Short Track Lovin' ✅

Chapter 40: "I Swear, Chase...."

Saturday, July 1

Chase walks into the room, walking over and couldn't help but smile as a smile greeted him back in return. It was nice to see Ryan awake and smiling, much better than the fears that consumed him earlier.

"Hey," Chase says as he sits down in the chair beside the bed. If they were going to talk, then he might as well be comfortable.

"Hey," Ryan replies. "I thought you would've went back to the track after checking in last night. I was surprised when Erin told me you were just down the hall when I told her we needed to talk." Chase felt his stomach flip flop at the importance of the conversation. Were they really talking about this? What else did Ryan have to say?

"Are you kidding me? I care about you. You're like a brother to me, man. I had to make sure you were going to be okay. Feeling better?" Ryan shakes his head yes as he sits more up in the bed. If he would've been asked that any hours earlier, the answer wouldn't been as nice as it was going to be now.

"Still feel a little nauseous and just bleh, but it's wearing off slowly. I'm just glad that they caught it when they did." Chase couldn't help but shake his head in agreement. He didn't want to think about if the situation would've been worse, as it was enough in thinking that could've been at this point.

"How'd you figure it out?" Ryan takes a deep breath, as he thinks back to the night before. it was weird how the images were so vivid in his mind right now.

"After they called the race due to rain, I was thinking about going to watch the ocktagon fight in the infield like everybody else. But then I just felt off. So I went back to the trailer and ended up throwing up a ton. Greg (Erwin) noticed and suggested that I go get checked out, perhaps some fluids if it was the flu, knowing that Saturday was going to be real busy running both races. Well, they saw a couple other things they didn't like and sent me over here to get checked more, and boom – there ya go." Chase shakes his head in disbelief, but thankful that Greg had convinced Ryan to get checked out. Again, he wasn't wanting to think about if it was worse.

"Remind me to tell Greg that he's a bloody hero for helping you out." Ryan shakes his head in agreement as he had to thank the crew chief, too. He could only imagine how he would've been feeling if it was any longer.

"Trust me – I've texted him twice already since then. I'm just surprised I listened." Chase chuckles, knowing how stubborn Ryan could be at times. "Anyways, the doctor mentioned to me that the police would be by sometime today to check-in with me and get a statement as part of their continued investigation. They told me to think back to everything throughout the day and have it ready for them – especially thing that were odd." Chase knew that to be standard process as it was through the odd moments that they tried to pull apart everything. However, his stomach flip flopped as to wondering how he connected to being there. Why was Ryan telling him this?

"They just want to see where you may have been poisoned. I mean, we never have a normal day at the track but they want to see if it fits other trends or whatever." Ryan already knew what he wanted to say, but not how he wanted to say it. How did you tell his best friend this?

"I called you in here because I figured you have a right to know before I speak to them due to Chris' past." Chase's stomach then performed the biggest flip flop that he had done all day at that thought. He had enough suspicion already. He didn't need evidence now to back it up, epically from someone who knew wouldn't fudge shit.

"What do you mean?" Ryan takes a deep breath, closing his eyes, as he recalls the night before. The only way to put this into perspective was to share everything.

"The last person that handed me something to drink was Chris." Chase's jaw drops in shock as he didn't think Chris would be that obvious if he was the one. However, it made sense in how Ryan would accept, knowing Chris through his friendship with Sarina, which obviously happened through Chase.