Jason had worn a path in the concrete from where his bright blue car sat in the corner of the Ryan garage and the steel workbenches that lined the wall. He had lost count of how many trips he actually had made. Absently he reached for the torque wrench he had forgotten when he gathered up his tools to begin making a few minor adjustments to the motor and chassis. Looking around he wondered where Tom was. It certainly appeared as though he had been there earlier yet now he was nowhere to be found. Normally Jason would have gone to hunt his friend down so that they could work on the car together but today something in the silence appealed to him. Perhaps it was the fact that the voices inside his head were providing him with enough noise at the moment.

He couldn't stop thinking about Elizabeth and it certainly didn't help matters that there he stood in a garage owned and operated by none other than her father. It was like he couldn't get away from her no matter how hard he tried – not that he had been trying all that hard lately. As a matter of fact up until their ill fated kiss and his determination to discuss it with her, they had forged a very nice friendship and he was worried about that being gone now. Giving into their urges wouldn't have been worth it in the end if it caused him to lose Elizabeth from his life even if he had to except it on a friendship only level. Taking a deep breath Jason did his best to put his thoughts of Elizabeth out of his mind and tend to the work at hand. Leaning against the fender he began removing the valve covers from the engine without bothering to look up when he heard the door across the garage bang shut assuming that Tom had finally returned.

Billy let the door close behind him with a heavy thud as his mounting anger began seeping out of every pore in his body. He clenched his jaw when the sight of Jason Morgan's body disappearing into the engine compartment of his stock car came into view. Rapidly Billy closed the distance between himself and Jason until he was nearly standing on top of the man he considered not just a mere rival but an all out enemy.

"Morgan!" Billy's piercing voice bounced off the tin walls of the garage. "You're even dumber than I gave you credit for."

Jason rolled his eyes realizing that it was Weston and not Tom who entered the garage moments ago. This certainly wasn't his day he thought to himself before even acknowledging Billy's presence.

"What – you deaf and dumb? I'm talking to you!" Billy shouted angrily when he didn't get an immediate response from Jason.

It was bad enough when Jason only had to face Weston out of the track but now that he was tied to Ryan Racing it was like he couldn't get a moment's peace from the guy who thought he owned the world. Days like this were ones when he wished he had never let Jake talk him into joining this damn team. "What do you want Weston?" Jason said finally as he wiped the grease from his hands on an already dirty shop rag.

"Like you don't know."

Jason again rolled his eyes – how he hated people that talked in riddles. "Apparently I don't or I wouldn't be asking," he stated.

"How many times do I have to tell you to stay the hell away from Theresa! She's mine and just 'cause you won one or two races won't change that! She's with me!"

Jason felt a smile creeping onto his lips as he tried to silence the laugh building from the pit of his stomach. "I think you're telling the wrong person," he said off handedly.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Now look who's the dumb one," Jason laughed. "I don't want your girlfriend Weston." By Jason's tone on the word girlfriend it was easy to tell he thought Theresa Kennedy was anything but.

"You sure find enough ways to spend time with her."

"Again, I think you are talking to the wrong person." Jason openly laughed now which totally jacked Billy off to the point that he could have spit nails at his adversary.

As Billy continued extolling how loyal and how much Theresa was his, Jason started to think about how truly different Elizabeth was from the majority of the women he met on the circuit. Ninety-eight percent of them were nothing more than racing groupies who enjoyed the rush of adrenaline they got from being part of it all and the other two percent – the percentage that Theresa Kennedy fit into – were nothing but racing whores. Those were the ones that latched onto whatever winning driver would have them before moving on to the next big thing. But Elizabeth Ryan fit into neither of those groups. While Jason knew she loved the adrenaline rush that the track provided there was so much more to it for her. Maybe like him growing up around it made it a part of her in a way that it didn't for those other women. For whatever reason she tried to conceal it she still oozed of racing and he felt a connection to her that he hadn't been able to muster with another woman in his life.

"You think you got the world by the ass Morgan but it's me who still ahead in the points standings and don't you forget it!"

Billy's cock sure attitude pulled Jason from his thoughts of Elizabeth. He arched his brow and smirked as he reached for the sports section that Theresa had handed him earlier. "Oh you think so," Jason stated before throwing the newspaper in Billy's face and walking away leaving the other driver fuming all the while the niggling in the back of his mind saying he was on shaky ground gnawed away at him.

