Chapter Twelve

After two weeks in Daytona, Macayla was more than ready for some alone time. Martin stayed under her constantly and his jealous outbursts had all but disappeared. No, surprise though, seeing that the only time she had to herself was when she was sleeping.

He continued to tease and torment her but never pushed her past the point of some light making out before excusing himself for the night and going back to his coach. And to say she was frustrated as hell would be an understatement, but she wasn’t going to rush anything. She wasn’t ready to deal with another broken heart.

Dale had managed to scrape by Jeff Gordon on the last lap with a little help from Tony to win the 500 on Sunday and as she’d been informed on the flight home, it was custom for a party to follow a victory at Club E. She’d never seen the basement of Dale’s house but from the stories she’d heard from Martin and Tony it was the place where all the juicy stuff happened.

As soon as the plane landed Teresa took Kellen and headed home leaving Martin and Dale ready to party and Macayla wondering what to do with herself.

There was absolutely no way she’d be able to get any rest with the party being held in the house so against her better judgment she decided to suck it up, have some fun and save the resting for tomorrow.

“Mac!” Martin yelled as he pounded on her door, two hours later. “Come on. Everybody’s gonna be here soon. You need to get downstairs so we can get the darkest corner before someone else does.”

She shook her head and laughed as she opened the door, her smile widening at the very evident gasp that escaped Martin’s lips when he saw her.

His gaze slowly traveled up her body, over her red leather cowboy boots, the knee length dark denim skirt with gold embellishments and a gold lace camisole. His gaze lingered momentarily on the generous amount of cleavage that was exposed before drifting upwards to settle on her pouty mouth that was painted with just a hint of burgundy gloss and big brown eyes with the tiniest bit of liner. “You look … Wow. You know… can we just stay up here and have a party of our own.”

“No…” she giggled, turning around to go in the bathroom and finish her hair. When she returned her short blond locks had dried into a spiky, sexy mess and Martin was floored.

“My God you’re gorgeous…”

Macayla just smiled. “Let’s go before we miss the good dark corner…”

They descended the stairs hand in hand and were met by a group of people who’d just straggled through the front door.

Macayla watched as Martin high-fived and joked around with the men. Crossing her arms uncomfortably over her stomach she looked around nervously until Dale caught her eye and motioned for her to follow him.

She squeezed past Martin unnoticed and followed Dale into the kitchen. “Did you need me?”

“Yeah. Do you mind helping me get some of this stuff down to the basement? Martin’s gonna be of little use with the DMP here.”

“DMP?” she asked curiously as she grabbed a tray of food and followed him down to the basement.

He put the stack of pizzas in his hand down on the bar then turned to get the tray out of her arms. “Yeah. They’re just a bunch of guys I grew up with. We used to get into all sorts of shit around here. They’ve adopted Martin into the group and now there’s no hope for his safe return. DMP for life baby!”

Macayla laughed then turned around to take in her surroundings. “So what do you do with poles and mirrors down here Dale?” she asked, raising a curious brow.

He looked at her innocently and shrugged. “That was here when I moved in.”

“Yeah, I buy that.” When she looked back at him he was staring at her. “Dale?”

“Huh?”

“You’re staring.”

Even in the dim light she could see the blush that crossed his cheeks as he put the food on the back counter. “Sorry. Its just… You look beautiful.”

Macayla looked down shyly. “Thanks. It feels nice not to be covered in slobber and baby food.”

“Or hickies…”

She laughed. “Or hickies. Funny little things pacifiers. Why did you have to wait until he started sucking my neck to get him one?”

“I don’t want him to get all buck-tooth.”

“There are such things as braces these days, Dale. They work wonders.”

“Hey! There you guys are. Why’d you run off?” Martin asked as he joined Macayla and Dale, both of them noticing as he possessively slid his arm around her waist. “You know with you in those boots, I’m eye level with your…”

She clamped her hand over his mouth. “Don’t finish that sentence Martin.”

“He’s got a point though,” Dale added. “Every guy here will be eye level with them except for Elliott and Michael, but they’ll get the nice view down your shirt.

She sighed and rolled her neck. “Fine, I’m going to change.”

“No you’re not.” Martin and Dale both said, looking at each other awkwardly.

Dale quickly jumped in to relieve the situation. “I mean, you don’t have time. People are already getting here and you need to play hostess.”

“It’s not my house.”

“You live here.”

“I work here.” She shot back surprised to see Dale come face to face with her, barely inches separating them as his hot breath played against the sensitive skin of her cheek.

“You live here.”

Swallowing hard, she slowly nodded and followed him up the stairs to help with the remainder of the food.

---

Martin threw back his head, finishing off his sixth beer in an hour. Initially he’d been thirsty, now he just couldn’t stop. He’d started the party off dancing with Macayla in the dark corner he’d promised but once things got too heated she’d pushed him away and told him she needed to cool down.

