BeForeplay (5 page)

“How about we start over?” He sticks his hand
out and introduces himself. “I’m Derik.”

I shake his hand. “Hi, Derik, I’m Sidney.
Nice to meet you.”

“You too and thanks for giving me a do over.”
I smile and nod my head. “My friends and I are having dinner at the
steak house,” he looks at his watch. “In about an hour, would you
like to join us? And before you say no it’s not just a group of
guys, some of the wives and girlfriends will be there too.”

What the hell, why not? At least I won’t be
alone. “You know, Derik, I would like that. Thank you.”

“No, thank you. Now I get to have dinner with
a beautiful woman.”

I chuckle. “Dial it down Casanova.” I just
hit a big win. Holy Shit!!!

Derik’s laughing. “Damn woman you are lucky.
You just won eighteen hundred dollars! Can you rub some of that off
on me?”

I’m laughing because I’m actually enjoying
myself. My mind isn’t consumed with terrible images and thoughts.
We play a little while longer and I cash out at two thousand
dollars.

We walk to the entrance of the steak house
and there is a rather large group talking and laughing. When they
notice us walking up they get quiet and have a look of shock and
bewilderment on their faces. What the hell did I agree to? I didn’t
think to ask if he was married or had a girlfriend because
he
was hitting on
me
.

Derik smiles and says, “Hey guys I’d like you
to meet Sidney. Sidney, this is Drew and his wife Tracy, Rick and
his wife Jody, Brian and his wife Judy, Tyler, Haylie, Thomas, Will
and Robin.”

I didn’t expect this many people. We all say
our hellos, go into the restaurant and are seated right away.
Apparently he doesn’t have a wife or girlfriend, phew. After drink
orders are placed I ask if they’re from the area or here on
vacation.

I’m surprised to find out they’re from Texas
and are here for drag racing at the local dragway. They’re racing
for a purse and pinks. Derik, Brian, Drew and Rick have cars
they’re racing. I tell them I’m here for a much needed getaway to
relax.

Judy asks, “Sidney, it’s tomorrow night if
you’d like to come with us. It’s a lot of fun.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. We’ll exchange
numbers after dinner.” I turn to Derik. “I can’t believe you’re
racing for pinks. What if you lose?” This gets the whole table
laughing.

“Sweetheart, I don’t lose.”

Cocky much? “You could. You never know.” I
shrug my shoulders.

“That’s true but very, very rare.” He has a
big cocky smile to go with his big cocky attitude.

“Oookay then.” Thank God the appetizers show
up so I can stuff my mouth with food instead of getting into a
sparring of words.

When dinner is done I excuse myself to use
the ladies room. I stop on the way and settle the tables’ bill.
It’s the least I can do since they invited me. It didn’t even cost
half of what I won.

When I come back Judy and I exchange numbers
so she can text me the details for tomorrow. The waitress comes by
to thank us and tell us to enjoy our evening. The men ask about the
check, she winks and says, “Someone’s already taken care of that.
Goodnight.” I tipped her well and asked her not to say
anything.

Rick says, “Damn, Derik, you got some fans in
here?” And starts looking around.

Everyone’s laughing so I guess Rick’s making
fun of his cockiness too.

We leave the restaurant and I start to say my
goodbyes. They ask if I’m heading to my room or if I’d like to
stick with them and gamble some more. I chose to stay and gamble
because I’m not tired enough to pass out yet. That’s what I’m
shooting for. I want to be so tired when my head hits the pillow
I’ll be asleep. It doesn’t give me time to think that way.

Derik is telling them how lucky I was on the
slots and wants me to play blackjack with him. When I finally agree
Tracy and Drew come with us to play also.

We find a table and take our seats, only one
other person is playing, which is perfect considering there are
only five seats at this table. We change our cash in for chips and
I bet a hundred dollars. The dealer deals and I have twelve, Derik
has twenty, Tracy has sixteen, Drew has twenty and the other guy
has nineteen. The dealer has a queen showing. I hit and get a five,
I hit again and get twenty one. I’m bouncing in my seat I’m so
excited. Derik stays. Tracy hits and busts with twenty five. Drew
stays. The other guy stays also. Dealer flips and has a ten. They
all lose except me. Derik leans over and asks, “Can you rub some of
your luck on me? You know that was an almost impossible hand,
right?”

