The Legend

  Racing on the Edge

  The

  Legend

  There are times when you’d give anything for just one more moment.

  Book V

  A novel by Shey Stahl

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, sponsors, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, dead or living, is coincidental.

  The opinions expressed in this book are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of NASCAR, its employees, or its representatives, teams, and drivers within the series. The car numbers used within this book are not representing those drivers who use those numbers either past or present in any NASCAR series, USAC or The World of Outlaw Series and are used for the purpose of this fiction story only. The author does not endorse any product, driver, or other material racing in NASCAR, USAC or The World of Outlaw Series. The opinions in this work of fiction are simply that, opinions and should not be held liable for any product purchase, and or effect of any racing series based on those opinions. This book is told through first person narration and switches point of view between characters.

  The Legend is the fifth book in the Racing on the Edge series.

  The Legend

  There are times when you’d give anything for just one more moment.

  Copyright © 2012 by Shey Stahl

  Published in the United States of America

  EBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared, or given away. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is a crime punishable by law. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded to or downloaded from file sharing sites, or distributed in any other way via the internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publishers permission. Criminal copyright infringement including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250.000.

  All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of Shey Stahl.

  Warning: This book contains adult content, explicit language, and sexual situations.

  Cover Art and Interior Design: Shey Stahl Productions

  Editing: Linda Knight and Barbara Nejman

  Pre-readers: Danielle Mullins, Megan Rupert and Heather Emmerling

  http://sheystahl.blogspot.com/

  Twitter: @SheyStahl

  Facebook: Shey Stahl

  Racing on the Edge site:

  http://www.facebook.com/RacingOnTheEdge

  Foreword and Acknowledgements:

  I believe there are times in our lives when we take a path we never knew was there. Maybe it was there all along or maybe it was covered in overgrown grass tucked away from the light.

  And then you trip over a root and fall head first into this path.

  My life has been just that. A winding path with twists and turns I have never expected. Some turns were, at the time, a turn I wouldn’t have usually made. But I took it with the help of family and friends and the carried me through the path I was scared to walk alone on. Thank you to everyone who has been there for me through this.

  I want you guys to know read every Facebook post and every tweet I get, followed new friends and met amazing individuals who told me how my has touched their life in some way.

  I need to thank my Facebook friends and the Gearheads!

  They are there for me at all hours of the night to discuss anything I want. A special thank you to my most supportive Gearheads: Barbara, Danielle, Heather, Sue, Brieanna, Daina, Angi, Kari, Megan, Dianna, Judith, Emily, Tiffany, Leslie, Gina, Susan, Brooke, Laura, Jen, Brenda, and Samantha. All I have to do is type a question mark and those girls are all over it. Thanks pit lizards!

  I also need to thank my family who puts up with me basically living behind a laptop most of this year but still managed to support me no matter what. Your love and support mean the world to me.

  Inspiration is all around us. Sights, smells, thoughts, the spoken word, all provide us with inspiration. It can provide a hungry racer the courage to do what no other racer has done before. It can send a wide-eye boy across country to fight for his name in the hall of fame. It can provide a writer to do what she never thought she would.

  I wanted to write a story about passion. Not the just the passion between two people but a passion that spoke for itself and a passion that pushed boundaries and captured your heart. I wanted to write about a passion that wasn’t just about two people but about their lives and the passion they had for a sport.

  Racing on the Edge was never just about a love between two people. It was a story about their love for the sport and how that got them through everything.

  The Legend is the end of Jameson and Sway’s story. So when I wrote the words, THE END, that’s the end of Jameson and Sway telling the story. I’ve got a little more planned for the Riley family but those stories will be told through others in the series.

  This series wasn’t just about hot sex scenes and dirty engine terms, through it’s there, it was about a romance. One that pushed the boundaries of a path they never intended on taking. Together they experienced a world of speed, adrenaline, and passion. Together, they stepped into the magic where desire defined greatness.

  Enjoy and thank you for all your wonderful support for me and this crazy dream of mine.

  This book is dedicated to Linda Knight. If it wasn’t for her, The Legend wouldn’t have been released. Thank you for all your support these last two years and your curiosity into the sport.

  My life is my message.

  Gandhi

  Prelude

  Piano Bars

  Piano Bars – These are long bars that can easily slip under a car when severe damage prevents a jack from being able to slip under the car.

  She smiled at us on the side of the stage and then nodded in preparation before bowing her head as she began a speech she never thought she’d end up giving. No one thought she would ever have to speak about a loss so great.

