“Fabulous. Thanks for the update, and pray we don’t have a caution.” If they needed to drop down for a caution lap, she was going to have to pit for gas, which would more than likely drop her ranking by five spots or more. She was sitting in a damn good position right now at eighth and she didn’t want to give it up.
“Go high, go high,” David urged her. “Evan tapped Elec and they’re sliding.”
Shit. Kendall reacted, moving up the track with the car right behind her, as they tried to avoid getting pulled into a wreck. To her left, she saw the number 56 car spinning, but then smoke smothered her visibility briefly. Sweat trickled down her back as she held on, controlling her car with everything in her.
“You got it, you’re clear. Caution lap, go to pit,” Jim said.
Just what she hadn’t wanted to do. Giving a grunt of frustration, she asked, “Monroe brothers okay?” Jim didn’t sound like it had been serious, but she wanted to make sure.
“Fine. Both are going to pit, but neither looks like they have any real damage to their cars.”
“Good.” Though she had every intention of smacking Evan when she saw him later. What the hell was he thinking?
His brother was clearly wondering the same thing, because after the checkered flag, with microphones stuck in his face, Elec wasn’t holding back on his feelings. “Even though Evan is older than me, that doesn’t always translate to maturity. That was some damn foolish driving.”
Hot and exhausted, Kendall winced as she heard the words, but thrilled at her own eleventh place finish. Her best yet in the cup series and not bad, though it would have been better if Evan and Elec hadn’t created a caution lap. But that was racing. You had to be aggressive to win, and sometimes someone else’s screwup made you a winner, and sometimes it took you right out of the field. There was a lot of skill involved, but also a lot of luck. Being in the right or wrong place.
A reporter popped up in front of her as she unzipped her racing suit and peeled the sleeves off, the cool air refreshing on her hot body, her microfiber shirt stuck to her skin with sweat. “Congratulations on your finish, Kendall.”
“Thanks, it was a good race. My team did a great job and the Untamed Chevrolet was running really well today.” Mention the team in a positive light. Mention the sponsor. Mention the car manufacturer. Golden rules for a driver.
“What do you think of the Monroe brothers’ dustup out there?” The reporter was a perky brunette, and Kendall wondered, as she frequently did, why the reporters down on the infield and in Victory Lane tended to be attractive women, yet the broadcasters and analysts were men.
“I have no idea what happened out there without seeing a replay, but it’s an aggressive sport. We’re all trying to pass each other.” She hoped that was sufficiently noncommittal.
After a few more questions, she managed to disengage herself so that she could go have some pictures taken and hopefully get a meal before heading back to her hotel. Not that there was any hurry. Getting away from the track with all the post-race traffic was going to take a while since she wasn’t staying in the motor home lot.
She passed Eve Monroe, who was biting her lip and looking like she wanted to hurl. “Hey, Eve.”
“Oh, hi, Kendall.” Eve was glancing back and forth between her brothers, who were both talking to reporters, both looking pissed off. “Total disaster. Total friggin’ disaster. I swear to God I’m going to have a heart attack. Why do they do this to me?”
Kendall was pretty sure the disagreement had nothing to do with Eve personally, but she could certainly understand her distress. This was a big deal. They were airing their grievances in public.
“You get Elec and I’ll get Evan, okay?” she told Eve.
“Really? You’d do that?”
“Sure. When he’s not annoying me, I like Evan.” Especially naked. Or when he was rubbing her shoulders and reassuring her, helping her calm down. She could certainly do the same for him.
The question was how did she interrupt without being rude?
It turned out she didn’t even need to. Just walking over in front of where Evan was standing talking to reporters, and hovering there for a second, got him to spot her and excuse himself. “Can you believe this shit?” he said to her as a greeting.
“Keep your voice down,” she urged him. “Let’s go back to your place and get something to eat, take a deep breath and go over this.”
“Really? Thanks, Kendall. Good finish, by the way.” He raked his hands through his hair. “But I mean, what the hell? My brother is a dick.”
“Evan, seriously. Zip it.” Kendall tied the sleeves of her jacket around her waist and started walking towards the compound. “Come on.”
Unfortunately, Elec was doing the same thing, and as they entered the gated area of the drivers’ motor homes, the brothers came face-to-face with each other.
Kendall looked around for help. Eve was nowhere to be found, and she didn’t see anyone who could be of assistance.
This looked to be good times. She braced herself for the confrontation, which came immediately.
“You’re an ass**le,” Evan said heatedly to Elec.
“And you’re a crybaby,” Elec said in an easy voice.
Evan hated that. He really, really hated that. Why couldn’t his brother ever yell or get pissed off or emotional? He was just even, calm, cutting. Looking unruffled and like he was damn sure he was right. That had infuriated Evan since they were kids, and it had the same effect now.
“Shut up, Elec the Eyeball. You know what you did was shitty.”
“Oh, there’s a good comeback. Telling me to shut up while using my stupid childhood nickname. How original.”
Knowing he was going to punch his brother, Evan took a step forward. And smacked into Kendall, who had inserted herself between them. Evan grabbed her shoulders when he knocked her off balance. “Kendall, step aside, babe.”
“Take this inside,” she said in a firm voice.
When he tried to step around her anyway, she moved again, still blocking him. “Inside, Evan.” She turned to Elec. “I think you two should talk inside, out of earshot.”
“Your place or mine?” Elec asked with an enigmatic smile that made Evan immediately want to knock it off his face.
“My place. I don’t want to scream obscenities at you with your stepkids around.”
“They’re back in Charlotte, but whatever.” Elec rolled his eyes.