Ignite

  THE INTERVIEWS WERE FINALLY OVER and I was headed back to my bus. I had been riding on a high all evening. First winning the Daytona 500 and then finding out Adaline was pregnant. This day could not possibly get any better.

  I lifted my baseball cap and pushed my hand through my hair as I smiled. Who was I kidding? The day was only going to get better the second I held Adaline in my arms.

  “Emmit!”

  My sister’s voice caused me to turn and look at my sister. “Hey, Ashley!”

  “Emmit!” she called out again as she rushed over to me.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked as she grabbed me and pulled me straight ahead. “Ashley, what in the hell is wrong with you?”

  “It was Becca!”

  I came to a stop, bringing my sister to a stop in the process. “What was who?”

  The look on Ashley’s face was frantic. “Becca! Cookie, do you remember Cookie?”

  My head pulled back and I looked away briefly before the name clicked. “Your girlfriend from Dallas?”

  “Yes! Emmit, she was the one who tried to cancel your reservations. It was Becca who got into the villa and destroyed Adaline’s dress. It was Becca who came to the Bahamas and delivered the video for Adaline to see.”

  My head started spinning. “Wait. What? Did Stephanie hire her or something?”

  Ashley shook her head and said, “No! No! No! Stephanie didn’t have anything to do with that. My other friend Janet said she walked in on Becca earlier and she was going through my phone. When Janet asked her what she was doing, Becca told her everything. About how she had been looking through my emails and texts from you because she loved you and had to find a way to get Adaline to leave you.”

  “How would she know all that information?”

  Ashley quickly wiped a tear away and said, “Emmit, you emailed me all the information for the wedding. Remember, after Stephanie was fired? I called and arranged for the spa day and everything. Everything Becca needed was in that one email.”

  “W-why would she do that?”

  Ashley grabbed my hand again and ran to the bus. “She’s crazy, Emmit, and she wants you. I think she might try to hurt Adaline!”

  The last sentence Ashley spoke hit me and I quickly ran past her and to the bus. As I went to reach for the door, Ashley pulled my arm back. “Wait!”

  I looked back at her like she was crazy. Putting her finger to her mouth, she shook her head. “If the door is locked and she is in there, she’ll do something drastic.” Reaching into her purse, Ashley dug around until she pulled out her keys and looked for the key to the bus.

  “Right,” I said, as I grabbed the key. Taking a deep breath, I prayed when I opened the door I would find Adaline sitting on the couch reading.

  Quietly slipping the key into the lock, I turned it and opened the door as fast as I could as Ashley pushed me through the door with all her might.

  I came to a halt when I saw Cookie . . . or Becca . . . or whatever the fuck her name was, standing in front of Adaline holding a knife. With a quick look down, I saw Lola lying on the floor.

  Becca looked stunned and took a step back, long enough for me to quickly react and grab the arm that held the knife.

  When the knife hit the floor, I looked down at it and that’s when Becca hit me in the balls and pushed me into Adaline. Ashley tried to reach her but tripped over Lola and fell to the ground.

  Adaline grabbed onto me as I pulled her into my arms. “Baby, I have to go after her.”

  Turning to run out of the bus, I heard Becca screaming.

  “Let me go! Put me down! Help! Help!!”

  Malcolm was standing there holding onto a kicking and screaming Becca as lights from police cars quickly lit up the area.

  The police quickly ran up to Malcolm as he shouted out, “This is her!”

  Two seconds later, the police were taking Becca away.

  I watched as they brought her to the car and put her in as an officer began talking to Adaline, who was now outside.

  Turning to Malcolm, I looked at him with a confused look on my face. “How did you know what was happening?”

  Ashley walked up and stood next to Malcolm and said, “Oh, well I had run into Malcolm and was talking to him outside of his bus, when my friend Janet came running up. She couldn’t call because I had left my phone at the hotel.”

  I glanced between Malcolm and Ashley. “Who called the cops?”

  “I did,” Malcolm said. “Ashley saw you walking by and took off after you, so I called 911.”

