Ryder took a step toward him, forming a fist.
Marcus backed up and stumbled, then fell.
Ryder yanked him back up by the collar. “Do not ever speak of her again. Now get the hell out.” Not hiding his contempt, Ryder released Marcus and began to turn back to his work.
Before he could, Marcus lashed out and nailed Ryder in the side.
Ryder’s breath escaped in a gust. He came up swinging and landed a blow squarely on his opponent’s nose.
“Stop it!” came Hailey’s voice.
“Go away, Hailey.” Ryder didn’t take his eyes off Marcus, so he didn’t see Hailey move to get between them just as Marcus threw another punch.
It hit Hailey’s shoulder instead and knocked her back with a cry.
Ryder grabbed hold and steadied her, then launched himself right at Marcus. “You worthless bastard—”
They both hit the ground hard.
“Ryder!” Hailey cried.
In a haze of fury, Ryder ignored her and reared back to punch the man beneath him. “You will pay for that.”
“Ryder, please. I’m okay.”
“I’m okay, Ryder,” Marcus mocked.
For a solid moment, Ryder locked gazes with him.
Then he shoved to his feet. “You’re not worth it.” He sought out Hailey, who was watching him with wide, dark, horrified eyes. “Are you hurt?” he asked her.
Before she could answer, Dixon Rogers showed up, with Brandon right behind him. “What’s going on here?” He glanced at his daughter. “Hailey? Are you all right?”
Her face was ashen. “I…I think so.”
“Sit down, honey.” Dixon settled her on the truck’s bumper and rounded on Marcus. “I saw you hit her. I can see to it that you never work in racing again.”
“It was an accident. And he’s the one who lost his cool and blew the race.” Marcus turned to Ryder. “I told you she was a distraction that would cost the team. You go falling for her and look what—”
Ryder took another step toward him.
“Perhaps we should call security,” interrupted Brandon, who stood at Hailey’s side, his arm wrapped around her waist.
Ryder burned to see it, but he kept his distance. None of this was good for his team, however much he wanted to grind Marcus into the asphalt. With extreme effort, he restrained the urge to go after him again. “Leave now and save your new job, Marcus. For a while, at least. You’ll screw it up anyhow.”
“Why you—” Marcus took a step toward Ryder.
“Conroy!” Dixon barked. “Leave. Now.”
Marcus scowled. “You haven’t seen the last of me, Ryder McGraw. I’ll have your job yet, you just wait.” But, like the coward he was, Marcus slunk away, muttering.
Ryder watched him go until he was out of sight.
“We’ll talk tomorrow, Ryder,” Dixon said ominously. “I want to get her checked out.”
Ryder turned around just in time to see Dixon’s frown and Brandon’s scowl as they led Hailey away.
CHAPTER TEN
“IT’S JUST WRONG,” Sue Ellen muttered on Tuesday. “No one caught the fight on camera, no reporters were around, no fans saw a thing.”
“What are you talking about?” Hailey asked as she entered the Fulcrum office.
Sue Ellen whirled. “Oh.” She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Sue Ellen, did you hear that Ryder got fined—oh.” Curtis rounded the doorway and halted at the sight of Hailey.
“Fined? Why?” Then the reason for the uncomfortable looks hit her. “Because of the fight? But he was—” Defending me. She’d heard enough as she’d approached on Sunday to know that Marcus had been taunting Ryder over catching the two of them together in Maudie’s parking lot after their night together.
“Are you okay, hon?” Sue Ellen asked.
“I’m fine.” She pressed her lips together. Did they know? Of course they did. Probably most of NASCAR had heard the gossip by now. “Ryder was taking up for me. That’s not fair for him to be punished.”
“He’s not even appealing. He’s beating himself up, yes, for yet another distraction for the team,” Sue Ellen said. “But he’s not blaming anyone but himself.”
