Shutdown (Nitro Crew, #4) Read online

  I shook my head and laughed. “Brooks lives in a completely different tax bracket than me.”

  “That he does, Doc. Though, I don’t think you are too far behind.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Trust me, I am. I’m still paying on my dreaded student loans. I think I’ll be paying on then till I’m about sixty.”

  “You and the rest of the country, Doc.” He finished his toast and wiped his hands on his jeans. He was shirtless but had decided to put on pants since we were going to be in the kitchen and he didn’t want anything important to get burned. “You ever cash that check I gave you?”

  I shook my head. “Nope.”

  “Why the hell not? Vacation? Pay off some of that debt? You can do anything with it.”

  “Not my money. It’s yours.”

  I shook my head. “Nope, it’s all yours, Doc. It’s already been subtracted from my account, and I’m not putting it back in.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re ridiculous, Roc. All you have to do is add back in eight thousand dollars.”

  It was still insane to me that he was going to pay me that much for taking care of him.

  “Cash it,” he insisted.

  “Nope.”

  “Cash. It.”

  “N. O. P. E.”

  He growled. “Share it with your family, then.”

  The blood drained from my face. “Um, I don’t have any family.” I dropped my half-eaten piece of toast into the garbage. “Wanna go test out the jets on the tub?”

  Roc eyed me knowingly. “We’re not going anywhere until we talk about your family, Doc. Tried to talk about you before and you blew me off.”

  “I didn’t blow you off.” I leaned against the kitchen counter. “There isn’t anything to tell. My parents are both dead. End of story.”

  “I’m sorry, Doc.” His voice was soft and it made me want to cry.

  I didn't want to cry right now. I wanted to be with Roc and not think about my family.

  “Let’s go upstairs.”

  Roc hopped off the counter and stood in front of me. “Lay it on me, Doc. Tell me what’s hiding behind those glassy eyes trying to fight tears falling?”

  I shook my head, my throat choked with tears.

  He cupped my cheek with his hand. “Mave,” he whispered.

  “It’s nothing exciting, Roc.” My eyes focused over his shoulder on the moon outside the window. “My parents divorced when I was in fifth grade. My family fell apart, and I didn’t know how to handle it. I was mad at my mom. I hated my dad.”

  “You and Harlyn got a lot in common, Doc.”

  I shook my head. “Except you made up with Harlyn. You were able to make it right.”

  “Your parents know you loved them, Mave. Even if they died before you could say it out loud.”

  Tears streamed down my cheeks. “I told you I didn’t want to talk about this. I’ve never told anyone about this.”

  “I’m here, Mave. I’m here no matter what you say.”

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “By the time I was in college, I didn’t talk to either of them. When I talked to either of them, all they did was complain about the other one and I just couldn’t take it anymore. My dad has a massive heart attack when I was a sophomore in college. I hadn’t talked to him for over a year. My last words to him over a year before he died were I was too busy to talk and he should call me when he had something important to say other than complain about mom.” I took a deep breath. “My mom died the day before my graduation. I had talked to her the day before she died. It had started out good, but by the time we hung up, she was complaining about money and wondering when I was going to start repaying her for two hundred dollars she had sent me two months before. I told her if she cared more about two hundred dollars than seeing me graduate that she could stay home and I would wire her the money. Five minutes after I sent her the money, I got a call from my mom’s neighbor that she had been talking to my mom and she just dropped dead.” I closed my eyes. “My parents died thinking I hated them when I really didn’t, but I was just too young to realize that they were trying their best and that life was just hard.”

  “Mave,” Roc whispered.

  I shook my head. “Please don’t.”

  “Babe, you gotta know that your parents knew you loved them. They knew.”

  “My brain knows that, Roc, but my heart hurts knowing that I didn't say goodbye. That I didn’t tell them thank you for all of the things they did for me. I don’t think I ever said thank you, Roc.”