  This was insane. I couldn’t believe this was happening. One minute everything was fine and then next, some crazy bitch was trying to hurt Adaline.

  Reaching my hand out, I thanked Malcolm. “Thanks for calling the police and grabbing her before she could get away.”

  Malcolm smiled and nodded his head, “I’m just glad I was still here.”

  My hand went to the back of my neck where I rubbed it back and forth. “Yeah. Yeah me too, you usually pull out pretty fast. I’m glad you hung around a little longer tonight.”

  Malcolm gave me an awkward smile. “Yeah. Me too.”

  I made my way over to Adaline and stood by her side. The next hour was spent giving statements to the police about everything that had been happening over the last few months. A vet came and checked out Lola, who was now awake and running around happy she was getting so much attention. I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that one of my sister’s best friends was behind all of this.

  Adaline shut the bus door and turned to face me as I fell onto the couch and let out a long sigh. “Holy shit. What an insane day. Baby, are you okay?”

  Adaline made her way over to me. She looked tired and her eyes still held fear in them. “I’m a little shaken up but at the same time, at least we now know it wasn’t Stephanie and the person is in jail.”

  With a quick nod of my head, I agreed. “Yeah. I think I owe Stephanie an apology.”

  Adaline chuckled. “I’d say we all do. Wow. Please tell me no other crazy women are going to show up like that.”

  I was too tired and pissed off to even laugh at Adaline’s joke. I stood up and pulled her into my arms. “I want to take a shower and just lay with you in my arms, Adaline.”

  Placing her hand against my cheek, Adaline smiled and said, “That sounds amazing. We need to find Hank though so we can get the hell out of here.”

  It was as if Hank appeared by magic. A quick knock at the door and there he was. “Hey, guys. Congrats again on the win, Emmit!” Turning to Adaline, Hank’s face brightened. “And congrats on the pregnancy. I’m so happy for both of you.”

  “Thank you, Hank,” Adaline said.

  Hank slapped his hands together as he looked between us. “You ready to pull out? I figured with the win you’d be knee-deep in interviews, so I hung out and played some poker with some of the guys here from the track. I hope y’all weren’t waiting on me.”

  Adaline and I both looked at each other. Hank had no idea what had happened. He must have been locked up tight in someone’s bus. Adaline and I busted out laughing. Hank stood there staring at us with a bewildered look on his face as I laughed like I hadn’t laughed in years.

  “What is wrong with you two?” Hank finally asked.

  I dragged in a deep cleansing breath and said, “Nothing, we’re ready to leave.”

  Hank headed to the front of the bus to get ready to leave and Adaline and I headed to the back.

  What started out as one of the best days of my life, almost turned to one of the worst. But lying in bed with Adaline in my arms and my hand over her stomach, it ended perfectly.

  Two months later.

  Adaline held my hand as we waited for the moment when I would crawl into the car. I knew this was stressful for Adaline, but she never uttered a word about her fear of me getting hurt while driving. She only stood by me one-hundred percent of the time.

  Glancing over to her, I couldn’t help but smile. Each day she grew
a little bit bigger and you could barely see the little tummy from under her shirt. We were four months pregnant and counting. The glow on my wife’s face said it all.

  Life was bliss.

  When the time came, Adaline turned to me as I placed my hand over her stomach. “I love you both,” I spoke against her lips.

  “We love you back. Be careful, Emmit.”

  With a wink and a quick kiss again on the lips, I said, “Always am.”

  I watched as Adaline made her way back through the crowd. I knew she could easily go back to the bus and be comfortable, but she sat next to her father the entire race. In a way, she was my good luck charm since I’d won the Daytona 500 back in February and two races since with her sitting her sweet little ass up next to my crew chief. Who also happened to be her daddy.

  Robby reached in to help me strap in and get everything connected up. “How’s the little one?” I asked.

  Smiling, Robby gave me a quick nod. “Better than ever. Running all over the damn bus causing poor EmmyLou stress.”

  I let out a laugh and said, “I can’t wait.”

