~BBW, Romance, Car Racing Dramas, ~SWG – Secretly FA driver falls for a teammate who isn’t his usual type – at least initially
(Author's note: sorry that it took so long to post. I've just been under the weather the past few days. I hope the title of chapter six doesn't give away too much, though I doubt it because with two series being talked about in this chapter it's hard to think which one leads to the historic part of the weekend)
[Story to date: Ashley has left college, against her parents wishes but with her grandfather's tacit encouragement, to pursue a career as a race driver. She has taken up with a fellow driver, Alexander, who has been nice enough but seems to be a little distant at times. But their developing relationship is being secretly tracked by photographers. All of this drama is unfolding against the backdrop of the NASCAR circuit and a cast of supporting characters.- ed.]
Chapter Six: Historic Weekend at Martinsville
The day after everyone got back from Bristol the talk around the town and shops turned from racing to Alexander’s birthday, which was still a month away. The reason for that was because there was a rumor that Alexander’s sponsor was going to throw him a birthday party on the Thursday before the race at Richmond, and how Alexander would hate it.
The rumor made Ashley realize that she had no idea what to get her teammate and lover. So to help her get some ideas she went into Alexander’s office in the shop since she knew he wouldn’t be around all morning.
As Ashley walked behind Alexander’s desk she noticed that he had many pictures of him with his brothers, and only one with his parents. As she looked at the pictures and over his desk she still had no idea what to get Alexander so Ashley decided to look through the desk drawers.
When she open the middle draw she found pens, pencils, and post-its. This told her that Alexander’s desk most likely belonged to a crew chief at one time. She then opened the top left draw and found almost a dozen notebooks. Some had drawings on the covers, others had writing. She was going to open the top notebook but she felt that it wouldn’t help.
When she opened the bottom left drawer she noticed a magazine that had a woman who looked to weigh about 200 pounds. The woman who was called “Miss. June” was wearing a white tank top that was tight and showed off her soft, billowy belly and breasts; she was also wearing shorts that cut into her hefty thighs. The magazine had written in bold red letters “FAT ADMIRER” on the top of the cover and “Monthly” underneath it.
As she looked at the cover of the magazine Ashley wondered if it was the same one she saw Alexander looking at the week before the Shootout.
Ashley sat down in Alexander’s desk chair and started to look through the magazine, she also wondered if Alexander liked woman like that. As she looked through the magazine she found the article about Alexander.
After Ashley was done she put the magazine back in the draw and opened the bottom right draw and found more issues of “Fat Admirer Monthly,” then as she picked up the top magazine she finally figured out what to get Alexander for his birthday.
“If he wants me big then that’s what he’ll get,” Ashley thought to herself.
She was going to hang on to the FA Monthly issue that she just took out of the drawer for research and she doubted that he’d miss it since he had so many others. As she closed the desk draw, a red book caught her eye. The book was at the bottom of the draw, under the stack of “Fat Admirer Monthly”.
She wondered if she should look, but since she had already looked through Alexander’s desk and was stealing one of his magazines, she didn’t think he would mind if she looked at the book. So she reached into the drawer and picked up the book and was surprised to see that it was the Bible. She was surprised not only at where he kept it but because Alexander didn’t seem the type that went to church, or was religious.
Ashley opened the Bible to see if there was any clue to why Alexander would have it, and on the front page she found it, she just didn’t know it. There on the front page was an inscription.
Ashley closed the book and started to think what the inscription could have meant, but before she could she heard a noise in the hallway. So she dropped the “Bible” back in the draw and closed it. As she got up from the chair she rolled the magazine up and walked to the door.
When she got to the door she saw the janitor’s cart appear.
“Oh hello Ms. McDonald” said Todd the janitor.
“Hello Todd; you know you can call me Ashley,” Ashley replied.
“I know but I won’t. Were you looking for Mr. Hawkins?”
“Yeah, but then I remembered he wasn’t in.”
“He’ll be in later because they are predicting rain for the race at Martinsville,” said the janitor, “and Mr. Hawkins will want to know the game plan if it will rain.”
As Ashley left the janitor she started to wonder if it really would rain the next weekend at Martinsville, but then her mind went to her project. She figured that gaining the weight would be fairly easy since she would have to eat about double what she usual ate since she would burn about 3,500 or more calories in a race weekend. The hard part would be when to stop since she didn’t know how big Alexander liked his woman and how to hide her weight gain.