  “For the past few months everyone has been asking me how I’m holding up and how our family is holding up.” She paused for a moment sweeping away her tears. Tears that held a pain most would never understand. “I can’t tell you that,” her voice cracked, the sound cut across the stands; a reminder this was still real. It was a devastation that couldn’t be understood by anyone who didn’t feel it deep in their bones. “...we don’t know how we do it, just that we do. We’re a racing family. It is all we have ever known and will ever know. We can’t tell you how because it’s in our blood. It’s the force that keeps us going. We know the dangers are out there but it doesn’t change anything...” For the first time, she glanced into the grandstand where thousands of his adoring fans looked to her for comfort.

  “I loved him before he was the legend everyone knew him as and I will love him just the same now that he’s gone. That doesn’t change anything for me because I was a racer’s wife. I can tell you every race he won, every lap he ever led because while he was in the spotlight, I was the one in the shadows who kept him together. Just as I’ve said before, I knew the dangers just as well he did. But as a racer’s wife, I would never have asked him to stop for one reason...because he loved what he did. I knew every time he climbed inside that car that I might be leaving the track alone but I would never ask him to stop. I may have stood in his shadow but after the thrill from the victory was gone, I was there for him and that’s all that mattered. I gave him all the love I had and in turn,
he gave me happiness.”

  1. Align Bore – Jameson

  Align Bore – A procedure used to re-align main bearing or camshaft bearing bores to bring them into alignment after warping of the block or alignment shifts due to long-term mechanical stresses. By securing the block and then passing a single boring tool through all the bores without changing the alignment of the tool, the bores are restored to proper position. Proper align bores ensure that each bearing will carry equal load.

  A man knows when his wife needs a distraction.

  That’s probably a lie but looking at Sway that afternoon, I needed a distraction so I thought maybe she did too. She wasn’t giving in and turned me down twice.

  She had been going on most of the morning about needing to get the schedules for Grays Harbor finished and then the insurance policies for JAR Racing secured for the boys. Most race shops didn’t have insurance for drivers. We did. After my own battles racing up through USAC (United States Auto Club) and the various winged sprint tours, I told myself I would provide medical insurance to my drivers. So, I did.

  My dad, retired racer from the World of Outlaws (a premier division of winged sprint cars), and current owner of the NASCAR Cup team I raced for, didn’t provide medical insurance for me but it wasn’t hard to get it elsewhere now. When you race at the levels that I do, you’re not exactly a full time employee of the race team. You’re contracted. Yeah, I put in a full time effort but I was contracted with Riley-Simplex Racing as a driver. They paid me to drive but all my travel expenses, medical insurance, life insurance and basically, all the things that your employer would usually pay, I paid. The only check I received twice a month was for my salary.

  So things like medical insurance and life insurance were left up to me. Once I got married and had kids, it became essential to have such things as medical and life insurance but the premiums were outrageous given the danger involved in being a professional race car driver.

  Back when I was nineteen, the premium alone was enough to eat up any earnings I received from winning. So back then, as a young driver without a lot of cares, I went without medical insurance. A few broken ribs and concussions later, I knew I needed medical insurance.

  Sway sighed glaring at the stack of papers. Though my focus was hardly on those papers, I laughed lightly looking at the fresh blanket of snow across the field bordering the building. Though most of the property was still in the development stages, the office was finished and the large windows allowed beautiful views of the North Carolina winter.

  About six months ago we started the process of a shop expansion. What a nightmare that has been. After a string a shoddy construction workers, I swore to myself I would never build a house or a shop again.

  “Why do they make you fill out so much paperwork?” Sway asked holding up a stack of papers from the insurance company. “There’s a stack for each driver.”

  “Make them fill ‘em out.” I whispered massaging her shoulders hoping my touch would ease her frustration. “They’re big boys.”

  We had four drivers racing this year with JAR Racing which was my sprint car team racing in the World of Outlaws winged sprint car series. Knowing the guys, I was sure they understood how to fill out basic paperwork of your name, address and medical history. Except for Tommy Davis, he still required assistance ordering from a fast food restaurant.

  “I tried.” She rolled her neck from side to side and I felt her melt into my touch. “They sent them back saying they couldn’t read their handwriting.”

  “Hmmm...Well, how about I provide some distractions?”

  “No. I need to finish this before Bailey comes by. We have to go over merchandise later too.”

  “No. I don’t want to.” This time I crossed my arms over my chest, moved to the side and leaned against her desk. “I want to have sex with my wife and you’re making it difficult for me. Do I need to play Purple Rain? I could.”

  Sway took notice of my sour attitude and knowing me, she knew it would only get worse.

  I whispered in her ear when I saw her moment of weakness and took full advantage. “You see honey, there’s this procedure that engine builders use to re-align the camshaft after warping of the block due to long-term stress.”

  Sway smiled but kept busy with the paperwork in front of her. Her fingers typed quickly, each key clicked sharply as if she was telling me no just by her clicking. “I know what align boring is Jameson.”

