Hot Summer Nights (7 page)

“You been quiet
all day long. What’s going on with you?” Lee asked his little brother as they loaded the car up later that night.

“Got a bad feeling,” he said, taking a cigarette out of the pack his brother offered him.

It wasn’t very often that Wayne smoked. Only when he needed to take the edge off of nervousness and as far as Lee knew, his little brother had never been nervous on the track.

“What kinda feelin’?” he asked, holding out a lighter for Wayne to light the tobacco.

Wayne took a deep draw off the cigarette and then slowly released the air from his lungs. His eyes darted back and forth, searching for something that he couldn’t see, something he couldn’t feel. He wanted to see the dark cloud that had taken residence over his head.

“Don’t rightly know. It’s just a bad feeling. Almost like tonight is gonna change the course of my life. Ain’t never had one this bad before,” he admitted, picking his hat up from where it sat on the hood of Lee’s truck. He smoothed his hair back before placing the hat on his head.

“Do you not want to race tonight? If you told David about your feeling he’d understand. He knows about you and how they make you feel.”

Wayne flicked the ashes over to the side and shook his head. “Nah, I ain’t never accomplished nothing from running from ’em.”

“Nobody ever said you had, but I don’t think you’ve ever accomplished anything by running to ’em either, Wayne. Don’t do something stupid tonight. If you aren’t sure of yourself, if you ain’t sure of this car or this race, don’t get behind the wheel,” Lee pleaded, for the first time his heart in his throat when it came to his brother.

Wayne glanced at his brother, their eyes meeting. “I have no worries; I mean absolutely none, about that car. That doesn’t have me worried at all. You don’t need to worry about it either. Whatever’s going to happen will happen. Leave it up to God. The only thing I can do is go out there and drive my guts out.”

Lee knew that Wayne was right. Anything that was going to happen was pre-destined, but that didn’t mean he didn’t worry. Since they had been little kids, Lee had taken care of Wayne; it wasn’t about to stop now.

“You just go out there and take care of yourself. We’ll do our best to keep you away from Kevin and anybody else who wants to see local-boy-doing-good wrecked. Don’t do nothing stupid.”

A slow smile spread across Wayne’s face, and he ground his cigarette into the dirt with the tip of his boot. “When in the hell have you known me to do something stupid?”

A loud laugh escaped from Lee’s belly, causing him to wipe sudden tears from his eyes. “You really don’t want me to answer that question, do you? I have years upon years of proof of that. Trust me; we don’t have all night to sit here and for me to give you a dissertation of it.”

“Oohh, dissertation, huh? That college girl who just got hired at the mill must be givin’ you some tips on what to say. I didn’t think you knew a word so big.”

“You’re a fucker and you know it! I don’t have time to sit here and insult you and neither do you. We got to get to the track. Better make sure your hair looks good for your Victory Lane photo. You know you’ll be posing with Clem.”

“Whatever, man. She likes the hot, sweaty look.”

Lee’s eyes widened and he took the chance to rib his brother. “Oh she does, does she? Just how did you find out she likes the hot and sweaty look? Ya’ll been hanging out more than you been letting on?”

“No more than you’ve been hanging out with the college girl at the mill. I gotta be outta here. We’re running a bit earlier tonight because of the rain that’s in the forecast. See ya when I get there?”

“Yeah, I’ll be leaving here in less than ten. I’m bringing Momma and Daddy. Be safe, Wayne. Don’t do anything stupid before I get there.”

Climbing into the truck, Wayne flipped him off as he pulled out onto the road heading to the track with the car in tow. Lee hadn’t wanted to tell his brother, but he too had a feeling about tonight.

‡

W
ayne got to
the track a lot earlier than he figured he would. Instead of staying with the car, he decided to walk around and find out what everyone else would be doing. For some reason, he was more anxious than he had ever been before getting in the car. As he made his way back to the car, he saw his crew had arrived and were going down their checklist to it to assure it was in race shape.

“Hey, fellas. How’s it going?” Wayne asked, smacking high-fives around to the crew that was assembled around his car.

He’d grown up with many of the men who helped out on the crew; most of them had graduated with him the spring before. Since then, he’d been making his living racing cars. He was enrolled in an automotive college already for the fall term. He figured if he couldn’t continue making his living as a race car driver, at least he could work on them.

“You’re gonna be puttin’ this bitch in Victory Lane tonight.” Someone from under the car laughed as the crew hooted and hollered.

“He won’t be if I have anything to say about it.”

Wayne knew that voice well; he’d heard it so many times in his life—since kindergarten, to be precise.

“Well, if it isn’t Kevin I’d-put-my-momma-in-the-wall Grimes.” Wayne smirked as he turned around to face the man behind him.

“Wayne,” Kevin acknowledged with a tilt of his head.

“You really think you’re going to beat me out there tonight?” Wayne asked, putting his hands in his front pockets and rocking back on his heels.

Wayne knew he made an intimidating image. He wasn’t tall by most standards at 6’1, and he wasn’t anywhere near large, weighing in at a lean 190 pounds, but he had a glare that could knock a man down. His eyes were sometimes so intense that they scared his own mother.

