try to talk to me or make nice.”

  “Maybe he was focused on something. My truck is just over here,” he said pulling his keys from his pocket. “Where can I take you?”

  “Bridal Mecca,” she said, and her cheeks pinked just saying the words. “I have three weddings in the next week that I have to finalize plans for. So, I have plenty of work to keep me occupied.”

  Jake was pleased with Lydia’s business successes. She was quite a powerhouse in town. She bought and sold businesses, and created new ones. Her latest venture was going into business with her brother and Jake’s sister Pearl—who because of the venture, ended up marrying Lydia’s brother Tyson. Word was she’d just bought into a restaurant franchise of some kind, local to Georgia.

  His world seemed to revolve in a strange circle. Everyone knew everyone, and then they married. The thought caught him off guard and he even laughed aloud before he caught himself.

  “What’s so funny?” Lydia looked at him as she ran her fingers through her short hair.

  “What do you know about Missy Sheridan?”

  “I know she races against you and kicks your butt.”

  He laughed again. “I was just thinking that everyone in my life knows everyone else. Just wondered if you knew her.”

  “Oh, I know her. Bought one of my first cars from her dad’s dealerships. Used to go there to get my oil changes, until you opened shop. As for knowing Missy, I just didn’t know she was in your life.”

  He cleared his throat. “Only in racing. Don’t go filling your head with anything.”

  “Uh-huh,” she hummed. “Why would you ask about her then?”

  “Never mind.” He shook his head as he pulled up to the building which Lydia and his sister called their Bridal Mecca. It was filled with different businesses that revolved around weddings.

  Lydia ran the reception hall. His sister Pearl owned the bridal boutique. His other sister Bethany did some design work with the florist. Then there was A Touch of Italy, which was owned by his cousin Dane’s fiancée Gia. Of course, he couldn’t forget that his other cousin, Eric’s wife Susan, was the caterer for most of the events. There was one vacancy in the building, and he was sure Lydia was waiting for the perfect tenant that would meld into the bridal business. Again, the thought had him chuckle.

  “Now what’s making you laugh?”

  “This little family business you have going amazes me. I’m proud of you, Lydia. I’ll bet your dad would be proud of you too.”

  She sighed. “Thanks, Jake. That means a lot.” Jake pulled his truck to the curb and put it into park. Lydia opened the door and jumped out. “Call me when you’re done and I can get a ride over.”

  “I can pick you up if you need one, too.”

&n
bsp; “Thanks. You’re too good to me.”

  He gave her a wave. It was easy to be good to her. Phillip Smythe had a thing for her, but then again so did most the men he knew—or did at some point.

  She was easy on the eyes, even with her moods. What wasn’t to like? As he pulled away, and headed back to the shop, he wondered why his mind floated back to Missy, if Lydia was single and available.

  He laughed it off. Bud did this, he decided. He put it in his head. Well, it was time to get back to work and get it out of his mind.

  Chapter Six

  Bud leaned in over the engine and gave Jake the signal to rev it up. Jake did as he asked until the next signal came to shut it down.

  “I think we got her back to normal,” he shouted as he closed the hood.

  Jake climbed from the car, swinging his legs over the door, and hopping out. “You’re the best, Bud. Always have been.”

  Bud pulled a cigarette from his shirt pocket and put it between his lips. Jake always associated it with Bud being done with something, as if the cigarette was his reward. “Listen, kid. Stout Farm called today looking to have a meeting.”

  Jake bit down hard on the gum he was chewing. “My sponsor?”

  “Yeah,” Bud said as he dug in his pocket for his lighter. “Jake, I had to put in the requisition orders to rebuild. You haven’t brought them a purse in nearly a year.”

  “And that’s not my fault.”

  “Well, then call Missy Sheridan, and tell her she owes you for the car.”

  “I think I should.”

  Bud lit his cigarette. “They’ll be here tomorrow to meet with us. That race in Atlanta is only in two weeks. If you can promise them a win, maybe they’ll consider keeping you as their driver.”

  “I could promise them a win if Maverick, Justice, and Sheridan would butt out.”

  Bud took a long drag of his cigarette, then coughed out a laugh. “Then you’d have no problem, huh?”

  It was then that Missy’s conversation with him about the garage crossed his mind. “Hey what do you know about my dad financing this garage?”

  He saw Bud’s eyes grow dark as he inhaled another drag from his cigarette. “What I know is you own this garage and it’s been your blood, sweat, and tears for the past six years. Don’t go lettin’ anyone tell you different.”

  Bud took a rag from his pocket and wiped his hands on it. Tucking it back in his pocket he walked straight out of the garage, to his truck, and a moment later he sped out of the parking lot.

  “Damn it,” Jake whispered under his breath as he watched the dust kick up from Bud’s tires.

  Did Bud realize how much he’d told him in his body language alone?

  Jake agreed with Bud. The past six years he’d worked his ass off making the garage what it was. He worked hard, and he spent his nights out back working on his car, which he’d like to win with and keep his sponsor.

  What had his father done to get the money for the garage? Seriously, how could one Walker tarnish the name of all the others he wondered as he walked toward the wall and pushed the button to close the garage door.

  But just as the door was a few inches from the ground, he saw a pair of boots, much too small to belong to any man.

  Pushing the button again, he raised the door, and who should be on the other side but Missy Sheridan.

  She stood there, the glow of the security light behind her illuminating her. The jeans she wore hugged her petite frame in all the right places. Jake was sure he’d never seen her in a blouse before, but it seemed to accentuate nicely as well.