  Robby gave me a quick slap on the shoulder and said, “You’re all set. Give ’em hell, Lewis.”

  “Will do.”

  The rest of the day consisted of me bitching at my spotter and crew chief, then complaining about at least five different drivers, and one fan who threw a cup onto the track, which resulted in a caution.

  “What in the hell is Wallace doing? Tell him to get the hell out of my way, Waldo, or I’m going to push his ass out of the way.”

  “Let’s just get you safely into the pits and don’t speed,” Waldo said calmly.

  I dropped down to enter the pits only to have Malcolm slam on his breaks, nearly causing me to hit him.

  “Bastard!” I yelled out as my spotter started talking.

  “Three, two, one.”

  Slamming on the steering wheel, I yelled, “Get me out of here!”

  Waldo’s voice came across right as I was about to start bitching. “Go! Go! Go!”

  Hitting the gas, I maneuvered around the pit box in front of me and headed back onto the track. I was the second one off of pit road, and ahead of Malcolm sitting in third place.

  I didn’t utter another word until we were three laps from the checkered flag.

  My spotters voice filled the silence. “Two to go.”

  “You’ve been doing good going high all day on those turns,” Waldo said.

  I knew what I had to do. Number Eight was expecting me to go high on the turns; I was going to give him a little surprise on turn four.

  “Emmit, you’re awfully quiet in that car,” Waldo said with a chuckle.

  “You do your thing, I’ll do mine,” I responded.

  “One to go.”

  I couldn’t help but wonder what Adaline was doing this very moment. Was she standing and watching or was she watching the monitor? Smiling, I thought back to last night when she climbed on top of me and took me to our favorite place.

  “If you’re going to do something, Emmit, now would be the time,” Waldo said.

  Hitting turn three, I watched as the car in front of me drifted up into his normal blocking position as I went down and hit the gas. I cruised right on by him and into first position and finally taking the checkered flag.

  “That’s what I’m talking about! Yeah!” I shouted as Waldo congratulated me.

  “Congratulations. See you in victory lane.”

  Fucking yeah. Adaline was my good luck charm all the way.

  November—Championship Race

  I WATCHED AS EVERYONE SURROUNDED Emmit as he climbed out of his car. I held onto Landon as I stood back away from the crowd. Victory lane was probably not the best place to be with a two-month-old baby.

  Emmit looked around and I couldn’t help but smile. Our eyes met and I could have sworn I saw tears in Emmit’s. The interview started and for a moment it looked like Emmit was at a loss for words. He snapped out of it and began talking. I was getting turned on just by watching my sexy-ass husband. Something about that baseball cap and that smile of his, it drove me mad with desire. Taking in a deep breath, I pushed aside the crazy feelings my body was having.

  When the interview ended, Daddy walked up and gave Emmit a quick hug and a slap on the back.

  I finally made my way over to him as Emmit kissed me softly on the lips.

  “Congratulations,” I said with a smile and wink.

  Emmit’s eyes were burning with excitement. Glancing down, he smiled as our son slept peacefully in my arms, totally unaware of everything going on around him. I swore the boy would sleep through a hurricane. Nothing woke him up.

  “How’s he doing?”

  “Good,” I said with a giggle. “How are you doing?”

  Emmit shook his head and smiled bigger. “Honestly, babe, I can’t even put it into words. You and Landon being here for this just makes it all the better. I don’t think life could possibly get better than this.”

  I had to agree. Everything about our life was magical.

  My whole pregnancy had seemed to be one big fairy tale. With Emmit sneaking in picnics, and surprise day trips to visit everything from plantations to shopping trips to Babies R Us. Once Landon came along it felt like our little family was complete.

  I smiled at Emmit as I said, “I’m headed back to the bus so I can get him away from all of this. I love you.”

  Emmit kissed me one more time on the lips, before saying, “Okay, pumpkin. I love you too. Make sure Mom or Ashley goes with you.”

  I rolled my eyes as I said, “Yes, Dad.”

