The Race For A New Life

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

In the morning, Rae automatically felt like a weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. Knowing that Graham felt the same way as she did, made her feel like she could go through any trial. She moved out of the bed and got ready for the day with a smile on her face. When she left her room, Graham was waiting for her with a big smile of his own. He motioned for her to get on his back. She reluctantly agreed and moved so that she can piggy back on him. Walking down the hallway, Graham grabs her hand that isn’t carrying the crutches and kisses it. Rae tightens her hold on him and kisses his temple. When they got to the lobby, Rae noticed that Graham was walking towards a diner and not the continental breakfast area.

Upon entering the diner, Rae sees Graham’s parents. Graham made his way over to them, he then carefully put Rae down on the seat of the booth. “Good morning, Rae! How are you?”, asked Julia. Rae gave her a beaming smile, “I’m really good, thank you. First time in a long time that I feel everything is going to be okay.” John nodded and smirked, “That’s good to hear. Really good.” Graham put his arm on the back of the booth, behind Rae’s shoulders as Rae pulled out the papers from her bag. “By the way, I finished filling these out”, she said as she handed them to Julia. Julia took them and quickly looked them over. “That’s also good. The sooner we turn these in, the sooner Matt is out of the picture”, said John clasping Rae’s hand. “Thank you so much! I really do appreciate it!”, Rae said with a look of relief. Julia smiled at her, “Anything for you, Rae. You’re family and family comes first.” Graham moved his arm around Rae’s shoulders and brought her closer to him. Rae turned her head to Graham; he placed a loving kiss on her forehead. Rae felt her cheeks flush at the attention in front of his parents.

A few minutes later, Steven and Tracy Locke joined them. “Well, everything is good to go. There shouldn’t be any bad weather or anymore landslides in the foreseeable future”, said Steven. Everyone nodded and were happy to hear the news. Grace and Lacy then walked in arguing again. Steven and Tracy looked at each other and sighed heavily at their daughters’ antics. “Do you want to take this?”, asked Tracy. “Me? Why me?”, said Steven with a quizzical look. Tracy glared at him, “They are your daughters. So, you should go deal with them.” Steven looked to his daughters and then looked back to Tracy. “They are also your daughters. I don’t see why I have to deal with them and their fights”, Steven tried to argue. Tracy continued to glare at him, “Excuse me! Two words: Your mother!” Steven rolled his eyes as he relented, “Okay, okay, fair enough.” He got up and dealt with his fighting daughters.

After breakfast, they headed out to the vehicles. Graham took Rae to her station and gave her a good luck kiss before heading for his. Rae got situated in the passenger’s seat of the Miray since the Impala was now getting work done. She looked in the rearview mirror, seeing Lacy giving her brother a kiss on the cheek and walk off. After getting into the driver’s seat, Darren turned to see Rae wiggling her eyebrows at him. He rolled his eyes and shook his head, “Let’s just get this over with.” Rae gave him a pout, “Why so that you can be with your girlfriend again?” He swatted at her arm, and she swatted back at him. They then started slapping each other, until their dad stepped in. “Hey, hey, hey! Stop it! Honestly, you two! It’s time for racing, not slap fights! And Darren!”, Russell said. Darren looked up to his dad. “You should know better than to hit your sister. Especially when she’s hurt”, he continued to say. Rae stuck her tongue out at him. Russell pointed a finger at her, “Now none of that, little missy.” She slid her tongue back in and slouched in the seat with a pout.

Luckily, everyone had no issues with traffic or terrain. Unfortunately, Matt made sure to be close to Rae at all times. No matter what Darren did, he would not leave them alone. “Darren, this is ridiculous!”, said Rae as she saw Matt’s car changing lanes in the rearview mirror. “I agree.”, Darren said also looking in the rearview mirror. Rae’s stomach started to growl, “Oh… not now.” Darren saw an upcoming exit and took it. “What?! What are you doing?”, Rae said. “You and I are both hungry. We’ll get something through drive-thru. Also, it will keep Matt away from you”, Darren explained. She looked in the mirror and saw that Matt missed the exit due to several cars blocking him. She sighed, “Okay, let’s do that. Especially since Matt missed the exit.” Darren nodded, “Good, that gives us some distance between us.” He reached over and grabbed her hand; Rae gave his hand a good squeeze in return.

