Lies || Ryan Blaney

1.3 - Loophole

Ryan

True to my word, I put Courtney first in my life. After the lake day, I made sure to spend any amount of time I could with her to catch up on anything I may have missed. She had told me about the trip to the hospital and how she was put off work for her last trimester. To say I had got mad even more was an understatement but I couldn't tell if that was at them or me. I knew I fucked up, a sorry was never going to be enough to make up for what I had caused. I could only hope that doing whatever I could do now would make up for half of it.

The first race of the playoffs was at Darlington and I had made sure that anything Courtney needed was taken care of. I was a bit hesitant about having her come with me. Not for any reason other than her and the baby's safety but she said it was okay. 

We were starting on the pole and even though it was one of my worst tracks of years past, I was hoping to make it three wins in a row and advance into the next round. The first time we were here I scored my best finish in eighth and that was saying something.

Courtney had been a trooper with the flight yesterday and was even having a good time with all of our old friends after we had arrived. The rhythm we had fallen into was the same as it was before we had to break up, and I was happy about it. I had missed having her around. I didn't know how she felt but all of my feelings were still there. I loved her then, and I love her now.

I hadn't taken the step of asking her to be my girlfriend again because I was wanting the perfect time. The first time I had asked her years ago, we had just gotten done with our second date and even though it had gone wrong, she still said yes.

Our first date was the traditional movies and dinner, going off without anything astray happening.  It was honestly the best first date I've ever had. For the second one, however, we decided to go out for drinks with a couple of friends and my sister Erin. The two girls had become close friends whenever she took the job of being my PR, so anytime one was out, the other usually followed. I didn't mind the group of friends along with us, it had made it so much easier to be myself with her. And she could be the fun-loving girl she had claimed to be.

Although, someone got a little too carefree with his drinks during the night and had gotten sick all over the dancefloor. And a certain blonde-haired girl just so happened to be right in front of Bubba as he threw up. After that, it was just a big jumble of apologies and embarrassing talk.

She ended up in a hoodie from my truck and Bubba owed her another top, but at the end of the night when I took her home, she had acted like nothing went wrong. I hadn't meant to ask her that night, thinking that I had to at least make it better than that but I couldn't wait. So I had asked her to be my girlfriend on her front porch step and without her thinking much about it, she said yes.

To say the least, it was probably the best and worst date I've ever been on. So I knew that anything would be better than that. I just wasn't going to invite anyone out for drinks again.

I definitely would do it differently.

Race day I had woken up later in the day, mainly because I had gotten a good night's sleep for once and we didn't have to be put doing anything until the middle of the afternoon. Courtney had been up since the clock struck ten in the morning. She told me that little man had been kicking up a storm and it was nearly impossible to stay in one spot for long, when I asked her why she didn't come back to bed and I understood. He must have been excited to have his daddy around. Just as much as I was happy to have them back in my life.

"I have to meet up with Brett here in a little bit but if you'd like to, Erin had asked to hang out with you today," I told her, looking over the message I had received earlier from my little sister.

"I'd love to. I'll message her in a bit." Setting a plate of eggs in front of me, I gave her a disapproving stare. She sheepishly glanced away, knowing that she shouldn't have been doing much. I had told her last night that even if I was busy, not to think twice about asking me to do anything, breakfast included.

"Don't work so hard, Court." She sat down beside me, her face flushing pink. I couldn't help but change my stare to a smile, not wanting to upset her. "I'll try not to." She said when she saw my face change. Nodding I went to eating and let the silence fill the air. She had been munching on some toast when I first came out of the door to the bedroom so I could only assume she had already eaten. When I was done I went ahead and did a few dishes while Courtney got dressed.

When she came out dressed in a pair of shorts and a white flowery top that seemed to accentuate her bump. "You look gorgeous," I told her. With a playful roll of the eyes, she chuckled. "I doubt that but thank you."

"It's the truth." I came closer to her, placing my palm on her stomach. "What can be better looking than seeing a woman carrying your child?" Her cheeks heated pink and I almost asked her the girlfriend question but stopped myself. Give her time, she needs it.

Don't need to hurry again.

When it came time for pre-race ceremonies, I noticed a face I never wanted to see again. Trying not to lose my cool, knowing there were cameras everywhere, I asked. "What are you doing here Gianna?" Off to my side, I saw Chase walking with Courtney. She had a weird expression on her face when she saw who was in front of me.

"Lucky for me, you didn't read the contract, Ryan. I'm your girlfriend until the end of the season or when you are out of the playoffs." She smirked, seemingly relaying everything she had memorized. Hell, she was probably the one to put that into the contract.

Holding in the string of cuss words that I wanted to say to her, I left her standing there. I needed to get out of her presence, not trusting what I would say.

"Hey, what's going on?" Courtney grabbed my hand, seeing that I was upset. Carefully getting out of her grip, I told her. Chase stood to the side, knowing that if Gianna was here then it couldn't be good. It's most definitely not.

"She's back, Gianna loopholed her way back. God, why can't Roger, see that she is ruining my life?" I said the last part more to myself than to her. running my hands over my face and throwing my hair. I had to refrain from pulling it.

"Ry, it's okay." She put her hand on my arm but I had to move away. The hurt in her eyes showed. "It's not. As long as she's around, I can't have you touching me, as much as I just want to grab your hand and show you what you have always meant to me." The hurt was just there and was replaced with a look of annoyance.

"I'm still not going anywhere, Ryan." She said, the annoyance dripping in her words. "I can have her stand with me if you'd like. I'll even have Alan talk with Todd to see about getting her set up on your frequency."

As much as I hated to, I nodded. I wanted Courtney standing with me. Especially now that the playoffs were starting. Walking away to talk with Alan, I stood alone with her. She smiled sadly at me. "Be careful out there. Even if I'm not in your box, I'm still rooting for you to win."

"I know, babe. If you need anything please let someone know, I don't want anything to happen to you two, I love you both more than anything."

I'm sorry for the extremely late chapter, I've just been so unmotivated in life. I'm starting to get my rather back just not fully there. Hope you all enjoyed it. Also it's spooky season now so I'm excited about it. My anniversary is tomorrow (the 13th) and it's crazy just how fast time has flown.

So what are your thoughts on the Round of 8 contenders? Early pick for winning Sunday at Texas?

Stay Beautiful

Courtney S 🧡👻🎃