  Roc wrapped me up in his arms. “But they knew, Doc. They knew you were thankful and that you loved them.”

  I buried my face in his neck and sobbed. No one knew this. No one.

  Roc lifted me up in his arms, and I looped my arms around his neck. He carried me up the stairs and settled me into his large king size bed.

  “I thought we were going in the tub?” I sniffled.

  He wiped the tears from my cheeks and pulled the comforter over us. “Maybe another time, Doc. I think tonight, we need to be here.”

  “You know, you’re a lot sweeter than people think you are.”

  He pressed a finger to lips. “Shh, don’t let anyone know.”

  “So this is just for me?”

  He pressed a kiss to forehead. “This is just for you, Doc. Only you’ll get this from me.”

  I sighed and relaxed into his arms. “Thank you, Roc.”

  “For what, Doc? I’m just doing what feels right.”

  My breathing evened out, and my eyes fluttered shut. “Then please don’t ever stop.”

  *

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Roc

  “You’re fucking crazy.” Jay ran his fingers through his hair.

  I snapped the box shut.

  “How the hell are you going to do this when we haven’t even done it before?” Remy asked.

  “That makes no fucking sense.” I bit off. “Who the hell cares if you assholes have done this before.”

  Remy, Jay, Brooks, and I were out on the patio by the grill, having our usual barbeque when it was a bye week. The women were in the house grabbing all of the food, and I thought letting these assholes in on my plan would help calm my nerves.

  I was wrong.

  “If you get engaged then we’re going to have to get engaged.” Remy ran his finger between the collar of his shirt and his neck. “Things will be expected if you do this.”

  “Things that we,” Jay motioned between the three of them, “are not ready for.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Well, you fuckers can deal with those things that are expected of you because I’m doing this whether or not you guys like it. I’ll fine some other guys to be my groomsmen.”

  Jay put his hand on my shoulder. “Hold up. Did you say groomsmen? Like, bachelor party?” He held his hands up. “I’m in. Go for it. I’m ready to get Delaney pregnant yesterday so maybe popping the question like you’re about to do with help that along.”

  Remy looked at Jay. “You are fucking crazy, you know that right? I don’t know any other twenty-seven-year-old that is begging to get his girlfriend pregnant.”

  Jay rubbed his hands together. “Well, what's the fun in being like everyone else?”

  “I’m in on the groomsmen thing, but I don’t know if I’ll ever get Frankie to marry me. You know how hard it was to get her to start dating me? I’ll just stick with where we are right now.” Brooks slapped me on the shoulder. “Go get her, man.”

  I looked at Remy. “I’m doing this. If you throw a fit, I’ll make sure you never touch my daughter again.”

  Remy’s jaw dropped. “You’ve only been dating Mave for like a month. How in the hell are you going to marry her? I’m just looking out for your best interest, Roc. Would you have wanted me to marry Harlyn a month after dating her?”

  “I didn’t know you were dating Harlyn ‘til two months after you started dating her. You want to go into that?” I growled.

  Remy held up his hands. “You k
now what, you’re a grown man. You know what is best for you.”

  “Wise choice,” I growled.

  “What are you guys doing?” Delaney called.

  “Dad, would you stop torturing, Remy,” Harlyn scoffed.

  I gripped the ring box in my hand. “Here we go,” I whispered.

  “Roc. Do you have the grill going?” Mave walked out of the house with a platter of raw burger patties in one hand and a bowl of potato chips in the other.

  I dropped down on one knee, and she stopped in her tracks.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  “Harlyn, take the food from her.”

  Mave with hands full of food was not how I saw this going.

  Harlyn squeezed in and grabbed the food.

  I cleared my throat. “Mave Clark. I love you. You tell me all of the time that I don’t and to just shut up. Well, I’m not going to shut up about it. I know what I want and you know that I take what I want.”

  “Stop,” she whispered.

  “Not gonna stop, Mave. I’m never going to stop loving you.”

  “Get up.”