The next California checkpoint was just past half way through the state. Once Darren and Rae arrived, Graham came by their station to come get Rae. He then picked her up and carried her via bridal carry to her room. They passed William and Grace, who were making plans for dinner. They then saw their parents talking about towns that needed to be avoided. “Is there still some sort of protests going on this year?”, asked Rae. Graham sighed as he continued walking, “Apparently so, we will have to take back roads.” Rae smiled, “I don’t mind taking back roads. That way we get to see the hidden treasures of California. Any state really.” “That’s good, because you will most definitely will get to see those treasures”, he said placing a kiss on her temple. Looking to his left, Graham saw Matt glaring from the shadows. “Let’s get you to your room”, he said.

Upon entering the room, Graham placed Rae on one of the queen size beds. “Go on and order a pizza or something. We’ll eat here, okay?”, he instructed. She gave him a smile and nodded, “Yeah, that’s fine.” Rae started to look through the take-out choices provided by the hotel and picked up her phone. Suddenly there was a knock at the door, Graham hesitated opening for a moment. But Darren called from the other side of the door. Once the door was open, Darren came in with Rae bags and gave her a kiss on her head before leaving. Graham then went out into the hall to let Rae change.

“How are you feeling?”, asked Graham after swallowing a bite of his orange chicken. Looking over to him, Rae smiled, “I’m actually feeling pretty good.” He smiled back at her, “That’s good. I got to admit, I was worried about you today.” Rae gave him a quizzical look, “Why? Because of Matt?” He looked down at his food, “Yeah, I saw how he was staying close to you until you guys pulled off.” Rae reached her hand out to him. Graham got out of the chair that he was sitting in and sat by her on the bed taking her hand. “I’m fine, Graham”, she said softly. “I’m completely fine. I’m in one piece. Well, … kind of”, she continued to say. He gave her a ‘really’ look. “But it will be alright. I gave your parents the restraining order and everything will be put behind us”, Rae then said. Graham lifted her hand and started placing little kisses on it. “I know, and I can’t wait for that. I just want you safe, beautiful!”, Graham replied. Rae blushed at his affection.

“Well, I better get to bed. It’s going to be an interesting day tomorrow”, said Rae about an hour after dinner. Graham nodded and headed for the door after giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Hey, Graham!”, she said. “I kind of have a request to ask of you”, Rae then murmured. He turned to look at her, “Of course! Anything!” She looked around sheepishly, “Do you think that you could stay with me tonight? You know, since this Matt thing is still going on.” Graham smiled at her, “Sure thing, beautiful. I’ll just sleep on the other bed, okay?” He then moves to the only other bed in the room. Rae smiled back and nodded, “Yeah, okay. Thank you, I really appreciate it.” Graham then leaned over and placed a lingering kiss on her forehead. “Goodnight, beautiful!”, he whispered. “I love you!”, Graham then said. Rae looked at him with widened eyes, “I love you too, babe!” Graham found himself going to bed with a full-on smile when he lies down on the available bed. He then reached over and turned out the light.

When Rae woke up the next morning, she noticed that Graham had laid out some clothes for her. Noticing that he wasn’t in the room, she took the opportunity to get ready and dressed for the day. A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. Rae made her way over there with the crutches. William looked up at her when she opened the door, “Morning, Rae.” She smiled back at him, “Morning, William.” “Are you ready to go?”, he asked. “Graham asked me to get you”, he then added. She nodded as he grabbed her belongings, then they made their way to the vehicles.

That morning, the racers made their way from the Fresno area, and began to descend onto the mountains of lower California. On the radio, Rae and Darren could hear that the protests near L.A. had gotten worse. “At least we are safe from that”, said Darren. Rae hummed in agreement. “So, how is your knee feeling? Good? Bad?”, he asked. Rae looked over to her brother, “It’s good. I took my meds this morning for the pain.” Darren smiled, “So then, I don’t need to do an emergency amputation?” Rae scowled at him feeling pissed at his joking, “No, no you do not Darren Matthew!” Darren’s jaw dropped, “No, you didn’t! No, you didn’t! How dare you use my middle name! And to think I was going to let you drive the other half.” Rae raised her eyebrows, “Oh, I’m driving the other half today.” Darren’s scowl got deeper, “Oh no you’re not, Rae Lucia!” Rae gasped, “That’s it! This means war!”

