Pat Ryan sat at his make shift desk and listened to the bustling sounds of the track just beyond the door. Even though he had been retired for many years it was moments like this, before the start of a race, that called to him. He had had his glory days headlining the top of the NASCAR circuit and Pat had parlayed that substantial career into a racing team all his own. Ryan Racing was his baby from the word go. He not only hand picked every driver that ran under his name but every mechanic as well. He had his hands in all aspects of his organization and that proved to be the winning combination seeing as how for the past several years Ryan Racing had a driver ranked in the top five in the points standings. This season was no different.
Pat looked down at the latest statistics and couldn't help but smile. He loved seeing his team's name high among the ranks. For him his team's success was a vicarious extension of his own. All Pat Ryan had ever wanted was to show the world that whether he was on the track or not the name Ryan was one synonymous with the winners circle. While the team had various drivers climbing the ranks it was Billy Weston who was doing it with the greatest speed. Pat knew the first time he saw Billy blowing passed his competition on an amateur dirt track outside of Charlotte that he would make a hell of a NASCAR driver. It hadn't taken much effort on Pat's part to sway Billy to his team. The name Pat Ryan alone had the young man in awe and once Billy had laid his eyes on Pat Ryan's daughter, Elizabeth, well that sealed the deal.
Pat looked at the photo of Elizabeth that graced the corner of laminate surface. He let out a little sigh. He loved her with all he had but there were times when it seemed they were on different planes. When his wife Colleen died in childbirth that left Pat alone to raise his daughter. Understandably he was at a loss not knowing anything but how to drive a racecar. In those first few years of Elizabeth's life, Pat had one nanny or caregiver after another but none ever made it for the long haul. Life traipsing around from one track to another sometimes spanning cross country in the matter of days proved to be too much for the lot of them. Also Pat knew that his young daughter was a handful. Even as a toddler she knew her mind and wasn't afraid of showing it. It hadn't taken long for the young Ryan to be following after her father whether in the pits, the garage or under the hood of a car. Growing up she was glued to his side and fell in love with the sport of racing just as much as Pat was. Elizabeth could turn a wrench with the best of them and as much as that dismayed her father secretly he was proud of her.
Pat was thrilled when Elizabeth and Billy began seeing each other. At first it was just a causal thing. Elizabeth spent the bulk of her time when she wasn't working as a patient advocate at Presbyterian Hospital outside of Charlotte at the Ryan practice track. She could be found helping one driver or another with clocking their lap times or she had her head stuck under the hood with one of the mechanics listening to the rapping of a blown value. Elizabeth was just one of the guys and she liked being treated as one. Yet Billy Weston saw her as anything but just another grease monkey. He was immediately drawn to her striking sapphire eyes that seemed even brighter against her alabaster skin. The soft curve of her full red lips almost begged to be kissed and her petite frame was rounded in all the right places. Billy Weston set his sights on Elizabeth Ryan and he was used to getting what he wanted.
Pat Ryan watched his daughter and his star racer become an inseparable pair to the point where there were even rumors floating around about an upcoming marriage proposal. The owner of Ryan Racing was beyond thrilled at that idea. Billy was already like a son to him so having him marry Elizabeth seemed completely natural to Pat. Yet six months ago that all came crashing to halt, as quickly as they had come together that was how fast the pair had come unglued. It seemed as though the more successful Billy became on the circuit the more strained his relationship to Elizabeth got. Until one night Pat Ryan found his daughter sitting on the hood of one of the many Ryan Racing cars crying. He hadn't really understood why. He had expected her to be out celebrating with Billy and the others for his impressive win that day but that wasn't the case. There she sat alone in the garage crying her heart out. Elizabeth refused to talk about what was wrong and the pair ended up in an argument – something that they hadn't done since she was a teenager and she stormed out leaving her father to stare at her retreating back.
Pat Ryan shook his head trying to remove that memory from his mind. Since that day his relationship with his daughter had returned to its tumultuous past. The more he pushed Elizabeth for answers the more she pushed back with angry strained silences. Pat glanced longingly again at the photo of his smiling daughter and wondered just what happened to that girl. It was then that he heard Billy Weston's voice just beyond the doorway. He let out a deep breath Pat hadn't even realized he was holding as he thought about Elizabeth and his star driver's now defunct relationship. Pat felt his strings of loyalty for his daughter tugging at his heart and the practicality of the racing statistics spread out before him.