“When he should be blaming me.” Hailey looked away. Yet another distraction. Ryder had accused her of being one before. It seemed like she presented nothing else, no matter how hard she tried. “I don’t belong here.” She started for the door.
“This isn’t your fault, Hailey,” said Sue Ellen. “Marcus was trouble long before you ever arrived. He thinks he should have had Ryder’s job, and he’s determined to cause trouble for Ryder any way he can.”
“And I make it so easy,” Hailey murmured. “Look at what happened this past weekend. I don’t want to cause anyone more trouble.” Especially Ryder, she thought mournfully.
“What about class?” Curtis asked. “I thought maybe you were here because you were going to hold class again.”
“I was, but—” She shook her head. “There’s no point. I have less than a week to go, anyway.”
“What do you mean?” Curtis asked. “I thought you liked it here.”
I do. More than I should. “My father invited me to visit him for a month. The month is nearly at an end.” She tried for a smile. “I’m not sure the team can afford for me to be here even that long.” She gripped the door handle.
“So, you’re really leaving?” Sue Ellen asked. “Now? What about your father?”
Hailey’s heart clutched. “I’ll talk to him, of course.”
“Talk to me about what?” Her father appeared in the open doorway.
Hailey froze for a second. She cared about him, she really did. He’d gotten along fine without her for years, though. And he couldn’t want the uproar to continue.
Sue Ellen and Curtis suddenly vanished from the room, leaving her alone with her father.
Hailey straightened her shoulders. “I have to leave a little earlier than I’d planned.”
“I…see.” The warmth she’d grown accustomed to transformed into caution. “May I ask why?”
Among the things she’d learned about this man were that he was noble and giving. If she used not wanting to complicate his life as her reason, he’d dismiss that as a concern.
That didn’t change the fact that she was causing problems for all of them. Especially Ryder.
So she stiffened her resolve. “My life is in California. I’ve been gone too long. I’m going to lose all my students if I don’t return right away.”
“You have students here,” he countered. “You could have more.”
Please, Daddy. I’m trying to help you. “North Carolina isn’t really right for me.” Even if it had come to feel like home.
A fleeting image of Ryder’s log cabin was an arrow to her heart.
“What do I tell Brandon?”
Brandon. She’d forgotten all about him. “I don’t think he’ll be surprised, but I’ll make sure there are no repercussions for the team.”
“I wasn’t thinking about Brandon the sponsor—I was talking about the man.”
“There’s nothing between us.” That much was true. After the fight, Brandon had asked her how long she and Ryder had been involved. She hadn’t tried to deny that she’d been unexpectedly drawn to Ryder, however clear it was now that he’d changed his mind. The resulting conversation had been awkward, and she was so afraid that she’d harmed the team, however gracious Brandon had been.
“I’d hoped—” If anything, her father’s face closed down more. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out, Hailey.” Sorrow shadowed his eyes, and Hailey wanted to throw herself into his arms and weep. Give in and stay.
He hesitated, then spoke again. “Sweetheart, is this about our past? We’ve never discussed it.”
“That’s over and done,” she said hastily. Hadn’t she sworn to herself that she’d keep the past where it belonged?
“I need you to know that I’m not proud of how I handled things.”
“We really don’t need to discuss it.” Please stop before I break down.
“I think we do, however painful it is for me.”
“For you?” she blurted. “But you got along fine without me for years.” For the first time, she let herself really feel how much that had hurt.
“That’s completely untrue. I missed you like crazy. I tried again and again to find a way to be with you, but I had to be on the road as I built the team, and your mother would never let you go out of town with me. Every time I begged to keep you for a weekend or a summer vacation, she’d throw roadblocks in my way. I sent you cards and I called, but you never responded, not once. I was working so hard building a future so I could take care of you, but after a while, a man just has to know when to give up.”
He paused, but she was too stunned to respond immediately, and he went on. “I convinced myself I was doing what you wanted, what was best for you by letting you go. I made sure I paid the child support on time, and I sent you gifts for birthdays and Christmases, but—” he glanced up at her “—I never knew if you liked any of them.”
