Love In The Fast Lane Part 12

She stared at him pointedly. "I'm the mother of a five-year-old, Nate. I'm nowhere near the game."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she waved him away. "Noah is worth more than anything else in this world." Although sometimes she wouldn't mind some male companions.h.i.+p and s.e.x; G.o.d, she'd forgotten what s.e.x was like. "Nice s.h.i.+ner," she commented on the slight bruise above his left eye. "On second thought, maybe you wouldn't have been able to pound that idiot."

He grunted. "Yeah, Luca got lucky, I was distracted. And trust me, if I see that idiot again, I will show you just how hard I can't beat him into the marble floor." He folded his arms and leaned against the kitchen counter. "I didn't know you taught yoga."

"You don't know a lot about me, Nate," she smiled, happy for the subject change. "I started teaching when I was pregnant."

"Why?"

She looked him in his amazing jade eyes, not knowing how much to say. "Things were tough. I didn't have the financial support, so I had to make extra money wherever I could."

"What about your studies? You said you had just a year left to qualify."

"I couldn't afford it and still have a baby. Prenatal visits were expensive and I needed to buy so much to prepare for Noah's birth."

She met his gaze and saw it in his eyes pity. "Don't look at me like that," she chided him.

"Like what?"

"With your pity eyes. I made sacrifices, Nate, but I don't regret them. Noah deserved the best and I did everything I could to make sure his needs were met."

"I know," his gaze turned downcast. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

Brielle shrugged. "I was so angry at you for so long, Nate. I thought you had knowingly abandoned your child and that made me hate you with a fiery rage because it was so unfair to Noah. But, I can't hate you if you didn't know."

"I will find out who covered this up, Bree. And when I do, they are going to pay."

The next week, Nate had a race in Austin. He flew together with his team and had little time to rest before the pit crew were getting the car in order. The last he'd seen them, the officials were scrutineering and weighing in. He'd noticed a few flat spots on his tire after the previous race last month and he made sure that the crew had everything replaced and ready.

When he got to the car just before the practice run, the team was just peeling off the tire warmers. The marshal came by to shake his hand and wish him well on his race.

The practice run went off without a hitch and soon the guys were kicking back, having a few drinks at the hotel bar. Mena, his PR agent, came by and plopped herself next to him.

"Hey," she greeted, kissing either of his cheeks and embracing him in a hug.

"What are you doing here? You don't usually make the local runs."

"Yeah, but I have a PR stint for you tonight. There's a new club opening in Austin and the management is paying a big wad of money to have you appear and pose for half an hour or so. Nothing major, just a few photos and you can be off on your merry way."

Nate nodded, knowing that this type of publicity came with the territory of being a high-profile racer. Whether he liked it or not.

When Mena picked him up in a limo that evening, he felt every bit the racing celebrity. He took in her s.h.i.+mmery gold top and gauzy skirt and was reminded of the first night he'd met Brielle in Brazil. He'd been knocked off his feet when he'd seen her dancing with such abandon and it was like fate that he'd had to step in and save her. Seemed like he was doing that again these days.

Nate thought about how good his life had been in the past few years and found himself feeling sad for Brielle and Noah and how hard they'd had it in the early years. He imagined how scared she must have been to deal with the pregnancy alone and have to worry about finances, wondering if there was a man that helped her at all. He wondered if Matt had been in the picture and if he had held his son as an infant. The thought made him angry. Angry at all the missed moments with his child. Angry that another man had been the male role in his son's life for so long. And why? Because someone in his camp had lied to Brielle about his interest in being involved in the child's life. He couldn't imagine how she must have hated him all these years and then he goes and accuses her of trying to trap him! He felt like a f.u.c.king idiot!

He opened his mouth to ask Mena if she knew anything about Brielle when the limo stopped and they had to make their grand appearance. Stepping out, he held the door open for Mena as the paparazzi went crazy. She put her hand out for him and he took it as he helped her get out of the car. She draped herself against him and he figured that she was playing into the camera.

