I jump when the phone rings in my hand. I’m miles away. Looking at Penny bending over in a bathrobe, testing the water.
She doesn’t hear my phone ring and I move out onto the balcony to take the call I know I can’t run from forever.
“Hi, Mike,” I hear myself answering, sounding a little too upbeat for my own liking.
“Hey… Buddy… You disappeared right after the race, what happened?” he asks, sounding genuinely concerned, but I can still read his thoughts between his words, What’d you do to my daughter you fuck.
“Uh, yeah,” I start to say, clearing my throat and deepening my voice.
Why do I sound so guilty!
“Billings, the team owner… he wanted to go over some stuff and given what happened, he wanted me outta there to avoid the media,” I tell him truthfully.
No guilt required.
“And Penny?” he asks, point blank. “You had to take Penny with you as well?”
I can hear a lot of noise in the background where Mike’s calling from, it sounds like where I imagine him to be, the pit garage.
“Look,” he says firmly, “I can’t talk right now, but just don’t go getting any ideas about Penny if you know what I mean, okay? She’s my only daughter and…”
“And what?” I ask cuttingly, stopping him short, “and you don’t want her finding happiness with anyone or just anyone who happens to be me?” I growl.
Mike suddenly finds a lot more time to talk.
“If I find out…” he starts to say, his voice starting to tremble with rage.
“Then I guess you’re finding out,” I say dryly, wanting to hang up, but I figure I need to cauterize this whole mess all in one sitting, and preferably without upsetting Penny just yet.
Silence.
“Put Penny on,” he finally says.
“She’s busy,” I remark flatly.
I can hear his phone creaking, his breathing getting harder.
I know how he must feel, the thought of Penny with anyone else makes me crazy, but this is different.
She’s with me now. Mike will just need to get used to that.
“I want to speak with Penny,” Mike says, his voice getting angrier by the second. If he were here I know he would’ve hit me by now.
I would’ve hit me by now.
I hear someone calling for Mike on his end, he covers his phone and I hear him growling at someone.
“I got a pit crew to run here, Steve. I want to talk to my daughter. I want her back here. Now!” he says, there’s such intensity in his voice, so much feeling, I feel for him I really do.
“I’ll quit the team, quit racing,” I tell him. “I’ll do whatever it takes so you can keep doing what you do best Mike, but I won’t quit Penny. Not now, not ever.”
Mike takes a shaking breath in. “Why are you doing this, Steve? You could have any girl you want… What have I done to you, huh?” he asks me bitterly.
“I’m not gonna argue the point, Mike. I’m not sorry and I’m not trying to hurt you. I love Penny, I-” I start to say, but he’s not having any of it.
“Look, Steve,” he spits out. “You must’ve hit your head or something, when you crashed over the line here but that’s not the only line you’ve fuckin’ crashed over, get it? Now quit acting like such a fool! I’ve fixed your damned wreck, saved the team a fortune and they love the ideas I have, the way I work. I don’t want to fuck up the best career opportunity I have just because you’re not thinking straight.”
He’s quiet for a moment, waiting for something I know we both know isn’t gonna happen.
“Like I said Mike, I’ll quit the team if it helps things. But I won’t quit Penny. It’s me and her now, that’s all there is to it.”
At the same time I hear someone calling for him again, I see Penny in her robe, moving through the suite, calling for me.
I know where my heart lies, even though my loyalty to my friend is the price of admission.
“I gotta go, Mike… take it easy,” I tell him, hanging up before he can say anything else.
I slide the balcony door open, pocketing my phone before Penny can see, and she turns to face me, smiling that wide smile and almost hugging herself once she sees me again.
“How’s the water?” I ask, itching to get out of this stinky suit.
“Just perfect,” she coos, and sliding her own robe open just wide enough for me to see what I really want, she swishes around and walks ahead of me to the bathroom.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Penny
I’ll call him once I’m done in the bath.
That’s what I tell myself.
It’s not like me to ignore my dad, but I can just hear him already and I want to enjoy just a little bit more of Steve and me, alone before I have to deal with him.
That’s what I tell myself.
But Steve has this way of making me forget about a lot of things. Like where I am, what time it is… how many times he’s made me scream his name.
His performance on the plane was no fluke, and he’s definitely no one trick pony.
In the bath, then the shower and then again on the bed of our suite, he shows me just how he plans to spoil me every chance he gets, and I don’t mind at all.
I forget all about my dad, the race, the team, and everything else except Steve and me.
As we lie together again for the second time today, in a proper bed this time, it all slowly creeps back in though and I groan quietly.
“What’s the matter?” Steve asks, propping himself up on his elbow, and I trace my hand over his huge bicep which flexes without him even trying.
I’m just about to tell him when the door chimes again, making Steve groan and pull a
