Evan fisted his fingers and said, “Seriously, Elec, why didn’t you just let me pass?”
“Why the hell would I let you pass? I was going for the win, just like you were.”
“Because you were risking losing control by all that maneuvering to keep me from passing. You were reckless.” Evan glared at his brother over his shoulder as he stomped across the gravel to his motor home.
“You were being reckless driving up my ass.”
“Because you should have let me pass!”
“Why?”
“I just told you why.” Evan yanked open the door and gestured for Elec to go first. “And because you’re my brother and you should know that I need all the points I can get right now. You’re having a great season and I’m not. You could have given one damn spot to me.”
“You would never expect me to do that for any other driver, so why should I do that for you? Why do you get special favors? Instead, you should just try driving better, crybaby.”
Crybaby. God, why did such a childish taunt make Evan see red? Elec still sounded completely unflappable, and Evan waited until Kendall had followed Elec into the motor home, then he slammed the door shut and dove at his brother’s back. Elec wasn’t ready for the hit and he went crashing into the coffee table, then dropped down onto the floor hard.
“Get off me, you dickhead!” Elec said, struggling to roll onto his back.
Evan ground his brother’s face into the carpet. “That’s for being a selfish prick. And for ruining my science project by pissing on it when I was in the third grade.”
Somewhere in the back of Evan’s mind it registered that this was ridiculous and petty, but it still felt really, really damn good to have his brother down, even as he could hear Kendall yelling at them to knock it off.
Elec got a hand back and made contact with Evan’s chin, hard. “What are you, twelve years old?” his brother asked, as Evan saw stars. “More brawn than brains, always have been that way.”
Then it was on, like Donkey Kong.
They were rolling and landing punches, knocking into furniture, and swearing like drunken sailors. Or very pissed off brothers.
Evan saw with satisfaction that he had managed to split his brother’s lip, though they had destroyed two dinette chairs in the process, when the door slammed.
“What in the Sam Hill is going on here?”
Uh-oh. That was his mother’s voice.
He and Elec both went still, breathing hard on their sides, Elec’s hands fisted into Evan’s driving suit. Neither one of them spoke, waiting for the wrath to fall.
“Oh, hello, Kendall,” his mother said in much gentler tone. “How are you, sweetheart? You’re having quite a rookie season.”
“Thank you, ma’am.”
“But I’m sorry you had to witness such a shocking and childish display of bullshit. I hope you weren’t injured in any way by their raging stupidity.”
“No, ma’am. I was just letting them work it out.”
Evan shook Elec off of him and sat up, wiping his nose. Blood. Fabulous. He looked warily over at his mother, who was standing with her arms folded, her purse over her shoulder.
Eve was behind her. “I hate both of you,” his sister said. “You’re determined to kill me.”
“Oh, stop being so overdramatic,” his mother told her. “No one is trying to kill you.”
Then she rounded on him and Elec. “But you two . . . if you weren’t grown men, I’d paint your back porches red. I didn’t raise you like this. Trash talking each other, to the media of all people! Running off half-cocked instead of talking about it. Rolling around on the floor like a couple of twelve-year-olds!”
“See?” Elec, who had sat up as well, nudged Evan’s leg with his foot. “Told ya you were acting twelve.”
“Oh, shut up.” Evan smacked his brother’s foot away.
“Knock it off!” his mother roared. “I’m ashamed of both of you. You—” Her finger shot out and pointed at Elec. “You are a married man. A father to two small children! This is not how you act to set an example for those babies. And you were sadly lacking in sportsmanlike conduct today.”
Evan felt a little smug when he saw the pained expression cross his brother’s face. Damn straight.
“And you.” The finger swiveled to point in his face. Uh-oh. “You know better than to expect special favors from anyone. It’s every man for himself out there, and you needed to ease up. Your reckless determination to pass Elec could have seriously injured someone. And this foolishness is just that—the actions of a fool. You are never going to get a woman if this is how you behave.”
Wonderful. Just what every man wants his mother to say in front of the woman he’s sort of sleeping with. A glance at Kendall showed she was fighting back a smile.
Furthermore, he knew his mother was right. He shouldn’t expect Elec to make things easier for him just because he was having a rough season. Nor should he be driving that aggressively, especially based on emotion.
“Maybe I should head on out,” Kendall said, undoing her jacket sleeves from her waist and pulling them back up onto her arms, making her chest do a lovely forward jut for a second.
“No, no, please don’t go.” Evan stood up and despite still feeling irritated, extended his hand to his brother to help him up. “We’re finished. I’m sorry, Elec. That was uncalled for.”
Elec took his hand and stood up. “I apologize, too. I was being stubborn on the track.”
They clapped each other on the shoulder and that was it. If his brother thought he was going to grovel, he could kiss his ass.
But he knew he had to say the right thing to his mother. “You’re always right, Mom. I’m sorry my behavior embarrassed you and Dad.” He gave her a loud, smacking kiss on the top of her head, which he knew would cause her to melt a little. “What would we do without you?”
“Kill each other.” Her shoulders relaxed, but she still gave him a stern look. “Y’all are going to have to make pretty in front of the cameras.”
“I will. I say on Friday at qualifying me and Elec make a big show of joking around and hanging out. Then we’ll do some interviews where he’ll apologize for calling me immature.”
Evan had to admit that was the one label that got under his skin and stuck there. Was he immature? He thought he was mostly just impulsive, emotional. Just because he tended to explode, because he felt things so deeply, and desperately avoided entanglements that might hurt him didn’t make him immature. Did it?