Short Track Lovin' ✅

Chapter 76: The Photoshoot

Wednesday, October 18

Chase emerges from the change room, smoothing the suit out as he flashes a quick smile to Morgan. He would've preferred to be at the shop. He would've preferred to be biking, hanging out. He could've even spent some time hanging out with Sarina. Instead, it was another day of work for the sponsors – this time, being a photoshoot for Hooters.

"Okay, so let's get this started," one of the many sponsor representatives says as he comes down the hall. It was all standard protocol once he was ready to go, used for it from a bunch of other sponsor commitments. "Chase, this is the girl that you will be taking the photos with..."

Chase glances over his shoulder, his breath catching in his throat immediately. There was no mistaking that face anywhere as it was one to never, ever forget no matter what happened moving forward. Sure, she had changed some of her appearance since their last meeting – but it was her without a shadow of a doubt. Was this really happening?

"Alison?" He finally finds her voice, as she glances up to finally meet his eyes. When they told her that she'd be doing one of her first photoshoots today, she never expected to see him there. She thought despite working for the same company, they'd be kept as far apart as possible moving forward with what happened. 

"Chase?" She asks, puzzled as ever, as Chase felt confusion wash over him immediately. Maybe that was restraining order wasn't looking too shabby now....

"What the.....?" She puts her hands up immediately, knowing his thoughts were probably flying a hundred miles an hour as they stood there frozen. She could already see the theories forming on his head, a few phone calls being placed, and metal placed on her hands once again. Perhaps she should've followed that advice and found different employment. 

"This is total coincidence...." Morgan then glances up from her phone, seeing the tension immediately. Normally, everything went smoothly with Chase when he had sponsor appearances, par for the course, no questions asked. That was why she was focused on going through other messages to ensure the next couple weeks' plans came together smoothly. Why was today different? 

"Do you know her?" Morgan questions, and Chase looks at her with a total face of surprise. How could Morgan not recognize her? Didn't she remember the chaos endured? She was supposed to be in charge of his every move, keeping him out of trouble, ensuring the best protocols were followed. Shouldn't this face be memorized as part of the job description? Normally, Morgan was top-notch in every single step of her job. What was going wrong here? 

"Yeah...." He states, as if to try and implicate it should be obvious.

"Well?" Chase couldn't believe he was having to explain this out loud. Perhaps there was a conversation in the future to be had with Rick, despite the fact he had not a single complaint - actually liking Morgan's style - from the beginning. 

"She's the one that went after me at Indianapolis...." Morgan's face turns serious immediately, as she takes another glance at Allison once again. The hair or contacts didn't fool her anymore as she found the recognizable facial features. Why hadn't she picked up on those cues immediately? How was she supposed to do right by her driver if she wasn't on her game? 

"Oh hell no, there is no way this is getting done..." Allison then glances at her, surprised. Who was this person to say what happened in Chase's life? Wasn't that the duty of Chase himself? Besides, she looked nothing like Sarina. Had something happened? Did Bethany and Chris finally get their wish?

"Who are you? His assistant or something?" Morgan then looks at the brunette in immediate surprise from her tone. She knew there was no chance around it – she needed to be thrown out of there as soon as possible.