Chapter Six

“You ready?”

Macayla continued to stare at the stack of clothes on her bed and her open suitcase, not bothering to look at Martin. “No…”

He chuckled and walked into her room, sitting on the edge of the bed. “What’s the problem?”

“I’m scared,” she said softly, covering her face with her hands. “God, I’m so stupid.”

Martin shook his head and took her hands in his, pulling her until she stood in front of him, between his legs. “Look at me. You’re not stupid. You’re gonna have a lot on you. I understand that, but you’ve just gotta suck it up. After a week or so, you’ll get into the hang of things and you’ll relax.”

She took a deep breath and ran a hand through her short hair. “If you say so.”

“I do.” He stood up and pulled her into his arms, placing a kiss against her forehead.

“When you two are done being all mushy, we need to get out of here,” Dale said from the doorway, rolling his eyes as Martin flicked him off.

Over the last few weeks, he and Macayla had made a truce of sorts. He would try to trust her and she’d do her job. Technically the only truce was on Dale’s part. Macayla hadn’t changed her approach to what she was doing and though they never really sat down and had any heart to heart’s they did discuss Kellen and what they thought was best for him. Most of the time, they agreed. Other times they didn’t and Dale’s way won out.

“What do I need to wear?” Macayla quickly asked as Martin started for the door.

He shrugged. “Jeans and long sleeve t-shirt I guess. Just make sure there aren’t any other beer logos on them. I’ll take your suitcase downstairs. I’ve got Kellen’s stuff, so just grab his diaper bag and him on your way out and let’s go.”

She hurriedly changed into well-worn jeans and long sleeved baby blue t-shirt then slipped into Kellen’s room. He was standing against the rail of the crib, bouncing up and down with excitement. “You ready to go bye-bye…”

He smiled and giggled, fighting momentarily as Macayla put his coat on him. They may be headed to Daytona but at that moment it was barely scraping the freezing point in Mooresville.

She picked him up, grabbing his diaper bag, then hurried down the stairs and through the front door, smiling at Martin as he followed her out, locking the door behind them. “Here goes nothing…” she said to herself, fastening Kellen into his seat before climbing in next to him in the back of the truck.

“You ready?” Dale asked as he started the engine, casting an amused look at her in the rearview mirror.

Her eyes slightly widened and she shook her head, receiving a chuckle in response.

---

Macayla opened her eyes as the plane descended over Daytona, cringing as her ears popped and she yawned. “Ouch…” Stretching her arms over her head, she looked around to find Martin watching her with a smirk on his face and Dale shaking his head. “Morning…”

“It’s 3 in the afternoon, Mac. Did you even sleep last night?”

She looked at Martin for a moment, unable to stop the yawn that started and shook her head. “Not really. I’m surprised you didn’t hear me tossing and turning.”

The plane taxied to a stop and as soon as the door opened a flood of screams and yells filtered into the plane. She looked out the window, her eyes widening in surprise at the number of people standing on the other side of the fence with Budweiser shirts and hats, posters of Dale and Martin, and numerous women that seemed to have forgotten half of their clothes.

She stood up to get Kellen, taking his jacket off of him, knowing it would be too warm for him once they were outside. Slipping her purse and his diaper bag over her shoulder, she threw the jackets over her arm and picked up the giggling child.

“I’ll take him…” Martin said. “We might have to run and I don’t want you tripping with him.”

Macayla smiled and turned to Dale. “Are we ready?”

He nodded and walked towards the door, stopping momentarily to put a hat on Kellen, doing his best to hide his child’s face from the media. “We need to make a run for it guys. The cars about 20 yards away so just be careful.”

The moment he stepped foot through the door, the screams erupted and Kellen started crying. The three of them ran towards the waiting Suburban, Martin and Dale, sliding into the backseat and Macayla into the front.

She turned around, watching as the two men fought with the complicated fastenings of the car seat while Kellen looked at them with amusement. “Move guys…” she propped herself up on her knee and turned towards the backseat, easily fastening him into his seat and smiled at the men. “It’s not that hard.”

Dale looked at her with mild irritation. “I wasn’t at a good angle.”

“I’ve never tried to fasten the damn…”

“Language!”

“Martin!”

Dale and Macayla snapped quickly once the word was out of his mouth.

“Man, I never in my life thought you’d yell at me for cussing…” Martin chuckled at the flustered look on Dale’s face. “Sorry. I’ve never fastened one of those before give me a break.”

They road in silence as they neared the track, all of them gazing on at the extensive fan base that was flocking towards the speedway.

Suddenly Martin cracked up laughing, drawing Dale and Macayla’s attention.

“Sorry…”

Dale rolled his eyes and looked out of his window. “You gonna tell us what that was about?”

Martin just shrugged. “Some girl back there had a sticker on the back of her car that said Chance 2 Madam.”

“So you’re running an escort service?” Macayla asked Dale with wide eyes, doing her best to not laugh at the surprised look on his face.”

“No… She’s probably just some crazed fan of Martin’s…”

“Cause you don’t have any crazed fans?” Martin shot back, slightly offended that Dale thought someone had to be crazed to be a fan of his.

“Boys…” she broke in. “Don’t argue… Kellen just dozed off.”

They looked at the sleeping boy between them and quickly closed their mouths, both of them looking like little boys that had been scolded.

As they turned into the track, Macayla couldn’t help but stare in awe at the magnitude of what she saw. Never in her life had she watched a race on television, much less been to a track and now she had to keep up with a one-year-old in this mess. “God help me…”

“Huh?” Dale asked from the backseat having barely heard the words fall from her mouth.

“Nothing…”

He slowly nodded his head and watched the people that had already set up camp outside of the track, thankful that Macayla was in the front seat and they didn’t have fans swarming the car like they normally did.

