Page 23 of Driving Force

Nope, not going to figure him out right now (laughing emoji)

My Girl:

okay…call me later.

Me:

I will (heart emjoi)

My Girl:

(kiss emjoi)

I arrive home a little while later. Charlotte traffic can be a bitch some days, and this was one of those. I can’t help but wonder what the hell is going on with Matt. Yet again, that’s in the back of my head. He’s always been the level-headed one of us, never getting too wound up. The things that get under my skin, he just rolls them right off. But with our last two interactions being the way they were, I just can’t let it go. Just as I’m about to make something to eat, my phone rings. Looking down, I notice it’s Serena.

“Shit,” I grumble. Serena was a girl I dated about a year ago. She’s the opposite of Tinley; tall, blonde, and a model who’s a total bitch when she’s not the center of attention. That may be why we didn’t work out in the long run. She was great when it was just us, but she would have that RBF firmly in place when she was with me at the track, and the attention was on me. Long story short, she moved to New York when her modeling career picked up, and that was that.

“Hello, Serena,” I say, trying to sound as nice as I can on the phone.

“Ryan, hi love, I saw your win this past weekend. Amazing job,” she sing-songs to me.

And that’s another thing that turned me off of her. She loved when we won, but boy, did she make it known when I was racing terribly, not winning enough for her. But what she was really saying was that I didn’t put her face in front of the camera enough because I was performing badly. When we were great, it was great, and the sex was always, let’s just say, adventurous. But sex is only a little part of it.

“Thanks, Serena. So, to what do I owe this call?” I ask.

“Ryan, do I have to have a reason to call? Maybe I missed you and wanted to check in,” she says.

“Okay, well, things are good, the team has been running great this season, and I’m finding my grove. Getting ready for this weekend’s race in Dover, Delaware.”

“Aw, I thought that race was coming up. I was just thinking the other day that I would love to see you and catch up since you’re going to be close to the New York area, and I could come down.”

“Yeah, that will be fine. I can get you some passes if you want to come for the race this weekend,” I offer, trying to be the nice guy so she will get off the phone and I can go about my night.

“Ryan, that would be so amazing! Yes, I’ll be there. Can’t wait to see you,” she says.

“Okay, well, send me over your driver’s licenses so I can get the pass and have you on the list of those okay to be around my area. I’ll see you this weekend.”

“See you this weekend, Ry,” she says.

I can’t help but clench my jaw just a little. I always hated when she called me Ry. What am I, thirteen and a girl? “Okay. Bye, Serena.”

I hung up the phone. I couldn’t help but have this little question in the back of my mind. Why would she call now? Had she seen the race and Tinley by my side at the winner’s circle and decided I didn’t need to be with someone like her? Guess I’ll find out her motive when she comes to the race this weekend. I look down at my watch. Shit, it’s 930pm. Tinley has class tomorrow. I hope she’s still awake. Rushing to get my dinner from the fridge, I shower quickly so I can FaceTime my girl.

When 1030 pm rolls around, I’m on the verge of falling asleep. Still having heard nothing from Ryan, I’m starting to think he’s not going to call. So, I go to wash my face and get ready for bed. Just as I’m getting comfy with my current Rom Com book to read just a little to calm my spinning head, my phone lights up with a FaceTime, “My Driver” on the screen. Smiling, I let it ring just a little longer than I might any other time to make him think I was sleeping. When I answer, his beautiful face comes on, wet head and all. Lordy, this man could make messy look hot any day of the week.

“I was thinking I wouldn’t hear from you tonight. I was just getting ready to spend it with my latest book boyfriend,” I say, a slight smirk crossing my face.

“And just who might I have competition with tonight, then, Tin?” he asks.

“Well, I’m actually reading a book about a retired navy seal protecting his fallen best friend’s sister from a stalker, and it was just getting to the really spicy part where he’s going on caveman over a dress she wears to the bar. So good sir, I have options,” I say, laughing. Sitting back up in the bed, I notice he’s also in bed. “Long day today, driver?” I ask, interested to see how the rest of the afternoon went.

“Not too terrible. Traffic was awful coming home, so that took a lot longer than normal,” he said.“How was yours? Did you get any more answers out of Grace? I’m sure that girl is like a vault. The only way information comes out of her is if it is being forced out of her by three certain men.” He laughs.

“Yeah, you may be right on that front. But three men, really. She doesn’t even want one right now.”

He chuckles. “I was talking about Jack, Jim, and Jose. You know, to have her loosen up.”

Laughing at his statement, I can’t help but shake my head. “You are correct about that. Those men would definitely get her talking. She did tell me she and Miles ended things. With him going into the draft and her looking at jobs with race teams to help with PR. They didn’t want the pressure of being apart to mess up the friendship that they started with.”

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