Pat Ryan moved away from the open doorway and back to the large overstuffed chair behind his desk while Nathan King stood starring out to the now quiet garage thinking about the altercation they had just witnessed and feeling sick to his stomach immediately.

"Nate, we going to finish going over these month end reports?" Pat asked his friend and accountant hoping to draw his attention back to the task he had called him there to handle.

"Huh?" he murmured still lost in his own thoughts concerning the argument between Weston and Morgan.

"These financials," Pat held up the vinyl bound packet Nathan had brought with him for his approval. "Are we going to finish going over them?"

"Don't you think we should talk about those two first?" he countered.

"What's there to talk about?" Pat asked nonchalantly.

"What's not to talk about? Those two are like fire and gasoline. If you don't watch yourself you're going to get burnt my friend."

"You worry too much Nathan," Pat announced.

"And you don't worry enough!" Nathan wasn't about to let his fears about what a combustible situation having Jason Morgan and Billy Weston on the same team was drop. He had thought it was a bad idea from the start and what they just saw proved it to him all over again. "Why can't you see the disaster this is in the making, Pat?"

"What disaster?" the Ryan Racing owner scoffed. "It's nothing but a little healthy competition between racers. It's as natural as breathing, Nate. Back in my day rivalry was a great thing. The tension brings out the best in us and it will do the same for Weston and Morgan."

Nathan King sat across the large desk shaking his head in disbelief wondering all the while how his supposedly smart friend could be so blind to the calamity right under his nose. "Billy's not your run of the mill driver. He's a hot head even you have to admit to that." Nathan had a stack of paid NASCAR fines to prove his point should Pat not concede to that fact. "And as for Morgan well honestly Pat, I still have my doubts that he's the means and the end all for your team. I just think perhaps you have you hopes pinned in the wrong place."

"How so?" Pat asked suddenly curious as to what the man had to say.

"You really think Jason will stay once Jake Russell's recovered from his heart attack?" Nathan asked pulling no punches. "If you do then I think you are fooling yourself Pat. Jason's loyalty is to Russell and Russell alone. He's out of here the minute his crew chief is on his feet again and where will that leave you?"

"I'm pretty sure I've got that covered."

"Oh you do?"

"Uh-huh," Pat smiled his infamous sheepish grin as the vision of his daughter and Jason's kiss played out in his mind. If anything he had more leverage over Jason than Nathan King knew of and if need be he would use it.

"I hope you know what you're doing," Nathan said looking at his watch. "I've got to run to another meeting. Finish looking over those numbers and let me know what you think. Alright?"

"Yeah, sure. And Nate, don't worry. I've got everything under control," he grinned again.

Billy dropped his body onto the cold metal bleachers but the fire burning inside of him masked the chill beneath him. Replaying Jason's words over and over again only served to stoke his bonfire and the fact that he basically laughed at him and walked away pissed Billy off all the more. But it was the words in the article before him that had Billy running scared. The mere inkling that Jason was close to closing the gap and surpassing him in the points standing was more than he could handle. How the hell had that even happened he wondered to himself. It was like Morgan had come out of nowhere and now Billy had to toss him back into the faceless group before he became part of the masses himself rather than the front runner as it should have been.

Billy thought back to Pat's fawning over Jason after his win and felt his stomach roll end over end again. It was about time he found out exactly where he stood with the owner of Ryan Racing. And to do that he had to get it straight from the horses mouth with that thought in mind Billy picked himself up and headed back to the garage and Pat's office. Finding the room empty he almost turned to continue on his search for Pat yet something inside him stopped him cold suddenly thinking that maybe what he was looking for could be right under his nose. Quietly closing the door behind him Billy walked over to the row of filing cabinets that lined one wall.

Opening drawer after drawer he wasn't even sure what it was he was looking for yet he forged on knowing that somewhere in the depths of the many metal drawers he would find what he needed. After Billy had rummaged through nearly all the files that spanned the many years of Pat Ryan's racing career he was about to give up until a manila file toward the back of the drawer marked ERIK MORGAN caught his attention out of the corner of his eye.

The folder was thick and Billy pulled it from the place that it had been wedged allowing its contents to spill out onto the large wooden desk. Apparently Pat had kept every piece of information on the man that had drawn his star mechanic Jake Russell away from him. Billy pulled up the chair and sat down as he began reading the information from start to finish. He was beginning to get discouraged as what he read proved to be nothing of any great importance until he came to a few articles to the back of the file. As he read them over several times the wheels in his head began turning with an idea that would surely bring Jason Morgan to his knees.