They slowed as traffic began to merge to pull into the tunnel towards the infield, every now and then someone would honk their horn, a natural reaction to their surroundings though no one was really quite sure where it came from. As the Suburban breached the end of the tunnel, underneath turn 4 and pulled into the infield a gasp escaped Macayla’s lips. “Why didn’t guys tell me this was a small city?”

Martin laughed. “Didn’t want to scare you.”

“Gee thanks.”

A security guard stopped them for id, which he received when Dale cracked the back window and he and Martin flashed their credentials at him. The man rolled his eyes and waved them in, like he really needed id of two of the sports most popular drivers.

They weaved through the outer campground before pulling into the drivers lot and coming to a stop between two identical coaches.

Martin jumped out before Macayla had a chance and opened her door for her, offering her his hand in assistance. “Milady…” he said with a bad English accent and a sloppy bow.

“Stick to your day job Truex…” she joked, kissing his cheek as he pouted at her.

Dale rounded the car with Kellen still sleeping in his arms and handed Macayla a set of keys, pointing to the motor coach behind her. “That’s yours. I’m here.”

She and Martin looked between the two coaches then back at Dale. “Um… Dale. How’s she supposed to tell which one’s hers. They look just alike.”

“No they don’t. See the letters next to the door handle.” The three of them walked over to the door and Dale pointed out the small MK that was scrawled beneath the lock. “That’s how you tell. Anyway. I’m gonna take Kellen with me and let him finish his nap. I don’t have anything scheduled tonight so I’m gonna keep him with me and try to spend the last bit of time with him that I can before this weekend gets underway. If you want to take the rest of the day to look around and relax I don’t mind…” he added giving Macayla a quick nod before going inside his coach and locking the door behind him.

“What was that?” she asked curiously.

Martin just laughed and took the key from her hand, opening her coach and jumping in ahead of her. “Damn!”

“What?” She stepped on behind him, coming to a halt instantly. “Oh my God…”

“Yeah… this thing’s nicer than mine.”

They stepped aside as the driver entered with her bags and took them back to the bedroom. “Would you stop that? It is not.”

“Yes it is! I swear it’s exactly like the inside of Dale’s too. And everybody knows he’s got one of the nicest coaches around here.”

Macayla walked back to the bedroom surprised by how roomy it was and began to unpack her clothes. “I’m sure it’s only so Kellen has something familiar when he’s here with me.”

“Whatever you say. But just so you know, I’m staying here tonight…”

She closed the drawer she’d just dropped her underwear into and turned to find Martin leaning against the door with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me…” he said, walking closer to her. “I said I’m staying here tonight.” He slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him, brushing soft kisses over her lips. “This’ll probably be the only night you have off while we’re down here and I want to take advantage of it.”

She rested her forehead against his, sighing. “I’m not going to have sex with you Martin.”

He pulled away from her, forcing her to look him in the eye. “I didn’t say anything about sex, Mac. I just want to spend some time with you. I haven’t had the chance to do that much lately with all of the signings and promotional stuff we’ve had.”

“But you said…”

“I just want to sleep here tonight, with you in my arms. Is that wrong?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean we’ve never even been on a date and you want to spend the night with me? It just seems a little fast. I mean I know we’ve gotten really close over the last couple of weeks but…”

Martin turned away from her, walking back towards the door. “We’re not going to have much time to spend together in the next few weeks. I’m sorry I even mentioned it. I just thought you’d enjoy it.”

“I’m sorry…” Macayla said softly. “I wasn’t planning on having the night off and quite honestly I’d like to be alone. I haven’t had that in a long time either.”

“Fine. You know where I am if you need me…” he stepped out, slamming the door behind him.

She shook her head slowly and sat on the couch, taking a moment to look at her coach. This was nicer than any house she’d ever lived in and the thought of this being her home away from Dale’s was really starting to sound good to her.

“Macayla?”

She looked towards the door, smiling as Kelley stepped inside. “Hey…”

“Hey. What’s wrong with Martin? He practically ran over me trying to get away from here…” Kelley asked, obviously concerned that the budding relationship between the two of them was going to cause more problems than any of them were prepared to deal with.

Macayla shrugged. “He wanted to spend the night cause Dale gave me the night off and I want to be alone.”

“Sorry…” she responded, sitting in the chair across from Macayla. “I know it’s none of my business but…”

”We haven’t had sex. And when he said he wanted to spend the night he was talking about just that. Sleeping.”

Macayla threaded her fingers through her short locks and groaned. “Am I being a bitch?”

Kelley shook her head and smiled. “Not at all. You’ve got a child to take care of all the time and you rarely if ever get any time to yourself. I’d want to be alone as well. If Martin’s got a problem with it, he can either get over it or go fuck himself.”

“Kelley!”

“Sorry. Sometimes those guys are completely irrational. Martin’s problem is, he’s not old enough to understand why people want to be by themselves. He’s still in the ‘gotta have a friend around’ stage. If he doesn’t have someone to keep him occupied he goes somewhere that he can find someone. Anyway. I’m gonna go. I was just going to make sure you guys got in and make sure you were comfortable. Is Kellen…” she pointed towards Dale’s coach.

“Yup. Dale’s spending time with him tonight since he’ll be tossing him my way at the crack of dawn.”

Kelley smiled. “Well. Rest up. I’ll see you later.”

Macayla watched her leave then stood to lock the door, not wanting people to run in and out of the coach the entire night then padded her way back to the bedroom. She slipped into a pair of old boy shorts and a tank top then crawled under the covers, completely disregarding the fact that it was only 4 in the afternoon. This might be the only sleep she got while she was in Daytona.

-next-

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