The paparazzi shouted from all directions, trying to get his attention. "How's the season going so far?" "Do you think you will win tomorrow's race?" "What happened to the last model you dated?" "Who's your new girlfriend?"

Mena was a s.l.u.t for attention and she soaked up the secondary fame like a sponge, pus.h.i.+ng her barely covered b.r.e.a.s.t.s into his chest and sandwiching her bare leg between his. And he let her do it because she was is front and confident and he trusted her.

"Give her a kiss!" someone shouted.

Nate had had enough, he didn't fall prey to the paparazzi pressures but before he could disentangle himself from Mena, she grabbed his face with both hands and smacked a wet one right on his lips.

"What are you doing?" he whispered harshly.

"Creating a buzz. You haven't been in the spotlight in awhile. Ride it out."

He didn't feel like riding it out. Brielle's were the only lips he was thinking about. Dammit!

They headed into the club; the place looked plush. They found seats at the bar and took in the upmarket clientele. He greeted other F1 drivers around the place and realized that their PR teams had had the same idea as Mena to exploit them. He couldn't enjoy himself without first getting to the bottom of the issues he had. He needed some answers and Mena was just the person who would have them.

"Did you handle all my PR issues from the get go?"

"Yes. Why?" she asked, ordering them both drinks.

"Someone provided false information to a woman I met and I want to know who it was."

"What information? You meet lots of women."

"Yes, but this decision had a profound impact on my life, Mena."

"Well, what happened?"

"I have a son."

Mena nearly fell off her chair. "Are you kidding me?"

"No. I only just recently found out."

"Are you sure he's yours? You do get thousands of women claiming to have had your child but we both know you don't get around that much."

He didn't smile. "I had blood tests done to prove it. Noah is my son."

"Wow, I can't believe it."

"Yup, that's how I felt too. But, it's settled in now and he's such an amazing kid," Nate said wistfully, a slight smile on his face. "But, someone told his mother that I wasn't interested in becoming a father and I want to know who denied me five years of getting to know my child."

Nate got angry every time he thought about this. He prided himself on control but in this situation someone had taken fate out of his hands, spat on it and tossed it aside. And that person was going to pay.

Nate glanced at Mena and noticed that she looked a little pale. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just a lot to take in," she waved a bangled arm in front of her face. "Do you have any leads?"

He shook his head no. "I reasoned I'd start with you. You run my life and most of everything comes through you first so I figure you'd remember something like this.

"Nothing that comes to mind off-hand. Did you ask the child's mother? Does she remember who she spoke to?"

"Yeah, she doesn't recall. It was a long time ago and she didn't hold it against whoever she spoke to because she had every reason to believe it came from me and so she hated me instead. But, the truth is out now and I have a debt to settle with that person. It's not going to be pretty."

Mena nodded, still looking pale and deep in thought.

Nate knew he was one step closer to the truth.

The next day's race was long and Nate's mind was just not on it. For the first time in his racing career, the driving did not give him a calm state of mind. Instead, his mind was plagued by a mult.i.tude of foreign emotions. He wasn't used to zoning out thinking about another human being, but he found himself reminiscing about Noah and his antics all throughout the day. If he was honest with himself, Noah wasn't the only Woods that he'd had on his mind lately. There was just something about Brielle that had him thinking back on her constantly. She was so different from the shy girl he'd met in Brazil. She was so fierce now and he supposed that struggling on her own to raise their child had done that to her.

The guilt he felt over that consumed him daily. He'd been living his life in sinful bliss while they had had to almost live hand-to-mouth to survive. It tore at a part of him that had been dormant all his life.

