Pit Boys - The Next Race

Chapter 6 - Home

The kids were quiet in general. Pete was relieved. He was not used to having kids around and worried that they would have to be entertained. But the nanny kept them occupied and they seemed to be well-behaved in general. The boy threw the occasional tantrum and only the girl was able to get him to calm down. Still, they were not troubling him like Pete had feared.
In all the chaos following Way's reappearance, he had taken to living with Pete. Now, Pete found him sprawled on the sofa, on the way to being drunk. He held a glass in his hand that was almost empty.
"You want one?" Way got up when he saw Pete, gesturing to his glass.
"No." Pete shook his head. "Maybe you should go easy on it too."
"Yeah right." Way gave a dry laugh and got up to get a refill.
Pete caught his hand and made him sit back down. "Seriously, you need to stop."
"Since when do you care so much?" Way asked, half sitting half standing.
"If I didn't care about you, I wouldn't be on board with this crazy half assed plan of yours." He retorted.
"Fine." Way sat down, empty glass in hand.
"After all this time, you really think I don't care about you?" Pete asked.
Way looked away, not saying anything.
"Look at me." Pete shook Way's shoulder.
"I don't know." Way shrugged. "I can't read minds. You tell me."
"If you want to hear it, I do care about you." Pete got up to leave. "But right now, I really can't understand why."
"Sit down." Way caught his hand.
"Seriously," Pete turned around. "I don't understand what you want. I don't want to read your mind, I want you to talk to me."
"And say what?" Way stood up to look him in the eye.
"I-" Pete was at a loss for words. "You know what, forget it." He walked off.
"Wait, stop running away from things." Way called out after him.
Pete turned around. "I am running away from things?" He walked up to Way. "You are the one who faked your own death. Don't talk to me about running away."
"I did that for everyone's safety." Way countered.
"Yeah, well it definitely did not help me in any way."
"The world is not a better place without you in it." Pete said, his voice lowered. "And I'm not better off without you."
"Why do you have to care so much about me?" Way asked, sitting back on the couch with a sigh.
"How do you not realise, after all this time, that I like you?" Pete sat down next Way, putting a hand on his leg. "I don't know much about you, but I want to."
"I'm not a good person." Way refused to meet his eyes.
"I never said I was a good person either." Pete said. "I don't care that you are a good or bad person. You're you and that's all that matters."
Way looked up at him. "You don't deserve to be with a shitty person like me." He smiled. "I listened to Tony for far longer than I should have, I have done so many questionable things. I don't want you to know that side of me."
"That was in the past." Pete shook his head. "I'm not talking about the past. I'm talking about the future."
"I can't separate my past and future like that." Way said. "Don't you understand the things we do in the past shape our future. I don't want to drag you down with me."
"I don't care where it is, as long as you're with me." Pete replied. "I don't want to live a life without you in it."
"I'm not worth that much." Way looked away.
"I don't care about your insecurities." Pete said. "I'm not letting you trash talk yourself."
They were quiet for a moment.
"I wish I had met you sooner." Pete's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Why?" Way asked turning to look at him. "Why do you like me so much?"
Pete shrugged. "Do you remember the day Alan introduced us?" Way nodded. "You have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen on a person. But it's more than that. You seemed to be so broken somehow but holding yourself together in front of others. I know what that feels like, the strength it takes. And I wanted to be the one you could confide in, the person you could turn to when you needed somebody."
"Then why is it that you don't want to read my mind?" Way asked.
"I don't want to get to know you like that." Pete replied. "I want you to tell me willingly. I don't want to force it out of you."
"What if I'm never able to love you the way you love me?" Way's eyes shone with tears left unshed.
"Just let me love you then." Pete said.
A single tear traced its way down his cheek as he grabbed Pete's coat and pulled him closer.
"Maybe this will help you understand better in that case." Way whispered and kissed him. Pete was shocked for a moment and pulled back. He looked into Way's eyes, questioning. Then they were kissing again, his lips on Way's, his hand on his leg. Way's hands went around Pete's neck pulling him closer as their kiss deepened.
"Is this clear enough?" Way whispered against his lips. Pete didn't reply but instead kissed him again, tasting the tears on his lips.
The doorbell rang. They broke apart, breathing hard. Way looked away and Pete got up and went to the door muttering something under his breath. Way smiled softly.
Pete opened the door. It was Kenta at the door.
"You need to see this." He said as he came in. He walked inside and switched on the TV and changed to a news channel. Pete sat beside Kenta and Way on the sofa.
"Red Racing has been bought by a new guy." Kenta said, pointing to the TV. "He's Russian or something."
The TV showed the members of Red Racing along with a man none of them had seen before.
"Isn't that Winner?" Way sat forward.
"Yeah, I don't know where he came from." Kenta replied.
"I don't particularly like that he's back, but at least it's good to know they didn't murder him." Way said.
"Looks like this guy is going to be our biggest problem." Kenta gestured to the Russian man.
Pete nodded grimly.
"His name is Ivan." Kenta passed him a tablet. "That's all the info I could get on him in the past half an hour."
"He knew Tony?" Pete asked, looking through files.
"Not directly." Kenta replied. "His men have met Tony but he's never been here himself. I've only heard his name before."
"This is not good." Way shook his head.
"We already knew that." Pete said. He passed the tablet to Way.
"What's going on with the auction?" Pete turned to Kenta.
"I do have a list of people we could contact." Kenta said. "But this changes things. This guy is going to know about it even if we invite him or not. And he's not going to be easy to handle."
"Leave that part to me." Pete said. "You should let the word spread about this. Let people know what's going on. Once we get enough attention, this Ivan guy will turn up hopefully and we can get a read on him."
"But what's he doing with Red Racing?" Way asked, looking up from the tablet.
"I can't say." Pete said. "The fact that he just randomly turned up in a foreign country to buy a racing team. I don't know, I can't assess his actions at this point."
"He doesn't seem to have any connection to Thailand." Kenta said. "Let me see if I can dig up something else on him." He got up. "I should be leaving. I'll let you know if there's anything else." Pete closed the door behind him and sat back down on the couch.
"What do you think?" He asked.
"I think the stakes just got a lot higher." Way said. "I can say for sure that now, we really do have something to worry about." He looked at Pete. "Right now, I feel bad for dragging you into this mess."
"I willingly jumped into this mess." Pete smiled. "It's not your fault."
Nobody said anything for some time.
"What are you going to do after all this settles down?" Pete asked.
"I don't know." Way shrugged.
"Well, do you think you could help me to raise the kids?" Pete looked at Way, the hope in his eyes betraying the carefully emotionless tone. "You know, give them a home like you promised the lady at the orphanage."
Way laughed. "You are one smooth talker." He sighed. "Home... Sounds good." He smiled.