Infinity Times Infinity (Book One)

Chapter 31

Mikaela's POV

The next few weeks flew by in a blur. I finished my album and I was extremely proud of it.

The label ended up signing Cody to a contract. He was scheduled to return to Nashville in the next few weeks to begin recording. He had enough music, and they were anxious to get him out there.

I accepted Cole's offer to join his tour, and he surprised all of us by adding Cody, after promising it would not interfere with Cody and Brittany's January wedding in Colorado.

I had packed up most of my house and moved to North Carolina with Ryan. Holly decided to move to Dawsonville with Chase, and after being on the fence about what to do with my Nashville townhouse, I elected to keep it to use for when I was in town or to loan out to friends when they needed a place to stay in music city.

The NASCAR playoffs began, and Ryan was in. He had qualified on points despite not having a win.

The cup series returned to Charlotte, and I couldn't help but be nervous.

For one, this was where Ryan's car had caught fire the last time we were here. For another, this was the first time ever they were running the Roval. A combination road course and oval.

Ryan, among several other drivers, struggled on the new configuration in testing. It also didn't help matters that this was an elimination race.

During the first stage, Ryan complained several times about the cars handling, or lack thereof.

The car was very loose and he was sliding around a lot.

His complaints were enough to earn him a Racehub sweetheart nomination.

Jeremy was able to keep him calm and they were able to get the car better and earn a stage point.

Jeremy devised a strategy for stage two, to not pit.

They knew they were going to give up track position after the stage, but they had plenty of time to make up ground, and stage points were so valuable.

Ryan went on to win stage two. As anticipated, they did give up track position and fell pretty far back, to the point where Ryan was below the cutoff line for the next round.

Still plenty of race left though and Ryan was quietly picking up positions.

The turning point came eight laps from the finish when Brad slammed the wall, taking out several of the top contenders.

Ryan sustained some minor damage from the accident, but the team elected to stay on the track. They had enough fuel to make it to the end, and their tires were better.

Ryan quickly made his way up to third and was solidly above the cutoff line.

Then, on the last lap, coming through the chicane, second place Jimmie Johnson, Who was also fighting to make the next round, made contact with leader Martin Truex Jr. Jimmie spun around and his back end clipped Truex causing him to spin.

Oh My God!!! Ryan just won the race!!!

"Holy fuck!" Spotter Josh said over the radio.

Ryan's voice came over the radio laughing "Holy shit that was awesome!!!"

Ryan spun the car around and drove the opposite way to the front stretch, where he was interviewed by NBC.

Afterward, he got the checkered flag from the flag man and gave it to a small child in the stands.

My heart was about to explode as I waited for him to drive into victory lane.

He arrived and climbed out of the car standing in the window opening, happily showering his team with a bottle of Body Armor.