Alexander finished the media interview around noon and just wanted to get out of the shop. But he didn’t know what to do.
So he walked to Ashley’s office which was newer but smaller than his, to see what she was up to.
“Hey Ashley,” Alexander said as he knocked on her door, “You busy?”
“I was going to review tapes from past races at Martinsville,” replied Ashley.
“I can help you with that.”
“How?”
“You like video games?”
“I haven’t played much, but how can it help me?”
“I have NASCAR 07, and NASCAR 08 back at my place.”
“You think it will help?”
“Other drivers including myself play them before some races, but I can’t say for sure, but it can’t hurt to try”
“OK” replied Ashley as she got up and grabbed a small backpack which had the magazine in it.
As they left the race shop, Ashley looked around the parking lot which was mostly empty. Except for her rental car, which reminded her that she had to pay the fee for it, the cars that belonged to their crew chiefs and that car that Mr. Wilson owned. It was then that Ashley noticed that Alexander’s truck wasn’t in the parking lot.
“Are you coming?” called Alexander who was standing next to a yellow car that looked to be from the late 60’s.
“I thought I’d follow you in my car” Ashley replied pointing to a light blue Chevy Monte Carlo.
“You could, but you may get lost when you leave my place to go back to yours,” he said as if he knew what she was thinking, but she wasn’t.
“OK” she said as she started to walk towards the car. He was right, she would get lost going back to her apartment from his house.
Alexander was about to unlock the door when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pants pocket and looked at the caller ID, and let out a sigh and answered it.
“hi Samantha, what is it?” he said in what seemed to be disgust.
Ashley watched as Alexander rolled his eyes and made a look that seemed to say that Samantha was asking him to do something he didn’t want to.
“I’m sorry Samantha,” he said after listening to his public relations person for a few moments.
“Jeremiah is coming to meet with a few Truck teams and I promised him that I’d go with him to the meeting.” he added getting a little frustrated.
“Can you schedule it for next Monday?”
There was a momentary pause then he said “OK, thanks” and hung up the phone.
As he put the phone back in his pocket he pulled on the door handle forgetting it was still locked.
After he unlocked the door, Ashley opened her door and noticed that there was a Atlas and a small Woody doll from the movie “Toy Story” on the passenger’s seat.
“Sorry about that,” Alexander said as he leaned over and picked the items up so she could get in.
“First time in years that I had someone else in this car,” he said as he tossed the Atlas on the backseat and the Woody doll on the dashboard.
“That’s alright,” Ashley replied strapped herself in.
“My Grandmother gave it to me,” he said as Ashley picked up the Woody doll, “after I won my very first race in 1995. That was when I actually knew I wanted to drive in NASCAR”
Ashley then remembered the first race that she won when she started racing and how happy her grandfather was, she quickly put the doll back.
“Whats the matter?” Alexander asked as he put the car in gear and started to back out of the parking space.
“Nothing,” said Ashley a bit fast. “What type of car is this?”
“A 1969 Plymouth Barracuda,” he replied happily as he changed gears and started for the exit of the parking lot.
“This is my first ever car.”
“So you drove your prom date in this car?” she asked as they exited the parking lot.
“Nope, I got this car after prom,” he said with a chuckle then added, “I drove all the way here from New York, when White Enterprises hired me to drive their then Busch car.”
“Well that would explain the atlas,” replied Ashley.
“Yep.”
They arrived at Alexander’s house a few minutes later. They pulled into the garage where Ashley was astounded to see at least a dozen other cars.
As Ashley got out of the Barracuda she saw Alexander’s Ford Explorer on the drivers side of the Barracuda. Behind the Explorer she saw a Chevy Silverado, next to the Silverado was a Jeep Grand Cherokee The Cherokee was next to a Jeep Wrangler. The Wrangler was next to of all things a Dodge Caravan that had it’s hood up. In front of the Mini Van was a car that was under a blue trap.
“Can you picture taking your prom date in that?” Alexander asked while pointing to the Mini Van.
“No,” replied Ashley.
“Well, my brothers did.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because I took the keys to my father’s car.”
“How did the van get here?”