Billy Weston was the key to Ryan Racing. He was the glue that held the team together in its quest for a Winston Cup. For Pat, Billy was the son that he had never been able to have with his wife, Colleen. Over the years the young man had found a way to get under the owner of Ryan Racing's skin – to the point that Pat almost believed Billy when he had told him what happened between his daughter and the green driver. Billy claimed that Elizabeth wasn't able to handle the riggers of what it took to be a driver's significant other. He said that she laid down the law that he had to choose between her or what he loved doing – racing. Even now something about those statements didn't ring true for Pat Ryan. He watched his daughter live and breath racing growing up and for him it all just felt a little off. Yet when Pat approached his daughter for her side of the story that's when the steady ground that they had finally achieved as father and daughter began to quiver all over gain. Without Elizabeth's conformation or denial of Billy's version of events and Weston's continual barrage of the same tired story Pat began to believe the tale to be the truth in turn driving a wedge even further between him and his daughter.
"Hey Pat." Billy popped his head through the door. "How's the competition looking?" he asked eyeing the statistic reports almost laughing. Billy Weston was nothing if not arrogant.
Pat looked up at the cocky grin on Billy's face and found himself again trying to separate what was business and what was personal unfortunately over the years for him those things had melded into one. "Nothing too stiff," Pat answered Billy's question about his competition in the qualifier. He neglected to mention the name Jason Morgan in the ranks of Billy's competition. Morgan had been steadily climbing the race in the point standings and by the looks of things was in the running to give the Ryan Racing team, namely Billy Weston, a run for their money. It wasn't the name Morgan that had readily caught Pat Ryan's attention when he first appeared on the scene but the name of his crew chief, Jake Russell that spurred his interest.
Pat Ryan and Jake Russell went way back in the racing circuit. At the start of his career Jake had been a mechanic in Pat's pit crew long before the name Pat Ryan and NASCAR were synonymous. It had been Jake's innovations to the set up of Pat's racecar that had started the ball rolling putting him in the winner's circle time and time again. It came to a point when Pat refused to let anyone but Jake work on his car. That's why when Russell decided to take a job with another team Pat was not only devastated by the loss in terms of his career but it shattered what he had always seen as a loyal friendship. He cared very little about Jake's reasons for leaving the team. It didn't matter to Pat that his long time friend enjoyed the challenges of turning a fledging racer into a real driver. Pat wanted the best and that's how he saw Jake – as the best.
It wasn't until Pat Ryan began his own team did he attempt to breach the gap that separated the one time friends. Pat approached Jake about joining his newly formed team as one of the head mechanics. He knew what a powerhouse Jake Russell was when it came to all facets of racing. Yet the grudge Pat still harbored for Jake leaving him all those years before didn't allow him to offer his friend the position he rightfully deserved – that of Crew Chief for Ryan Racing as a whole. Jake declined the offer stating personal reasons. It wasn't until years later that Pat Ryan found out the real reason for his refusal. The driver that Jake had left Pat to go train had died in a racing accident and that experience had soured him. That's why seeing his name among the racing stats stunned Pat and he began keeping a close eye on the driver who was now Jake Russell's protégé.
"That's good to hear. I like these cake walk races," Billy said as he rested his feet on the corner of Pat's desk in turn toppling the photo Elizabeth over. Pat quickly sat the frame upright just within Billy's line of sight. "I wish Elizabeth could see her way clear to sharing this all with me," he said letting out heavy sigh. "It's such a shame that she made me choose." Billy played the part of grieving lover to the hilt. He couldn't run the risk of Pat Ryan knowing what really happened between him and his daughter. "She knew I couldn't do it. I couldn't walk away from my dream. I just wish she could have shared it with me," he said again.
"I do too," Pat agreed as he stared intently at Elizabeth's face almost wishing the photo could tell him what she wouldn't – whatever that might be.
