After the disastrous meeting with Dieter and Darren, I told them I would do what I could to help, but that I couldn’t make any promises. He’d been stubborn about getting treatment for his concussive symptoms. I didn’t expect that to change much.
Unfortunately, frustrations were already high, and with all of the pressure of the season bearing down on the team, I wasn’t sure how much worse things could get. After I left, I paused outside of the team garage and pulled my cell phone out of my purse.
Swiping it on, I called Jillian.
I’d been so tired in the aftermath of Dyson’s crash the day before, I’d fallen asleep and forgotten to call home. After the second ring, Jillian answered.
“Hey,” she began. “I was wondering what happened to you. It’s not like you to miss a call. Is everything okay?”
Leaning against the wall of the garage, I shook my head.
“No, not even close.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
I exhaled and closed my eyes.
“How much time do you have?” I said, chuckling at everything that happened since the last time we’d talked.
“I’ve got all the time you need, Ava.”
Feeling a bit guilty while I did it, I dumped on Jillian over the next few minutes, telling her everything. I mentioned the fight I had with Dyson in his motor coach immediately after the race, Jillian got angry.
“I can’t believe he’s treating you like that,” she groaned. “He seemed like such a good guy when I met him.”
“He is a good guy, Jillian. There’s just a lot of pressure on everyone right now.”
She exhaled into the receiver. “Yeah, I get it, but I would think after two serious crashes in a row he would at least listen to the people around him. People like you, who want to help.”
“I understand,” I began. “I can’t say I disagree with you, but that’s who he is. I really don’t think he’s trying to be cruel to me. Dyson only knows one way of doing things. He’s got his foot on the accelerator in more ways than one.”
“Um, okay, I guess,” Jillian muttered. “If you say so.”
I eased myself off the wall and began to walk away from the team garage.
“I don’t know how to explain it to you, Jillian,” I said, repositioning the strap of my purse over my shoulder. “These guys out here, they’re just different.”
Jillian remained silent for a few seconds. “Well, long as you’re okay, that’s all I care about.”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”
While I walked, I heard the sound of the television on in the background through the receiver.
“Is Simon watching TV?”
“No, I am. I was watching it when you called. He’s in his room playing games on his tablet. You want me to get him?”
Around that time, Dyson’s motor coach came into view. I’d be there in less than a minute, not enough time to talk to Simon.
“No. I’ll call back later. Right now I’ve got some stuff I’ve got to handle.”
“Are you sure you’re okay, Ava?”
“Positive. I’ll call you guys as soon as I get a chance.”
Not long after, I hung up and reached the door to Dyson’s motor coach. Before I knocked, I took a deep breath. The warm, late afternoon California sun and a steady breeze eased my frazzled state, but just a little. Moments later, I reached up and rapped against the door.
I knocked once.
Then a second time.
And even a third.
At several minutes, the door knob to the bus twisted and I raised my eyes upwards. There, in the doorway were the last people I expected to see. To my disbelief, Anastasia and Svetlana stood there, scowling at me.
“Why you here?” Anastasia said, snapping her hand to her hip.
Svetlana stepped a bit closer to me. “Dyson no want to see you.”
I narrowed my eyes at them and pointed.
“If he’s in there, I need to talk to him right away. I really don’t care why you’re here or what you’re doing. This is team business and doesn’t concern you.”
Although I tried to remain stone faced as I issued my threat, I felt sick. I hadn’t seen them around Dyson in weeks. Naïvely, I thought he’d moved on from them. But whether he had or not, I had no intention of letting either of them see me get emotional.
“Did you hear what I said?” I began, raising the volume of my voice. “Go get him now, or I’m coming in to do it myself.”
The girls glanced at one another for a moment. Svetlana turned and walked away without saying a word. Anastasia remained, looking down at her fingernails and flicking them.
“I’m counting to three, Anastasia. There won’t be a four.”
She scoffed at me. “Dyson no here.”
I frowned at her. “Where is he?”
“Out.”
I exhaled and closed my eyes, pinching my lids together in frustration. “Cut the shit. Tell me where he is right now.”
She still refused to make eye contact with me. After hesitating another second or two, Anastasia waved at me with a dismissive flick of her hand.
“Try bar.”
I could only assume she meant the bar where Dyson took care of Gene not long ago. I asked her about it, but whether she was just being difficult or she didn’t know, Anastasia wouldn’t give me a straight answer.
Frustrated, I turned away from her.
“If Dyson comes back, have him call me. It’s really important because…”
The door to the motor coach slammed shut before I could finish my sentence. Shaking my head at their stupid behavior, I thought back to the insult the Grid Girls hurled at me in Miami.
I turned towards the motor coach again.
“Cunts!”
DYSON
“So what the hell is going on with you, man?” Marco said.
I was in the middle of drinking my beer when he asked me the question. The carbonation caused me to burp.
“Hmm?” I grumbled, turning to look at him. “What do you mean?”
“Well, you wanted me to meet you here. I assume it’s because of the meeting you had with Dieter and Darren this morning.”
“How did you hear about that?”
Marco looked away from me. He fixed his gaze on a group of men playing pool about ten feet away from us, which happened to include Gunter and his stupid entourage of butt kissers.
I nudged Marco and spoke.
“Hey bro, I asked you a question. How did you hear about that meeting?”
Marco picked up his beer and took a healthy swig. He turned in my direction, frowning.
“How would I not hear about it, Dyson? We’re teammates.”
I shook my head, looking away from him and towards my beer. Lifting it to my mouth, I gestured in Gunter’s direction before I drank.
“Look at that idiot. I’m ten times the driver he is, and everyone knows it.”
Marco scoffed at me.
I placed my drink down on the bar. “You got something you want to say, Marco?”
He swallowed a gulp and looked in my direction. Running his tongue along his teeth with his mouth closed, he nodded.
“Yeah, actually Dyson, I do.”
I narrowed my eyes at him but didn’t speak.
Marco pointed in Gunter’s direction. “Do you want to know why he wins so much?”
“Sure, man. Tell me. I’m all ears.”
Marco wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
“It’s real simple. The reason Gunter wins is because he has everything working like a well-oiled machine. No one questions your talent, Dyson. But winning at this level is not all about talent. You have to work hard, and you have to have a plan.”
I looked away from him, staring at Gunter once again.
“Man, that’s bullshit, I’m a hard worker, and you know it.”
Marco remained silent for a second before he slapped me on the back.
“I’m not saying you don’t work hard. What I’m saying is that as teammates, you and I shouldn’t be looking to blame Gunter for our failures. Instead, we should be trying to dissect what that team does well and apply it to what we’re doing, so we can beat them on a consistent basis.”