  As I made my way back through the crowd, the security guard that Emmit had hired was right on my heels. After everything that happened with Becca, Emmit decided I needed to have a bodyguard during the races. I loved him for being so worried, but I had every intention of nipping this in the bud before next season.

  The trial had been fairly quick. Of course, it wasn’t a surprise when Becca pleaded guilty and then started talking about the voices in her head that told her Emmit loved her. She was now in a psychiatric ward where she would serve out her time and hopefully get better. As of right now though, she was the least of my worries.

  “Joel, you really don’t have to follow me to the bus.”

  With a polite smile, Joel said, “Oh yes, ma’am, I do.”

  Laughing, I shook my head and walked with Landon toward our bus. Ashley came running up and kissed me, then Landon on the forehead. “Oh my God, he won! How crazy insane is that?”

  “I knew he would,” I said with a naughty smile.

  “Ha! So what are the plans for tonight? Are we going out to celebrate, we’re in Miami after all!”

  Ashley had more energy than the damn Energizer Bunny, I swear. “Not sure what the plans are but I highly doubt we’ll be hitting any clubs, Ashley.”

  Ashley smiled before glancing over my shoulder and frowning.

  “Oh my God, who is that skank hanging around Malcolm’s bus?”

  My eyes looked over toward Malcolm’s bus. There was a tall blonde dressed in a skirt that was so short I was almost positive I saw her ass cheeks.

  “Don’t know. I’ve never seen her before, but then again I don’t think I’ve ever seen Malcolm with the same girl twice.”

  I stopped walking and looked at Ashley as she almost ran into me because she was looking back at the girl.

  “Ashley, please tell me you took my advice and never hooked up with Malcolm.”

  “Why is everyone so concerned about my sex life?”

  “Ugh. Don’t say that. It gives me a visual.”

  Ashley placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head as she looked at me. “Excuse me, but you talk about your sex life with my brother all the time!”

  I rolled my eyes and walked as I took one more peek over at the blonde.

  “Please, I’m married to your brother and he isn’t a man-whore. Malcolm on the other hand will screw anything with a vagina attache
d to it.”

  Ashley laughed and said, “That’s true.”

  With a shake of my head, I looked back at her as I stopped at the door to our bus. “Ashley, he has a reputation for being fast in and out of the car. Do you really want someone like that?”

  The smirk that spread across her face caused me to start chewing nervously on the inside of me cheek. “Trust me, there is one thing Malcolm Wallace is not fast at. He is very slow and very very good at it.”

  I made a gagging motion as I looked away. “Oh, gross.” Turning back to Ashley, I gave her that look only a mother gives. “You better hope Emmit doesn’t find out you and Malcolm have been . . . um . . . doing . . . ah . . . well um.”

  “Fucking?”

  Thud.

  There went my heart.

  Now I knew the truth. I was sucked into this and as soon as Emmit found out I knew about it, he was going to be pissed.

  “Oh God. I think I’m about to be sick.”

  Opening the door to the bus, I jetted in as Ashley laughed. Taking Landon from my arms, she motioned for me to go away. “Let me spend some time with my little man here. Why don’t you go lay down or something?”

  I jerked my head back and made a gasping sound. “Go lay down? What the hell? I’m not tired.”

  “Well, I want to spend some time with my nephew.”

  “Ash, I think we should talk about Malcolm. It’s not safe, you sleeping with him. I mean, doesn’t it bother you there was some girl waiting outside his bus for him?”

  Looking lovingly down at my son, Ashley shook her head. “Nope. We’re just enjoying each other, Adaline. That’s it. It’s purely a physical thing and I like it that way.”

  Ashley headed back toward the bedroom as I rolled my eyes and grabbed my Kindle as I sat down on the sofa. It would be awhile before Emmit was finished with all the press and stuff. I might as well enjoy a good book while Ashley was here.

  It didn’t take long for my eyes to start closing and the words on my Kindle to grow blurry.

  The smell of Emmit’s cologne caused me to stir as I realized I was being carried. Opening my eyes, I looked around. “W-where are we?”