Fuel To The Fire (New Adult Contemporary Romance) by Brynn O'Connor Page B

been a good faker, or liar for that matter, and I’m
finding that even more difficult today.
    “Why the
long face?” Rachael asks as I take my seat.
    “Ah you
know me...always stressed before the start.”
    “Uh...actually
you’re quite the opposite. What’s going on? How can you not be happy? The way I
hear the car’s been running, the way Danny’s been racing, capturing the pole
position, you should be thrilled like the rest of us. So spill it!”
    At that
second, in my moment of weakness, I just about spill my guts and rat out my
fiancé, but I don’t. I plaster a smile on my face and swallow my guilty
feelings as far down as I can. I’ll really be able to smile soon as the race is
over whether Danny wins or not. In fact, for the first time I could care less
if he wins or not. I just want the damn race to be over!
    “That’s
the Carrie we all know and love!” Rachael exclaims, seeing my expression.
    The race
is more than half over before I finally begin to relax and, dare I say it,
enjoy myself. I can’t believe I was paranoid enough to believe that Danny was
going to crash and kill himself. Of course not. He is fit to race and is on a
tear. He’s running third and has been in the top ten from the start except for
one short period. He even held on to first for the first fifty laps despite
frequent runs from the notorious Oliver Busch in the double zero car.
Eventually Danny had some tire trouble and had to take an unscheduled pit to take
care of the situation. Unfortunately that cost him the number one spot. He got
back on the track in the twenty-fifth position and has battled back ever since.
    Danny,
Oliver, and Reyes have been battling it out for more than an hour now and with
ten more laps to go it’s anybody’s guess who’s going to take the checkered
flag. Then with 4 laps to go Danny suddenly slingshots around Oscar Reyes on
the high side, then slips down into second right behind the double zero car
driven by Oliver Busch. It was a perfectly executed move and Reyes didn’t have
enough left in his engine to hold him off. Now it’s between Danny and Oliver
for the checkered flag. Two laps to go! We’re so close to victory I can taste
the champagne in my mouth. I can feel the bubbles tickling my nose. We’re going
to have a party tonight.
    One turn
left, then it’s a long straightaway, and the way Danny has been conserving fuel
and power I think he’s gonna do it. Oliver is having a harder and harder time
keeping his car in front of Danny’s. The pace has even dropped and the third
and fourth place cars are closing the gap. Danny doesn’t have to drive this
slowly. He’s just waiting for the perfect time to make his move.
    And he
finally does it. In front of thousands of screaming fans all on their feet to
see the underdog win, my Danny goes to the right, slingshots right around
Oliver and passes him in a flash. The crowd erupts in a thunderous roar. Now
coming into the last turn he has a full second on Oliver and the gap is
widening.
    I didn’t
see the exact moment it happened. I looked over at Rachael for a second to see
if she was just as excited as me. I heard the crash and the collective gasp of
thousands of screaming fans instantly silenced. I didn’t even have to look up
to know it was Danny. For some reason he didn’t pull out of the turn and hit
the wall at the very end at close to 200 miles per hour. Then, like a bomb
going off, the whole track full of race fans exploded with cries of shock,
surprise, and grief. The carnage was so complete there just could not have been
any chance for Danny to survive. I’m vaguely aware of someone pulling on my
arm.
    “We have
to go Carrie!” she’s literally dragging me to our ambulance.
    “I’ve
killed him! Oh my god Rachael I’ve killed Danny!”
    “Shut
up, no one’s killed anyone. Now let’s get out there and bring him back.”
    Rachael
climbs into the driver’s seat and starts the engine while I, still in a daze
climb in the