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Hayden smiled when Gray yanked her hood up over her head and put her sunglasses on. “She has the biggest crush on him.”
With Pace on her lap, Gray whipped her head around to her mom. “I do not!”
Hayden nodded at her feisty eight-year-old. “Okay.” And when Gray turned around to watch the cars, we grinned. She totally had a crush on him, but you couldn’t blame her. Caden had bright green eyes, golden hair, and only stood about five foot seven. He was so adorable you wanted to pinch his cheeks.
The air had a coolness to it, rain having held off most of the day. I curled into my blanket I’d brought up with me, wrapping it around Bristol as she slept in my arms.
When the green flag waved, there were three laps to go. Rager was all over Caden into one and two around the third mile track. With twenty thousand to win on the line tonight, I knew he wanted this win just as bad as Rager did. Caden held his own while Rager had the most speed up high on the closing laps. Caden worked any line he could find. My heart was beating so hard in my chest that I nearly dropped Bristol. The two of them trading the lead with slide jobs four different times. In turns three and four, Rager stayed up high and Caden shot down on the apron. Kinsley reached for my hand as the checkered flag waved in the air and Caden worked up high, neck and neck with Rager, but it was Caden who’d inched forward and kept his nickname he’d earned for The Closer. Axel finished third while Dad had managed to work his way through the field from a twenty-second starting spot to fifth.
Kinsley screamed, jumping up from beside me. Though I was disappointed Rager didn’t win, and I knew he’d be upset, he was the first to pull up beside Caden and congratulate him.
Caden, Rager, and Axel peeled off the track to weigh in, and Kinsley smiled down at me. “I should get the baby so we can take a picture.”
“I’ll text Mom and have her bring her down.”
While they did the victory lane pictures, I took a sleeping Bristol back to the pits with Pace. Hayden, Ryder, and Gray walked back with me.
“I wish Daddy won,” Pace said, his eyes on the ground as we filed out of the stands with everyone else.
I squeezed his hand, mist falling on my face. “It’s okay, buddy. He got second. That’s still a podium finish.”
He didn’t say anything more. Back in the pits, the guys were starting to load everything up, a line of fans already waiting for the guys to return. Casten stared at his car, Willie standing next to him.
“Maybe if you’d stop grinding against the cushion you wouldn’t tear up the fucking tires.”
“Kiss my piss hole,” Casten grumbled, staring down at his tires.
“Gross.” Willie appeared offended. “That’s unsanitary.”
Casten laughed. “This coming from the asshole who licked a goddamn urinal.”
“That was a long time ago.”
“Still. You did it.”
Paxton smiled at me and I realized I hadn’t introduced myself. “Hey, I’m Arie. Rager’s wife.” Fuck, it still felt good to say those words. Hell, even my cheeks warmed at the idea. Dad took Bristol from my arms and I reached out to shake Paxton’s hand.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, a sudden shyness to his eyes. “I’m Paxton.” I didn’t see the resemblance to Tommy. I mean, Tommy had bright orange hair and brown eyes. This kid had blue eyes and dark hair.
“His mother named him,” Tommy noted, passing by us as he pushed the mule back into Axel’s hauler.
Rager and Axel’s cars returned to the pits. And though I expected him to be upset, Rager smiled when he saw Pace rush toward him. “Daddy!”
Rager pulled himself from the car and lifted Pace into the air with his arms extended. As the rain picked up, it was my husband, holding our firstborn son in the air and smiling up at him, that made me realize how much I appreciated this. And I think Rager was on the same page. Regardless of his second-place finish, it meant everything to be here with one another.
Rager approached me with Pace in his arms, his black hair fell into his face. He smiled, wrapping one arm around my shoulders and setting Pace down at his feet. Sighing, I turned into him and he held me closer, his lips at my ear. “I didn’t realize how much I anticipate seeing you in the pits after a race, until you weren’t here for a couple days.”
I smiled and wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “All the more reason for me to make sure I do everything possible to stay here.”
His jaw tightened, working through emotions he wasn’t going to go into here. “Why put yourself in that position?”
“Youdo.”
His brow furrowed, a raucous of fans waiting through the rain to get a peek at him and the other drivers drawing my attention over his shoulder. “What?”
I shifted my eyes to his. “Every time you sit in that car, you’re risking your life. You’re doing what you love to feel alive and I’m doing this because I can’t imagine leaving you alone in all this.”
He stared at me for longer than I imagined he would have before he leaned in, our chests connecting. He smelled like dirt and sweet methanol. And then he whispered, “Go big or go home?”