“Well, win or lose I wasn’t about to stay at
seventeen when she had a queen showing.” I take my arm and rub it
against his before the bets are placed.

The cards are dealt I’m at twenty so I stay.
Derik gets blackjack, he grabs and kisses me on the cheek. All I
can do is laugh. He tells me I’m his luck and I’d better show up
tomorrow at the races because there’s a car he’d like to win.

After playing for a while we’ve all been up
and down like yo yo’s but we’re able to end it on an upswing. We
run into the rest of their party and they’re heading to their rooms
also. We pile in the elevator and it winds up Rick, Jody, Will,
Haylie and Tyler are all on my floor. When we reach our floor we
say goodnight to the rest and go to our rooms. Will and Haylie are
right next door to me. Right before my door shuts Derik comes
running down the hall. “Hang on, Sidney.”

I’m a little uncomfortable but I got this. I
took self-defense classes of all kinds and can kick ass if I need
to. He makes it to me and asks, “Would you join me for breakfast
tomorrow?”

“I’m hoping to sleep in tomorrow but I will
see you at the track before you race tomorrow.”

He looks a little put off and asks,
“Promise?”

I smile to put him at ease. “Sure do.
Goodnight.”

He nods, says goodnight, turns and leaves. I
go in my room and I really want a shower but I’m afraid it’ll wake
me up so I strip my clothes off and climb in the bed. They didn’t
just drop the sheets off they changed them for me. When my head
hits the pillow I fall right to sleep.

Chapter

10

I start rolling around in a fitful sleep and
start to wake myself up. When I open my eyes I’m sideways on the
bed looking at the light coming in through the curtains. I lay
there for a bit getting my bearings. When I have myself together I
look at the clock and bound out of the bed. It’s four twenty in the
afternoon. I’m happy I finally got some sleep but I need to get my
ass in gear if I want to make it to the track before they race. I
need to shower, eat and then get to the track.

I make it there with twenty minutes to spare.
I can tell by looking at them they’re not as cocky as last night.
There are a ton of people surrounding Derik and Drew taking
pictures and asking for autographs. Judy and Tracy flank me and
Judy says, “You really have no idea who Derik is, do you?”

I’m taken back a bit by this. “What do you
mean, who he is?”

They’re laughing at me and I don’t like it
but I also know they’re not being mean. Tracy speaks up this time.
“They’re brothers. Derik is the famous seasoned racer, Drew is the
up and coming driver.” She’s really proud of them from the large
smile on her face.

Huh. I smile myself and shake my head. “No,
and I still have no idea who they are. I don’t watch sports or much
television for that matter. If I’m not working I don’t want to sit
around and do nothing.”

They look at each other with serious
expressions like they can’t believe I don’t watch TV. Judy asks,
“What do you do that has you cut off from the rest of the
world?”

Honesty but with little information so there
are no follow up questions. “I’m an emergency department nurse. I
work long and sometimes very odd hours.”

Jody, Haylie and Robin join the group and the
girls fill them in on how I still have no idea who the guys are.
Robin starts jumping up and down and says she gets to show me. What
the hell is she going to
show
me? About that time I feel a
hand on my lower back and I whip around to give someone a what for,
but see it’s Derik. He looks shocked for a second and then starts
chuckling with a huge smile on his face.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

I scowl at him. “You didn’t scare me. I just
don’t like strangers thinking they can touch me. You almost got put
on your ass.”

Now they’re all howling with laughter. And
it’s contagious so I laugh with them.

Derik says, “Come on, I want to show you my
car and then I’ll show you the rest too.”

“Okay.” He takes my hand and leads me away.
We’re almost to his car when someone jumps in front of us and
starts taking pictures and hurling questions. He wraps his arm
around me and pulls me into his chest to shield me from the camera.
Then he starts hollering for someone to get the guy out of
here.

I can hear a small scuffle and then he pulls
me back and asks, “Are you okay?”

