Page 40 of Wrecking Boundaries (SteelTrack Racing #2)

They’re going to fight right in the middle of headquarters, and I’m being called in to act as a referee. Worse, I’ll be asked to pick between them all over again. I brace for yet another go-kart race.

Jake’s confident smile is reassuring. Naturally, I respond to all this by standing like an idiot. My arms dangle, leaving me feeling gangly and unsure.

Maddie chews her lips, but that doesn’t prevent them from curling upward. She knew Jake and Boone were together. She knew it before we spoke.

“Will someone please tell me what’s going on?” I ask because this whole thing is excruciating. Also, Boone’s dour expression isn’t working on me today. I’m done feeling guilty. “If this is another conference room brawl, I’m leaving.”

“Nah, princess. Why would you think that?” Jake asks and smiles his cocky smile. “Your brother and I are best friends now, right, Boone?”

My brother doesn’t respond. “We’re talking a business deal, and it doesn’t seem right to proceed without you.”

“I told him everything,” Jake says. “About our new company with Bert and plans for next year, especially the part about Top Row and how we’ll be moving away soon.”

That’s the only part of the plan that makes me miserable.

I consider and sit at the head of the table. It’s a superficial gesture, but damn, I kind of like it .

Jake notices and winks before sitting next to me.

“Am I the only one in the dark?” Maddie asks.

“They need another company to help with manufacturing. Jake wants us to do it,” Boone says.

My throat seizes up, and I choke.

A hand slaps my back, and Jake’s eyes meet mine. “Are you okay?” He sets a bottle of water down in front of me.

I drink and instantly feel better. I’m also embarrassed. “You surprised me, that’s all.” My cheeks burn. “Never do that again.”

“That’s a challenge.” Jake wags his brows. “Because we both know I will.”

Surprises worse than tiramisu dessert and rainbow clown wigs are coming my way, and nothing will stop them. He’ll start doing song and dance numbers when we’re in public. Jake is too confident to recognize embarrassment.

“What about Top Row ?” I ask him. “We’re set to sign the contract. We have press releases drafted and ready to go.”

“Toss them in the trash.” Jake takes my hand, and our eyes meet. “Everything you did still applies. All those financial numbers and plans still work. The only difference is our contract is with Rivers Motorsports. We stay here. I know this is where you want to be.”

Asking Boone to help never occurred to me. The conflict between him and Jake has lasted two years and shows no sign of changing. I begged Jake to try last year, and that failed. Then I tried the same with Boone, and he decided I was incapable of understanding Jake’s motivations. I gave up after that.

After a certain point, you prepare for the next race and stop lamenting your poor showing in the last one. So, that’s what I did .

“You came here for me,” I whisper, knowing I should say more and unable to do so.

“Over here,” Boone snaps his fingers. “Is there any chance of you taking your job back?” His expression doesn’t change, but something in his tone tells me that until this meeting, Boone always assumed I would.

“None. It’s past time for me to move on.” This job was never meant to be permanent. I took it straight after college because the industry was familiar, and my father offered it. A temporary job would give me time to discover my purpose, and it ended with me lingering on for years. Dad is retired, and Boone doesn’t need me.

“The offer is there if you ever change your mind, especially since we can’t form any partnership,” Boone says. “Not under current circumstances.”

The numbness starts in my belly and moves out. I never expected the opportunity, and I knew better than to ask, but then, for one moment, there was hope. I’m not sure what feeling I have now.

Boone’s leg jerks, and Maddie says his name. Her mouth hangs open with shock and anger. He pulls her close and whispers into her ear. Maddie’s entire body relaxes.

A bit of hope is warranted, after all.

Beside me, Jake’s expression darkens even further.

“Everyone’s determined to think the worst of me today, aren’t they?” Boone’s dimple appears. A part of me wants to punch it off his face. “I kind of like that. My point is that we can’t make this deal because you already have an ownership stake in Rivers Motorsports. It will seem like we’re bending the rules to secure another charter. I can guarantee NASCAR won’t allow it.”

