The Suite Life of Speed

Chapter 1: Maddie's Back

A young woman stood outside the luxurious Tipton Hotel, her brown eyes focused on the door that she had not walked through for about a year. As she stared at the door she reminisced about all the fun times she had had there from the age of fifteen on. She smiled to herself as she remembered all the trouble a certain pair of blonde twins used to get into all the time. She was broken out of her stupor by the sound of two engines screaming and tires squealing in the distance. Looking down the street she saw what was making all the noise. Two cars came careening off one of the side streets and sped down the street towards the Tipton. The car that was leading looked oddly familiar to her as it passed not five feet in front of her but she couldn't figure out why. The other car who was having trouble keeping up with the leader passed a few seconds later blowing a few strands of her blonde her free from the ponytail at the back of her head. She followed their progress down the street until they turned down another road and were lost from sight again. Picking up her suitcase that had fallen out of her hand when she turned away from the door at the sound she walked into the hotel still trying to figure out why that car had looked so familiar to her.

As his car sped down the street he grinned to himself as he shifted from fourth gear to fifth. He had seen the girl standing outside his home as they passed the hotel and couldn't help feeling a little giddy at the fact that she was finally here after all the time that had passed since the fiasco in Lichtenstamp. I'll have time for that later. He scolded himself putting his mind back on the task at hand, he took a glance at the GPS device mounted to his dash board and the path it showed him, Good one more turn and then the home stretch. Pulling up on the E-Brake handle he whipped the steering wheel to the right as he came upon the turn sending his car drifting through the intersection. His opponent had apparently done the same as he saw the other car in his rear view mirror come around the corner. About that time the other car started to pick up speed and he knew that his opponent had triggered a nitrous oxide boost. Too soon, pal! He thought as he saw the car start to pull ahead. Flipping a toggle down by his shifter he waited until the on-board computer flashed ready and then pressed the button that would trigger his own Nos booster. His grin spread even wider as he crossed the finish line first. Coming to a stop he opened the door, removed the five point racing harness, and stepped out into the chilly night air.

"And we have our WINNER! Give it up for Zack 'Gear Jammer' Martin!"

Grinning again Zack reached up and took the helmet that was covering his face off and ran a hand through his sweat ridden blonde hair. He turned around to look over his black and red 2000 Ford Mustang. Noting the small scratch on the driver door right in the middle of the skeleton vinyl that adorned it. That would be from the pebble that hit it the one time he tried to pass me. Looking over at his opponent who was standing by the navy blue Evo, he called over to him, "I hope you realize your paying to get this scratch removed!"

"That's what you think, the money I put into this race is all your getting from me." The guy called back as he flipped Zack off, got in his car and drove away.

"Figures he'd say that." Zack said as he set his helmet down, "Sore loser."

"Zack...Hey Zack?" the voice that was calling his name could only belong to the one person he had known his entire life that was there with him. Zack turned around and saw his twin brother moving toward him with the race winnings in his hand.

"What's up?" Zack asked as Cody stopped in front of him.

"Three things, one...here is the cash, two, we have like five minutes till this place is swarming with cops, and three, Maddie..."

"GET IN!, EVERYONE GET MOVING COPS ARE ON THE WAY!" Zack called out cutting his brother off mid sentence and jumping back into the driver seat of his car. Cody ran to the other side of the car and got into the passenger seat.

"I knew I should have brought my own car and by the way..." Cody said as Zack started the car and sped off down the street.

"No time to talk." Zack spat out cutting his brother off again as he heard the sound of sirens getting closer. He came up to an intersection and turned right heading down about two blocks he took another right and then a third into the ally that came up to the back of the Tipton. Stopping by the back door he let Cody out.

"By the way," Cody said as he got out of the car and turned around looking at Zack, "Maddie's back. I got a text from mom while you were racing."

"I know, I saw her as we passed the Tipton earlier, now if you don't mind I'd like to go park this thing before any of those cops see it sitting in the ally." Zack said.

"Ok, I'll see you in a few." Cody nodded as he closed the door and let Zack pull away.

Zack went a little ways passed the back of the hotel and turned into the back entrance of the Tipton's Parking Garage, drove up to the second level and parked his car right beside his brother's Corvette. Opening the door, he grabbed his helmet and the cash and stepped out of the car.

"I thought I recognized that car from the pictures you sent me." Zack jumped at the sound of the young woman's voice.