What the fuck? “Yes, confused but I’m
fine.”

He walks me over to a trailer and we go
inside. It’s so cool. There’s a bench with a small table in front
of it with a little kitchen. Above where the trailer connects to
the truck there’s a bed. Wow. I had no idea these even existed. We
sit on the bench and he starts talking.

“Sidney, I’m so sorry.”

I wrinkle my brows in confusion. “What are
you sorry for? The fan taking pictures of you?”

He’s rubbing his hand across his forehead.
“That wasn’t a fan. That was a reporter and the pictures he took
will probably be splashed all over the TV, internet, papers and
magazines within the hour.”

“So you’re not just local famous you’re
famous, famous.” Not a question a statement. Fuck. I don’t want my
picture out there like that. “Is there something we can do to get
the reporter to not release them? I can pay him.”

He’s chuckling. “Sorry sweetheart, I don’t
think you want to pay him what he could get for those
pictures.”

“There has to be something we can do. Can you
have someone go get him and bring him here so I can talk to
him?”

He’s looking at me odd. “Are you married or
something because I have to tell you women usually try to get their
picture taken with me so it can be spread all over.”

I shake my head. “No. I’m not married nor do
I have someone special at the moment. Actually that’s a part of why
I’m here. I recently stopped seeing someone very special and needed
some time away. Can you please have someone find him and bring him
back here?”

He stands up, tells me he’ll see what he can
do and leaves the trailer. A few minutes later he comes back and
tells me he has someone looking for the guy. He has to leave and
get ready for the race but I’m welcome to stay and wait, if they
can find the guy they’re going to be bringing him back here. Also
that one of the girls will come and get me if he races before then.
I stand give him a hug and kiss on the cheek and wish him luck.
With that he leaves.

About fifteen minutes later a guy brings the
reporter in and says, “I’ll be right outside, if you need me
holler.”

“Thank you.”

The reporter is looking at me in disgust.
This may not go the way I want. I smile at him and invite him to
sit. When he does I start pleading my case. “I’m sorry to interrupt
your job but I’d appreciate it if you would hear me out.” He nods
so I continue. “I am a very private person and would like to buy
the pictures you took of us. There is no story. I met Derik and
some of his friends last night. They were kind enough to invite me
to have dinner with them. While we were eating I asked what they
were doing here and that lead to them inviting me here tonight to
watch the races. I literally just found out Derik is famous for
racing but still have no clue who he is. I’m not married nor do I
have a significant other, I’m just a private person and would
rather not have my picture everywhere and people invading my
privacy to find out who I am.”

“Lady, I can make a grand off each picture.
These are going to be sought after and I really don’t care if it
invades your privacy.”

He goes to stand up, “WAIT! Hang on. How
about a deal? A good deal?”

“I’m listening.”

Son of a bitch. “Okay, how about I pay you
two grand a picture and we pick one of the ones for you to sell
where you can’t make out my entire face?”

He’s thinking it over and grins at me. “I’ll
counter with everything you said along with a one on one interview
with Derik.”

“I can’t promise the interview but I can do
my damnedest to persuade him. Will that work?”

“Yes ma’am but I’d like the money up front.”
He’s smiling like the cat that ate the canary. Fucker thinks he has
me over a barrel. Guess again.

“How many pictures do you have?” He turns his
camera on so I get up and sit next to him to see what he’s doing. I
don’t want him to pull a fast one on me. There are a total of six
pictures that show my face enough for someone to recognize me. The
others I don’t care about. “I counted six that I want deleted.
That’s twelve grand.” I go back to my side of the bench and get an
envelope out of my purse. I start counting the money out on the
table and his eyes are huge. He set the camera on the table to
watch me so I know he’s not copying any and saving them for later.
When I’ve got twelve counted out I stack it together nice and neat.
I hold it out for him and when he reaches for it I tell him, “Hand
over the camera and I’ll give you this.”

He gets all pissy. “You never said my camera.
No deal.”

“I’m not trying to take your camera I want to
be the one to delete the pictures so calm your ass down.”

“Oh.” He hands me the camera, I hand him the
money.