Darren pulled off at the next exit after entering Arizona. When the car finally stopped, Rae struggled to get out of the car when he parked. Darren had to come and got her out of the car. Immediately she tried to fight him, but he ducked out of the way of her fist. Rae saw a couple cars parking in her peripheral vision. However, she continued to go after Darren. But out of nowhere, she felt arms go around her. She looked over her shoulder to see Graham holding her. “Guys, what’s going on?”, asked William a few feet away. Rae whipped her head to look at him, “He won’t let me drive.” William and Graham looked at each other in confusion. Grace then chimed in, “Well, how are you feeling?” “I feel fine, but this good for nothing’ brother of mine won’t let me drive”, Rae tried to explain. Darren attempted to move forward, but Lacy stopped him. “Well, if she hadn’t used my middle name, then she could drive”, Darren argued. Graham looked down at Rae from over her shoulder, “Babe, you know better than to do that.” Rae turned in his arms, “But he also used mine!” The Travers brothers and the Locke sisters all rolled their eyes. “Okay, that’s it!”, said Lacy. “I’m staying out of it!”, she then said as she walked away.

The radio then started to crackle, everyone stilled to pay attention to what the announcement might be. “Darren! Rae!”, said Susan suddenly. “You two better stop this bickering right now!”, she continued to say. Darren reached into the car and grabbed the speaker, “But mom! She used my middle name!” Rae then came up to the car. “I don’t care, Darren! Let her drive now!”, Susan said. Rae smirked as she got behind the steering wheel. “And Rae! You better not be smirking at your brother!”, Susan commented. Her smirk quickly went away, she looked up at Darren. “Fine mom, we will get going.”, he replied. He crossed his arms across his chest when he sat in the passenger’s seat. “You’re lucky that mom intervened”, he grumbled. Rae’s smirk came back and made their way back to the race. The other two cars weren’t too far behind.

A couple hours later, they made it to the checkpoint in Phoenix. Darren grumbled to himself as he got out of the car. He put his arm around Lacy’s shoulders as she walked by and walked off together. Graham came over and helped Rae get out of the car. After they dropped off their bags at their rooms, they then headed out for dinner.

Graham took Rae to a nice restaurant overlooking the surrounding mountains. “How are you enjoying the wine, beautiful?”, he suddenly asked. Rae blushed as she put down her wine glass, “It’s very good, baby. But then again, you would know it is my favorite.” Graham gave her a very wide smile, “Anything for my baby! She deserves the best!” Rae wrinkled her nose at him, “I don’t know about the best. I can make do with anything.” He grabbed her hand across the table. “Not anything, the best! You deserve so much, Rae. If only you could see that”, he said. She squeezed his hand in response as she continued to blush.

After dinner, they started to walk back to the hotel in an uncomfortable silence. “Your knee feeling okay, baby?”, Graham asked trying to break the tension. “It’s fine”, she said flatly. He gave her an unimpressed look, “Was that the reason why you and Darren got into a fight?”, he asked. Rae let out a heavy sigh, “Yeah, pretty much. He thinks that I’m too hurt to drive, but it’s my left knee that’s injured. Not my right!” He grabbed Rae’s arm to make her stop. Graham then moved in front of her to look in her eyes. But she looked at her feet instead. “Babe, you know that he’s just worried about you”, he said as he lifted her chin. “Babe, … look at me”, he then murmured. Rae reluctantly looked into his blue eyes. “We are all worried about you. Okay?”, he whispered to her. “Yeah, I know”, she mumbled. Graham cupped her face with both of his hands. “Try to be a little more understanding of your brother. He’s the only one that you have”, he then commented. Rae nodded her response to him. Graham lowered his head and gave Rae a tender loving kiss. “Okay, beautiful. Let’s get back to the hotel”, he said.