Illicit Affairs

Chapter 10

I wrinkled my nose as I peeled off a piece of now dried confetti that was pasted to my arm. I reeked. I smelled like sweat and champagne, and not the good kind. My hair hung in sticky clumps down my back and was dotted with more bits of confetti. I couldn't wait to get out of these nasty clothes and shower all of the funk off of me and just go home.

I was the Daytona 500 winning car owner and I should be happy right?

William won with Alex finishing second. Was that the universe's way of sticking it to me? Like a great big fuck you. William won the biggest race of the season with Alex a close second. It should have been Chase though. If it were Chase I would be feeling a whole lot different. I would still be celebrating, but his teammates screwed him over and I was pissed.

For pre-race ceremonies, I stood next to Kyle and his family. My first choice would have been Chase, but I really needed to distance myself from him for his own sake. Besides, his girlfriend Mikayla had flown in yesterday and was with him. Jeff stood with William of course... his little bitch and Alex had Lindsey. Kyle was the lesser of three evils, but not by much. At least his wife was nice and his kids were cute.

During the race, I took my turn going from pit box to pit box. Giving each team the car owners attention. I didn't like what I was seeing at all. All night, I noticed William, Alex and Kyle were freezing Chase out. They wouldn't get behind him to push him to the front. They wouldn't line up with him and a couple of times, they even hung him out to dry. It was all because of me. I warned Chase that they would turn on him because of his friendship with me. Now how am I supposed to handle this? I would look like I'm choosing sides (which I clearly am).

What would my grandfather do? Rick Hendrick was not one to micromanage. These guys were all grown men, despite how childish they acted. He didn't have time for that shit. He would simply leave them in a room together and tell them to work it out amongst themselves. But I'm not Rick Hendrick. He has their respect. I don't. Furthermore, they would never pull this shit around him.

The last restart of the night was a green white checker. It looked like my old friend (and sometimes fuck buddy) Ross Chastain was going to win until he got dumped on the last lap to bring out a caution. That set up the green white checker finish with Chase lined up first on the inside with William and Alex both in the outside lane. With Chase clearly out front, William and Alex teamed up to leave him high and dry once again and shuffled him outside of the top five. The race ended under caution, but because the leader had already taken the white flag, there would not be another green white checker. The race was over.

It was unclear at first if it was William or Alex who had crossed the line first, and after review, it was determined that it was William.

I played the part of the ecstatic car owner to the hilt. I celebrated with the team. I drank the cheap champagne and allowed myself to get sprayed in it. I even shared awkward, stiff hugs with my drivers.

Was it not enough that I had to be all sticky and stinky and fake, but then I actually had to put on the giant hat that I always despised. The one William had taken to putting on whenever he won. It was his victory thing. These things seriously made me cringe because they were so cheesy. I guess he needed the giant ass hat to fit his giant ass head and ego. I knew I looked stupid because you can't put these things on and not look stupid. Who even thought this was a good idea in the first place? I don't even get to look cute in these pictures. I look like a drowned rat with a big, stupid hat and that's a pretty low blow considering everything I had to deal with to get to this point.

(This is the hat referenced)