The Champion (Racing on the Edge) (61 page)

If it hadn’t been for Sway, I would have.

When I got home that night, Sway was waiting for me,
receptive as always and welcomed me in ways I found extremely satisfying.

The next morning though, she made me do something I’d
hoped I would never had to do as a father.

The sex talk.

“Jameson, I’m serious, you need to talk to Axel about
it.”

It wasn’t a request either. She had basically
told
me I was doing this.

“I don’t think so
...
it
can wait. They’re only sixteen. I doubt they’re ready for
that
.”

Sway slapped me. “Are you a fucking idiot?”

I glared but then looked back to my coffee cup.

“No, I just don’t think they’re doing it.”

That was a lie. I walked in on them on more than one
occasion with their hands in places they shouldn’t be and in one instance with
of Lily straddling him on his bed. All I could say was that at least their
clothes were still on.

“And what would make you think that?” she challenged
placing her hands on her hips. “I lost mine at sixteen.”

“I just don’t.” I shrugged. “And if you want me to remain
in a good mood the rest of the evening, don’t bring up Dylan Grady again.” I
warned.

“You’re cute when you’re jealous.” She laughed.

“I’m dangerous when I’m jealous.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” I reached for her ass while she
slapped my hands away.

“We have bigger issues at hand here.”

“Doubt that.”

She turned on her heel sharply and went to the laundry
room pulling his jeans out of the hamper. “Really?”

“So the boy wears jeans
...
”
I chuckled.

“Jameson!” she yelled and pulled a condom wrapper out of
his pocket. It was empty, just the wrapper.

“Well
...
shit,” was
my only intelligent response.

“I don’t think he’s doing anything.” She mocked and
stomped away. “Go!” she yelled over her shoulder.

Damn
. I should have thought of this sooner. He was
young to be sexually active, wasn’t he?

How old was I?

I remember taking interest in masturbation early on,
what, around twelve I think. But sex,
Christ
, I didn’t lose my virginity
until I was seventeen. He’s sixteen, I’m sure he’s thought of it by now.

After some convincing of myself, with some Jack Daniels,
I made my way outside to the race shop where I knew Axel was.

Of course, Lily was in there with him and sitting on the
counter while he was standing in front of her between her legs, with his hands in
places they shouldn’t be.

I chuckled when they jumped away from each other.

“Axel,” I smirked sensing he was uncomfortable. “Can I
talk to you for a minute, alone?”

He nodded and Lily scrambled away.

“Sorry.” She mumbled passing by.

“Don’t be sorry,” I told her. “you didn’t do anything
wrong.”

She smiled, pink with flushed cheeks and slipped out the
side door.

They didn’t do anything wrong. They’re kids and having
natural reactions to their bodies. It’s not wrong for them to feel this way. It
was completely normal.

Axel fumbled with a spring off his sprint car. “What’s up
dad?”

I chuckled nervously. I had no clue what to say to him.

When I was thirteen, my dad had the talk with me sometime
after we came home from Mexico and he caught me speed bleeding to a picture of
Sway in a bikini.

His advice: “Stop spending all your time bleeding your
pressure value and take the girl on a date.”

I never did, well until much later. Jimi thrived on
embarrassing the hell out of me in situations like that and told my mom, Sway
and
Spencer
at the fucking dining room table that he caught me. I made
it a personal note to wreck the bastard the next time we were on the track
together back then and I did.

Anyway back to the nervous teen sitting in front of me.
Poor kid, he was sweating profusely.

“So buddy
...
I uh
...
wanted to talk to you about something.” I
leaned against the side of his sprint car.

“Yeah
...
I kind of
figured that.”

“Do you know why?” I hedged.

“Yeah
...
I think I
do.” He sighed and buried his head in his hands. “About Lily and me and
...
” he motioned south.

I had to laugh when his cheeks turned pink. “It’s nothing
to be embarrassed by buddy.”

“I know, I just
...
I
don’t
...
urggg
...
this is so retarded.” He groaned leaning
his head back so it was resting against the side of the tire. He reached up and
tugged at the ends of his hair.

“What’s retarded?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing, did you?”

Another laugh, “Not really
...
have
you had sex with her?”

All the color left his face instantly as he gaped at me
in horror.

“I um
...
eh
...
what?” he stammered.

“Are you already having sex with her?” I asked again,
trying to avoid any type of reaction that might scare him.

It took him a while but eventually he answered with a nod
of his head.

“So
...
are you
using protection?”

Again, he nodded. I could tell he wanted to ask me
something but he was afraid. “Do you have any questions about it?”

His eyes that were fixated on the spring in his hand
again slowly met mine.

“What was uh
...
your
first time like?”

Wow, wasn’t expecting that question but the poor kid is
looking for advice so I decided to be honest as I always was with him.

“My first time was conceivably a mistake and with the
wrong girl.” I chuckled. “It was over pretty quick, I remember that much.”

“How old were you?”

“Seventeen, almost eighteen,”

“Do you think I’m too young?”

“Yes
...
and no
...
I know you love Lily and I know she loves
you. I also know that she’s not in it for the fame, she’s a good girl for you.”

He smiled lightly. “I do love her.”

“That’s all that matters then, treat her right.”

After a few moments of silence, I thought my work here
was done when he spoke again.

“Dad, um
...
is it
normal not to last very long? Is that bad? Am I doing something wrong?”

“Oh it’s normal all right.” I chuckled. “It’s just not
very pleasurable for the girl.”

“How do you know
...
last
longer?”

“Dirty engine talking,”

“What?” he looked at me with a blank expression.

Jesus, shut up.
I told myself.

It was clear right about then that I was in over my head.

Is this appropriate?
I thought to myself.

