Page 131 of Down & Dirty

“Cass called me about it the other day?—”

“Cass?” he cut me off.

“Yeah, she and I have been talking about getting me out there. Exploring some options.”

His eyebrows flew up, his mouth popping open as he let out a rueful laugh. “Oh, I didn’t realize the two of you had even met each other.”

I hadn’t asked Cass to keep our work together a secret from Cory, but I also never mentioned him when we talked about it. She’d treated me like I was my own person, and I’d appreciated that.

“We ran into each other in the lobby of the hotel after the first race.”

The way he nodded, his jaw working, set off an alarm. I hadn’t expected him to be upset by this. Surprised? Sure. But he looked like he was working hard to keep a hold on his temper.

“Well, that sounds interesting,” my mom said, her chipper tone cutting into the tension. “I bet they’re so excited to have you. Not a lot of women know as much about motocross as you do, honey.”

I nodded, turning back to her with a forced smile. “I might hate it, but it seemed like it would be a fun thing to try to branch out.”

“The camera loves us,” Ronnie said around a mouthful of food. “We’ve got the genes for it, so you can’t screw this up.”

My father shook his head. “Out of the two of you, she’s not the one we’d worry about.”

Ronnie looked at my father with mock horror, but then snickered. “Fine. I’m the one who needs to bank on the family genes to carry my career.”

“No,” my father said, chuckling under his breath. “We’re banking on your sister to carry your career too.”

He was kidding, but my father’s words reminded me of exactly why I’d reached out to Cass in the first place; so I could have one thing that was for me and no one else.

“Hey.” Ronnie set his fork down, glaring at my father who was now red in the face from laughing so hard.

“Don’t choke,” my mom warned, turning her head as she giggled.

My father got himself together, holding my gaze from across the table as he said, “If this is what you want to explore, go for it. But just make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons.”

The room felt hot, like I was trapped between my father’s words and my husband’s disapproval. But at the end of the day, neither of their opinions mattered. This was my choice. And I’d made it.

Cory had been quiet during dinner, but by the time we left to go back to our hotel he seemed to have let go of whatever had upset him. When we left, he took my hand in his and kissed the back of it, giving my folks a wave and tipping his head to Ronnie in the conspiratorial way they’d adopted the last few weeks.

I wondered what was up with them, but as we walked the few short blocks back to our hotel, his mood darkened again and by the time we got to our room I needed him to just spit it out already.

“What exactly don’t you like about this?” If it was because I hadn’t told him about it before now, he was going to have to sit down. My secret hadn’t put our future at risk.

He scratched his hand through his hair, pacing the room. “Why are you doing it?” His eyes narrowed on me from across the room, a frown cutting across his face.

My stomach rolled. “Why are you so against it?”

“Answer the question, Sky.”

I shook my head, looking around, trying to avoid his penetrating stare. “I want to do something on my own.”

“On your own? What does that mean?”

My frustration built. “My career is reliant on my brother. My healthinsurance is reliant on you. I want to do something. On. My. Own.”

It bothered me that I had to spell this out for him. But Cory and Ronnie were the same. Just like my father, they’d both had the chance to build their own careers. They’d cut a path that suited them, and they’d never had to think about anyone but themselves.

I would never get that chance. I had Micah. And I would never regret having him, but my chance to be reckless and irresponsible had disappeared the second he came into this world.

“But you don’t want this.” Cory’s voice was softer, his anger fading into confusion.

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