CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX TABATHA

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

TABATHA

I sit in the back of Dash's racing trailer. He's about to race, and I am scared shitless. I'm so nervous that I'm shaking. I expected to be nervous but not terrified. This is our second day here in Florida. He already raced once this morning for qualifying, and of course, he made it. I thought it would ease my fear, but it didn't.

I turn around and look at the trailer. Of course, my father has the best trailer there is. It's a fifty-three foot double decker and has everything that they could possibly need. Up against the right wall is a toolbox nailed to the wall. It's taller than I am. In the center of the trailer is a place where Dash rides his bike up and locks his bike in place to keep it from falling when traveling. I haven't even went up to see what is on the second level yet.

The trailer and crew have been here for two days. We just flew in last night. My father kept telling Dash that he needed to be here earlier than that, but Dash assured him that the night before would be plenty of time.

I jump when two arms wrap around me. Dash chuckles in my ear. "You're so jumpy."

I spin around in his arms and smile up at him. "I'm nervous," I admit.

He lowers his lips to mine and softly speaks against them. "Don't be. I know what I'm doing."

"You're so cocky," I whisper.

He softly brushes his lips against mine. "Speaking of cock…" He pushes his hips into mine, and I can feel the hardness behind his jeans.

"Dash…" I moan as his hands start to tangle in my hair.

He lowers his face to the crook of my neck and kisses my neck. I let my head fall back to give him better access. I grip the back of his shirt as he kisses up my neck to the base of my ear. "You are mine as soon as I finish." Then he pulls away, leaving me breathless and wanting. "I want you in this trailer waiting for me when I'm done; do you understand?"

I nod, and he grabs my head and gives me a soft kiss on the lips. Then he pulls away and walks over to the front of the trailer to grab his leathers. I walk over to him knowing that he needs help to get into them. After a couple of minutes, he is fully dressed in leathers, riding boots, and holding his helmet. And I'm back to shaking.

He grabs my hands and realizes how sweaty they are. "Hey," he says as he leans down and rubs his nose on the tip of mine. "I'm kinda sad at what little faith you have in me."

I let out a little laugh. "I'm just nervous. I know you're good, but anything could happen out there. Another biker could cause you to wreck."

"Dash, it's time to go," I hear Greg, a crew member, yell from the back of the trailer.

He nods. "I'll be right there." Then he looks back down at me. "If it scares you that much, stay in here. Okay?" And before I can respond, he kisses me on my forehead and walks past me. I spin around in time to see him walking down the ramp of the trailer and out of a sight.

"I love you," I call out, hoping he heard me, but I doubt he did.

I walk to the end of the trailer and sit down on the ramp. I look out at all the other trailers positioned inside the middle of the track. They all have the same concept—the back wall of the trailer pulls down to make the ramp, easy access to get their bike in and out. They have tools and equipment inside to help them work on their bikes, if need be. Some trailers have more than one bike in them.

A man's voice comes over the speakers positioned throughout the raceway, and my heart starts to beat harder in my chest and my hands instantly start to get sweaty.

"He's gonna be okay," I chant over and over to myself.

Then I hear all the bikes start up, revving their engines. I drop my head in my hands and pray. I pray that win or lose, God keeps them all safe out there.

The second I hear them take off, I start rocking back and forth. As I take deep breath after deep breath, I try to think of anything other than him racing. Watching him go down last time was scary as hell. Seeing him get up and then fall, my heart fell with him. I don't want to see that happen again. And that was just a practice; this is a race. He is out there to win. He is out there to prove that he deserves to be here.

I stand up quickly and dust my ass off with my shaky hands. He does deserve to be here, and I should be supporting him. I mean, he's doing all the hard work. All I have to do is stand on the sidelines. I love that man, and he deserves for me to cheer him on.

I straighten my homemade DASH tank top and brush off my white denim shorts one more time before I start to walk on shaky legs.

"How's he doing?" I ask as I come up next to my father.

"Great! He's made his way up to third."

It's hard to watch motorcycles races because their course is much different from say Nascar. They don't have an oval track. They have more like a road course track. It has small hills and sharp turns, which makes no sense to me. They're on motorcycles, they should have a raceway that doesn't have any turns, but I guess that would defeat the purpose.

I look up at the big billboard-like screen that shows all the racers, and I spot him immediately. It's hard to miss him. His bike is normally black, but you can't tell that now. It has stickers all over that say Knight Racing. And he has a number eighty-eight on the front.

I hold my breath as he comes up on a corner. He leans over to the right, and it looks like he is about to fall off the side of the bike when his knees appear to scrape across the track. I start to jump up and down as I bite my nails.

"He is badass!" Jackie squeals beside me. I was sad when Dash told me his parents weren't going to come to his race. But I'm thankful that Jackie and Blake were able to make it.

I can't seem to look away as he zooms down the track. "How, how…How fast is he going?" I ask with a stutter. My nerves are still getting the best of me.

My father doesn't even realize it as he watches the track. "Depends on the turn. Maybe one thirty right now. He can hit one seventy-five in the straightaways."

"Holy fuck!" I hiss.

He chuckles at my choice of words, and then begins to clap as he calls out Dash's name. I turn my attention back on the screen above us, and I see he is now in second place and closing in on first. "Oh, my God," I squeal.

He comes into another corner and cuts it sharp as he leans over to the far right this time, once again his knee dragging the ground. As soon as he makes it through the corner, he pulls the bike to an upright position and passes the first place bike.

My father starts to call out his name, and I start jumping up and down. Jackie wraps her arms around me, and we jump together like two little kids at a birthday party.

"Come on, Dash. You got this!" Blake screams out as he slaps my father on his back.

