Free Slide Job (Cameron Motorsports) by Sutton Fox Page B

child would have been only about two years old or so. Her heart ached for both of them. What a terrible ordeal to have to face.
    Her thoughts went immediately to Josh and Lily. Cheating, lying bastard husband that Josh was, he’d paid. And little Lily, she’d paid the ultimate price for their stupidity. It sure seemed like everyone was earmarked for some sort of suffering.
    Blake handed another beer to Steve and sat back down at the table. “He’s got sole custody now. It’s been tough on him. He doesn’t talk about it much anymore.”
    Heartbreaking silence descended on the group, each lost for a moment in their own thoughts.
    “Rest area comin’ up.” Jack’s tired, gravelly voice chased the gloom away and brought them back to the present.
    *
    The sun floated, a bright white disk high in the cloudless sky as they rolled into Redmond, South Carolina. Morgan knew Redmond Motorsports Park rested on seven hundred acres just south of town. Her blood thrummed with excitement. She couldn’t wait to see it.
    Expectation filled her, made her sit taller in her seat as they crested the hill. There it was. Waiting.
    She wondered how many people felt this way before they went to work. She’d guess not many, and felt a moment’s pang of sympathy for them.
    Flags flew in primary colors over the gates, inviting everyone in. Just like a circus tent set up before the crowds arrived, it sat quietly, peaceful in the sunlight.
    Once they were cleared through security, Jack followed the signs leading them into the infield. She could see the bright blue number sixty-three Optima hauler of Bobby Harms lined up next to Eric Wilson’s yellow number thirty-nine. Jack motored slowly alongside Eric’s rig.
    Morgan hopped out into the bright sunlight, thankful for the sunglasses that shielded her eyes. She turned toward the front stretch and stopped abruptly.
    Accustomed to racing on three-eighths or half-mile dirt tracks, her first glimpse of the one mile asphalt oval filled her with anticipation.
    Jack walked up next to her. “She’s a big one, ain’t she?” He shook his head, and looked both left and right. “Man, the noise must be something on race day.”
    “You’re not kidding. I know it seats a hundred-thousand, but man...” She stared in amazement at the rows and rows of empty aluminum grandstands resembling small foothills, ten-stories high.
    The rumble of another hauler caught her attention. She turned to see a new Renegade transport pulling in down the row, on the other side of Kyle Spencer. It bore a bright orange number seven on the side. Jim O’Bannon. Creep . He’d probably bought that with her sponsor money.
    Humiliation stung her over again. She couldn’t believe Haskells had reneged on the deal. Dad wasn’t getting well and they weren’t confident in her ability to handle everything. She pressed them and they’d finally admitted it was because of what happened with Lily. Apparently they’d seen the footage of her crying after rescuing Annie and they were concerned the stress would make her fall apart again.
    At first she couldn’t figure out how they’d seen pictures of her when her camera crew had been elsewhere. As they’d talked, it had all become clear. Unknown to Morgan at the time, Jim’s film crew had captured her silent tears.
    The Haskells told her they felt their advertising dollars would be put to better use with the first place team. Jim’s orange number seven. If word got out that they’d dropped her, she’d have a heck of a time finding another sponsor.
    Shows what they knew. She wouldn’t quit this time, not for anything. There would be no more falling apart. It was a luxury she could no longer afford.
    A dark gray Ford Taurus came barreling down the RV lane toward them. It came closer, and she could see curly, yellow pig-tails tied with pink ribbons bobbing up and down in the front passenger seat, next to a waving hand.
    The car came to an abrupt halt just a few feet away. A feeling