“You said it yourself, I’d put my mother in that wall if it came to me or her winning. Suffice it to say, I have no problems putting you there.”

The two men stood face to face, along with their crews that had gathered around them. Kevin wasn’t sure what had gotten into him, but that dream he had pissed him off. He wasn’t going to kill anyone, but maybe it was telling him that he needed to take control of his life. Maybe it was telling him that he needed to take control of his own destiny and show Wayne he wasn’t scared. That he was ready to do whatever it would take to make him win. He was ready to take charge and show everybody, especially his dad, that he deserved everything he had ever been given. No more would he be used as a pawn between his parents. No more would he be laughed at regarding his skills on the track. He wouldn’t be the laughing stock who got made fun of even though his parents had enough money to give him the equipment he needed to win out on the track. Tonight, he would make all those people pay, and tonight he would show them just how good he could be.

“Get out of here, Kevin. Save that shit for the track. You know you aren’t going to get into his head. Just let it be.” Lee was always the voice of reason. He situated himself between the two young men and grabbed his brother around the shoulders, pulling him away.

“What’s going on here?” a female voice asked as she approached the large group of men.

“Nothing, Clementine. We were just talkin’, right?” Kevin smirked.

Clementine looked him over in disgust. “Looked like a little bit more than talking to me, boys.”

“Aww shit, Clem. You know how he is. He’s just blowing smoke up my ass. Go on over there and tell your Daddy he’s going to win tonight.” Wayne winked at the young woman as she smiled.

“Good luck, maybe I’ll be seein’ you in Victory Lane.” She winked, kissing him on the cheek. She really wished she could kiss him the way she had the night before, but it wouldn’t be appropriate with everyone around. Especially not with her dad in attendance, sitting in the stands.

“What about me? Don’t I get a good luck kiss too?” Kevin asked, leaning down to the smaller woman.

“Nope, what you need is something greater than I could ever give you, Kev. You need some divine intervention tonight. I hope Wayne kicks your ass, and if you so much as disturb the air around him, I myself will make sure you are never able to have children,” she threatened, turning on her heel as she waved goodbye to the men in Wayne’s crew.

“Bye bye, Kevin. Go pray for your divine intervention. I have a race to prepare for.”

By this time, Kevin’s face had turned a dangerous shade of red.

“Save it for the race track. You touch my brother, I touch you. Got that?” Lee threatened. “Come on, boys, we got a race to win.”

*

Wayne went behind
a hauler and put on the worn out fire suit he always wore. It was a good luck charm for him, his only superstition. It had been passed down from his grandfather, and while it had seen a lot of action, it had carried them through a whole bunch of bad wrecks.

“Wayne!”

He glanced around as he heard a female voice call his name. Looking around the corner, he saw Clementine gazing from side to side.

“Over here,” he called out, waving his arms for her to see him.

She grinned, jogging over, her long ponytail flopping in the breeze as she ran. She stopped in front of him, the top of her head almost reaching his chin.

“What can I do for you, Clem?”

She pulled him into the shadows of the cars and pressed him against the back part of the hauler. “I wanted to really tell you good luck. I wanted to kiss you before you went out there tonight,” she admitted, a blush covering her cheeks.

“You did kiss me. On the cheek back there with the crew,” he reminded her, wondering what she was getting at.

She stopped him, putting her finger up to his lips. “No, I mean the way I did the other night. I don’t want to send you out there without it. I just want you to have something to think about while you’re out there on the track. I mean I don’t want you distracted, but I just want to give you something to remember me by.”

With that she stretched up, coaxing his lips apart as she carefully pressed herself against him. Her arms snaked around his waist and her hands fisted his fire suit. There was something about the heat of the night, about the feeling she had, that made her want to inhale him into her body and never let him go.

“Wayne, we’re ready to go,” Lee interrupted then cursed softly as he saw them. “Sorry, I didn’t know you had company.”

“It’s fine,” he assured his brother. “I’ll be there in just a second.”

Wayne wiped his lips with the palm of his hands. “Is something wrong?” he asked her.

She shrugged, but she couldn’t stop the words that came tumbling out of her mouth. “Can’t you feel it? It’s hanging over this place like a storm ready to rumble. Something’s going to happen here tonight, everybody is talking about it. I hope it’s you winning another race, but be careful out there, huh?”

“I’ll be a careful as I can be. You and I both know that nothing is ever promised in life. Will you be sitting up in the stands with your daddy?” he asked, beginning to walk towards his car in the lineup.

She walked beside him, nodding as they made their way to his car. “I will be. See you later?”

He nodded as he watched her climb the stands and take a seat next to her dad. Lee walked up, clapping him on the shoulder. “Be careful out there and put it in Victory Lane. Don’t make me beat your ass,” he warned.

“You won’t have to beat my ass, I know what I gotta do,” he assured his brother before putting himself in the car.

He was nervous, unusual though it was, it made his hands shake. Taking deep breaths, he looked up in the stands. He saw his mother and father sitting together, Clem and her dad sitting next to them. For once in his life, he wanted a race to be over before it began. Frankly, he just wanted to get out of the race alive. Something about this race, this night, and this time made him pray a little harder as he turned the on switch to the car. As he revved the engine, he wondered what the night was going to bring.

‡