She frowned. “But I wrote thank-you notes for every single one, and I never got a card or knew about any phone calls.”
“Sweetheart, I promise I’m telling you the truth.”
“But…” So many scenes from her childhood looked different in this light. How much Hailey was discouraged from making friends, how often she and her mother moved. Her mother had never made friends anywhere they lived, really, and her relationships with men were few.
“You seriously tried to call? You wanted me to visit?”
“More than that, I would have liked for you to live with me. I should never have given her sole custody.”
“Surely Mother wouldn’t have…” But the only explanation she could see was exactly that, her mother withheld those from her. “What kind of mother robs her child of a father?”
“She was never happy with me, honey, but I swear I tried.”
She couldn’t take it all in. Her entire life was a lie. “I’m sorry…I don’t know what…” If she didn’t leave this second, she would fall completely apart. “I have to go.”
His face went carefully neutral. “How soon are you leaving?”
“I…I’ll check for a flight while I pack.”
“No need for that. I’ll have the plane take you whenever you’re ready.”
“That’s too expensive for you, and you’ll need the plane for Bristol.”
“If you’re leaving early, the plane will be back in time.” His tone softened. “Please, if I can’t convince you to stay, at least let me do this for you, sweetheart.”
Could she feel any worse? She realized the answer was yes when he asked his next question.
“What about Ryder?”
“Ryder?” she echoed. “Dad, Ryder doesn’t even like me. He’ll be the happiest to see me go.” Her heart ached to be leaving her father, but she had to sort this out, had to get away somewhere she could think. She hugged him quickly. “I’m so sorry, Daddy. None of this is your fault.” Then, before she fell apart completely, she scurried out the door.
“SHE’S WHAT?” RYDER stared at Sue Ellen.
“Hailey’s leaving. She’s gone to pack right now.”
He should be happy; she would be out of his hair. Life would be simple again.
No, life would be empty, he realized. Heaven help him.
“How did Dixon take it?”
“I wasn’t here when she told him,” Sue Ellen said. “But he’s been sitting in his office, staring at the same piece of paper for an hour.”
“I want her back in my life,” Dixon had said at the beginning. “It means a lot to me for her to like this place and what I do.”
“Why’s she leaving?” Though he was pretty sure he didn’t need to ask.
“Dixon said she doesn’t like it here, but—”
“But what?”
“What happened at Michigan, Ryder? It’s not like you to lose your cool.”
I’ve done a lot of things that weren’t like me since Hailey Rogers showed up. For a second, he indulged in memories of how perfect she’d looked in his shirt, sitting in his grandmother’s rocker.
She says she doesn’t like it here, he reminded himself. A princess, after all. He snapped to rigid attention. “No point in going over old ground. We’ve both got work to do.” Sue Ellen recoiled at his abrupt dismissal, but his head was already whirling and he had to get it on straight. The team could not take another week of turmoil.
The team was his job.
Hailey Rogers was not.
But even as he strode swiftly to his office, he knew he couldn’t give up that easily.
HAILEY WAS PACKING when someone pounded at the front door. She frowned; she wasn’t expecting company, and surely if the pilot had moved up the flight, someone would have called her.
The pounding continued.
“Hailey!” yelled a too-familiar voice. “Answer this door. I’m not leaving until you do.”
“Go away,” she muttered. “I don’t want to talk to you, Ryder.”
But Ryder couldn’t hear her. And he didn’t stop pounding. Or yelling loud enough to wake the dead.
“All right!” See what he did to her? She, who never raised her voice, was yelling right back. She stomped her way to the front door and wrenched it open. “Go away!” She shoved the door shut—
Ryder caught it in midswing. “Not until we talk.” He stalked past her without an invitation. “You’re going to just run away, no matter how it impacts your father? You hurt him. He loves you, Hailey, and he’s a good man.”
“I know that.”
