Chapter Twenty Two

“Ow, fuck!” Nicky exclaimed sharply, getting up from the Nautilus machine in the hotel’s weight room, his leg on fire.

Cade slowed to a stop on the exercise bike he was riding nearby and looked at his rider with growing concern. “Dude, you’ve been pressing a zillion pounds over there for like six hours. What gives?”

“Just…” Nicky winced as he walked around the small room, the limp redeveloping in his hurt leg. “Trying to stay in shape. Get strong, you know? We’re in the title hunt… I don’t want my strength to be an issue during the final races.”

“You’ve been working out like a fiend every since we left Wyoming,” Cade observed. “Too much, maybe.”

“I’m doing what Dix—“ Nicky bit off the name even before he thought it. “I’m doing what a trainer would have me do.”

“Dixie would never let you work out that hard, and she would never let you hurt yourself. Take it easy,” Cade said, sliding off the small bicycle seat and walking over to his friend and rider. “You’re limping again, which is not a good sign,” he said, looking critically at Nicky’s repaired ankle which appeared to be swollen more than the other one.

“I’m fine. I just need to shake it off,” Nicky growled in frustration as Cade watched him closely.

“You need to shake off whatever bullshit went down between you and Dixie, and don’t argue with me,” he said, putting a hand up as Nicky opened his mouth to protest. “I’m sure you both know it was bullshit, and you both are too stubborn to say so.”

“Don’t match make me, Craigston,” Nicky huffed, beginning to circle the room again.

“I’m not, but I will handle you when it comes to your health, even if that means bringing her back. And that’s not a threat, friend, just a comment.”

“Don’t. Don’t call her back here.”

“I will, and that’s no bullshit,” Cade shot back, his voice brooking no argument. “I won’t let you risk yourself. Get your head in the game, dude, you’ve got a race to win. It always goes better if you stay on the bike – physically and mentally – the whole time.”

“Well thanks a bunch, Sensei Cade,” Nicky said with a glare at his crew chief. “Stop handling me.”

“Stop giving me a reason to,” Cade replied. “Because I swear to God, I will.”

**

The worst of it was, Nicky knew that Cade was right.

He’d been pushing way too hard in the training department for the last couple of weeks – since last seeing Dixie in Wyoming during her birthday party celebration – and he could feel his injured leg getting weaker and worse, instead of stronger.

He knew he was going against what Dixie would advise, and yet, he didn’t seem able to stop himself from pushing, pushing, pushing all the time.

It gave him something else to think about, to focus on, instead of on her.

He just kept pushing, as though to prove to someone – to her? – that he was fine on his own. He could do anything on his own, and do it just fine.

But the throbbing pain in his ankle told him maybe his cockiness wasn’t altogether for the right reason.

And he also knew that if Cade – or Dixie, for that matter – knew how much his ankle and leg were hurting… hell, that might even take him off his ride for a race or two, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to let that happen.

Fine, he admitted silently to himself, so maybe he needed help, a little guidance from a professional.

Did it have to be Dixie Colson?

Nicky knew Cade would call her – she was the only one that both of them trusted, but God, Nicky didn’t know how he would face her again, much less work with her.

He winced as he put more weight on his ankle and hobbled towards his room.

Maybe, just for tonight, he’d take the rest of the night off from the weight room.

Dammit, Dixie, he thought silently. Where are you when I really need you?

**

“Do you have a minute?” Jackie asked, tapping on Dixie’s office door lightly. “I have a couple of updates to your schedule.”

“Sure,” Dixie said, quickly minimizing her desktop screen. “Come on in.”

She didn’t want Jackie to see that she was perusing the MotoGP pages to see how testing and qualifying in Sachsenring, Germany was going.

It had been several weeks since her disastrous birthday party and Dixie hadn’t spoken to anyone from the 76 team since then, instead focusing on her work and important things like organizing her sock drawer and filing her recipes alphabetically instead of by meal type.

And yet, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from checking on the team, seeing how the tire tests went, reading the blogs and news updates, and generally trying to stay connected to the team, despite the distance between them.

She couldn’t help herself. She missed the circus, and she missed guy in particular, no matter how infuriating he was.

“I just got a call from Tillotson, and he wanted to know if you could work him in tomorrow. If I bump your 4 o’clock back by half an hour, I think it will work out fine. Are you good with that?”

Dixie nodded absently, her eyes still on her desktop background, the image of a MotoGP bike whizzing around a chicane at top speed, the leathers of the rider blurry from the speed.

Nicky’s leathers.

“Dix? Want to do this later?” Jackie asked, her voice tinged with concern.

Dixie shook her head and focused on her friend. “No, of course not. Go ahead. Tillotson, being squeezed in tomorrow. What else?”

“Mitch Jacobs cancelled his appointment for the day after tomorrow, and all future appointments. Something about divorce court and a fight with the insurance company. I don’t know, I stopped listening after a while,” Jackie said sheepishly. “Other than that, you’re clear for the rest of the week, if you want to have some time to work on your education units.”

Dixie nodded. “Yeah, I might do that. Thanks. Anything else going on?”

Jackie bit her lip. “I’m having Cade’s baby.”

Dixie was silent for a second, and then clicked into what Jackie had just said. “Wait. WHAT?”

Jackie grinned. “Gotcha. At least I know you’re listening to me now.”

Dixie shook her finger at her friend. “That was not funny. Even a little bit. The thought of a mini Cade in the world is too frightening to consider.” She paused, watching Jackie’s face. “But you guys are a thing, aren’t you?”

Jackie blushed. “I don’t know what sort of thing we are, but yes, we seem to be ‘a thing’. Which is a good thing,” Jackie giggled self consciously. “Is that okay? That I’m dating your friend?”

Dixie smiled. “It’s totally okay. And since we have nothing after tomorrow, it’s totally okay if Cade sends you a plane ticket to go to the race this weekend.”

Jackie bounced in her seat. “He did mention something about that as a possibility, yeah,” she said happily. “I didn’t understand where they were, though. I mean, I know, Germany, but he kept saying… Sausage Ring? Is that right?”

Dixie burst out laughing. “Kind of. It’s Sachsenring, which sounds really similar. In fact, I like your name better,” Dixie grinned. “And I’ve heard it a great track, so it’ll be a fun race.”

“Are you…” The trilling of the phone interrupted Jackie’s question. She put up a hand in apology and then grabbed the receiver. “Dixie Colson’s office, may I help you?” Her face immediately softened, and Dixie knew Cade must be on the other end of the line.

She made a hand gesture that she was going to leave the room to give them privacy, but Jackie waved her back. “He wants to talk to you,” she whispered, covering the receiver with her hand. “Hang on.”

“Are you… yeah? Okay!” Jackie said after listening to Cade for a few moments. “Okay. Yeah. Okay, here’s Dixie. See you soon, baby.”

Jackie handed Dixie the receiver, smiling happily. She stuck out her tongue at her boss, though, when Dixie said into the phone in a sickly sweet voice, “Hey baby, how are you?”

Cade laughed. “I’m crazy about that woman, and I’m not even ashamed to say it, so you can shove that in your dumbbell and smoke it.”

“That made so little sense I don’t even know where to start,” Dixie said, laughing despite herself. “Why are you calling me? Harassment hours don’t start for another twenty minutes.”

“I need help,” Cade said, his voice deadly serious. “Like, yesterday.”

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