Sweet Carolina(54)
“Five laps,” Jeff said from the spotter's roost atop the press box. “Clear all around.”
Dell throttled up, closing the distance between his car and Harbinger's by a foot. He'd take one foot at a time, and before Harbinger realized it, he'd be in second place crossing the finish line. Dell eased up another foot.
“Shit,” he said. “We've got trouble.”
“What is it?” Russell asked.
“A shimmy in the right rear tire. Low air pressure?”
“Could be,” Russell said. “How bad is it?”
Dell claimed another foot of track from Harbinger's lead. “It's not good. Fuck! What the hell happened? We've been running smooth all day.”
“Can you keep her on the track?” Caro asked.
“I'm trying,” Dell said. It was getting harder by the second. The rear end of the car was shaking like a can of spray paint in a tagger's hands. He backed off on the throttle and lost the few feet he'd gained on Harbinger.
“Two laps to go,” Jeff said.
“Dell?” Caro questioned.
“I think I can hold onto second, but passing Harbinger is out of the question.” Shit. What the hell happened? “I think we lost a lug,” he said.
“White flag,” Jeff said.
One more lap to the checkered. Dell made the decision. Missing lug or not, if he could hold onto the car, he might be able to nose past Harbinger in time to claim victory.
Dell throttled up. The wheel jerked beneath his hands, but he held on tight and eased up on Harbinger's ass, his car fighting him every inch of the way.
Move. Move. Move.
Finally, he got close enough to steal the lead car's air. Harbinger's rear end slid up the track.
“Clear,” Jeff said.
Dell wrestled his car alongside Harbinger's. The rear tire shook hard enough to rattle his teeth but Dell refused to give up. A few feet more and he'd be in the lead. All he needed to do was be first across the line. An inch or a mile, it didn't matter. The money was the same either way.
His arms ached with the effort to keep the car on the track. Fuck. So close.
The finish line beckoned. Dell throttled up. The car shot forward, overtaking Harbinger by a nose, then all hell broke loose.
Dell fought the steering wheel as the backend of the car flew apart in a shower of sparks and a symphony of grinding metal.
“Fuck!”
“Dell!” Caro yelled in the headset.
Dell hung on, helpless, as the car spun and crossed the finish line, broken-ass first, half a car-length behind Harbinger.
The car came to a halt in the grass median. Dell lowered the window net and waved to let everyone know he was okay. He took his time unbuckling the safety harness.
“Carolina?”
“Dell? Are you okay?”
“Fine. Does second place count if you cross the line backwards?”
He heard her smile in her answer. “Yes, it does. Good work out there today.”
“I'm sorry, Caro. I don't know what happened. I had the win.”
“You'll get the next one, Dell.”
He wasn't so sure. He'd done everything right today. For the first time since his father's death, he felt like it was the real Dell Wayne behind the wheel today. People thought he didn't notice his own driving. Hell, he wasn't blind. But until today, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to find his way back to the old Dell Wayne. He'd driven smart today – none of the aggressive shit he'd been living on for the last three years. The checkered flag should have been his.
Since his talk with Dickey Warner, he hadn't felt the restlessness he'd come to think was normal. He still didn't particularly like the guy, but they shared a bond that went beyond DNA. Caudell Wayne fucked up both their lives, and that was something they could bond over, even if they didn't know how to be brothers.
After their piss-fest on the Darlington trophy, they'd finished off the beers in Dell's refrigerator and gotten to know each other a little better. The alcohol loosened their tongues, and though Dell wouldn't go so far as to call Dickey his friend, he'd come to respect the guy. Dickey went from idolizing Caudell, to realizing he wasn't a god, to accidentally killing him, to finding out the man was his absentee father. In some ways, Dickey's life was more fucked up than Dell's, and that was saying something.
For Dell, having an ally in his hatred of his father made it easier. Caudell was gone, or he would be if Dell would loosen his grip and let him go.
Dell figured it was time to move on, put the past behind him. He didn't have a damned thing to prove to Caudell Wayne. The man made one son's life miserable, while he totally ignored the other. The past was the past. It was time to look to the future, and Carolina Hawkins was his future. She loved him. Granted, he might have imagined her saying those words, but he didn't care. If there was any chance she believed there was a man inside him worth loving, then he was going to find him – for her.