“They drove down for thanksgiving last year and it broke down, I fix it during my spare time”
“And what about that?” Ashley asked as she pointed to the car under the tarp.
“I’m fixing that up too - but now come on, you didn’t come here to see my cars” Alexander said as he walked to a door at the side of the garage.
They entered the house through the kitchen. Alexander then opened a door next to the stairs, and started to walk down another set of stairs.
“Where are you going?” Ashley asked him.
“To my den” Alexander yelled back.
“Your den is in your basement?
“Yes, whats the matter with that?” Alexander called from the den.
“Nothing,” Ashley replied as she started down the stairs.
When Ashley got to the bottom of the stairs she was surprised out of her mind. What Alexander called a den looked more like a study. The room was lined with bookcases filled with books, well almost, on the opposite wall from where she was standing there was a gap in the bookcase. The size of the gap was about the same as the size of a big screen TV.
She looked around the room and would swear he had a thousand books. Alexander broke the silence by saying “I like to read, and I like quiet when I read”
“You are the only other person besides my brothers that have been down here,” Alexander added as Ashley continued to look around.
That was true, not even Alexander’s ex went down there when she stayed with him the summer before, partly because she didn’t know it was there.
Ashley though couldn’t figure why anyone would want to be down there, then something on a small table caught her eye.
As she approached the table she heard Alexander say “Marl Stern gave me that last year”
She found it odd as she picked up the box set of “Civil War Journal” that it would be down there when there was no DVD player nor Television. She then resumed her look over the room.
“I know what you're thinking,” said Alexander, who was now standing at the gap in the bookcase, “where is the television, DVD player and games I said I had, well here it is” he added as he opened up the gap in the bookcase which revealed a big screen television that sat on a steel bookshelf and a DVD/VCR and a play station two on a bookshelf under it.
“I also come down here to play my video games in quiet,” he said as he turned to face Ashley with a sheepish grin on his face. They then sat down to play.
Alexander beat Ashley which made her even more disheartened about the upcoming race.
“Don’t worry,” said Alexander as he closed the cabinet in the bookcase. ‘It took me a while to get the hang of Martinsville”
By the next Wednesday Ashley had eaten more food then she ever had.
“There’s no way I can gain the weight,” she said to herself as she stuffed the last of her lunch into her mouth. Ashley figured by looking at the “FAT ADMIRER Monthly” that she would have to gain 95 to 100 pounds to get to the weight Alexander would like her to be.
As she placed the dishes and plates she used for lunch in the sink, her cell phone rang.
She picked up her phone off the table and looked at the caller ID, however she didn’t recognize the phone number.
Ashley wasn’t going to answer but then decided she should.
“Hello,” she answered cautiously.
“It took you long enough, although I do understand that you didn’t have my number,” Alexander said with a chuckle.
“Hey Alexander.”
“Do you want a ride to Martinsville?”
“I was going to go tomorrow.”
“Well I’m going to be in the truck race on Saturday”
“OK, I’ll go”
“Hey make sure you use the bathroom”
“Why?”
“Because it will take an hour or two to get there”
“I thought Martinsville was just a few miles north of here?” Ashley asked
“It is….. You thought we were flying?” Alexander started laughing.
“Yeah why?”
“it’s dangerous to fly to Martinsville, that’s why we are driving”
“So why is it dangerous to fly to Martinsville?” Ashley asked as she got into the car a few minutes later.
“Because the local airport is surrounded by very high mountains” Alexander said as he left the curb.
“Didn’t you hear what happen to Mr. Buchanan’s brother and son when they were going to the fall race at Martinsville in 2005?” he added.
“No,” replied Ashley.
Ashley had been so busy with working on her career after her grandfather died that she didn’t pay that much attention to what was happening around her.
‘The plane they were riding in crashed into a side of a mountain as they were heading to the airport as the Cup race was going on,” Alexander said grimly.
The rest of the trip up to Martinsville was uneventful, they talked about the up coming race and pretty much nothing else.
Alexander pulled the car up next to his motor home about two hours later.
“You want to ask me don’t you?” Alexander asked as they both got out of the car.
“Ask you what?”
“About the sponsor birthday party”
“I wasn’t”
“I saw it in yours eyes the whole trip,p” Alexander said as he cut Ashley off.
