Kathleen
“Come on Katie. Come out with us tonight. It won’t kill you. It’s not like you have anything else to do.”
I grimace at Charice’s words. I hate lying to the only friend I have, but she wouldn’t understand.
“Char, I just don’t feel like it.” I’m lying in the bed with the blankets pulled up to my neck and a wet rag on my forehead. I’m sweating like a pig, but I know I won’t for long. Charice will get tired of begging soon and be on her way.
“Ugh,” she groans before doing a spin in my room out of desperation.
“When I get to feeling better, I promise to go out and party with you all night long.”
“You promise?” her pleading face is so annoying, but she’s the only friend I have, so I put up with it.
“I promise,” I respond through clenched teeth. I hate partying. I despise it, but I make a point to go out with her every so often to keep her happy.
“Ok,” she says in a high-pitched voice that makes my ears scream. “I’m going to go so I can get a good parking spot at the house. If you get to feeling better, you know where to find me.”
“I know. I doubt this fever will go away tonight, though.” My overheated body, that is buried beneath too much cover, is agreeing with me at the moment.
“You, poor baby. If you need anything, text me.” After that, she bounces out of my room.
Yes. Bounces.
I hear the front door close, and her car start, before I throw the blankets off and take several deep breaths. God, I almost suffocated.
Standing up, I straighten my closes before going into my attached bathroom. I splash cold water on my neck, trying to cool my body down. I thought she would never leave.
Why would I go to a party with her, that I never want to go to, when Levi James is racing in town?
I take a deep breath when his face crosses my mind. That man.
Before you go thinking that I only think he’s hot, let me explain.
He is hot.
But he also races like a dream.
I’ve secretly loved racing all my life. I’m not sure when it happened, but it started with cars. The beauty of a race car. A Chevelle. A Nova. A Mustang. Muscle cars. Antique cars. You name it, I probably love it.
The smell of the rubber when it’s burning.
The stench of gasoline in the air.
Grease when it’s all over the pavement.
Everything about it makes me have an adrenaline rush like nothing else. Just thinking about it makes my heart beat fast. I don’t even have to be at the track to get excited about it. Watching it on tv excites me.
I was fully content to sneak off to car races, until my first year of college.
One night, people were talking about going to the race and I just assumed they meant car racing. I eaves dropped until I heard the location and went to it after everyone else had left.
When I got there, cars weren’t on the track. Sports bikes were. It smelled the same. The atmosphere was the same. My adrenaline was pumping the same. I stayed.
After watching a few of the races, I was hooked.
No one could keep me from finding out more about it after that.
Not too long after, Levi James entered the scene. He brought a breath of fresh air. He changed the sport in lots of ways from what I had learned in the beginning.
I’ve seen him race a few times now. Not as much as I’d like, but I can’t get to the races all the time. Keeping my love for the sport a secret is extremely tiring sometimes.
My dad. He would never understand. He wants me to be a doctor. I want to be a lawyer. If he knew his ‘little princess’ loved a ‘boy sport’, he would have a heart attack. Even though he sponsors my favorite racer.
I shake my head at the negative thoughts that run through my head and finish getting ready. Tonight, is the first night in a long time that I’ve got to get away and see Levi race. I’m going. No one is stopping me.
Qualifying events for major races were a month or so ago. I missed all of those. This race tonight is just thrown together. I don’t know the story behind it, but I’m not missing it.
I climb in my car and make my way to the track. I’ll be early for the race, but maybe I can get a glimpse of him before he gets suited up.
What? I did say he was hot. I may love the sport. I may respect him as a rider. But I’m still a hot-blooded woman and he is all man.
As I park, I look for the Clover Racing trailer. It’s completely black with green and orange writing all over it, so it’s easy to find.
I get out, lock up, and walk on the outer sides of the crowd. I don’t want anyone to recognize me. Even though I’m in a small disguise, I don’t trust people to not notice me anyway.
I spot him at a table set up to give autographs. Right now, he is talking to a young boy and a woman, that I assume is the boy’s mother. The boy doesn’t appear to look very happy to be here until Levi turns to talk directly to him. I watch as a light beams out of the kid. Obviously, he idolizes Levi. Levi is just calmly chatting with him. It’s an amazing thing to watch.
I don’t know anything about the guy, really, but I do hope that he is everything that I’ve conjured up in my mind about him. Sweet, loyal, caring, alpha, easy going, a great kisser…
I’m a woman.
Once the boy moves on, and Levi goes back to signing autographs, I make my way to the track to find a place to stand. I’m not a total creeper. I did mostly come to see the race.
“Did you know that Levi James was going to be racing in the Isle of Man TT this year?” A couple of guys are standing next to me, and I can’t help but turn my ears towards them when I hear Levi’s name.
The Isle of Man TT? Really? He’s racing in it this year? He qualified?
My mind is reeling, and I keep listening.
“Yea, I heard it from a couple guys this week. He qualified last month. So far, it’s on the down low, but I’m pretty sure he and his team will be making an announcement soon.”
“That’s what I’m thinking too, man.”
The guys move on, and I stay in place. I slowly turn around to look at the topic of the conversation. He’s walking towards me now. Well, where I’m standing. He is actually headed towards the track. His team is behind him. Dale Johnson is pushing his bike. I watch as they all walk with an arrogance like I’ve never seen on any of the guys that are around me.
This look and demeanor is different. It’s all earned. It’s all fought for. I like it.
I ponder the words I heard earlier, as they make their way past me. Isle of Man? I’ve always wanted to go. Could this be the year that I throw caution to the wind and do something that I want to do? Damn the consequences?
It may be.