Leo Jorgenson stood outside the door anger seething. He listened while Billy went on about how much he loved Elizabeth and missed her. Leo wanted to gag Billy's words were that sugary sweet. He hated Billy Weston not because he was a better driver than he was but for what he had done to his best friend. Elizabeth Ryan had been the first real friend Leo made when he joined Ryan Racing years ago. She wasn't more than a teenager but she could turn a wrench with the best of them. She had an easygoing nature but Leo learned fast that when crossed she was a spitfire. He had watched over the years how hard she wrestled those around her trying gain her father's attention and Leo suspected love as well. It ticked him off to see how quickly the bridges that he had seen the father and daughter build burn to the ground – because Elizabeth, knowing what Billy meant to her father's team and also knowing what the team in general meant to him, decided that not saying anything and letting her father believe Billy's lies was better than telling him the truth. Leo suspected she feared in the end Pat Ryan would choose his star driver over his daughter so rather than letting that happen Elizabeth beat him to the punch.
Before Billy could continue Leo entered the room without even knocking. He squared his shoulders before he spoke trying to calm the raging forces within him. Elizabeth was like a little sister to him and more than anything Leo wanted to do what big brothers had been doing for centuries – protect their own. "Hey man," he said looking between the two men.
"What is it Leo?" Pat asked thankful to have the distraction. He had grown tired of listening to Billy's monologue regarding Elizabeth.
"Benny needs to talk to you," he said as he turned to Billy. At the mention of the team's crew chief Leo had the other man's full attention.
"What? What's wrong with my car?" Billy questioned anxiously getting to his feet.
"Beats the hell out of me. Benny just said to come find you." Leo smiled inwardly enjoying the anxiety he had placed in the air. He knew that it was nothing but going over some normal specs but hell he didn't need to let Billy know that.
"I'm sure it's nothing," Pat attempted to reassure Billy.
"It better be nothing!" Billy stated as he pushed his way passed Leo on his way to find Benny. He had a race to win and nothing was going to stop that from happening.
"Guess I better go check out a few last minute things on my own car," Leo said as he pivoted on his heel leaving Pat Ryan alone with his thoughts of his daughter and the deafening sounds of the track behind him.
"What's your hurry?" a soft voice purred in Billy's ear as he strode towards the spot where his shiny black car sat.
"What do you want?" he barked as he stopped and turned to face the strikingly beautiful brunette in the tight leather mini standing behind him.
"You," she licked her lips seductively as she traced the path the zipper made down the front of Billy's black firesuit.
"Don't," he stopped her hand just before she was able to caress his manhood. "I don't have time for this, Theresa. What the hell do you want?" All of Billy's focus was on what Benny needed to speak with him about.
"I wanted to wish you good luck today," she purred again.
"So you have. Anything else?" he huffed.
"I'll be waiting for you in the winner's circle," she winked.
Billy just shook his head and continued his trek across the track to area that held the various teams participating in today's race cars. He didn't have time for the likes of Theresa Kennedy at the moment. He had a race to win.
Theresa watched Billy get smaller in the distance until he slipped out of sight. She stood there recalling the pleasure his last win had brought the both of them. She enjoyed being seen on Billy Weston's arm and what she enjoyed even more was the pleasure she derived from stealing something that wasn't hers – especially when that something had been the Princess Elizabeth Ryan's.
Billy stood beside his car listening to Benny going over the latest adjustments made to engine. He had demanded more power and Benny and the other mechanics had done their best to accommodate what they termed 'the prima donna's' requests. Yet Benny's words were lost on Billy who had taken to starring across to the other side of the garage. His eyes were fixated on Jason Morgan who was standing beside his car with a couple of his mechanics. They had their heads bent over the open engine compartment. Billy imagined one mechanical problem or another for that team – anything that would keep Morgan from racing that afternoon. Billy needed to win this qualifier to obtain pole position in the race. He knew that obtaining that position would lend itself to a first place finish putting him well ahead of Jason Morgan in the points standing. But when they placed the hood back on the car and the final pin was put in to secure it Billy knew his thoughts of mechanical failure keeping Morgan from racing that afternoon wasn't about to happen.
"Are you even hearing me Weston?" Benny's booming voice broke Billy's thoughts of his distaste for his opponent. A man who had barely been on the circuit a few years but was fast becoming a hot commodity.
"Yeah I heard you," Billy barked never taking his eyes off Jason Morgan.