Shit, where’s Sway when I need her
?
Or Spencer,
I know he’s had to have had this conversation with Lane by now.

“Well,” I began still glancing around the room as though
someone was going to rescue me at any moment. “With practice it gets easier to
hold back. Listen,” I sighed. “I feel weird giving you advice about this sort
of thing but I’d rather you get it from me than someone else, especially your
moron uncles. How does Lily feel about this? Did you pressure her into this?”

“No,” he answered immediately. “Not at all
...
” His eyes once again sunk to the spring he
was holding. “We were at Williams Grove a couple weeks ago when you guys were
in Darlington
...
after the race Justin
let us go out to get some dinner. When we got back, he had left us a note saying
he’d be back later. I was ready to go to bed but Lily; she wanted to try having
sex. She’s been wanting to for a while, she wanted me to be her first. We’ve
done everything else so I thought it was time to do it.” He shrugged. “It was
over in like a minute and I was embarrassed,
really
embarrassed. We
tried it again a couple weeks later and the same thing. I know it’s supposed to
be pleasurable for her but I can’t last long enough. Is that bad?”

Noticeably, I was not prepared for this. I was sweating worse
than him now.

“Like I said, it gets easier to control yourself.” I
choked out. “Axel, buddy you need to be careful, okay?” he only nodded. “You
don’t want to be a dad this soon
...
everything
you’ve worked for would be put on hold, you know that right?”

“I do, she’s on birth control and I used a condom.”

“Okay, well good,”

“Did you have sex with a lot of woman before you met
mom?”

“What?” It was my turn for the color to drain from my
face. “Axel, have you had sex before Lily?” I asked alarmed and feeling like a
horrible parent for not knowing my son was sexually active.

His face turned a shade darker than his red sprint car.
“I uh
...
shit.” He sighed.

“Damn kid,” I laughed. “I’m really late at this huh?”

“I wanted to tell you
...
but I thought you guys would be mad at me.”

“Why would we be mad at you?”

“I don’t know
...
I
just thought you would be.”

“How many?”

I was almost afraid to know the answer now judging by my
own background and I knew the way woman acted around race car drivers, let
alone the kid and grandson of two well-known racers.

“Just one
...
you
remember Shaylee, right?” I nodded remembering the girl in Ohio we met at the
Chili Bowl earlier in the year. She reminded me of Chelsea and I distinctly
remember warning Axel about her. “It was awful and she told everyone about it,
including Lily.

“How’d Lily deal with that?”

“She cried
...
that’s
the night we had sex for the first time.”

This was worse than I thought.

“Okay, so you slept with another chick and then told your
girlfriend about it and took her virginity the same night you told her?” I
slapped the back of his head. “What the fuck is the matter with you, taking
lessons from me?”

“I hurt her
...
I
felt awful. I don’t even know why I did it
...
I
wanted it to be with Lily but she didn’t want to at the time, Shaylee did.”

“Think with your head kid, not your dick.”

He chuckled sarcastically. “Thanks for the
late
advice.”

“Hey,” I said defensively. “I had no idea you were
sexually active, or wanting to be.”

“Really?” his eyebrow arched in question. “Are you
retarded? Do you not even realize how much time I spend in the bathroom or
touching Lily? I’m all over the poor girl. I think I remember you actually
walking in on us.”

“Oh I saw
...
but I
didn’t think you were
acting
on it. If I remember, your clothes were at
least on.”

“It’s a little hard not to think about sex when girls
throw themselves into your lap after races and Lily, well she’s innocent.” He
groaned. “I can’t believe how bad I messed this up with her.”

“What do you mean? I saw you guys when I came inside.”

“I’m trying to convince her I love her and that I was
sorry. I never meant to hurt her. It’s like the only reason she wanted to have
sex with me was because she thought that’s what I wanted. This is so messed up
and not what I need right now.”

“Story of my life
...
do
you know how long it took for me to figure things out with your mom?”

He shook his head. “I met mom when I was eleven,
completely infatuated with her but thought it was only physical attraction
...
anyway, we did the whole friends with
benefits thing after I pretty much slept with every woman that was thrown my
direction. Broke your mom’s heart and then finally when I was twenty-three, I
wised up and realized how much I loved her.”

“So you slept around a lot.”

My turn to groan, “More that I care to admit; don’t do it
by the way,”

“I don’t plan on it. Shaylee assured me of that. I didn’t
feel anything but disgust afterwards.” He was silent for a few minutes. “What should
I say to Lily?”

“For one, don’t lie to her,
ever
.” I warned. “They
don’t like that. And don’t sleep around. If you’re serious about Lily, which I
think you are, treat her right. Tell her how you feel and if she’s not ready to
have sex anymore, don’t pressure her.”

“I didn’t, like I said dad, she practically attacked me!”
he said defensively.

“Regardless, sex complicates things sometimes.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Don’t be stupid either. Keep using protection. I’m not
ready to be a grandpa. I can’t even handle you three let alone another
you
running around.”

“Really?” he challenged. “It’s not me you need to worry
about.”

He had a point there. Arie was the troublemaker and the
fact that I thought she was an angel made it worse. Casten, well he could
potentially be a problem as well but at his age, we still had time to steer him
in another direction.

When I walked back inside the house, Sway was sitting on
the kitchen floor with a bowl and a spoon eating fudge she’d just made before
it settled. “Please tell me he’s not a man now?” she wailed, her tears mixing
with the chocolate over her lips.

“I wouldn’t say he’s a man but
...
” I let my voice trail off trying to tell her without telling
her.

“Oh god!” she cried out stuffing another spoon full of
fudge in her mouth.

Sitting down beside her, she offered me a spoon full of
fudge which I took. It’d been a rough day. “I probably should have talked to
him sooner.”

“Go talk to Casten about it, right now!” she ordered.