“Let’s go take a shower.”
*****
It was late morning when Colby woke again. Liam was still sleeping. Quietly, she reached up to grab her phone.
She had several voice mails, quite a few actually, and even more text messages. The first message she read was Lila’s.
Where are you? Have you heard? Did you see it?
See what? Colby wondered. The next message almost sent her into a full-blown panic.
Oh, my God, Colby! This is crazy!!
Colby was too nervous to read the rest of the texts, so she listened to her voice mail. Again, the first one was from Lila.
Colby James! I know you’re off gallivanting, but you have got to see this! I sent you the link.
Colby switched back to her texts and found the link Lila had provided. Colby clicked on it. Her phone almost dropped out of her hands as she covered her mouth and screamed.
Chapter 19
Liam woke up and immediately reached for his gun that he kept hidden underneath his pillow. Markos and another bodyguard barged into the bedroom, both with guns drawn.
Colby’s eyes widened as she clutched the sheet to her chest. “What in the entire hell?!”
“Is everything alright?” Markos looked past Colby toward Liam.
Liam turned to Colby for a response.
Embarrassed, she yelled, “I-I’m fine! Please. Get outttt!” Slowly, Markos nodded and did as asked.
“My God, Liam. Why do you have goons outside your door?” Colby was freaked-out. “Do you think they heard us last night?”
Liam needed a minute for his own heart rate to slow down. He ignored her questions. His tone was curt. “Why the hell were you screaming like a banshee?!” Before Colby could answer, Liam’s phone began to buzz. He ignored it, something he seldom did.
Liam wanted an answer. “Well? What?”
Colby blinked several times as she held Liam’s gaze and nervously bit her lower lip. After giving herself a moment to pull herself together, she responded, “Lila sent me this.” She lifted her phone so that Liam could see it. She clicked on the link, and a video started to play. “It’s gone viral.”
Liam grimaced. “Shit.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I bet that was Brian calling.”
Colby frowned. “Shit? What’s that supposed to mean? This video is not a bad thing. It’s actually pretty fantastic!”
Liam reached for his phone. “That video of your race with Asher yesterday is going to be a nightmare for Brian.”
“That video shows that I can drive! That I’m someone to take seriously,” Colby said.
Liam ignored the pang of guilt he felt, knowing Colby was not going to drive in the Cup Series in Atlanta. “A lot is riding on this race. Asher is Lockwood’s number one driver. I can’t imagine this is going to go over well. Brian has a lot of things to put in place before the Atlanta race. Something like this can throw a monkey wrench into it. He can’t get mixed up in the politics of NASCAR right now.”
“Asher is not Lockwood’s number one driver. I took that spot.” Colby could see by his expression that they had no intention of honoring their promise. “Fuck you, Liam!” She got out of the bed, snatching the bedsheet with her as she wrapped it around her body.
Frantically, Colby searched for her clothes.
“Calm down, and let’s talk about this.” Liam rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of shorts.
“Markos!” Colby yelled. He didn’t come fast enough for Colby. “Markos!” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
This time Markos knocked on the door before entering. His expression clearly said he was over the dramatics. “Everything okay?”
“Yes,” Liam said.
“No,” Colby responded as she went around the room, collecting her clothes. “I’m leaving.”
Markos looked to Liam.
“Give us a minute,” he said.
Colby wagged her finger at Markos. “No, no, no! I don’t need a minute.” She then turned her wrath back to Liam. “You lied to me.” Her voice was filled with anguish. “Am I just a game to you? Was all this some kind of bet?” Colby glanced heavenward. “How could I have been so stupid?!”
“Colby, that’s not what happened.” Frustrated, Liam raked a hand through his hair. “Calm down and listen to reason.”
If it were possible to set Colby off even more, his words did it. She stomped over toward him, almost tripping over the sheet as she stood toe-to-toe. “I. Don’t. Have. To. Do. Shit!”
Colby turned toward Markos. “Have the car ready!” She stormed off to the bathroom to get dressed and slammed the door.
*****
Several hours later, Liam sat in Brian’s office, listening to him field calls from the media, and also, different vendors he needed to get the cars ready for the Atlanta Cup Series race.
He slammed the phone down. “That was LaCrosse Engines. They suddenly won’t be able to fulfill our order. This shit is crazy. All of this over the possibility that Colby might drive in the next race? Unbelievable.”
“This is exactly what I was afraid of,” Liam said. “You’re going to need to hire a crisis management team and PR person. You can’t handle all of this on your own.”
“Somebody from your company?”
“I’ll start with my team to see if they can offer some suggestions, but you’ll need an expert in this field who is also an expert in race relations. Hopefully, we can find someone and have them in place in the next few hours.”
“Great.” Brian pushed himself up from his chair. “You know what I don’t understand? Who leaked the fact that she was on the team to the papers? The video could have been easily explained away until we had all of our ducks in a row.”
“My guess is that Asher leaked Colby was on our driving roster to the papers. I doubt he leaked the video. That doesn’t play into his favor.”
“True.” Brian blew out an exasperated sigh. “We’re like
