Race With a Heart
Chapter 92: First Phone Call

Chapter 92: First Phone Call

Lambert knew the story of Steve and Hannah. He didn’t know the exact details of her, but he knew Paxton had a friend in the hospital who didn’t bode well for recovery. The girl was very young and she was very dear to Steve. He visited her often and was constantly alert to any news from the hospital, as if waiting for news about the improvement or worsening of the girl’s condition.

If Steve was a sports yacht, Hannah was a seabed anchor for him. If he was a balloon, she was a sandbag. If Steve was a sports car, she would have be a lock on his wheel. If he was a bird, she was a cage.

But Paxton never complained that he could not spread his wings or go out to deep sea. He had never even seen himself or Hannah in the arrangement where she obstructed his life. He genuinely cared for the girl and worried about her like a man who really cares about her, not like someone who only does it for show and in fact dreams of running away. Rather, it was Jack who saw them that way. Steve had tremendous talent and great potential to become one of the greatest F1 drivers ever, but his attachment to his sick friend was stronger and held him in place like a chained dog. Except that Paxton himself had voluntarily put on that chain, and although he was not happy with it, he would have gnawed at anyone who tried to take it off.

But it was true that Hannah was preventing him from leaving town. If anything, good or bad, happened to her, Steve always had to be close. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he didn’t make it on time.

Lambert still remembered the moment Steve had learned of the girl’s death. Karl didn’t have to tell him anything. Paxton understood him without words. His face turned ash gray and his lips turned pale. Then, without full mourning, Steve had to get back on track and struggled not to suffer but to fulfill his full potential. He had to do it for himself and the stables. It was hard for him, but he succeeded. Jack was sure he had succeeded in large part thanks to Martin.

"Anyway, I had a contract with the Fergus Stable," Paxton added lightly. "Of course, if I had moved to F1, I would have been able to pay the breach penalty, but it felt disloyal to Old Fergus and Karl. They hired me, they gave me a chance, I couldn’t repay them with ingratitude. "

"What if F1 offer you a contract this year too? Your contract with the Fergus Stables is ending..." Don inquired.

Alston was knowledgeable and smart. If Steve quits this season, he will free up a seat that the third driver will quickly jump into. Unless, of course, someone brand new suddenly appears from somewhere.

"Come on, an old man like me?" Steve laughed. It seemed as if the thought hadn’t even crossed his mind.

"But if?" his younger colleague insisted.

"I still don’t want to leave my town ..."

Lambert choked a second time during one meal. The reason was pretty much the same. He was still shocked that Paxton had accepted Martin and his love. For Jack had no doubt that the current reason Steve didn’t want to leave was a young mechanic with beautiful eyes and a warm smile and a hot heart.

"You should eat slower," Paxton observed anxiously. "Rushing is bad for digestion. Especially at your age. "

"All right, all right, I’m a dinosaur, happy?" Jack answered and drank some juice. "But that dinosaur is kicking your ass in training anyway," he turned to Alston.

"Only because I have respect for the elders," announced the young driver.

"Respect," Lambert snapped. "This is supposed to be a kind of respect?"

After the incident with Martin, Jack didn’t catch Alston doing any other undignified behavior. The third driver was really trying to be as good as possible with everyone, but there was something false about him and Jack, despite his genuine intentions, couldn’t trust him completely. He felt sorry for himself for this, but Don was simply insincere. He was arrogant, but that’s not the point, as drivers are usually arrogant (he even saw it on his own) but they are usually also honest with each other. Jack and Steve had been hostile to each other for a long time, and everyone saw it. They only started talking recently, when they were brought together by the Martin topic. Paxton was now slowly opening up to Lambert as well, but still showed him a lot of reluctance. It was direct and honest. Don was overly kind, as if he wanted to win the favor of his older colleagues or lull them to vigilance. His mouth said compliments, but his eyes hid daggers.

It was actually quite understandable. Motor racing was an elite sport involving a lot of money and fame. Every year new talents showed up, but old men like Jack blocked their place. In his own eyes, such a young driver was a potential F1 world champion and had no chance to even be on the track until old men like Jack blocked their way. Steve was still quite decent age for a driver, but Jack should be in retirement from sports. Everyone knew he would not achieve any more, so why stick to the track and not give the young a chance?

Don Alston must have thought the same, but he was powerless. This year the Fergus Stables cars were prepared so well that few stables could compete with them. Even last year’s champion had problems with the new engines, which gave others a chance. Previous season, Jack was a bit busy chasing the Kevin Moore he fell in love with at first sight, so he focused more on chasing the beautiful professor than on racing the track. This year, however, after winning the heart of the man he wanted, Lambert was able to focus on racing, so while people predicted his retirement, he set out to prove that car racing is a sport in which older drivers can also do great.

So while his accomplishments this season were highly respectable, Jack was under no illusion that if Alston had the opportunity to do so, he would have immediately bitten him out of track. Fortunately, he didn’t have that option.

"If you could, you’d ram me on the track, but you’re still at least a hundred years away from my skills ..." retorted Lambert.

"All right" Steve suddenly stood up. "I’m fed up with food and both of you. You can chirp like parakeets, but I have to make a call," he announced, taking a tray.

Jack got the feeling he probably knew who he was going to make the call to.

For the forty-seventh or forty-eighth time, Martin watched the new ad that appeared today. The young mechanic had no idea that any advertisement could be so appealing, so beautiful that he would be watching it all the time. The only question was whether it was the advertisement itself that attracted him so much, or the man who played in it?

It was an advertisement for classic wristwatches, very elegant and even more expensive. The ad’s slogan was ’When precision counts in hundredths of a second’ and featured two incarnations of Steve Paxton. One was Steve in the car and on the track, the other was Steve in a more formal outfit that blends perfectly with his elegant watch. Black-haired, tall and slender Paxton did not look like an athlete, but like a movie star, as evidenced by the hundreds of comments that appeared under the advertising film. Martin felt angry that all these girls were getting so excited to see his boyfriend, because it was his boyfriend, not theirs. But he had to admit that Steve looked really sexy, and only someone blind or made of wood wouldn’t react to such a man. Therefore, Martin was biting his lower lip more and more. He couldn’t take his eyes off his sexy boyfriend, and he couldn’t believe his luck that this man who looked like a Greek god chose him for himself.

So Martin jumped up on his bed when the phone rang in his hand and the display clearly indicated that it was none other than Steve Paxton.

The surprised mechanic gasped. It was the first time Steve had called him. Martin grunted once and twice and answered.

"Hello ..." he announced in a trembling voice.

"Are you alone or in company?" a sudden question was asked. Steve’s voice was a little hoarse, but probably not from a cold. Martin felt a certain tension in him.

Surprised, Martin looked around his apartment like the last idiot. Of course he was alone! Who would be with him? So why is he looking around! The nonsense of his behavior surprised even himself.

"I’m alone," he admitted. "I am in my apartment. Why do you ask?"

"Have you ever made love from a distance?"