  I shook my head. “Nope.”

  “Roc, you can’t do this.”

  “She is really committed to being oblivious, isn’t she?” Frankie whispered loudly.

  For fuck’s sake. Of course Mave would make this difficult. “My legs hurt, Mave.”

  “Then get up,” she shouted.

  “Not until you tell me you love me and you’ll marry me. I promise to spend the rest of my days proving to you just how much I love you.”

  She shook her head. “You’re absolutely crazy. We’ve barely been dating.”

  “I know what I want.” Mave. Mave was what I wanted. “Marry me.”

  “I snore.”

  I smiled wide. “I know. If I put my hand over your mouth, you stop.”

  She gasped. “That’s rude.”

  “But it works. Marry me,” I repeated.

  “No.”

  I shifted on my knee and grimaced. “Really hurting here, Doc.”

  “For God’s sake, yes. I’ll marry you, you stubborn man!”

  I surged up on my feet and lifted her up into my arms.

  “I thought your legs hurt!” she shouted.

  I smiled wide. “Nope. Never better, Doc.”

  She slapped me on the chest. “I can’t believe you just tricked me into marrying you.”

  “Just taking what I want, Doc. Remember, that’s one of the things you like about me.”

  She sighed and rested her forehead against mine. “There’s really no use in fighting you, is there?” Tears shone in her eyes and she sniffled. “And for the record, I loved you a long time ago so you weren’t the first. I was first,” she insisted.

  I threw my head back laughing and held her close. “Prove it,” I whispered in her ear.

  She wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed a long, sweet kiss to my lips. “Challenge accepted. How does the rest of your life with me sound?”

  “I think that sounds just about right, Doc.”

  “Then let’s do this.”

  Epilogue

  Roc

  “I can’t believe we did that.”

  I looked down at Mave. “We’ve done that before. Numerous times.”

  Her head was resting on my chest, and she slapped me on the arm. “I mean get married, not have sex.”

  “Oh that. I can believe it. Been wanting to do it for the past six months but you made me wait.”

  A breeze floated through our bungalow, and I draped the sheet over us.

  I had made Mave cash the damn check I had sent to her and book a vacation in Maui. A vacation in Maui where we got married with all of our friends surrounding us.

  “I waited six months to make sure the race season was over so I wouldn’t have to drag you away from the car and the race crew.”

  That was exactly what she had done even though I had told her I would go whenever she wanted. “We could have flew out that day I proposed if you wanted.”

  “Right,” she drawled. “We would have spent our honeymoon with you glued to the TV watching the race or on the phone talking to Frankie. Waiting six months was more than worth it.”

  Mave sighed and relaxed into me.

  Her naked body was pressed against mine because I had just fucked the newly married Mave Krinston.

  It. Was. Amazing.

  “Have you talked to Harlyn?”

  I grunted. “No. I was busy with you.”

  “I mean before,” she waved her hand in the air, “this.”

  “A little bit.”

  Mave tipped her head back. “He’s asking her tonight.”

  “I know.”

  She reached up and cupped my cheek. “You know it’s what she wants. She loves him.”

  She did, but it didn’t make it any easier to know my only daughter was going to get married. “He better love her more than she loves him or I’m going to break his neck.”

  “You know he does.”

  He did. That was the only reason I had said yes when he asked me if he could marry Harlyn. He had also agreed that if he broke her heart, I had permission to run him over with the racecar ten times. Going three hundred miles an hour.

  “Can we not talk about Remy when you’re naked in bed with me?” I ran my hand down her hip. “You’re ruining the moment.”

  She stretched up and pressed her lips against mine. “I wouldn’t want to do that. I’ve been waiting forty-one years for you.”

  “I’ve waited fifty-one for you.” I delved my fingers into her hair and held her close.

  “You always gotta do me one better, don’t you?” she whispered.

  “That’s because I love you more.”