"You know, it's not real safe sneaking upon someone like that." he replied turning around to meet the woman's gaze, "Hi, Maddie."

"Hi, Zack." She stated before moving in and giving him a hug, "nice car, by the way." she grinned up at him as she released him from the hug.

"How did you know where I'd be?" he asked as he looked her over, the main reason he asked was to try and stave off any questions as to why he had been going about a hundred mile an hour when she had seen him pass by the hotel, but he was also partially curious.

"Mr. Moseby told me where you and Cody normally park your cars at and I figured I'd come out and say hi." she explained.

"Oh, but why not wait inside for me?" He asked as he noticed her shiver a little from the cold breeze blowing through the openings in the building. He clicked a button on the car remote in his hand and the trunk lid opened. Putting his helmet in the trunk he grabbed his leather jacket and handed it to her, "you look cold."

"A little yeah," she agreed taking the jacket from him and putting it around her shoulders, "and as for why I'm out here...well that's not important. What is important is why you were racing down St. James street in the middle of the night?" she said asking the question Zack was dreading since the moment he had seen her earlier, and trying to avoid answering his question. She had actually just wanted a few minutes alone with him but he didn't have to know that part.

"Well...you see...it...umm," he stammered trying to come up with a feasible excuse and failing miserably.

"Zack, don't you dare try to give me one of your lame excuses." Maddie said giving him a look that told him he had better tell her the truth, "I've known you since you were twelve."

" Ok fine, I started racing soon after me and Cody got back from Seven Seas. I did it mainly because soon after we got back I needed something to take my mind off of everything that had happened since we graduated." he answered trying to avoid going into a detailed description.

"Like what?" She asked.

He cringed at the question and stood there staring at her for about five minutes when it finally got the best of her, "Zack...What was so bad that you started street racing?" she asked him point blank, looking into his eyes she saw the pain that her question brought to the surface of their crystalline depths

and partialy regreted asking it.

"Maya." He said it so low that she could barely hear him but she did hear it.

"What about..." She started but he cut her off with a shake of his head.

"Forget it, I need to get to bed." he said as he closed the trunk lid of his car and turned to walk away. He pointed the remote over his shoulder and pressed the lock button as he started to walk away. She reached out a hand and put it on his arm to try and stop him but he just shrugged it off and continued toward the door that led to the tunnel which would take him inside the Tipton. She followed him but didn't push the subject anymore, she knew that when he was ready he would tell her the entire story. She knew part of it, that he had met a girl named Maya during his and Cody's last year at Seven Seas High School on board the S.S. Tipton and that they had started dating. Cody had told her through e-mail all about it and then a few e-mails later she had gotten the story of the break up from Cody as well right before their graduation. But looking at Zack's face as they walked into the Tipton's lobby she knew he still wasn't completely over it. She hated herself for reminding him of that pain. She watched as he boarded one of the elevators, and as the doors closed him in she saw tears running down his cheeks.

"You asked him why he was racing, didn't you." a voice asked her from the couch she had stopped beside. She jumped at the sound of it and turned to find Marion Moseby sitting on there, his bald head shining a little in the glow of the chandelier that hung from the lobby ceiling.

"Yeah, I figured out it's a sore subject." Maddie answered him sincerely.

"It is yes, I was there when she broke it off, poor guy was devastated to the point he almost missed his graduation ceremony but it wasn't till we all came back here that he let it show." Moseby started to explain.

"What do mean?" She asked trying to see if he would elaborate more on the subject.

"He shut himself off from everyone and everything, all he did was lock himself in his and Cody's room or go up and find a secluded spot on the roof and just sit there for hours on end. Marcus and Woody finally showed up one day and drug him out of the hotel and well he's been racing ever since."

"Wow, and by me asking him, it drug all that back up." Maddie mentaly kicked herself for doing that.

Moseby nodded and looked her dead in the eye, "Don't blame yourself, Maddie, you were only curious."

"But I do blame myself, if only I had stayed on that boat after that whole fiasco in Lichtenstamp he wouldn't have even given Maya a second glance." She said looking down at her feet.

"What do you...Oh." Moseby started to ask and then figured it out for himself after remembering the way Maddie had kissed Zack during the jousting match with Prince Jeffy, "You love him don't you?"

"Yeah I do, after all that time when he was younger flirting with me. I figured it out soon after I got off the boat and I've regretted not telling him ever since. I tried to get over it when Cody sent me the e-mail about him and Maya getting together and then I got the e-mail that told me they had split up. I figured I might have a chance to tell him and that's why I took some time off school and came here." She replied.