“Yes McDonalds is throwing me a birthday party before the Richmond race, and yes I’m not happy about it” said Alexander.
“OK” replied Ashley.
“Now if you excuse me I have to check on the truck, that is unless you want to come with me?”
“Yeah, sure why not” Ashley replied as they walked toward the exit of the motor home lot.
“Hey Alexander” said Paul O’Rourke the truck teams crew chief.
Paul O’Rourke was a 15 year veteran crew chief, who had help win championships, the last one being in the Cup series in 2005 with James Kavanaugh.
“How is it going Paul?”
“Well, we are sitting right outside the locked in spot”
“Well that’s why Jerry and Bernie have me driving this weekend” Alexander said with a chuckle.
“Well from what I hear they should have hired your teammate to drive the truck.” O’Rourke said as he pointed and smiled at Ashley, which caused her to blush.
“I would hope that Ms. McDonald knows that if she wants to drive the truck all she has to do is ask” said Jerry Matthews from the outside of the garage stall which caused Ashley, Alexander, and Paul to look.
“I would like to drive the truck sometime Mr. Matthews.”
“Please call me Jerry”
“And you can call me Ashley”
“OK, well I’m sure we can work something out,” said Jerry.
It was a dark and cloudy day as Alexander stood next to the truck with Ashley on the qualifying line, it looked, and the weather people were predicting, that it was going to rain. Everyone on the Matthews-Chandler Racing number 92 Chevy Silverado were hoping that it wouldn’t, because that would mean they would have to go home.
“Do you think its going to rain?” Ashley asked as she looked up at the sky.
“I hope not” replied Alexander, who was also looking up at the sky.
“Ashley, Ashley is that you?” said a male voice, which caused both Ashley and Alexander to look towards their left.
“Brett,” Ashley called to a dark haired man that was approaching her and Alexander.
“O thought that was you” smiled the guy named Brett.
“How are you?”
“I’m fine and you?”
“I’m good”
“So are you racing in the truck race?”
“No, I’m watching my teammate” Ashley said pointing to Alexander. Then she hit herself on the head and turned to Alexander.
“Alexander this is my cousin Brett McGill”
Then she turned to Brett and said “Brett this is my teammate Alexander Hawkins”
Both men said hi to each other as they shook hands.
“McGill, you wouldn’t be related to the famous driver and car owner?” asked Alexander.
“Yes, he was my grandfather.”
“He was my grandfather too,” Ashley said to Alexander’s surprise.
After talking for a little while, Brett had to return to his truck team. As he did Alexander’s public relations person walked over.
“There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you” said Samantha as she placed her hands on her thick hips.
Samantha was dressed in a dark blue team polo that had Wilson Racing written in red over her plump left breast, and the teams two major sponsors over the right.
‘Well it shouldn’t have been too hard, I had this on the calendar since the start of the season” Alexander said while giving Samantha a stare that said he just wanted her to leave him alone.
“Who was that you were just talking to?”
“Why?” asked Alexander
“Why?”
“Yeah, why do you want to know who I was just talking to?” asked Alexander as Ashley noticed that his temper was raising.
‘Because its my job to know,” said Samantha almost provokingly. “you also know that you shouldn’t be talking with anybody without me around” she added.
Ashley now noticed that something was wrong. Ever since she joined Wilson Racing, she knew that there were three people that Alexander never seemed to get mad at. They were his crew chief Mark Stevens, his spotter Andy Kyle, and his public relations person Samantha Bailey. Jethro McDuffie the car chief could be counted as a fourth person.
All four worked with Alexander since he started racing in the Sprint Cup Series.
“Ever since I had to reschedule that interview last week, you seam to want to know where I am every day.”
“Because that’s my job.”
“No it’s not!, your job is to schedule interviews appearances, and freaking press releases about how me and the team are doing!” Alexander bellowed. Ashley could now tell that something had happened between them during the off week, “Nowhere in your contract does it say, you need to know where I am and no where in mine does it say I have to tell you”
“Now leave me alone!” Alexander said as he gave Samantha the coldest look Ashley ever saw.
As Samantha left Alexander hit the side of the truck, which got most of the crew's attention.
Ashley couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to cause what she had just seen.
