Page 142 of Trading Paint

Chicane – Jameson

My alarm went off a four-thirty that morning, not that I wanted it to, but I wanted to get in a run before all the pre-race activities began. I knew I shouldn’t run before a race, but I had to clear my head and that was the only way I knew to.

Hoisting myself up, I turned off the alarm and sat on the edge of the bed in my motor coach for a moment before getting up.

I tried to remain quiet, though Sway pissed me off last night with her little stunt, I still didn’t want to wake her. It was my own fault anyway. If I would have been able to control myself more often, I wouldn’t have to be dealing with these stalkers. Yeah my family loved to remind me of it nowadays but it was my own fault.

Sway was curled up next to me, her hands next to her face made her almost look angelic, almost. If you knew Sway, you knew that was not possible for her.Even though she pissed me off, I couldn’tnotsleep next to her.

Being away from her for nearly a year, I had to be next to her. With the way our scheduleswere,what if I didn’t get to see her for another year? I couldn’t take a chance.

She looked so peaceful, her dark hair fanned out over my pillow. I watched her chest rising and falling with each breath for a moment. Her beauty was remarkable and had me wanting to hold her, so I left for my run.

The sun was beginning to rise over the track creating an array of light cerise across the sky. My favorite time of the day to run was at sunrise because it was the beginning of a new day, usually nothing had gone wrong yet and the possibilities were endless.

My iPod played Metallica loudly in my ears and I was able to tune everything out, tried at least. The scattered motor coaches and camp trailers in the infield passed by me in a blur as I picked up the pace of my run. I chuckled to myself as a few fans waved their hands in the air from where they were perched up on the roofs of their camp trailers. It’s hard to believe people willingly got out of bed this early.

I pushed myself harder, my feet hitting the asphalt faster. I envisioned the race in my head, my lungs burning painfully from the exertion. I tried to keep my thoughts clear, but they shifted back toward last night and the hounding pit lizards. I never thought Sway would instigate them, she knew how I felt about that but then again her words never matched her facial expression. I saw something behind her eyes I never saw before, compunction.

Once I made one lap around the track, I headed back to my motor coach to find Sway and Cal up already making breakfast. Simplex had delivered an array of apparel to us yesterday so I wasn’t surprised to see Sway wearing a black hooded sweatshirt with the logo plastered across the chest with matching sweatpants that appeared to be at least three sizes too large.

She was adorable.

“Are you in a better mood asshole?” Was Sway’s way of greeting me when I walked through thedoor.

“Hmm,” I contemplated taking a few strips of bacon, chewing slowly. “That depends.” I grinned looking down at her.

“On what?”Her brow furrowed as she ate her own bacon from the plate on the counter.

“You apologize for last night. Thatwas notfunny.”

“I thought it was funny.” Cal said loading a plate for me with his egg white mixture that I loved so much and wheat toast. “Your face was priceless.”

“You don’t have to do all this, Cal.” I chuckled as he poured some orange juice for me. “Driving my motor coach around for me is enough. You don’t have to feed me too.”

“I enjoy cooking Jameson. It’s no problem. And I’ve seen you make toaster waffles before.” His head tipped the direction of the black smudges on the wall where I’d caught the toaster on fire last season.

Ignoring him, I turned to Sway, her mouth full of scrambled eggs. “Are you going to apologize?”

“Oh yes,” she grinned and sat up straighter. “I’m so sorry.” She mocked.

Before I could tell her that the apology needed to be better, Alley was knocking on the door. “Jameson, you got a sponsorship meeting in an hour.”

And so it begins.

On race days, you had a sponsorship meeting where you basically kissed their ass and told them how you were going to win the race for them. Then you usually had about an hour of signing autographs, a team meeting, more autographs, the drivers meeting, more autographs, introductions, more autographs and then the race.

I left after finishing breakfast to meet with Melissa at the Simplex hospitality tent. When I returned I walked toward the hauler to see Sway standing there dressed in a red dress that I wanted to rip off with my goddamn teeth. I hoped like hell she wasn’t wearing that all day.

Kyle was saying something to me but I just gave him a blank expression until he punched my arm.

I was distracted, that was unmistakable but in my defense, she was revealing a lot of skin. Skin I desperately wanted my hands, mouth and any other body part just to feel her against me.

“I’ve got a new rule,” Kyle leaned against the hauler crossing his arms over his burly chest. “No girls in your pit.”

“Why would you do a thing like that?”

He smiled. “To keep you focused.”

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