Short Track Lovin' ✅

Chapter 41: Coke Zero 400

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Chase walks out to pit road, sunglasses affixed on his face, as he makes his way by his fellow competitors.

If he wasn't so hard on himself about commitment, he probably would've stayed locked in the motorcoach till everything shook itself out with how he was feeling.

Once he had finished the conversation with Sarina, he met up with the team for a discussion about the race. The conversation wasn't needed – but it was a good distraction for him to have. He went through the sponsor appearances, and then forced himself to eat something as he knew racing on an empty stomach would not go well at all. He retreated back to the motorcoach, hiding out as he waited for a text or something from Sarina, making sure to head out to pit road just before start time.

Now following his introduction, he was hoping it'd just be a matter of minutes before he was in his own world strapped in the car.

"Chase!" He hears, stopping and rolling his eyes immediately as he turns in the direction of the voice. He could only roll them again as he noticed it was Kyle Busch making his way over. "Dude, have you seen Chris at all today?" Chase shakes his head no. "Damn. I heard there's an arrest warrant out for him?"

"Ryan says that Chris poisoned him," Chase states, knowing it was just a matter of time before the truth came out. Like Ryan had done the good duty in warning him, he had done the good duty in warning Kyle with him being Sarina's boss. He just hoped that it didn't backfire entirely on Sarina as he'd hate for her to lose everything she earned over her brother's mistakes. "Combined with Jared's comment, it's added up to enough for a warrant."

"Sarina wouldn't say much, but I thought that was the case. I haven't seen him either, and truthfully, she hasn't seen him as she's been hanging around Christopher and I all day." Chase rolls his eyes, knowing that had to be a great combination as nothing like hearing another round of Bell worries. Should he be preparing himself for a lecture in the future? "She went looking for her brother, and couldn't find him, so she found us instead. We convinced her that we'd help look, but also watch just because."

"Glad you had better luck than I did." Chase knew he shouldn't say too much, but as he took off his glasses to truly face Kyle, he knew it was worth saying. If he was going to be one of a few she'd speak to, then he had to get out the message that way. After all, he didn't want this to be their last chapter. "Look, I went to her after Ryan told me and flat out told her what I thought. I said what Ryan said, and I said how I agreed based on the facts. She wasn't too pleased, denied it entirely, was mad at me for that and walked out." Kyle shakes his head, understanding.

"She had told me you guys had a disagreement about it..." Chase knew that was putting it mildly, knowing a lot of things were said in that moment. Now was he going to take any of those back? Probably not, considering the seriousness of what was going on.

"Kyle, I love her. I really do love her and I want to spend as much time as I can possibly muster with her. I want to see us work this out and everything be fine for us. I know I was a little over baring in what I said, but it's how I felt. Just promise me that you'll keep an eye out for her, please." Kyle shakes his head, accepting. He could see the emotions in Chase's eyes as he told him. He also knew how Sarina felt about Chase before this went down, and knew that wouldn't probably just disappear into nothing.

"I will, without a doubt. None of this is her fault or your fault. If it's meant to be, you'll find a way back together. Good luck." Chase smiles, glad there was an understanding. It felt better to be on the same page this time around, unlike last time. Perhaps there was hope out there.

"Thanks Kyle, and same to you." He then puts his sunglasses back on, continuing the long walk down pit road to where his No. 24 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet sat on the pole.