(Author's note: sorry that it took so long to post. I've just been under the weather the past few days. I hope the title of chapter six doesn't give away too much, though I doubt it because with two series being talked about in this chapter it's hard to think which one leads to the historic part of the weekend)
[Story to date: Ashley has left college, against her parents wishes but with her grandfather's tacit encouragement, to pursue a career as a race driver. She has taken up with a fellow driver, Alexander, who has been nice enough but seems to be a little distant at times. But their developing relationship is being secretly tracked by photographers. All of this drama is unfolding against the backdrop of the NASCAR circuit and a cast of supporting characters.- ed.]
Chapter Six: Historic Weekend at Martinsville
The day after everyone got back from Bristol the talk around the town and shops turned from racing to Alexander’s birthday, which was still a month away. The reason for that was because there was a rumor that Alexander’s sponsor was going to throw him a birthday party on the Thursday before the race at Richmond, and how Alexander would hate it.
The rumor made Ashley realize that she had no idea what to get her teammate and lover. So to help her get some ideas she went into Alexander’s office in the shop since she knew he wouldn’t be around all morning.
As Ashley walked behind Alexander’s desk she noticed that he had many pictures of him with his brothers, and only one with his parents. As she looked at the pictures and over his desk she still had no idea what to get Alexander so Ashley decided to look through the desk drawers.
When she open the middle draw she found pens, pencils, and post-its. This told her that Alexander’s desk most likely belonged to a crew chief at one time. She then opened the top left draw and found almost a dozen notebooks. Some had drawings on the covers, others had writing. She was going to open the top notebook but she felt that it wouldn’t help.
When she opened the bottom left drawer she noticed a magazine that had a woman who looked to weigh about 200 pounds. The woman who was called “Miss. June” was wearing a white tank top that was tight and showed off her soft, billowy belly and breasts; she was also wearing shorts that cut into her hefty thighs. The magazine had written in bold red letters “FAT ADMIRER” on the top of the cover and “Monthly” underneath it.
As she looked at the cover of the magazine Ashley wondered if it was the same one she saw Alexander looking at the week before the Shootout.
Ashley sat down in Alexander’s desk chair and started to look through the magazine, she also wondered if Alexander liked woman like that. As she looked through the magazine she found the article about Alexander.
After Ashley was done she put the magazine back in the draw and opened the bottom right draw and found more issues of “Fat Admirer Monthly,” then as she picked up the top magazine she finally figured out what to get Alexander for his birthday.
“If he wants me big then that’s what he’ll get,” Ashley thought to herself.
She was going to hang on to the FA Monthly issue that she just took out of the drawer for research and she doubted that he’d miss it since he had so many others. As she closed the desk draw, a red book caught her eye. The book was at the bottom of the draw, under the stack of “Fat Admirer Monthly”.
She wondered if she should look, but since she had already looked through Alexander’s desk and was stealing one of his magazines, she didn’t think he would mind if she looked at the book. So she reached into the drawer and picked up the book and was surprised to see that it was the Bible. She was surprised not only at where he kept it but because Alexander didn’t seem the type that went to church, or was religious.
Ashley opened the Bible to see if there was any clue to why Alexander would have it, and on the front page she found it, she just didn’t know it. There on the front page was an inscription.
Dear Alexander,
It is a human emotion to feel sad over the passing of a loved one, whether they took a breath or not.
Father Mulcahey
It is a human emotion to feel sad over the passing of a loved one, whether they took a breath or not.
Father Mulcahey
Ashley closed the book and started to think what the inscription could have meant, but before she could she heard a noise in the hallway. So she dropped the “Bible” back in the draw and closed it. As she got up from the chair she rolled the magazine up and walked to the door.
When she got to the door she saw the janitor’s cart appear.
“Oh hello Ms. McDonald” said Todd the janitor.
“Hello Todd; you know you can call me Ashley,” Ashley replied.
“I know but I won’t. Were you looking for Mr. Hawkins?”
“Yeah, but then I remembered he wasn’t in.”
“He’ll be in later because they are predicting rain for the race at Martinsville,” said the janitor, “and Mr. Hawkins will want to know the game plan if it will rain.”
