Don't You Ever Fear I'm Always Near

“Rise and shine gorgeous,” Tanner’s soft voice spoke as I felt his smooth hand running down my back.

I let out a groan and tried to turn over, but his arm came down to stop me. Stupid boy. I heard his chuckle come out of him before he wrapped both of his arms around me.

“You look so cute right now, but you need to get up,” he whispered into my ear before leaving kisses on my cheek and down to my neck.

“I just want to cuddle with you,” I sighed, forcing my eyes to open.

“You can do that at the hotel, baby,” he smiled. “Now come on. It’s your first drifting event. Get excited,” he grinned while getting to his feet.

I gave him a look and just lay there… enjoying my view. My Tanny was shirtless and it was awesome… using Tanner’s words. But he quickly caught on and rolled his gorgeous eyes playfully.

“Babe, we have to get moving,” he said before walking away.

Ruin all of my fun, Tanner! I pulled myself out of bed and went into my closet to get clean clothes. Tanner stayed last night to make sure I got up. I probably wouldn’t if he didn’t stay. I still wasn’t too sold on this drifting thing. I mean… it’s fun to do, but… it’s taking away from the family time.

I haven’t talked to Kirstie still. That’s hard. I know it’s brothering her. Tanner’s trying to tell me I’m doing the right thing by doing what I want to do, but… is that what my family wants me to do?

I mean… I’m all about doing me, but I value my family’s opinion the most and care what they think. Kirstie’s one of the closet people to me. I always listened to what she had to say… until racing came along.

As I got ready, I pushed those thoughts aside. I needed to get my focus right. I have a drifting event to prepare for… my first one! I was so excited for it that I invited my family since it was in Long Beach. I knew my parents were coming, but since I hadn’t talked to Kirstie, I’m not too sure if she’s coming or not.

“Ky, you ready?” Tanner called up the stairs just as I was staring for them.

“Yeah,” I smiled down at him… he had a Monster in his hand… and a Rockstar in the other. Stupid Rockstar boy.

“I just want to kiss you right now,” he smiled as I took the can from him.

“I can’t kiss someone who drinks that crap,” I teased, pointing to his can of Rockstar.

“Come here,” he smiled before pulling me against him and pressing his lips against min.

I didn’t fight him. Tanner and Monster is the most perfect mix in the morning. It gets me going. Once we parted, I couldn’t stop smiling at him. He left one more soft kiss on my lips before we made our way out to his car, ready to hit the road.

I think I started getting on Tanner’s nerves though.I blame the Monster. I could not leave the radio alone to save the life of me. I eventually found a rocky station and left it there. Tanner let out a little thank God comment. I just rolled my eyes teasingly.

Once we were just about to our hotel, my phone rang. I hurried to dig it out of my purse, hoping it was Kirstie. But once I finally got it out, I didn’t recognize the number. I actually thought about not answering it, but I just had a feeling.

“Hey,” I answered.

“Hey, Ky, this is Josh,” the greasy thing replied.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked, hoping he had good news for me.

“Well… I’m fine. It’s your sister I’m worried about,” he said, making my brain quit functioning for a few seconds.

“Is she ok?” I asked while running my hand through my hair.

“She’s hurt… really hurt,” he said, making my eyes start to sting.

“Just because I’m driving a car?” I countered, trying to be calloused and keep my tears in.

“That’s not the point of all of this… It’s Tanner,” he said.

“What’s Tanner have to do with this?” I shot at him.

“He came to the garage the other day I think to try and makes things better with you two, but he just ended up making it worse. He was trying to tell Kirstie that she was being selfish and that she should just let you do what you want to do,” he explained.

“Tanner wouldn’t do that,” I threw back at him.

“But he did! Do you have any idea how she felt when he left? No, because you weren’t there holding her as she cried on your shoulder,” he stated, making me feel like the worst sister right now.

“Did you call to just tell me how horrible of a person I am?” I asked, hating that I was hearing my own voice crack. Tanner reached over and placed his hand on my knee though… it didn’t do too much this time.

“No, but I don’t have any sympathy for you right now. But I did call to tell you how your sister’s feeling since there’s zero communication going on between you two,” he replied with an annoyed tone in his voice.

“Oh, enlighten me,” I pushed out, wanting to hang up so badly.

“She feels replaced,” he sighed.

“By what?”

“It’s not what, it’s who,” he corrected.

“Well then who?”

“Tanner.”

“Just because I have a boyfriend, doesn’t mean he’s replaced her,” I croaked out.

“But that’s how she feels.”

“Well, thanks for telling me how my sister feels, Josh. It’s greatly appreciated,” I said sarcastically before hanging up.

Once I hit the end call button, tears started flowing form my eyes passed my sunglasses. I tried wiping them away quickly so Tanner wouldn’t see, but he pulled into the hotel parking lot and turned to me just as my sniffles had started.

“Sh, it’s ok,” he told me while wrapping his arms around me tightly.

“I just want everyone to be happy,” I sniffled out.

“It sounds like you’ve been doing that for a little too long and have forgotten about the most important person to make happy,” he softly spoke.

“Who?” I asked while keeping my face buried into his chest.

“You,” was the only word he spoke.

I brought my head back and looked at him. He reached up and pushed my sunglasses up onto the top of my head to reveal my eyes. His smile grew as he ran his thumb under my eyes.

“I still feel like I’m doing the wrong thing,” I pushed out.

“Do you want to do this?” he asked with each of his smooth hands cupping my cheeks.

“Yeah, but…”

“Then it’s what you want to do. I know what I said to her may have been really harsh, but… you have to do what makes you happy,” he said while keeping those gorgeous eyes on mine.

I sighed and reached up to take his hands. He gave each a quick squeeze before leaning in to give my lips a soft kiss.

“Let me go get the room key and I’ll hold you the rest of the night ok?” he asked with the cutest little smile on his face.

I smiled and nodded my head. Before he got out, he gave me another kiss. I watched as that cute butt trotted into the lobby. Once he disappeared behind the door, I let out a heavy sigh and fell back into the seat.

Tanner replace Kirstie? Tanner and I just have huge things in common. The biggest one is the whole car thing. I know Kirstie never got into that, but… how could she think that Tanner’s replacing her?