He snapped out of his reverie when he heard two other cars whizz past him. s.h.i.+t! He had to get his head in the game. He downs.h.i.+fted and sped up to maneuvre his way through the track, easing in behind the rear wing of the car ahead of him. It was an old trick and Nate used the car ahead of him to his advantage. He saw an apex up ahead and at the right moment, turned the steering wheel and directed the car out of the slipstream, taking position ahead of the other driver. He overturned though and the car slid and he found himself graining. f.u.c.k! That was going to cost him. He continued to drive and knew the effect on his tires like driving on ball bearings. He slowed down and was going to make a pit stop when in his rearview mirror he saw one of the other racecars hurtling all over the place; the car had lost control, b.u.mping cars out of his path and was now heading straight for Nate.

Nate tried to drive out of the way as best he could but he was as good as in quicksand with the condition of his tires. His last thought was of Noah and Brielle as the impact hit and Nate lost consciousness.

CHAPTER 10.

BRIELLE WAS GETTING HOME FROM a particularly tiresome day of work two days later. She walked into the house and Noah came running to her, looking panicked.

"What's wrong, Lovebug?" she bent down to look into his distressed faced.

"Momma, what does 'illegitimate' mean?"

Brielle almost fell backward. "Where did you hear that?"

"The kids at school were saying that you got knocked up and that I'm illegitimate."

Brielle's blood ran cold. "Where did they hear that?"

"Randy came in this morning and was saying that he heard his mom talking on the phone and they mentioned your name. What does it mean, Momma? Was I adopted?"

Where the h.e.l.l had Randy's mother heard that?! She was at Noah's birthday party but could she really have picked that up. How cruel to start spreading that kind of gossip when children were around. She was going to give Randy's mother a piece of her mind. Bored b.l.o.o.d.y housewives!

"No, my angel. You are not adopted," she a.s.sured the anxious child.

Her own anxiety levels were starting to spike because she knew that she had to be honest with him and that time was fast approaching.

"It means that you were made with love sweetheart."

"But if I was made from love, then where is my daddy? If he loved me, then why does he have to save all the other kids and stay away from me? Doesn't he want me, Momma?"

Oh, dear. Brielle's heart sank and she glanced away from Noah, looking around the room for some inspiration on how to explain this to a five-year-old. She noticed that the TV was on and Noah was watching sports. How strange for a five-year-old.

"Baby, momma is going to tell you something very important now, ok, and I need you to be a big boy about it."

Noah nodded, eyes wide with unshed tears and her chest squeezed painfully.

"Your daddy has been doing big things in the world and he's ready to come to meet you. He didn't know about you before because when momma tried to tell him the great news, a bad person kept it a secret from daddy."

"Why would they do that, Momma?" his bright green eyes started to pool and her heart sank even lower.

"I don't know, Baby, but the minute he found out about you, he immediately wanted to get to know you better."

"Who is he, Momma?"

"Do you remember Mr. Wolfe, Lovebug?"

He nodded slowly.

"Nathan Wolfe is your daddy, Sweetpea." She waited tentatively for Noah's reaction. She could see the wheel's turning in his head.

"Really?" he sniffed.

Brielle nodded. "What do you think?"

"Does he know he's my daddy now?"

"Yes, Sweetheart," she rea.s.sured him.

"Why didn't he say anything to me yet?" A single tear streamed down his pale face.

"I told him not to tell you yet, Baby. We wanted you to get used to him first and we wanted to tell you together."

A long silence ensued as Noah processed the information.

"Does he like me?" he asked, barely above a whisper.

"Oh, Baby," she pulled the small child into her arms. "What's not to like? He'd be crazy not to like you. Look at the time he spent here for your birthday, just to be near you."

"When is he coming to see me?"

She pulled away to look into his tear-stained face, the confusion written all over it. "He's in Texas right now but I'm sure he will come by when he's back."

Noah nodded again and seemed to compose himself.

"You ok, Squirt?"

"Yeah."

"Ok, you go watch some TV and I will whip us up some dinner, ok?"

"Ok, Mom," he sauntered off to the sofa and stared at the screen.