As Ashley left the janitor she started to wonder if it really would rain the next weekend at Martinsville, but then her mind went to her project. She figured that gaining the weight would be fairly easy since she would have to eat about double what she usual ate since she would burn about 3,500 or more calories in a race weekend. The hard part would be when to stop since she didn’t know how big Alexander liked his woman and how to hide her weight gain.
Alexander finished the media interview around noon and just wanted to get out of the shop. But he didn’t know what to do.
So he walked to Ashley’s office which was newer but smaller than his, to see what she was up to.
“Hey Ashley,” Alexander said as he knocked on her door, “You busy?”
“I was going to review tapes from past races at Martinsville,” replied Ashley.
“I can help you with that.”
“How?”
“You like video games?”
“I haven’t played much, but how can it help me?”
“I have NASCAR 07, and NASCAR 08 back at my place.”
“You think it will help?”
“Other drivers including myself play them before some races, but I can’t say for sure, but it can’t hurt to try”
“OK” replied Ashley as she got up and grabbed a small backpack which had the magazine in it.
As they left the race shop, Ashley looked around the parking lot which was mostly empty. Except for her rental car, which reminded her that she had to pay the fee for it, the cars that belonged to their crew chiefs and that car that Mr. Wilson owned. It was then that Ashley noticed that Alexander’s truck wasn’t in the parking lot.
“Are you coming?” called Alexander who was standing next to a yellow car that looked to be from the late 60’s.
“I thought I’d follow you in my car” Ashley replied pointing to a light blue Chevy Monte Carlo.
“You could, but you may get lost when you leave my place to go back to yours,” he said as if he knew what she was thinking, but she wasn’t.
“OK” she said as she started to walk towards the car. He was right, she would get lost going back to her apartment from his house.
Alexander was about to unlock the door when his cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pants pocket and looked at the caller ID, and let out a sigh and answered it.
“hi Samantha, what is it?” he said in what seemed to be disgust.
Ashley watched as Alexander rolled his eyes and made a look that seemed to say that Samantha was asking him to do something he didn’t want to.
“I’m sorry Samantha,” he said after listening to his public relations person for a few moments.
“Jeremiah is coming to meet with a few Truck teams and I promised him that I’d go with him to the meeting.” he added getting a little frustrated.
“Can you schedule it for next Monday?”
There was a momentary pause then he said “OK, thanks” and hung up the phone.
As he put the phone back in his pocket he pulled on the door handle forgetting it was still locked.
After he unlocked the door, Ashley opened her door and noticed that there was a Atlas and a small Woody doll from the movie “Toy Story” on the passenger’s seat.
“Sorry about that,” Alexander said as he leaned over and picked the items up so she could get in.
“First time in years that I had someone else in this car,” he said as he tossed the Atlas on the backseat and the Woody doll on the dashboard.
“That’s alright,” Ashley replied strapped herself in.
“My Grandmother gave it to me,” he said as Ashley picked up the Woody doll, “after I won my very first race in 1995. That was when I actually knew I wanted to drive in NASCAR”
Ashley then remembered the first race that she won when she started racing and how happy her grandfather was, she quickly put the doll back.
“Whats the matter?” Alexander asked as he put the car in gear and started to back out of the parking space.
“Nothing,” said Ashley a bit fast. “What type of car is this?”
“A 1969 Plymouth Barracuda,” he replied happily as he changed gears and started for the exit of the parking lot.
“This is my first ever car.”
“So you drove your prom date in this car?” she asked as they exited the parking lot.
“Nope, I got this car after prom,” he said with a chuckle then added, “I drove all the way here from New York, when White Enterprises hired me to drive their then Busch car.”
“Well that would explain the atlas,” replied Ashley.
“Yep.”
They arrived at Alexander’s house a few minutes later. They pulled into the garage where Ashley was astounded to see at least a dozen other cars.
As Ashley got out of the Barracuda she saw Alexander’s Ford Explorer on the drivers side of the Barracuda. Behind the Explorer she saw a Chevy Silverado, next to the Silverado was a Jeep Grand Cherokee The Cherokee was next to a Jeep Wrangler. The Wrangler was next to of all things a Dodge Caravan that had it’s hood up. In front of the Mini Van was a car that was under a blue trap.
“Can you picture taking your prom date in that?” Alexander asked while pointing to the Mini Van.
“No,” replied Ashley.
“Well, my brothers did.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because I took the keys to my father’s car.”
