Race With a Heart
Chapter 174: It’s Just Like Jack

Chapter 174: It’s Just Like Jack

Don Alston looked at the departing Martin and Steve and looked glumly away from them.

"Would you like a beer?" suddenly Jack asked him. "We’ll take a shower, listen to Abe’s lecture, and go out to a bar. I don’t think we’ve ever done that before. "

"That’s right. We have never had a beer together."

"My mistake. But I only had a beer with Steve once, maybe twice, no, the first time was a chance meeting and we drank a nonalcoholic drink ... Well, whatever. I’m buying."

"I do not know if..."

"We will discuss your track performance today. What do you think?"

The proposal was rather shocking. Jack Lambert was offering him a friendly chat where he would share his thoughts on how Alston drives? Did Don for sure heard that right?

"Why?" the younger driver only asked this question.

"And why not?"

"Because I ..."

Don could not find an answer. He had plenty of them on his mind, but none of them seemed appropriate to say it aloud, especially with so many people around.

"If you have no other plans, we’ll talk over a beer and maybe you’ll understand then," Lambert suggested. "So what, okay?"

***

"I don’t know what’s in your head, but I think there are at least a few unpleasant thoughts and a whole lot of chaos. Am I wrong?"

Jack Lambert and Don Alston sat opposite each other at a bar table. It was their first trip to a place like this, and Don felt a little uncomfortable, especially since only yesterday his involvement with Steve’s case was revealed.

He had expected his action against Paxton to get him completely pushed away by all the drivers, while paradoxically Jack began to show him greater friendship.

Wait a minute, Lambert isn’t going to hit him on, is he? He eventually admitted himself to be gay, and did so immediately after Alston confessed that he had sex with a man.

The thought was disturbing. The thought was disgusting. Don tried to push her out of his mind, but the worm of suspicion was already starting to pierce his heart. Alston, to hide his confusion, dipped his mouth in beer.

Since he didn’t answer anything, Lambert continued.

"I noticed that you were driving below your capacity today. That you were struggling on the track. You usually ride better. "

"Did you notice it?" Don was surprised. To notice a change in someone’s behavior, you need to know how they have behaved before, which means you had to pay attention to them. For all the cold shoulder treatment he received from Jack, was Lambert paying attention to him?

"Of course I noticed," Jack replied. "As you have been on the track for as many years as I have been, you will also gain the awareness of your surroundings that is so important on the track. Many drivers miss it, not only you. That’s why Abe organized this mock race today. You weren’t yourself on the track today, so I wonder if it was because of a third driver on the track, or if you were influenced by events outside the track."

Alston couldn’t guess where Lambert was suddenly interested in him. Are there any dirty intentions behind this? Or was it the veiled information that Jack had an eye on him all the time, so if Don did something against one of his friends again, would he regret it?

"And why should you be interested in the reason? Shouldn’t you just be glad I fared worse than your friend Martin? " Alston asked a bit aggressively.

"You’re right," Jack admitted. "Until now, I was biased even though I thought I was neutral. I made a mistake that I shouldn’t have made."

By this point, Don felt completely lost.

Jack Lambert sighed.

"I’m the oldest driver in Fergus Stables, both in age and experience," explained Jack. "Before you, before Steve, there were many others. Obviously I am not as experienced as Abe, but I have seen enough to see the driver from a certain perspective. When you came to our stable, you acted very stupid on the one of first days. I don’t think I need to remind you of that."

Indeed, he didn’t have to. Don knew perfectly well that his behavior that day was far from perfect.

"I don’t know if it’s because you attacked Martin," added Lambert, "or if I would react so strong to assault to any other man... You see, sexual assault is something really gross. It takes away the dignity of both the victim and the perpetrator. It takes the victim’s humanity and turns it into a thing, but the attacker also takes his humanity and turns himself into an animal. The victim had no choice, but the attacker voluntarily gave up his humanity and turned into a beast. Therefore, the victim deserves maximum support and the attacker deserves condemnation."

"You made it clear to me," Alston noted. He didn’t understand why Jack was returning to those events.

"Because I saw you in this situation then," Lambert continued, "I subconsciously treated you as an enemy. I thought I was neutral, but I was not. Being gay is not easy in this world. Many men, especially young men, treat us as sub-human. If a teenager reveals that he is gay, he almost always becomes the object of ridicule and mockery, he is expelled from the boys’ community in the classroom and his classmates abuse him with impunity. He is gay, pederast, you can do anything with him ... "

"I didn’t think that way," said Don defensively.

"But that’s what you did. You saw Martin had an erotic relationship with a man and you immediately wanted to use him for yourself. Has it ever occurred to you that you actually treat him not like a human, but like thing? "

"If that’s what you want to talk to me about ..."

"No," Jack sighed. "But I should apologize because I forgot my responsibilities to you as a junior colleague after that incident. I forgot that you are new to the world of professional racing, that what you have learned so far is not enough to be prepared for a higher league. I did not give you proper guidance, I left you on your own and... If I had been your guide, as befits an older, experienced colleague, I am sure you would not have done to Steve what you did. Steve has always been difficult so you may have had some conflicts with him, but I should be there for you and you were left alone. I think you are in a difficult place now too, but this time I want to be here for you. "

"Why?"

"Because now you are also in a difficult place. I don’t want you to be completely alone again because I don’t want you to make a mistake again. After you admitted your wrongdoing, you came out clean. I want you to take this opportunity and become a really good driver."

***

Jack wasn’t sure if his change of attitude towards Don would be good or bad for the boy, but he felt he had to do something or the results would be negative. Alston was a complete kid when he came to their stable. He made a mistake about Martin, he made a huge mistake, but that didn’t necessarily mean that his whole life would be crossed out. If Jack had then tried to reach out to him instead of ignoring him, tried to explain to him the seriousness of his guilt, maybe Don would have felt connected to the drivers of the Fergus Stables, not trying to destroy Steve with these dirty methods.

Nobody is born evil. It is the world around that makes some people have the worst instincts. It seemed to Jack that if, as the older and more experienced man, he had become Don’s guide, not his enemy, things would have turned out differently. Maybe he was wrong, maybe it would not really change anything, but in his heart Jack felt the responsibility for neglecting the good development of a younger colleague. After all, who, if not older colleagues like him, can be a guide, also moral, in the world of racing?

And if an inexperienced person enters a strange, unknown world governed by specific laws, if he does not have a guide, he can easily go astray. Therefore, even if Don acted very badly by repenting for his actions, he deserved forgiveness and a second chance.

Kevin is likely to smile sweetly at Jack when he finds out that Jack wants to be Alston’s mentor. Certainly he will not be surprised by this, after all he mocked Lambert and his soft heart and faith in people more than once. But this mockery was not an expression of real mockery but of respect and love. Jack knew it, which was why he loved Kevin so much.

Well, not just that. The professor had a lot of wonderful qualities about him. He was intelligent, handsome and damn good in bed ...

Jack sighed as he stretched out his hand toward the door handle of the house he shared with Moore. Lately they had made love so often and so intensely that they couldn’t do anything else together. The smallest, most innocent word was a sexual provocation for them. Sex was wonderful, almost divine, but human bodies also had their limits and needed sleep. Meanwhile, one word, one look was enough to light a fire in both of them. It’s as if teenagers are overwhelmed by hormones.

Not good, Jack shook his head and pressed the handle. Definitely not good. If they love each other today ...

But how do you resist when the mere thought of sex with Kevin made Jack hard?

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