Lila breezed past her. “Yes. We. Are!”
Lila walked inside and stopped abruptly, causing Colby to almost smash into the back of her. “Again . . . why does our family live here?” She spoke to Colby through her pasted-on grin. “Ain’t nobody in here but rednecks.”
“True. But they are used to the Daughtry Racing team, and we are the United Nations of diversity.” Colby tapped her watch. “Time’s a’tickin. Our group is probably in the back.”
“This was a wasted outfit,” Lila said under her breath.
“Girl! You already knew that. C’mon.” Colby laughed as she grabbed Lila by the hand and pulled her toward the back of the restaurant.
*****
Liam and Brian had been at Georgia’s for over an hour, getting to know members of Daughtry Racing. They were a rowdy bunch but seemed to be good, honest, hardworking people.
Liam sat at the same table as Brian, Cyrus, Ben, and a few others.
It wasn’t lost on him that Brian had been nursing the same beer the entire time he’d been there. Maybe he was finally growing up. Liam hoped that running this team would give his brother a real sense of purpose. Over the years, he’d been all over the place, not taking anything seriously. That wasn’t the case with this project. Brian seemed to be genuinely concerned about making things right.
Cyrus spoke to Liam. “You don’t talk too much, do you? It’s hard to know what you’re thinking.”
Liam chuckled. “Can’t say that I am a man of many words, but if you ask, I’ll tell you what’s on my mind.” Mostly.
“Good to know.” Cyrus couldn’t keep the excitement out of his voice. “I can’t wait to get to work. It’s been a while since I’ve felt this way.”
Ben nodded in agreement. “It’s like a rebirth.”
Their energy was rubbing off on everyone. “Initially, I’m going to have to lean on you both for advice and your expertise until I get up to speed,” Brian said.
“That’s fine.” Cyrus lifted his glass to him. “I’m here to help.”
“Like I mentioned earlier, prioritize a list of things we need to do. We’ve only got a couple of weeks before the next race, and I want to be ready.”
“I’ll get right on it. You’ll have something from me within the next day or so,” Cyrus promised.
“Asher has one helluva car. How about the other two? How well do they drive?” Liam was curious about how much more money they would have to invest. He wasn’t too worried about it since they bought Daughtry for almost ten million less than he’d anticipated, but being an analytical man, he was never comfortable with the unknown.
Cyrus and Ben passed a glance between them before Cyrus spoke. “The car you saw today is in a class all by herself. It’s going to take some elbow grease and a lot of work to bring the other two cars even remotely close to it.”
“Why is she so drastically different?” Liam asked.
Cyrus scratched the bottom of his chin as if contemplating his response. “Last night, they weren’t so different. We owe today’s performance of the car to my daughter.”
Liam got that look on his face that Brian was all too familiar with. The one that said he was more than a little intrigued. His reaction every time Colby was around or when her name was mentioned was interesting.
Brian asked the obvious question. “How so?”
Cyrus began to explain. “It’s no secret that Daughtry’s resources have been strained. We haven’t always been able to buy the best pieces for our cars, and even when we had the resources, politics would sometimes prevent us from getting them. A little over twenty-four hours ago, our engine blew. We did our best to patch her up, but we would never have gotten the performance you saw today if Colby hadn’t spent the entire night building a brand-new, technologically advanced engine.”
Brian responded in disbelief. “By herself? A whole engine?”
Liam piggybacked off of Brian’s skepticism. “Let me get this straight. First, you tell us that it was Colby James on the track earlier and not Asher, and now, you want us to believe that she is the reason behind the performance of the car? No disrespect, but she seems a little too good to be true.”
Cyrus acknowledged his skepticism. “She had an assist from Gonzo, but the design was all hers.”
Disbelief was still written all over Liam.
Cyrus continued to explain. “I don’t know how she did it, but it’s completely up to NASCAR’s standards.”
Ben chimed in. “You gentleman don’t realize it yet, but Colby is a prodigy. She’s your secret weapon. I told you before, and I’ll say it again, we are lucky to have her.”
Liam remained silent.
Cyrus took a long pull from his beer as he stared into Liam’s eyes. “Ben’s right. Colby is too good to be true. Anybody who takes the time to get to know her and not just discount her because of her race and gender would realize that.”
There was a silent conversation going on between Cyrus and Liam. Brian would ask his brother about it later. Liam was good at business, not so much with people.
Brian didn’t want to piss off his new team over a battle of wills if that was what was happening. “Then I’m glad she’s a part of Lockwood Racing,” Brian said.
His statement drew all eyes to him. “While I know Daughtry has a lot of great history, I want to create my own.”
Cyrus could understand that. A man needed to make his own mark. Slowly, Cyrus stood. Brian and Liam couldn’t tell if the name change was welcomed or if it pissed him off. “Boys!” Cyrus’ voice thundered throughout the back of the restaurant. “I have an announcement.”
The chatter in the room quieted down. Once Cyrus had everyone’s full attention, he continued to speak. “I want to propose a toast.” He faced Brian and