“How did the van get here?”
“They drove down for thanksgiving last year and it broke down, I fix it during my spare time”
“And what about that?” Ashley asked as she pointed to the car under the tarp.
“I’m fixing that up too - but now come on, you didn’t come here to see my cars” Alexander said as he walked to a door at the side of the garage.
They entered the house through the kitchen. Alexander then opened a door next to the stairs, and started to walk down another set of stairs.
“Where are you going?” Ashley asked him.
“To my den” Alexander yelled back.
“Your den is in your basement?
“Yes, whats the matter with that?” Alexander called from the den.
“Nothing,” Ashley replied as she started down the stairs.
When Ashley got to the bottom of the stairs she was surprised out of her mind. What Alexander called a den looked more like a study. The room was lined with bookcases filled with books, well almost, on the opposite wall from where she was standing there was a gap in the bookcase. The size of the gap was about the same as the size of a big screen TV.
She looked around the room and would swear he had a thousand books. Alexander broke the silence by saying “I like to read, and I like quiet when I read”
“You are the only other person besides my brothers that have been down here,” Alexander added as Ashley continued to look around.
That was true, not even Alexander’s ex went down there when she stayed with him the summer before, partly because she didn’t know it was there.
Ashley though couldn’t figure why anyone would want to be down there, then something on a small table caught her eye.
As she approached the table she heard Alexander say “Marl Stern gave me that last year”
She found it odd as she picked up the box set of “Civil War Journal” that it would be down there when there was no DVD player nor Television. She then resumed her look over the room.
“I know what you're thinking,” said Alexander, who was now standing at the gap in the bookcase, “where is the television, DVD player and games I said I had, well here it is” he added as he opened up the gap in the bookcase which revealed a big screen television that sat on a steel bookshelf and a DVD/VCR and a play station two on a bookshelf under it.
“I also come down here to play my video games in quiet,” he said as he turned to face Ashley with a sheepish grin on his face. They then sat down to play.
Alexander beat Ashley which made her even more disheartened about the upcoming race.
“Don’t worry,” said Alexander as he closed the cabinet in the bookcase. ‘It took me a while to get the hang of Martinsville”
By the next Wednesday Ashley had eaten more food then she ever had.
“There’s no way I can gain the weight,” she said to herself as she stuffed the last of her lunch into her mouth. Ashley figured by looking at the “FAT ADMIRER Monthly” that she would have to gain 95 to 100 pounds to get to the weight Alexander would like her to be.
As she placed the dishes and plates she used for lunch in the sink, her cell phone rang.
She picked up her phone off the table and looked at the caller ID, however she didn’t recognize the phone number.
Ashley wasn’t going to answer but then decided she should.
“Hello,” she answered cautiously.
“It took you long enough, although I do understand that you didn’t have my number,” Alexander said with a chuckle.
“Hey Alexander.”
“Do you want a ride to Martinsville?”
“I was going to go tomorrow.”
“Well I’m going to be in the truck race on Saturday”
“OK, I’ll go”
“Hey make sure you use the bathroom”
“Why?”
“Because it will take an hour or two to get there”
“I thought Martinsville was just a few miles north of here?” Ashley asked
“It is….. You thought we were flying?” Alexander started laughing.
“Yeah why?”
“it’s dangerous to fly to Martinsville, that’s why we are driving”
“So why is it dangerous to fly to Martinsville?” Ashley asked as she got into the car a few minutes later.
“Because the local airport is surrounded by very high mountains” Alexander said as he left the curb.
“Didn’t you hear what happen to Mr. Buchanan’s brother and son when they were going to the fall race at Martinsville in 2005?” he added.
“No,” replied Ashley.
Ashley had been so busy with working on her career after her grandfather died that she didn’t pay that much attention to what was happening around her.
‘The plane they were riding in crashed into a side of a mountain as they were heading to the airport as the Cup race was going on,” Alexander said grimly.
The rest of the trip up to Martinsville was uneventful, they talked about the up coming race and pretty much nothing else.
Alexander pulled the car up next to his motor home about two hours later.
“You want to ask me don’t you?” Alexander asked as they both got out of the car.
“Ask you what?”
“About the sponsor birthday party”
“I wasn’t”
“I saw it in yours eyes the whole trip,p” Alexander said as he cut Ashley off.
