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Cal was the latter, and it irritated hi with a drunken piece of shit like Cal

Of course, it had been Evelyn’s choice to go out with Cal, but he knew she’d done it just to piss hi that, because it meant she mattered to him And she didn’t matter to hi He ht have kissed her once, but other than that they were nothing to each other She worked for his father and they were supposed to spend tiure out how they were supposed to handle that

In the er over stuff about his dad and not juot her a drink She slid into the booth and opened her bag, dragging out a salad and some bread

"Did you eat?" she asked "I have plenty here"

"I ate earlier Go ahead"

She dove into her food and he could tell she was hungry, which only served to rier with Cal He refilled his drink and took a seat across fro problem"

She took a few bites of salad and then a sip of her drink "No kidding That was obvious after his eighth beer and fourth shot of whiskey"

"The bad thing is, he’s an awesome driver When he’s sober, he’s one of the best out there He just can’t lay off the alcohol It’s been a problem for a while now The year after he won the chaht he was hot shit, really bought into all the hype and theto hi a really great ho couldn’t handle his cheating"

Evelyn paused and looked at him "I’m sorry to hear that He was so nice to me earlier today"

"Like I said, when he’s sober, he can be a really nice guy, but then it’s like there’s this switch inside hiets flipped, he turns into someone completely different"

She bit into a slice of bread "Yeah An asshole"

"Exactly"

After she finished her food, she took a long s of soda "I’m sorry about Cal

I see a lot of parallels to that in Washington Nice people get elected, their heads filled with all the great things they think they can do Then all that changes when they co and all"

He shrugged "Some people are weak They can’t handle fa one day to having a staff of people asking what they can do for you the next They don’t knohat to do with it and it affects theree"

He wanted to throw his father into that ht now and he didn’t want to fuck it up

"Has anyone talked to Cal about rehab?" Evelyn asked

He let out a laugh "Yeah Tons of people, fro division He won’t listen And he never drinks when he’s racing, he’s never late for a practice or a qualifying or a race He’s never had a DUI, so they can’t sanction hi, he tips the places well And he does a lot of his fa in his trailer, surrounded by people he trusts His fans don’t know about it because he keeps it on the do"

It wasn’t very do tonight She wondered how many of his fans were at the restaurant It was dark and private and there weren’t very ht her there, because he liked the anonymity of the place

She nodded "He has to want to help hi you can do"

"The other drivers worry, though Everybody’s afraid that so to show up drunk for a race and hurt hi to break loose"

"God, I hope that doesn’t happen"

"Me, too It’ll end his career Or one of ours"

They both went silent then, and Gray knew this was the ht

"I’aze to his "About what?"

"Last night About ju out Miranda I shouldn’t have done that"

"You’re sensitive about anything having to do with your father I understand that

Instead of talking it out with you, I reacted negatively I’m sorry, too"

She’d let him off the hook a lot easier than he deserved

"I’m sorry about today, too You wanted to learn about the cars and I was a dick about it"

"Yes, you were But the whole thing with Cal was "

"To make me mad, I know You obviously aren’t attracted to him"

She crossed her arms "And how do you know that?"

He nodded toward her outfit "Look at what you’re wearing"

"Hey What’s wrong with my dress?"

"You look like you just stepped off the Mayflower No wouy would wear a dress like that"