Love in Victory Lane (A Chase Elliott FanFic)

Chapter Thirty Seven

My eyes fluttered open, the bright sunlight almost blinding me. I sat up and moved to the edge of the bed, dangling my legs off the side. Chase's arm wrapped around me as he groaned, still half asleep, and pulled me back down on the bed. Memories of the night before flooded back into my mind, and I could not help but smile as the images washed over my thoughts. The recollection of the feeling of Chase's touch on my skin, of the pure, unadulterated passion from last night, even the way Chase looked in the candle light all made me blush and smile as he pulled me to him. I laid in his arms and snuggled in close to him, tracing hearts on his arm as he fell back asleep.

I had not expected last night to happen the way it did, nor that I would have let it happen. But it happened, and I regretted nothing. I laid there for a long time just soaking in how lucky I was to be in his arms. He finally woke up, and in his sleepy voice, he said, "Good morning, beautiful. Did you sleep well?" with a smirk.

I blushed and sat up against the headboard and replied, "Yes, I did. What about you?"

"That was the best I've slept in a while. I tossed and turned every night of the three weeks you were gone, but I always sleep good with you by my side," he answered, then placed a kiss on my lips.

I left Chase and the bed and went to the bathroom to get a shower. I did my daily routine to get ready, then put on the pair of skinny jeans and the Coca-Cola 600 t-shirt Chase had brought with us that he wanted me to wear. When I walked out of the bathroom, I avoided Chase and put my boots on and started gathering all my stuff up. I could feel Chase's eyes burning into my whole body. I turned around and saw Chase staring at me as if he was looking at a wonder of the world. "Chase," I blushed. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Because you are the most beautiful thing I have ever laid my eyes on. Like Gus said, 'I enjoy looking at beautiful people, and I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence."

I stood there speechless, then watched as Chase got out of the bed and slowly walked to me. His eyes never left mine as he made his way towards me and stopped in front of me. He reached up and placed his hand on my cheek, traced his thumb down my jawline, then just walked into the bathroom.

Well then, I thought to myself. He just left me hanging.

When Chase got ready, we left the bed and breakfast and headed back to the track. It was already eight, and Chase had to be on the track for interviews at noon.

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Once we got back to the track, I met up with Emily while Chase and Ryan headed to the interviews they had scheduled. The race was going to start at 2:30 p.m., so we met back up with the guys at 1:30 so we could hang out a little before pre-race ceremonies began. We played video games with the boys for a little while until Chase and Ryan had to head out to the garages to talk to their pit crew and make sure everything was ready and they had their strategies all figured out. At 2:00, we met them beside their cars on pit road to begin pre-race ceremonies. Emily rode in the truck with Ryan, and I rode in the truck with Chase, like we did the first day we met them in Atlanta.

After driver introductions, I stood by Chase's side while they sang the national anthem and the track preacher gave the invocation. Chase then pulled me into his arms and kissed me one long, slow kiss while hugging me. He let go of me and put on his helmet. He climbed into his race car, and before he put the window net up, we both formed our hands into the punk rock fist and moved them back and forth. I leaned down to him and said, "Rock and roll, babe," into his helmet.

He smiled and replied, "Rock and roll, baby girl," as the grand marshal shouted the command to fire the engines. I blew Chase a kiss, and I saw him smile and smirk at me through his helmet visor as he flipped the ignition switch and his car rumbled to life.

With five laps to go, Chase was in eighth place, Ryan was in sixth, Dylan was in twelfth, and Kevin Harvick was battling Brian Scott for the win. Chase was happy with an eighth place finish because his car was extremely tight and was plowing into the corners. Therefore, I was happy with his finish too. Ryan was unhappy, though, because Dylan had bumped him and cause his near perfect car to have minor damage which resulted in the aerodynamics being off on his car. I was worried that Ryan would try to retaliate, but he never did. The checkered flag waved, and Kevin Harvick won the Nationwide Series race at Kentucky.

After the race, we all went to dinner and hung out as a group. We ate at a small Italian restaurant in downtown Sparta. Chase and I walked hand in hand through downtown, talking while Ryan and Emily did the same. After this, we went back to our RVs and spent the night watching movies and eating junk food on the couch.

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I spent all day with Chase at the race track on Sunday, just relaxing and going with him to interviews. Then we sat in Dale Jr.'s pit box and watched the Sprint Cup race. It was an exciting race, with four cautions and lots of pushing and bumping. Dale finished in third place, but Carl Edwards won the race. After the race, Chase drove us to the airport and we flew back to Montgomery. There, a driver was waiting on us, and he drove us to Auburn. When I got back to Auburn, Chase had to leave and go back to the airport so he could fly back to Mooresville, North Carolina, and get back to work. He kissed me goodbye, got in the car, and I watched him drive away.