“Yes McDonalds is throwing me a birthday party before the Richmond race, and yes I’m not happy about it” said Alexander.
“OK” replied Ashley.
“Now if you excuse me I have to check on the truck, that is unless you want to come with me?”
“Yeah, sure why not” Ashley replied as they walked toward the exit of the motor home lot.
“Hey Alexander” said Paul O’Rourke the truck teams crew chief.
Paul O’Rourke was a 15 year veteran crew chief, who had help win championships, the last one being in the Cup series in 2005 with James Kavanaugh.
“How is it going Paul?”
“Well, we are sitting right outside the locked in spot”
“Well that’s why Jerry and Bernie have me driving this weekend” Alexander said with a chuckle.
“Well from what I hear they should have hired your teammate to drive the truck.” O’Rourke said as he pointed and smiled at Ashley, which caused her to blush.
“I would hope that Ms. McDonald knows that if she wants to drive the truck all she has to do is ask” said Jerry Matthews from the outside of the garage stall which caused Ashley, Alexander, and Paul to look.
“I would like to drive the truck sometime Mr. Matthews.”
“Please call me Jerry”
“And you can call me Ashley”
“OK, well I’m sure we can work something out,” said Jerry.
It was a dark and cloudy day as Alexander stood next to the truck with Ashley on the qualifying line, it looked, and the weather people were predicting, that it was going to rain. Everyone on the Matthews-Chandler Racing number 92 Chevy Silverado were hoping that it wouldn’t, because that would mean they would have to go home.
“Do you think its going to rain?” Ashley asked as she looked up at the sky.
“I hope not” replied Alexander, who was also looking up at the sky.
“Ashley, Ashley is that you?” said a male voice, which caused both Ashley and Alexander to look towards their left.
“Brett,” Ashley called to a dark haired man that was approaching her and Alexander.
“O thought that was you” smiled the guy named Brett.
“How are you?”
“I’m fine and you?”
“I’m good”
“So are you racing in the truck race?”
“No, I’m watching my teammate” Ashley said pointing to Alexander. Then she hit herself on the head and turned to Alexander.
“Alexander this is my cousin Brett McGill”
Then she turned to Brett and said “Brett this is my teammate Alexander Hawkins”
Both men said hi to each other as they shook hands.
“McGill, you wouldn’t be related to the famous driver and car owner?” asked Alexander.
“Yes, he was my grandfather.”
“He was my grandfather too,” Ashley said to Alexander’s surprise.
After talking for a little while, Brett had to return to his truck team. As he did Alexander’s public relations person walked over.
“There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you” said Samantha as she placed her hands on her thick hips.
Samantha was dressed in a dark blue team polo that had Wilson Racing written in red over her plump left breast, and the teams two major sponsors over the right.
‘Well it shouldn’t have been too hard, I had this on the calendar since the start of the season” Alexander said while giving Samantha a stare that said he just wanted her to leave him alone.
“Who was that you were just talking to?”
“Why?” asked Alexander
“Why?”
“Yeah, why do you want to know who I was just talking to?” asked Alexander as Ashley noticed that his temper was raising.
‘Because its my job to know,” said Samantha almost provokingly. “you also know that you shouldn’t be talking with anybody without me around” she added.
Ashley now noticed that something was wrong. Ever since she joined Wilson Racing, she knew that there were three people that Alexander never seemed to get mad at. They were his crew chief Mark Stevens, his spotter Andy Kyle, and his public relations person Samantha Bailey. Jethro McDuffie the car chief could be counted as a fourth person.
All four worked with Alexander since he started racing in the Sprint Cup Series.
“Ever since I had to reschedule that interview last week, you seam to want to know where I am every day.”
“Because that’s my job.”
“No it’s not!, your job is to schedule interviews appearances, and freaking press releases about how me and the team are doing!” Alexander bellowed. Ashley could now tell that something had happened between them during the off week, “Nowhere in your contract does it say, you need to know where I am and no where in mine does it say I have to tell you”
“Now leave me alone!” Alexander said as he gave Samantha the coldest look Ashley ever saw.
As Samantha left Alexander hit the side of the truck, which got most of the crew's attention.
Ashley couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to cause what she had just seen.
