Race With a Heart
Chapter 60: Danger, Steve Paxton

Chapter 60: Danger, Steve Paxton

Don got out of the shower hearing his phone ringing. He felt excited to see the name on the display.

"Heather!" he exclaimed. Silence answered him. Don thought he heard before the front door slam, but he preferred to make sure he was alone in the apartment.

He finally picked up.

"You’re talking to me at last," he hissed furiously into the receiver.

"I heard you wanted to contact me," Nelson replied gently, "so I’m calling. How can I help you?"

"First race! You promised for Paxton it would be a disaster! Meanwhile, he is more popular after it than before! "

"I promised it would be the beginning of the end for him, and it is. The plan started off brilliantly. "

"Second place and even more popularity is the beginning of the end for you?"

"Don, control your nerves, please. You were supposed to trust me. I asked you for patience. "

"But the results are not what I expected!"

"You are a very impulsive person, no wonder you are a racing driver, but you must remember that the biggest and most effective plans were enforced over a long time. You want to secure a place in the races, I will do it for you. "

"Yes, but will it happen this season?" Alston snapped.

"Of course. You know how important your satisfaction level is to us. "

"At the moment it is very low."

"I am sorry to hear it. I thought we’ve known each other long enough for you to trust me. By the way, you should start to be careful about whose services you use and what places you go to. You will become famous within a month, so people shouldn’t connect you with certain places. "

Don was not surprised that Nelson knew about his recent visit to the strip bar. Somewhere in his mind he made a note of Nelson’s attention, but focused on one specific point in his speech.

"Within a month?" He asked.

"You see, you won’t have to wait as long as you thought."

In fact, knowing the more specific date when Don would finally be on the real racing track, the man felt a little more at ease. A month is not that long after all. He had been waiting for this day all his life, he would wait another month.

"You know, Nelson, your mind amazes me sometimes. If you weren’t working for my father, you might be working for a crime syndicate. "

Nelson laughed on the other side of the phone. There was actually something demonic about that laugh, like the laughter of a villain in some drama.

Alston was intrigued by Nelson’s plan to remove Steve Paxton from the track within a month, but was afraid to ask for details. As before, he decided it was better not to know too much.

The plan must have been a bit diabolical, however. Don couldn’t even imagine how it might go? He knew he shouldn’t, but he asked anyway:

"I don’t want to know everything, but ... tell me something, some detail."

"Hmm ..." Nelson mused. "Fine. In one of our conversations you mentioned that Paxton looked like he lost his balls in training. What do you think will happen when something like this happens again during the race? "

"Do you want to create a situation where he will make a public laughing stock of himself? So why do you think the current situation is good for us? "

"The higher you stand, the more painful it is to fall." Nelson explained patiently.

Don Alston smiled to himself. He was still young, he might not know all the tricks that could lead someone to the top and knock someone else off it. But he had the impression that he could learn a lot from Nelson.

"All right, I’ll trust you. But if after a month I don’t get the results I expect, I’ll take matters into my own hands. "

"Of course," Nelson agreed. "If I fail, do what you want with Paxton."

Don put down the phone and suddenly thought he heard something in the hall. He quickly ran to check and saw Heather closing the door and taking off her shoes.

The girl smiled and picked up a plastic shopping bag.

"I got you something for a hangover," she announced. "Maybe you’ll cheer up."

At what exact moment did Heather come home? Had she heard any part of the conversation Don was having with Nelson?

Heather began chattering happily about the line at the grocery store. She was surprised that so many people were there at this time. She acted naturally like the idiot she actually was. Alston smiled pleasantly at her. This girl wasn’t an actress. If she heard what he was saying, or if she understood the meaning of his words, she would not be able to hide it.

The call from Larissa Fergus surprised and upset Karl Walton. His aunt didn’t give him any bad news, but said she wanted to interview him about Steve. This in itself was disturbing.

Although Larissa did not practice as a psychologist, she was empowered to do so, so Karl enlisted her help when needed. It was she who, completely unofficially, accompanied Steve Paxton during Hannah’s coma. She helped the driver more like a family member than a psychotherapist, so she established a thread of trust with him. Of course, Steve didn’t open his heart to anyone at the time, but knowing that one word of her could block his access to the racetrack made him treat her with a certain amount of respect and honesty. In fact, it was Larissa who persuaded Paxton to ride at the Fergus Stables as much as Karl himself. She even helped convince her father to hire this boy. Her voice may not have been very important, because Old Fergus liked Steve anyway, but it certainly helped convince others.

After Hannah died, she was the one closest to Steve. Karl turned to her too when he saw Paxton had a new incident.

Walton canceled a non-essential meeting he was scheduled for that afternoon and went to his aunt’s office, who greeted him and got to the heart of the matter without being unnecessarily baffled.

"Steve hasn’t come to talk to me yet," she complained. "What should I think about this?"

Karl grunted. He thought Paxton had turned up at his appointment.

"I will remind him about it, but now we are going to the competition again and we have talks with sponsors ..."

"I know," she cut short. "Who do you think I am? This stable belongs to my father. I grew up more with her than you did. You’ve entered the season and now you won’t have a free time for several months. What about Steve? Racing is more important than him? "

Karl cursed silently.

"Of course not!" he assured. "How can you even suggest such a thing?"

"This boy is in a very delicate period for his mental health. An incident that recently happened on the track ... "

"It wasn’t dangerous at all," he assured her gloomily. "You saw how great he handled it. He made it to the finish line flawlessly and people praise his calmness. I was surprised at how well he controlled himself. "

"Yes, me too," Larissa announced. "And paradoxically, this is what worries me. Steve has always been aggressive in reacting to stress, now what? Don’t you think his behavior was at least abnormal? "

Yes, it was definitely abnormal. Before that, Steve would have gotten drunk and made a decent brawl somewhere, or picked up one of the race assisting models. Meanwhile, Paxton at the party had abstained from alcohol and women alike.

"Steve has decided to change," he informed his aunt quietly.

"Why? What’s his motive? If his motive is false or weak, it can collapse at any moment and the effects will hit him twice as hard. Do you know what motivates him? "

Walton thought about it. He knew from his fiancée that it was Hannah’s mother who asked him to start living, so maybe it was her request combined with the girl’s death ... Or maybe something completely different ...

Everything started to change when Walton found out that Steve had spent the night with this little mechanic. Or maybe it started even earlier but Karl didn’t notice it?

"I already mentioned to you that Steve found someone. Knowing his temperament and history, you can imagine that he was not very good for this person. I think he may want to change ... for that person. "

Karl should be happy when he says these words. There is no better motivation for change than love, but Walton couldn’t help feeling that Martin was not the right person for Paxton. The boy was a good kid, but Steve needed someone stronger to support him, not some snot with milk under his breath. It would be completely different if it were a woman, but a guy?

Karl had serious reasons to believe that it would end very badly for both of them.