“Then why are you leaving? Are you punishing him?”
“No. I just have to figure out some things.”
“Do you have a clue how much that man wants you to like it here? How badly he wants you to be part of his life?”
“He never even told people he had a daughter.”
“He explained everything to you, how he thought you didn’t want anything to do with him.”
“How can you know this?” she challenged.
“Because I did what you should have done a long time ago, Princess.” His tone was fingernails on a blackboard. “I asked. Your dad made it clear from the start that having you approve of his life was of critical importance, which is why he asked me to make sure you were comfortable here.”
Her heart sank. He’d only been trying to please her father? Was everything she thought he’d felt for her a lie, too? How could it not be, when he’d walked away from her so easily? “When did you ask?”
“Right before I drove over here. After I found him in his office, with all the life drained out of him.” He stepped toward her. “I owe that man everything. Everything. He gave a gawky kid a chance, and he encouraged me every step of the way. I wouldn’t be where I am if not for your dad.”
“So you did your job, but you aren’t in control of my decisions. I have to figure out what to do about all this.” She gestured toward her suitcase. “So I’m packing, and I should think you’d be happy.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“You said I was a distraction. That fight was a perfect example. Last week’s race was a disaster, and the team can’t stand another lousy week.”
“So?”
“So?” She narrowed her gaze and closed the distance between them, drilling a finger into his chest. “Ever since we made love—had sex, I mean—you’ve been in a lousy mood. Fine. I get it. It was a mistake. I’m over it. I stayed out of your way, I canceled all my classes and didn’t set foot in the shop, but that wasn’t enough. The whole team suffered because somehow I violated your precious distance, and you had to make me back up.” She held up her hands in surrender. “Okay, fine, you don’t want me. I’m backing up, Ryder. All the way to California.”
“But—”
“Isn’t that what you want of me, to stay out of your way? Isn’t that why you could
n’t wait to get rid of me after the night…the night we…” she stammered.
“Wait. Me, get rid of you? Babe, you gave me such a cold shoulder I might as well have walked into a deep freeze. And you couldn’t wait to spend all your time with Brandon. Where is the rich boy, anyway?”
“You…you…” Her expression was murderous. “Brandon is a very nice man, not that you would know one thing about being nice. And I never gave you the cold shoulder—it was you!” She stabbed a finger into his chest. “You couldn’t wait to get away from me. You were embarrassed to be seen with me at Maudie’s. You called that night a mistake!”
“Me? You called it a mistake, not me. ‘Never do anything so stupid again,’” he quoted. “Recall saying that, Princess?”
“Stop calling me Princess! And get out!” She whirled away, but he caught her before she could leave the room.
As he reeled her back, she ducked her head to hide her tears. “Don’t. Don’t cry.”
“Go away.” She brushed at her eyes.
He reached for his lucky grease rag, keeping a grip on her wrist. “Blow your nose,” he instructed gently.
“Let me go first.”
“Not a chance.” Instead, he held the rag for her, then wiped her nose like a child’s. He stuffed the rag back in his pocket, then tilted her face up to his, though she stubbornly kept her eyes cast down. “You hurt me, Hailey. When you called that night a mistake.” He drew in a deep breath. “It was the most amazing night of my life.”
Her gaze flew upward. “Really?”
“Really.” He bent his head to hers and brushed a kiss over her lips. “I didn’t want to go to the shop. I wanted to stay there forever.”
A glimmer of a smile. “Mr. Workaholic?” Her face softened. “Me, too. I love your place.”
A warmth filled his chest. “So why did you stay away from me?”
“You’re kidding, right? Everyone at Maudie’s saw us, and Marcus was sneering and you looked miserable, and I’d promised no more distractions and then you wouldn’t talk to me and you treated me like I had the plague—”
He put one finger to her lips to stop the torrent. “Okay, besides that, I mean.” He began to smile, and her heart gave a little flip.
Hard to Resist Page 9