“You’re a part owner?” Jake asks me .

“It happened when Dad first started this place.” It was never mine, not in the way it was Boone’s, so the ownership part never meant much. “It’s a small portion.”

“Fifteen percent,” Boone says for me. “You need to give up one. You can’t have a stake in both.”

The decision is simple. “I’ll find a buyer. It shouldn’t be difficult.”

The buyer sits opposite me, but I won’t make it easy for him. He wants to play us; I’ll do it right back.

“You can’t do that,” Boone says. “Not without my approval.”

“You aren’t the majority owner.”

Boone’s expression corrects me, and my heart sinks. “I am as of two weeks ago. You haven’t been around for me to tell you.” He blinks and rolls his eyes. “I’m also giving Madelyn an ownership stake.”

“What?!?!?” Maddie’s screech tells me she’s as shocked as all of us. “I’m only your assistant and don’t care about the sport.”

Jake draws back at her statement.

“You care about me, doesn’t that count? Plus, we all know you’re the reason we’re sitting down together,” Boone says. He sticks his finger at me. “It was supposed to be a surprise, and you ruined it.”

Oh, I know this routine.

“How was I supposed to know? Next time, put it in your diary so I can read it later,” I say.

“I put it in yours before sharing it with every guy in the garage,” he shouts back.

“Did you share the part where it describes how you were afraid of the merry-go-round?” I say. This one will embarrass him.

“They went in circles, which makes it rational. You were afraid of the Easter bunny.”

“Rabbits are not supposed to be that big.” I pull up my sleeves.

Maddie whistles, and we quiet down. “Let’s argue over rabbits and schoolyard equipment later, shall we?”

“Dear fuck, what did I witness?” Jake stares as if I transformed into someone unrecognizable.

“We argue sometimes,” I say.

“Please don’t allow it to bother you,” Maddie says. “It’s how they show affectation.”

I smooth my hair back, giving myself time to consider a reasonable offer. Boone wants my share, and I’ll provide it for the right price.

“I want four years of manufacturing assistance at no charge. This company owns the two nearby lots, each with several acres for future expansion. I want one.” What else? What else? “The announcements come from us, and you have to attend our wedding tomorrow. Also, you must be happy for us and smile at least five times.”

“Be reasonable,” Boone says.

Out of that entire list, is it the smiling he rejects? “Four times, and one of those for a picture.”

“Two years manufacturing and one smile.”

Not good enough. “Three years and two smiles.”

“We have a deal,” Boone says, and he smiles. “You get that one for free.”

Did I do it?

Jake stares forward, unseeing. “That was amazing.”

“Our future is starting,” I say to him. “We have three years of manufacturing and engine assistance. That’s plenty of time to build our facilities. ”

It means I can build my future while keeping my family close. It’s what I set out to do when Jake found me on the side of the road all that time ago.

“Hey, come here.” Jake pulls me into his lap and nuzzles my lip. “You did amazing. That was amazing. Odd, but amazing.”

“It puts us in a great place.”

“You gave up your family’s company,” he says quietly so Boone and Maddie can’t hear. “How do you feel about that?”

It was an easy decision, and I made it for the same reason I quit my job: “I’m excited.”

Boone was raised in motorsports. He started in karts and moved up from there, going into trucks and to the cup series. As a little kid, he insisted on being a race car driver. It’s all he ever wanted. Boone spent his summers in the garage and his weekends at the track.

I did none of that and never wanted to. Rivers Motorsports was built for both of us, but it’s meant for him, and I’m at peace with that.

The possibilities hit me during our lunch meeting with Bert. Boone has long dreamed of turning our family business into a motorsports dynasty. Well, if he can do it, why can’t we? Sure, I don’t drive, but Jake does. My knowledge of the industry is as deep as Boone’s.

Why can’t we do all that?

“Good.” His lips graze my cheeks, and a shiver runs through me. “Now go put on your wedding dress because I’m marrying you tomorrow.”