We all jump up and down, and I grit my teeth so hard that my jaw starts to hurt as we watch him keep first place. We all stop what we're doing and hold our breath as he speeds to the finish line. Once he crosses over it, all hell breaks loose.

Blake picks Jackie up, and twirls her around in the air. My father starts hugging all the guys who are in his crew. And myself…well, I take off running. I don't know where I'm going or what I plan on doing, but I run. With a racing heart and a smile so huge on my face that it hurts, I run toward the track as fast as I can.

I watch as he brings his bike to a stop and yanks off his helmet. He turns around and the first thing he sees is me running toward him. He places his helmet down and runs right to meet me.

I squeal loudly as he bends down and picks me up off the ground. I wrap my legs around him and squeeze him with all that I have. "Oh, my God, you…" He cuts my rambling off with his lips on mine.

I open my mouth wide allowing him to kiss me deeply as he holds on to me tightly. I can taste his victory. I can feel his heart pounding, even through his leathers. And I can smell the sweat that is dripping off him.

He pulls away and he laughs. "You did it," I whisper against his lips.

"We did it." He smiles. "We fucking did it."

He loosens his grip, and I place my feet on the ground. By now, people are coming up to us and pulling him away from me. My father being one of them. Jackie pulls me in for a hug, and we start jumping up and down again.

I can't even imagine how excited Dash feels because I am on cloud nine and I wasn't even the one who did it. "We need to do an interview," my father says, slapping him on his back. Dash nods his head as he takes a drink of the water that Blake hands him.

I go to pull my phone out of my back pocket for some photos but realize it's back in the trailer. "I'll be right back," I say as I take off in a mad dash across the track to the trailer.

I run up the ramp breathing heavy and holding my side. "Shit," I hiss. "I am out of shape," I say to myself as I look for my phone. I see it over on the floor by his backup bike when I hear the door close shut. I spin around and see Dash coming toward me. "Geez, babe, that scared me," I say still trying to catch my breath.

He gives me a sly smile as he pushes his damp hair out of his face. "Why did you shut that?" I ask pointing to the ramp. He's closed us in here.

"Because I need some you time."

My mouth drops open. "Babe," I take in a deep breath. "You have to go out there and do an interview." I know there's no way he has already done it.

His smirk grows. "They can wait on me." He starts to walk toward me.

I smile. "Becoming a diva already?" I tease.

He chuckles. "No. I just wanna be with you at this moment."

Before I can say anything, he is standing in front of me. His hands are on my face and his lips are on mine. His tongue slips between my lips and dances with mine as I throw my arms around his neck. He deepens the kiss as he steals my breath. His hands leave my face and grab my ass as he lifts me up off the ground. His kiss more desperate as he spins me around and slams my back against the wall. I pull away and cry out as a few things fall off the wall and hit the floor with a thud.

He lifts his hand and places it over my mouth. "Shh, baby." He hushes me. "Others can hear us, these walls are thin."

I nod my head. He takes his hand from my mouth, and I suck in a breath. "We shouldn't…"

"Oh, but we are." He pulls away from the wall. "Stand up," he says as he releases my legs. As soon as my legs hit the ground, he's yanking my shirt off my body. I undo my bra as he undoes the zipper on my white denim shorts. They pool at my ankles, and I go to kick off my heels, but he stops me. "Leave them on," he demands so I step out with one leg and then kick my shorts across the room with the other.

He grabs my arm and pulls me over to the side where a toolbox is nailed to the wall. He lifts me up and sets me on it. "Lay back." I hiss in a breath as I lay down on the cold steel. As soon as I do what he says, I can hear him pushing his leathers down to free his cock. He grabs my ankles and holds them up in the air. "Keep your legs up," he orders.

"Okay," I say breathlessly. The anticipation is killing me. Knowing that someone could come in at any moment and catch us. He's supposed to be doing an interview. Of course, my father will be looking for him.

My right hand grabs the side of the toolbox while I place my left hand above my head when I feel him positon himself in front of me. The toolbox puts me at the perfect height for him to do whatever he wants to with me.

I bite my bottom lip and arch my back as he enters me in one hard thrust, remembering that I need to be quiet. He spreads my legs, and I bend them so they fall over his shoulders and he begins to fuck me wildly. Hard and fast. His fingers dig into my hips as he tries to hold me in place.

I close my eyes and my mouth falls open as my legs tighten and that familiar feel of orgasm starts to build. My head thrashes back and forth and my pussy tightens around his cock, causing him to cuss harshly. I arch my back, and I can't help but cry out as I come. Through the haze of my orgasm, I hear him grunt and his cock jerks inside of me as he comes.

He pulls out and I whimper at the loss of him. He takes a few steps back and quickly pulls his leathers up.

I go to get up. "Here, let me help you," he says reaching out to me. He pulls me to sit and then he walks away to go fetch my shorts. He comes back and slips them over my heels.

"Wait. My underwear?"

"You don't need them," he says and gives me a wink. I give a little laugh as my body continues to shake.

He helps me with my bra and top, and then pulls me from the toolbox. I stumble but right myself.

He walks over to the back where the ramp is and opens it up. "Smells like sex in here." He laughs to himself.

"You're gonna be in so much trouble," I say, and he comes back over to me.

He gently kisses me on the lips. "You're worth it." Then he reaches down and grabs my hands. "Come on."

He pulls me back across the parking lot over to where the big crowd still stands. I let go of him as we get close and I stay back as he walks over to my father. I smile when my dad slaps him on the back and they start to talk to a reporter.

Jackie comes bouncing over to me and hugs me tightly. "Whoa," she says pulling away. "Why are you still so nervous? He won."

"Nervous?" I question.

"Yeah. You're shaking."

I laugh to myself. Yes, I am. But not due to being nervous.