  That long dark hair, which was usually pulled back, flowed over her shoulders and caught the breeze just enough to make it fly a bit.

  Jake chewed down on his gum again as a reminder to keep his jaw from dropping.

  “You lost?” Jake asked as he took in the sight of her.

  “Came to see how your car was holding up.”

  He looked at the car and then back to her. “You showed up here looking like that so you could check on my car? I’m not that slow, darlin’.”

  With her thumbs hooked through the belt loops of her jeans, she sauntered toward him. “I didn’t accuse you of being so. I felt as though I still owed you a thank you for helping me out that night.”

  In looking her over, he hadn’t realized how bad she’d looked the night Maverick had taken in after her. Her face was healed, and her arm seemed to be hanging just right, he thought.

  “You’re welcome,” he said turning off the light in the garage and walking toward her. “Why else are you here?”

  “Can I buy you a drink?”

  Now he knew his jaw dropped. “I don’t think this is a good idea. You’ll forgive me for being a little suspicious.”

  She smiled and the dim light caught the shine of her teeth. “You should be suspicious. I would be too. And we don’t have to go out in public for the drink. I brought a six pack with me.”

  Jake wasn’t sure what kind of game she was playing, but looking at her, he wasn’t sure he cared. Damnit! Bud still had her in his head, and that thing he thought they should take care of.

  It had been a long time since he’d taken a moment to appreciate a good-looking woman, and especially one who could talk racing and cars. When the wind shifted, he caught her perfume and he’d have been surprised if he hadn’t staggered just a bit.

  “Let me close up. I’ll meet you up front.”

  She gave him a nod to solidify the offer, and turned to walk back toward the main garage.

  Jake couldn’t help it. He was a man after all. He enjoyed every step she took until she was out of sight.

  Missy was quite sure she had his attention, which was what she wanted. Rumor had it the brewing company that sponsored him wasn’t happy with his performance, and she felt a bit at fault for that. But it was for his own good. As she’d told him, she might not like him, but she certainly didn’t want to see him dead. Her father had talked a bit too much about how Justice was out for Walker and wouldn’t stop until he finished. She’d been doing him a favor.

  Besides, her father had threatened to let her brother drive if she didn’t place in the next race, and she hadn’t fought for that position as hard as she had to lose it because some idiot, like Maverick, thought she didn’t belong in the circuit.

  She and Walker were going to need to form an alliance, and that was why she was there. That and she’d learned a little bit more about how his father had secured the funds for the garage. The crappiest part about it was she wasn’t so sure her father’s name wasn’t involved in some way. But if Justice didn’t get to him, someone might soon enough.

  Missy walked to the back of her truck, opened the tail gate, and climbed up. She’d put a small cooler in the bed. It seemed casual enough.

  She could hear his boots shuffle along the gravel. He’d changed out of his coveralls, and what she saw walking toward her in the dim light of the security lights was all man.

  He had a sway, and a hitch, when he walked. That had been caused by the accident that had kept him from the circuit for nearly two years. The man was lucky to be alive, so to see him walk in such a way, that too was miraculous.

  His biceps stretched the fabric of his T-shirt, and that gave her heart reason to kick up a bit. His hair was hidden under that baseball cap, but she knew that the dark strands matched the darkness in his eyes.

  She thought the man was an ass, but she could appreciate God’s perfections when she saw them—and Jake Walker possessed a lot of them.

  “What else you got in the back of that truck? A shot gun?” he asked as he walked up to the truck.

  “You’re welcome to come up here and check it out. It’s just me and my cooler.”

  His eyes still held the suspicion he’d admitted to having. Missy couldn’t deny him that. If he’d shown up at her garage looking like he’d spent an hour grooming, she’d be suspicious too.

  She reached back to the cooler and pulled out two bottles of Budweiser. Twisting o
ff both tops, she handed him one and held hers out, neck toward him.

  “To truce,” she said in a toast, but watched him as he processed it.

  “Truce? That’s why you’re here?”

  “Accept it or not.”

  She watched as he bit down on his bottom lip. “I’m game.”

  Missy gave him a nod, tapped the neck of her bottle against his and then took a long pull of the ice-cold beer.

  As she lowered the bottle, she watched him do the same, only he let out a satisfied sigh.

  “I needed that,” he said and then shifted his eyes back to her.

  “You can come sit up here and dangle your feet off the tailgate. We can be casual together.”

  He took one more sip before he handed her his bottle. In one quick jump, he was seated next to her. She handed him his drink and quickly took inventory of what she was feeling having him that close. The temperature of her body rose, and she was fairly sure she could hear the air sizzle with the electricity that buzzed between them.

  It had been hard to rid herself of the thoughts of his arms around her the night he carried her across the highway to his hotel room. If it weren’t for Jake Walker, she could be dead.

  They each finished their first beer in silence. Missy turned toward the cooler, tucked her empty bottle inside, and then reached for his, brushing against his fingers as she did so.

  The innocent movement shot a sensation straight through her. She was walking a dangerous line sitting in the back of her truck with Jake Walker in a dark parking lot five miles out of town. They were alone on a road where not many people traveled once the sun set. She had a slight buzz from the beer, and the company.

  But even though the man had no reason to trust her, she somehow knew she was safe in his presence. He’d never hurt her, even if her visit didn’t end as planned.

  Missy pulled two more beers from the cooler, twisted off the tops, and handed Jake one.

  “Are you going to tell me why you’re here?” he asked narrowing his gaze on her. “I’m thinking there’s more to it than getting me drunk in the back of your pickup.”