  Her eyes connected with me. “I guess I’ll accept that, but just so you know, I’m going to try for the rest of my life to prove you wrong.”

  “I look forward to that, Doc.”

  *

  Remy

  “This place is so beautiful, Remy. Can you believe how clear the ocean is?” Harlyn stood in front of the large, open window that overlooked the beach.

  Roc had gone all out when he had picked this resort to get married at. All-inclusive and all out extravagant. When Roc did something, he fucking did it. Plus, he had set me up with an amazing setting to ask Harlyn to marry me.

  “It’s pretty amazing, babe.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at me with a huge smile on her lips. “I still can’t believe Roc paid for all of this.”

  “And then Brooks flew us here on his private jet. Gotta say, I could get used to this.” I laid back on the bed and propped my arms behind my head.

  “Oh please,” she laughed. “I know all of you guys are chomping at the bit to get back to the garage. These two months of down time kill you.”

  She was right. Racing definitely in my blood, but I knew how to take the time to slow down and enjoy life.

  “Why don’t you come lay down with me?” I reached under the pillow and palmed the small ring box I had put under it.

  Harlyn ran from the window and catapulted herself on to the bed. She landed on top of me, straddling my hips with a huge smile in her lips. “Hello, lover,” she laughed.

  “You’re a goofball, Harlyn.”

  She pressed a kiss to my lips. “But you love it.”

  “I sure do.”

  “Now tell me why I needed to come over here. While I love looking at you, I have to take advantage of looking at the crystal clear ocean while I can. We are pretty landlocked back at home.”

  “Very true, babe.” I squeeze the box in my hand and took a deep breath. “You know I love you, right?”

  “Yep.” She nodded her head. “You better.”

  I was just going to go for it. I held up the box and flipped opened the top.

  “What the hell is that?” Harlyn gasped.

  I grabbed the ring and tossed the box on the floor. I sat up, knocking Harlyn back to sit on her bac
k between my legs. “It’s a ring.”

  “Yep.” Her cheeks were flushed pink, and her breathing was short and staccato.

  “I love you more than anything in this world, Harlyn. I can’t imagine sharing my life with anyone but you.”

  “Yep.” Her eyes darted from the ring to me. “Yep.”

  “Will you marry me, Harlyn?”

  Her breathing stopped and she froze. “Yep,” she gasped.

  “Yep?”

  She nodded her head. “Yep.”

  “Yep?” I laughed. “Do you have anything else to say, babe?”

  “Yep.” She looked panicked and flustered. She swallowed hard and closed her eyes.

  “Are you speechless?” I had never seen Harlyn like this. I had figured she was going to be surprised, but I didn’t think she was going to be speechless.

  “I love you, Remy. I love you so much I don’t even know what to say other than yep.”

  “So you’ll marry me? You’re sure.” Hell, this was more nerve-wracking than I had thought it was going to be.

  She grabbed the ring from my fingers and slipped it over her ring finger. “Yep.”

  I wrapped her up in my arms and tackled her back onto the bed. I covered her with my body and she wrapped her arms around me.

  “You’re gonna marry me, Harlyn.” It wasn’t a question anymore. It was going to happen.

  “Yep, as long as Roc doesn’t kill you when you tell him.”

  I leaned back and looked into her eyes. “Babe, I asked him before I asked you.”

  “Shut up,” she gasped. “And he said you could ask me?”

  A huge smile spread across my lips. “Yep. But he did tell me if I hurt you, he would run me over with the racecar ten times.”

  She burst out laughing then lifted her hand up to admire the ring. “Then I guess you better not hurt me, Remy, because I’m pretty fond of having you around.”

  I pressed a kiss to the ring on her hand. “That’s never gonna happen, babe. I love you.”

  Harlyn sighed. “I love you too, Remy.”

  *

  Jay

  “I’m pregnant.”

  “I know.”

  Delaney jackknifed up and stared down at me. “What the hell do you mean you know? I just got the results from the hospital the day before we left.”