10. Carson

Holy fuck, that felt good. Fifth place. Hell yes! Suck on that, Brayden.I don't know why that has to be my first thought after getting out of my car, but it is. Him with his don't do anything stupid bullshit.

Like I'm a kid who doesn't know what the hell he's doing. I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm a damn good racer, and I'm on a high as I step out of my car, top five of this race. And yeah, Brayden did take first today, the asshole. But I'm coming for him, and I think he knows it.

Nothing wrong with a little friendly competition between friends, right?

It's pure chaos as the media and our agents surround our cars. Microphones are shoved in our faces with questions that'll air on the news tonight. Plenty of sports bloggers are here too. It's exciting as hell, something I'm not sure I'll ever get used to either.

I love answering the questions.

"Carson, it looked like you were going to have an epic spinout there at the end, but you recovered just in time. How did that feel?"

"Carson, how does it feel to be the youngest racer out on the track today?"

"Carson, how is it racing right next to The Brayden Beckett?"

Now that one, of course, gets Brayden and Jenny's attention. Both of them just waiting for me to fuck up. I want to roll my eyes at them, but I also make them sweat a little, so I just rub my chin thoughtfully. "Hmm, how is it racing next to Brayden?" Jenny glares, but Brayden can't. I grin wide and waggle my eyebrows. "Wouldn't you all like to know?"

The reporter laughs, just like she's supposed to do for the camera. We all know our roles out here, and you wouldn't know whether she actually finds me charming or if she just knows how to play the game. We'll never know. "Yes. We'd love to know."

I grin over at Brayden. "It's indescribable. I've looked up to Brayden since I can remember. There's some things in racing you just can't teach, and he has that." I look away from Brayden now, feeling a little vulnerable, spilling the truth like that. "And he's a great teacher. He kicks my ass when I need it, but I'm just along for the ride. Happy to be here."

The reporter is now grinning ear to ear. She knows she got her soundbite for the evening news. "Thank you, Carson. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we're all happy to have you here."

She goes onto the next racer, and another reporter comes my way, and I'm ready. I love the banter and the questions. I could do even more, but soon we're being ushered away from the track, and the media is packing up.

Jenny grabs Brayden and me, and we walk toward the pit to get out of the stadium. She looks fairly pleased, and I can't help but ask when we're out of range of everyone else, "So, you think we sold the bromance well enough?"

Her eyes just roll as she stops walking, standing in front of us, and I know she's ready to lecture. I quickly try to go over everywhere I messed up to prepare myself, but I don't think I did. "Please. Not even close." She looks over at Brayden. "Did I see you mouth asshat at him during the interviews?"

I grasp my heart playfully. "I'm hurt. Devastated."

Brayden flips me off, and Jenny just turns her focus to me. "And you. What the hell was that dramatic pause, huh? When someone asks you what it's like to race next to Brayden, you play up the goddamn legend bullshit, okay? Right away."

I smirk but do so carefully because I happen to really like my balls and don't want her to take them. "You guys did fine." She sighs. "But we're going to have to do more off the track."

Knew it.

Brayden grumbles, but he doesn't argue loudly, and I'm pretty sure she wasn't expecting either of us to. She knows her shit, and we both respect her enough to listen.

"There's a charity event in Kansas City on Thursday. You guys don't fly out for the next race until Saturday, so it's perfect."

"What kind of event?" Brayden asks cautiously.

"You know Maverick's guy, Coop?" I swear to God she actually smiles fondly, just mentioning the cute guy's name. And Cooper Moon is fucking adorable. There's no getting around that. I've only seen him a couple of times, but yeah, adorable.

We both nod in answer.

"Well, his animal shelter is having an adoption event, and of course, since he's dating Mav, a lot of racers are going. It would be good to see you guys there."

She's not asking. She's telling, but it sounds good to me. I love animals. Just don't have a lot of time for them. And before I bought my house, I lived in a shitty little apartment, so I didn't have the space.

"As long as I don't have to adopt anything," Brayden says.

Jenny just shrugs. "You see if you can resist Coop. Thanks to him, I now have a fucking cat." But she smiles fondly. "He's really cute though." She shrugs and then drops the smile. "Okay, I'll send you both the information. You did okay today. Go celebrate. Maybe even go to dinner together or something. It's good PR."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Brayden asks, and I can't help grinning wide. He hates this so much.

"No." Jenny looks at him. "I'm not. Probably take it easy on the alcohol. I don't want to have to do any damage control. I'd love to go home, take a nice bubble bath, prop my feet up, and open a bottle of wine without having to babysit tonight."

He just grumbles.

"Fine. I'll take the toddler to dinner."

"Fuck off," I say, and he chuckles. "I'm not a toddler." I don't know why I have to say that out loud, but damn it, I do.

Seriously, what the hell will it take for him to see me as an equal?