Sponsors wanted to know they could count on a driver to stand behind their name and their product with integrity.
“That’s a good idea. You should go with him, Elec. Present a united front.”
“Oh . . . I don’t know.” Elec panicked at the thought of being at an event with the Briggses and possibly Tamara and not being able to acknowledge the relationship they had.
“Why not? It will look better than Evan going alone.”
“Don’t abandon me, man,” Evan said, and his eyes were pleading.
“Shit, I don’t know if it’s a good idea for me to be there because . . .” Elec cleared his throat. “I’m kind of, well, dating Pete Briggs’s widow.”
“What?” Eve shrieked. “What does that mean? Like you go for coffee occasionally, or that you’re dating, dating, meaning you’re sleeping with her?”
Elec didn’t answer, just stared at his sister. She’d figure it out.
She did. “Oh my God, you’re sleeping with her . . . between you and Evan I’m going to have a heart attack. I will be dead at the age of thirty from stress.”
“When did you start sleeping with Tammy Briggs?” Evan asked, looking baffled as hell. “I didn’t even know you knew her.”
Then Eve slapped her forehead. “This is who you were talking to Mom about at lunch . . .
this is the woman with the sick kids. Oh my God, you went over there with dinner and toys for her kids, didn’t you?”
“Yes. So what?” he said defensively.
Evan was looking at him like he’d grown a second head since they’d walked in the door.
“This is a good thing actually.” Eve paced back and forth, her skirt twirling when she turned. “We’ll have you do some PR with her kids . . . and make it obvious that you’re dating. That will deflect attention from Evan’s gaffe onto you. Everyone will be thrilled to dissect a race car romance. What a great story . . . the noble widow finds love again.”
Sweat was breaking out all over Elec’s body. “No. No, no, no. Stop, halt, do not pass Go, Eve. No one is going to be telling anyone about my relationship with Tamara. I am dead serious on this one. What we are doing is private. End of story.” Tamara would never, ever forgive him if he splashed their relationship all over the media. And hell, he didn’t want that himself. What they were sharing was special and needed to be just between the two of them. He wouldn’t have even told his family if he hadn’t had to.
“Why not? It’s not like you can keep it a secret forever.”
“But we can keep it a secret until Tamara decides she wants people to know, and then we’ll do it her way. Not with a media blitz. Pete’s parents are her in-laws and she’s still close to them.”
“Well, you know Johnny Briggs and Dad hate each other.”
“I know. And the reason is ridiculous as far as I can tell. Something about a stolen trophy and a fistfight. They’re grown men and they need to get over it.”
“You tell that to Dad,” Evan said, biting his fingernail. “I’d like to see that one go down.
He’ll actually be madder at you than at me then.”
Now Elec was starting to feel as stressed out as Eve. His relationship with Tamara was complicated enough already. Why did everyone else have to keep sticking their finger in the pot and stirring things up? “I’m not going to say anything. All we need is Dad making an issue of their feud and we’ll have a PR nightmare on our hands. They’ll say you took a swipe at Pete intentionally.”
Eve stopped paced. “Oh, no. Oh, no. And then suddenly your blossoming romance will be seen as a maneuver on the part of the Monroes to get back at the Briggs family.”
Elec sat back in shock. “No one would believe that.” He looked up at Eve. “Would they?”
“Doesn’t matter if they believe it or not if the media chooses to make an issue out of it.”
Eve stuck her finger out at him. “Don’t let anyone know what you’re doing with Tamara Briggs. Keep your little romps a secret or I will duct tape you to this coach when you’re not on the road.”
“I told you I wanted to keep it a secret!” he said in annoyance. “Don’t go threatening me, Eve Alexandra. I don’t want to hear it.”
“He’s pissed if he’s bringing out the middle name,” Evan said. “Let it go, Eve.”
Their sister didn’t look at all concerned with his stern voice. She was back to pacing.
“Okay, here’s what we do. Elec keeps his diddling on the sly and Evan makes a better apology and goes to a Briggs Foundation charity event.”
Though Elec took a hell of an exception to the term diddling, he couldn’t disagree. “Fine.”
“I can do that,” Evan said.
Eve gave a massive sigh and headed for the kitchen. “Thank God. Now if you don’t have chocolate in here, I’m going to go bat shit crazy on you.”
Elec prayed he did, because neither he nor Evan wanted to see Eve’s head explode.
TAMARA picked at her dinner and tried to ignore the fact that her father-in-law was ranting about the comment Evan Monroe had made about Pete after his win at Pocono.
“I mean, who the hell does he think he is? That was just damn rude, tossing that remark out there so casually.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean it the way it sounded,” Beth said. “Do you want more mashed potatoes, dear?”
“No,” Johnny said. “I don’t. What I want is an apology from that punk kid for insulting my son, who in his four short years in the cup series has a list of accomplishments longer than my arm.”
Tamara had seen the clip of Evan speaking, and she agreed with Beth. It had sounded a little rude, but she didn’t think it was that big of a deal. He was clearly elated from his victory, hot and sweaty, and being forced to answer questions before he could even have a drink or hit the bathroom. And when he’d realized how his response had sounded, he’d given a very respectful follow-up comment.
It hadn’t offended her in the least, but then she hadn’t lived her entire life active in the sport like Johnny had, where personalities clashed, tempers ran hot, and men died. As much as she loved racing, it wasn’t her career, her livelihood, her legacy.
“Evan did seem surprised that he’d passed Pete’s record. He didn’t seem to even know that until the reporter mentioned it,” Tamara commented.