never til now • alex bowman

chapter 4

An alarm blared right next to her head, signaling it was time to get up and get ready to head to Martinsville. She groaned and turned the blaring noise off and with one eye open, she looked at the messages on her phone

Brotha
You headed with me or alone?
Or with Bowman?

Alexander
Good morning
You going with Denny or yourself?
If not, come with me!

She chuckled and tossed the phone back down before getting up and finding her way to the bathroom to shower and get herself ready. She dressed herself in black leggings, with an oversized Blake Shelton t shirt that hung off her shoulders, leaving her hair to air dry and will be done in Dennys coach later. She texted Alex back about going with him, and then told her brother she was going with Alex. Grabbing her large duffle bag and smaller tote bag, she walked down and put them both down by the door of her apartment.

After making herself a small breakfast and smoothie, there was a knock at her front door telling her it was time to go. She walked over to the door and opened it to see Alex, dressed in black sweats, his black Ally sweatshirt and his hair that was styled for the day.

"Ready to go sunshine?" He joked, making her laugh and slip on her slides, shutting her lights off.

"Yep. Oh no I got it." She said and watched Alex reach for her bags.

"Nah it's good. There's a couple surprises in the car you need to see." He smiled, making her question him, but also follow him after locking the door. Once they got to his car, she could already see what the surprises.

"Finn! Roscoe!" Magnolia squealed, immediately jumping in the passengers seat to be smothered by both dogs. Alex soon got in and pushed them back to the back seat with a laugh.

"Bringing the coach and just staying up there with them this weekend." He said as he started to drive out of her parking lot.

"That's such a kind dog dad thing for you to do." Magnolia joked, making him smile and shake his head. Already being as comfortable as she is with him, she immediately got in a cozy position for the car ride ahead of them. They both talked about the race, another themselves, and once in awhile Roscoe or Finn would poke their head up to check to make sure Magnolia was still there.

Halfway through the trip, her eyes began to get heavy. She rested her head on her hand that was propped up next to his on the console, slowly blinking to keep herself awake. Her eyes almost shut until a hand on her knee made them open slightly to see Alex had put his hand on her knee, sending cold chills down her spine. She smiled happily, taking her free hand and placing it on his and sliding it down her thigh to where it was comfortable for the both of them before drifting asleep for the remainder of the ride.

"Hey Mags. We're here." Alex shook the blonde awake gently. Her eyes fluttered open to see the vehicle was stopped, the dogs were out, Alex's hand was off her leg and he was leaned in the drivers side.

"Did you win?" Magnolia joked as she stretched, making Alex laugh as she got out of the car.

"Not yet, still working on it." Alex chuckled as he followed her to the motorhome. She sat down on the couch to wake up, after grabbing herself a Celsius from Alex's fridge.

Once she was fully awake, so went in to do her hair and a small amount of makeup, changing into a navy shirt to look a little less homeless for practice and qualifying.

"Can we take Roscoe and Finn over to Dennys so Tay and Molly can see them?" Magnolia asked as Alex walked out of the back, making sure the dogs had food and water.

"Of course. Are they here?" He asked, starting at the blonde who was squatted down loving on Finn.

"Yeah. Taylor insisted." She chuckled making him as well.

They both headed down to the track where they had set up the cup haulers now, and luckily Joe Gibbs was parked next to Hendrick Motorsports.

"Hey, I'm going to go get changed real quick." Alex said looking into the Ally hauler.

"I'm going to go say hey to my brothers and nieces." She said, making him nod and she walked down to the FedEx trailer getting greeted by Denny's team as she walked through the hauler up to where Taylor and Molly sat in the lounge area.

"Aunt Mags!" Taylor yelled, making Molly squeal as well as they ran over to give her a hug. She embraced them both, giving a little laugh.

"Where's your dad?" Magnolia said looking back down the hauler. They both pointed the same way and followed Magnolia as she searched for her brother. She must've missed him coming in, or he appeared in the chair after she came through, and he turned to look at her with a big chuckle.

"Hey Mags. How was the ride up here." Denny asked with a small smirk at her, making her I'll her eyes playfully.

"Alex's floofs came with him so I had to go with him." Magnolia said taking a seat next to him.

"Bullshit." Denny scoffed jokingly.

"You'll see them later. I asked if we can bring them over to your coach to see the girls. I figured they'd love to see some floofs." Magnolia shrugged, taking a drink of the water bottle in her hand.

"We? So You're staying with him? Are you guys official?" Denny asked with a raised eyebrow. She didn't have an answer for any of those questions. The gestures, the hand on the leg, the playful handholds, she didn't know what to even call them. Luckily, Gabehart came out and took Denny with him, so she never had to answer him. But it left her thinking a little bit about that. She's never felt this way, or fell so hard for someone so fast.

Honestly that was a bad chapter, but I wanted to throw one out. Currently working on the next one and trying to come up with a better writing technique as I go along, bare with me haha
Also, I'm planning on releasing the introduction to the Denny Hamlin one I have so be on the look out for that one! :)