  My voice dropped and I stepped closer. If my plan for the afternoon was going to work it called for drastic measures.

  Dirty engine talking.

  “If you know what it is, well then,” my hand drifted from my side to her cheek and my palm cupped the soft skin. “...you know how important it is for the camshaft to be re-aligned.”

  Sway spun around in the chair leaving me standing above her and my hands moved to rest on the arms of her leather office chair. I let my right hand drag against her forearm.

  Hovering over her, she smiled again keeping her eyes low. She wasn’t giving in easily. We were good at this, the teasing, the dirty talking, all of it, we had it down. After all, this was how this all began with us. Two people so sexually charged with the other that we finally gave in and life was never the same for us.

  “It’s cold in here.” She shivered at the cool January air making its way inside the office and hit the remote button for the fireplace.

  I pressed my lips to her palm before letting my eyes travel to hers.

  “I’ll warm you up with align boring.”

  “Go ahead,” her head dipped forward as her grin tugged at the corners of her lips. “...explain how this is done, champ.”

  Race on. I thought to myself.

  If she wanted dirty engine terms well, goddamn, I was going give them to her.

  “So you see, by securing the block...” I knelt in front of her bringing her hips to the edge of the chair. She let out a yelp as I did that followed with a giggle. Her dark hair curtained over her shoulders and she finally looked up at me. Emerald green, the same emerald green I’d seen for the past eighteen years, shined back at me. My hips pressed forward against hers letting my camshaft lift drag against her. “...you then pass a boring tool through all the bores without changing the alignment of the tool to restore the proper position.”

  Her gaze on me had me laughing.

  “You need help.” She said between giggles and that’s when I knew I was, at least, leading this lap.

  Visions of her spread across this floor seemed like a good idea so that’s exactly what I did.

  “You’re wearing entirely too many clothes.” I told her leaning forward to capture her lips. My hands worked quickly trying to rid the clothes before we were out of time. We may be married now and have three kids but time was never on our side and neither was privacy.

  Sway fought with my belt buckle for a moment.

  “Every time I hear this...” she wiggled my belt, the buckle clanked. Her stare glowed with a fire I knew very well. “...it reminds me of that first night together.”

  I smiled nipping at her neck, the skin so soft, so warm it felt scorching against my cool lips. “I still remember everything about that night including the shaking.” I too remembered that night very well. After years of wanting her, pleading with myself to get her out of my memory, I gave in on the biggest night of my career and haven’t looked back since.

  Sway twisted from of my embrace slightly to hold my face in her palms. Her thumbs brushed across the stubble of my jaw. “Why were you shaking so much?”

  “I was nervous.” I shrugged angling my hips forward once my jeans had been pushed aside. We didn’t have much time so I left them on but pushed down enough so I could move. “You weren’t nervous?”

  “Hah, you couldn’t tell?”

  “I guess maybe a little...” I laughed. “Now...back to this align boring.”

  Soft cries fell from Sway as I moved against her. The heat that surrounded us was nice given the freezing temperatu
res outside.

  Holding myself up by my hands, Sway sprawled herself out on the wood floor. Her hands slid down my back and came to rest at the base of my spine. I pulled back hesitantly, shaking with effort as I tried not to crush her. Sway panted heavily in my ear encouraging my movements and spurring me on. She bucked against me and wrapped her legs around my waist. I growled gutturally as the new angle set my already raw nerves ablaze.

  She cried out once more as she fisted her hands in my hair, and squeezed her eyes shut. Her pleasure...so stunning...it was almost too much to watch. I buried my head against her chest as her body began to tremble. I moved faster and harder as I watched her beautiful face flush an even deeper red and her mouth opened.

  Her back arched off the floor and she shuddered as her peak flooded her picturesque body. She sobbed out my name and clung tightly.

  Sway was still undulating beneath me, reveling in the rapture of her own release, when I heard her whisper in my ear, reaching between us to grasp me tightly between her tiny fingers. “Let go...”

  Then, Bailey showed up.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” I slumped against Sway, panting and quite literally gasping. Don’t think I didn’t think about just continuing but then Bailey jiggled the handle.

  “Sway, are you in there?”

  “Yeah, just a minute,” Sway snorted as a giggle escaped her.

  Scrambling to get my jeans on, Sway laughed again straightening her clothes as Bailey Grant, Lane’s girlfriend and our web designer for JAR Racing, stood patiently outside giggling.

  “We’re forty, why is this still happening to us?” I was not pleased as I didn’t finish.

  Sway laughed pinning her long mahogany locks into a messy bun, her skin still flushed. “We’re the Mama Wizard and Dirty Heathen. This shit always happens to us.”