Paxton's Promise by L.P. Dover

baseball cap covering his head hung low over his eyes, but not so much that I couldn’t recognize him.
    “Gabriella,” he greeted with a nod.
    “Cliff,” I replied back. “So we meet again.”
    “I must admit, I didn’t peg you for a racing type of girl.”
    I snorted. “You’d be surprised the types of things I do. I’m not taking someone else’s seat am I? I just got here and I didn’t know where to go.”
    He shook his head. “No, not at all. Who are you here with?”
    Behind him, I scanned the crowd to see if I could find Paxton but I couldn’t see him anywhere. “I’m kind of by myself, but I’m looking for someone. I know he’s here.”
    “Your boyfriend?”
    “No, definitely not. His name is Paxton.”
    Cliff snorted and gestured toward the center of the track. “If you happen to be talking about Paxton Emerson, he’s out there about to race.”
    Eyes wide, I followed his line of sight until I saw him, leaned up against a bright blue Acura NSX. “He races? I didn’t know that.”
    “Oh, yeah, he’s one of the best out there. I also heard he’s some kind of champion MMA fighter. I don’t keep up with that sport, so I have no clue who he is. I’m more of a football type of guy.” The thought made me laugh. “What’s so funny?” he asked, grinning at me.
    “I guess it would probably shock you to know that I’m an MMA fighter too.”
    Chuckling, he took another gulp of his beer and set it down, clearly not believing me. When he noticed I wasn’t laughing, his smile turned sheepish. “You’re shitting me, right? You’re sexy as fuck. How could you be a fighter ?”
    “Hey, I’m not the only one. There are other women fighters who are hot.” I slid my phone out of my back pocket and showed him the promotional picture of me and Jaden Eller before our last fight.
    His eyes went wide. “Holy shit. That really is you. Damn, I never would’ve thought it.”
    I put my phone back and giggled. “It’s new for me. I just started this year. My brother was the Heavyweight champ for a while. Now he’s retired and he coaches me.”
    “Well, then it looks like I’m sitting beside MMA royalty over here. I’m honored,” he said, bumping me in the shoulder.
    I rolled my eyes. “Oh, whatever. Most people who know me would say I’m a royal pain in the ass. So, tell me about Paxton. If you just moved here how do you know he’s one of the best?”
    Picking his beer back up, he kept his gaze on Paxton. “He’s been here the past couple of nights. I’ve watched him race. I heard by one of our other neighbors that this place was pretty tight. I’d love to be out there racing, but with me trying to get onto the force, I don’t have the time for it.”
    Speaking of talking to neighbors, I wanted to ask him about the roses to see if he saw the person who put them on my doorstep. Before I could do that, he patted me on the knee and pointed to the track. “He’s up.”
    Turning my attention to the cars, Paxton was strapped in his Acura and getting into place along with several other drivers. “How many laps do they have to do?”
    “Just three if you go by the last couple of nights. I guess it’s because they have so many people racing. Your boy is in one of the advanced groups.”
    No wonder he was able to keep up with me in the go kart race. He had his own experience racing. Sly bastard. The track wasn’t just shaped like an oval. It actually had twists and turns, but it was very tight. There wasn’t much room for error.
    Once the flag went down, they were off, the sounds of their motors revving echoed in my ears. Paxton was neck and neck with another driver, but then a third one came up and tried to sneak in between them. The excitement had my adrenaline pumping. So this was what he was doing the past three nights. I was starting to feel a little better about his intentions on going out.
    One lap down and two more to go. He was in the lead and gaining distance. He took the turns with