He’d watched her walk up the stairs and hadn’t seen her since. That had been a few hours ago. He didn’t know if she’d gone to bed or just wanted to be alone but in his current state he didn’t trust his legs to take him where his mind wanted to go so he stayed right where he was.

“Hey Martin…” Tony called from the foot of the stairs. “You seen Ashley down here?”

Martin shook his head and watched Tony go upstairs. He honestly didn’t remember if he’d seen Ashley at all that night. He glanced over to the group that was gathered together, dancing and let his eyes trail over the well-developed brunette that Josh Snider had latched onto.

She cast him a glance over her shoulder and he slammed his bottle down on the bar and swaggered over to her. “Mind if I cut in…” he slurred, receiving a smile from his friend as he passed the girl over. “Have fun.”

“Oh I intend too…”

Martin looked down into the girl’s face at her dark eyes, heavily shrouded in eyeliner and mascara. She was nothing like Macayla and that’s what he needed. “Why don’t I show you to my corner…”

---

Tony stepped out onto the patio still looking for his cousin. He knew he shouldn’t have brought her tonight. There was no way he’d be able to keep an eye on her and have a good time. Sure she was eighteen but all she wanted to do when she was around these guys was talk about sex and all the things she’d like to do to them.

These were his friends and to hear his eighteen year old cousin say some of the stuff she said wigged him beyond belief. Sure she was legal but as long as he was around, she was supposed to act like she wasn’t.

“Ashley?” he called, seeing a figure sitting in one of the chairs but as he got closer, realized it was Macayla. “Oh, hey. Have you seen Ash tonight? I can’t find her anywhere…”

She just smiled and shook her head. “Last time I saw her she was attached to Reed at the face…”

“What?”

“Oh shit…”

“I’m sorry. Did you say she was attached to Reed at the face?”

Macayla covered her mouth with her hand and mentally kicked herself. “Not tonight! I haven’t seen her tonight.”

“So when did you see her with Reed?”

“I didn’t.”

“Mac…”

“Oh fine! The night of the shootout…”

Tony rubbed his face. “Nevermind. At least he’s eighteen.”

“See… no need to worry.”

“Hell yes there’s reason to worry! We’re worse at eighteen than we are at thirty!”

She smiled. “So it’d be okay if it were Dale but Reed isn’t?”

“No!”

“Oh Tony. I quit. If you’re gonna sit out here, be quiet. If not, go inside and find Ashley.”

Tony sat quietly for a moment, watching her closely. “Are you alright?”

She took a deep breath and looked up at the clear February sky. “No. I don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”

“Ya wanna talk about it?”

Macayla looked at him, meeting him eye to eye. “You have to promise me you’re not in love with me, never will be and never have been.”

He chuckled. “I promise all of those things.”

“Alright… this stays between us right?”

“Of course.”

“I’m so confused. I know that I’ve got this relationship kind of thing going with Martin but sometimes I just look at us together and wonder what the hell I’m doing. He’s four years younger than me and though that’s not really an issue, the fact that he acts that way is.”

Tony just nodded. “But…”

She shook her head. “More of an and…”

“Okay, and…”

“And at the same time I feel drawn to Dale. We’ve got so much in common and I’m so comfortable around him. We just click ya know? I don’t feel like I have to answer him. I mean, Martin’s gotten to this point where he’s so insecure about me. He doesn’t have those jealous fits anymore but I can tell he hates it when I’m anywhere around Dale…”

“Well, he’s obviously got a good reason.”

Macayla shook her head. “Don’t you see though. It wasn’t that way to begin with. I think… I think all this fighting and jealous that I went through with him just pushed me towards Dale…”

Tony looked down at the concrete before looking back up at her. She was quiet and contemplating, not ready to make a decision he could tell but he wondered what was going through her mind. “What are you gonna do?”

“What can I do? Dale’s been widowed for three months, he’s not ready to move on. Hell I’ve been this way for three years and its hard as hell to try to move on.”

“Just give it time okay. Don’t make any major decisions until you know you’re ready.”

She nodded and took his hand when he offered to help her up. “I think I’m gonna head to bed.”

“Alright. Just let it go Mac. It’ll be okay.”

She waved at Tony and went inside, taking the stairs slowly, hoping there were no couples fornicating in her bed. She opened the door and was just about to step inside when she heard mumbles coming from across the hall.

Frowning, she flipped on her light and set her jacket inside then walked over to Martin’s door, listening closely to make sure she hadn’t been hearing things.

Then she heard a thump followed by a high pitched giggle. Her heart pounded in her chest as she grabbed the doorknob, slowly turning it, not sure what she was going to find. She kept telling herself that she hoped it wasn’t Martin but at the same time if it was, that would free her up to make a decision.

When the latch gave way she slowly pushed open the door and the more light flooded the room the louder the pounding in her ears grew. Then the stream of light fell onto the rising and falling of a body she knew all to well. “Martin…”

~next~

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