Shift

“Yes, but please, Dustin. Please. She would kill me if she knew. She would kill me. She won’t call you, and it took her so long to get herself right,” Bailey says. I fall back to my ass again. So many goddamn ups and downs. This one is a heavy blow, and it cuts out a cavity in my chest. Ha

I hurt her. Like her dad said I would.

I knew it would be forever when I left, but damn hope in the form of a phone call.

“No, no. I get it. I won’t, Bailey. I . . . thanks for letting me know, though.”

“You’re welcome, Dustin. I hope you’re okay. I . . . I better go,” she says, and after a short good-bye, the line is dead.

Virgil is tapping on my shoulder now, and my body teems with so many toxic emotions, I jerk around and bark “what!” at him.

“I’m sorry, Virg,” I apologize right away. I run my hand over my face and pinch the bridge of my nose. My head is pounding. There’s no way I’m going to drive well. There’s too much to process.

“That’s Robert O’Keefe behind you, the owner of Tulsa Wings,” Virgil says, leaning into me and doing his best to whisper. Thanks to years of smoking, though, his whisper is more like a growl, and it’s completely audible from everywhere.

Add one more crushing weight to my fragile, barely-held-together ego.

“I’m so sorry, sir. I just . . . that was news from home.” I can’t very well blurt out my dad died, not after I giggled with fucking glee. I wait while the man studies me, tugging the lapel of his oversized suit jacket. I shouldn’t make fun of the fit. It’s a nicer coat than I own.

“Just get in the goddamn truck, Bridges, and drive. And maybe fucking win tonight.” Mr. O’Keefe’s thick, gray eyebrow lifts up on one side, like a checkmark on his forehead.

I nod and leave him with Virgil, reminding myself of my mechanic’s charm, which is one more reason I accept his failures underneath the hood. He’ll smooth this over, but I got the meaning of our sponsor’s undertones just now. If I don’t win, he’s pulling his money. If he pulls his money, I might not get out of these shithole races for another two years.

But none of that matters. Ha