"You'll get the chance, just give him some time. He was thrilled when Carey told him you were coming, and I know he is happy your here."

"Does she know he's racing?"

"Hell no, she'd skin him alive."

"How did you find out?"

"I over heard him on the phone with Marcus a few days ago, and followed him when he left that night. He saw me there and well he made a deal with me to not tell his mother anything."

"What kind of deal?" Maddie asked a little intrigued.

"He gives me a portion of his winnings every time he races, plus not making an over abundance of trouble here at the hotel and I keep my mouth shut." Moseby said explaining the deal he and the older twin had struck. At that point they both heard the elevator ding and Cody came out of it and strode over to the two of them.

"Zack asked me to bring this down to you Mr. Moseby." Cody said handing an envelope over to the colored man.

"Thank you, Cody." Mr. Moseby smiled at the younger of the two brothers.

"He also wanted me to tell you hes sorry that he gave you both the cold shoulder." Cody smiled this time addressing the both of them.

"It's ok, when you go back up, would you tell him I said I'm sorry for asking him about his racing?" Maddie asked, looking Cody in the eye, "and by the way I'm sorry about Bailey too, I thought that would last longer then it did."

"So did I, considering she said she loved me when we got off the boat and two months later broke it off again. But unlike Zack I faced it and got over it, he just keeps burying his under an adrenalin rush." Cody explained. Just then a thought struck him, "Hey Maddie, how about you be there the next time he races. He'd love that considering he's madl...," Cody trailed before he finished almost saying something he wasn't supposed too, "just come with the next time he races, if you hang around more often he'll eventualy open up to you."

"Ok, I think I'll do that." She nodded, grabbing her suitcase from where she had placed it earlier she headed toward the elevator.

"Um, Madeline, here you might be needing this." Mr. Moseby said holding up a key card.

"But I was just planning on staying with London tonight, I don't have the money to get a room." she said.

"Pish posh, your money is no good here anyway, Maddie and I called up to London and she said that it was fine if you have your own room. Trust me you'll be happy with it." Moseby smiled at her and tossed the key card to her. Looking it over she shook her head and laughed a little to herself when she spotted the room number, 2331, right across the hall from the Martin family's suite.

"Well if you'll excuse me I have somewhere I need to be, goodnight Maddie, goodnight Mr. Moseby." Cody bade them goodnight and headed back toward the elevators.

"Hey Cody, do me favor and do keep it down tonight please we don't need any more complaints from the room beneath the penthouse." Mr. Moseby called after the young man.

Cody turned around and glared at the manager. Maddie however did not miss the blush that was slowly forming on the youngest Martin's face, "MR. MOSEBY!" He hollered.

"Goodnight, Cody." The older man smiled.

Maddie having been struck dumb by the innuendo Mr. Moseby had thrown at Cody just stood there looking back and forth from the manager to the elevator that had just closed the young man in and back, "Was that supposed to sound that dirty?" she asked finally coming out of her stupor.

"Yes, it was." Mr. Moseby said matter of factually, "Goodnight, Madeline." he grinned at her and walked from the couch to the front desk. Setting his laptop which he had used to scan Maddie's key card to activate it back down he went back to his work.

Wow, Cody and London, who knew? She thought to herself as she grabbed her suitcase bade goodnight to Mr. Moseby and headed for the elevators.

Zack stood by the window in his family's suite overlooking the Boston skyline, knowing full well his brother wouldn't be back until the early morning hours. Lucky SOB, he got over Bailey so quickly and then found London. What do I get, a broken heart that still hasn't healed and now Maddie's back which just makes it worse cause I doubt I'll ever have a chance with her. He thought. Walking over to the coffee table he grabbed his cell phone and then headed for his room hoping beyond that he'd at least be able to get a little sleep.

"Night, Zack." his mother called after him from her place at the kitchen table where she had been looking through a magazine. He waved to her over his shoulder and walked into his room closing the door behind him.

A/N: Well here it is my newest dive into the world of FanFic, I know I've probably made a few readers mad at me by not finishing my other stuff but hopefully I'll get around to doing that. For now though I hope you all like this one. Please R/R and hope with me that I can finally start and finish a story. Creative criticism is welcome, but please no Flames.

Sincerely, GoldJackal17