“Shaun—” he started, his voice dropping with regret.
“You did what you were supposed to; I’ve made it to my truck. Good night,” she asserted, climbing up into the truck and slamming the door shut. He watched as she turned the truck on and then the tail lights came on as she backed up before pulling out of the driveway.
“Fuck!” he muttered darkly, spearing his fingers through his hair as he stared at the tail lights as they faded out of sight.
NINE
“Mornin.”
Kasey grumbled something unintelligible to the fiery redhead sitting at the counter on one of the stools pulled up beneath it. Free stood with his hips against the kitchen counter, a cup of coffee sitting beside him.
“Did you guys finish off that bottle of bourbon last night?” Roxy asked them, leaning forward on her elbows, her hands clasped around a mug of steaming coffee. Sunlight filtered in through the sliding glass doors that led to a small back porch, and through the window over the sink, casting the kitchen in golden light. He glanced at the clock on the stove and grimaced. It was well into the morning. He’d slept later than he’d wanted to, probably due to the amount of liquor he’d consumed last night, before and after Shaun had left the party.
Kasey groaned and opened cupboards until he found one that housed the coffee cups, taking one down and pouring himself a hefty portion of black coffee. “No, I did that on my own.” Sitting down on the empty stool next to Roxy, he sipped the coffee. “Where’s Jodi?”
“She had to run a couple errands this morning– she should be back any moment,” Free said, shifting from one foot to the other and reaching for his coffee. Bringing it to his lips, he took a drink, then nodded to the couch, where Kasey had just been sleeping. “So much for that hotel room you booked.”
Kasey scrubbed his hands over his face and then shoved all ten fingers through the shaggy mess that was his hair. His head was pounding. “I don’t even remember leaving the party last night. I didn’t drive, did I?”
“Lord no,” Roxy laughed, and he groaned at the sound. “Jodi’s brother Tristan drove us all back here last night. You said you would just crash on the couch.”
“No, what he said was ‘Ughhshleep coush’,” Freeman said in his best impression, chuckling when Kasey groaned again. “Wanna fill us in on what happened out on that front porch last night with a certain Kendall woman?”
“Nope,” Kasey grunted, taking another drink of his coffee, staring straight ahead.
“Fair enough,” Free chuckled again, taking another drink of his own coffee. “I warned you to stay away from her.”
“Yeah, well,” Kasey grunted, staring into the dark liquid in the cup clasped in his hands. Straightening his back, he looked first at Free then at Roxy. “When do you fly out?”
“Not until Tuesday morning,” Roxy said, swiveling in her barstool to face him, bracing her bare feet on the rungs of his stool. “What about you?”
“I promised Charlie I’d be in Alabama by Tuesday. I fly out tomorrow afternoon.”
“Always on the go,” Roxy mumbled sourly, but she smiled gently. “You’re doing really well this season.”
Kasey shrugged. “The team has had a lot of success this year.”
“You sound like you’re not part of it,” Free said from where he stood.
“It’s just a very hectic schedule,” Kasey admitted, swirling his coffee in his cup. “There’s not much time for life outside of racing during the season. I’m ready for the off-season to start, ready for a little break. I like being able to hide away at home with no screaming fans or reporters shoving cameras and microphones in my face.”
“Kasey Corcoran, ready for a break from being famous?” Roxy teased, shoving him gently in the shoulder.
He laughed then, nodding. “I’m not that famous,” he mumbled humbly. “I’m noTony StewartorDale Earnhardt Jr.”
“You probably get so much action on the circuit,” Roxy sighed wistfully.
Free laughed out loud, crossing his feet at his ankles where he remained leaning against the counter. Kasey shrugged again. “We’ve got groupies that follow the circuit. Easy, but not all that worthwhile.”
“Nah, you want something else,” Roxy said and waggled her eyebrows at him. “A tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed bombshell that won’t give you the time of day. You just like the chase, Kase.”
Kasey admitted to himself that for most of his adult life, he had fully enjoyed the thrill of chasing women that played hard-to-get. Was that all this was with Shaun? Because she wasn’t fawning over him like most other women did? He doubted it. There was something more about Shauntelle Kendall that drove him damn near insane.
“I need to shower,” Kasey mumbled, rising from the barstool. “I smell like a bonfire.”
“Towels are in the cupboard in the bathroom,” Free said, pushing away from the counter. “Extra toiletries are in the bottom drawer of the vanity, help yourself.”
“Thanks,” he said as he refilled his coffee, raising it in a salute as he made his way out of the kitchen and down the short hallway to the bathroom that Jodi had shown him two days before. Closing the door, he turned the taps of the shower on, then stripped, folding his clothes and placing them on the sink. He hated the idea of putting the smoke infused clothes back on after his shower, but his things were back at the hotel that he hadn’t stayed at the night before.
