Victory Lane (Shady Falls #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

wasn’t sure I’d ever be living my life the way I desired. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be this close to my dream. For a while, I thought my dreams would be lost to the black void of my worst nightmares. But as I got closer to Pit Crew Tech, I finally felt like that part of my life was gone. The darkness swallowed up by my bright future. It was a great feeling. It had taken almost four years, but I was finally finding my way.
    Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot of NPCT and took in the huge building. I had been so overwhelmed by this building and everything on the campus when I first came here. Now it seemed so familiar it felt like home. This was the place where I began remembering who I was. Todd’s venomous voice didn’t echo in my head nearly as much as it had only a couple of years ago. With the help of my dad, Uncle Bobby, my friends Cade and Jake, the new friends I made at school, and my therapist I was able to start to find myself again. Dr. Mathews was proud of my progress. She reminded me of how strong I was at every appointment. She, more than anyone else in my life, seemed truly to understand what I went through and how traumatic it was. I still had a long way to go, but I was healing.
    I slid my four-wheel drive step-side truck into one of the spots closest to the doors. Grabbing my things, I ran into the building, straight into the theory room. This was where my life would change, hopefully forever. This was where I would be given my placement and all of the instructions for my upcoming internship. This entire semester would be in the field, with theory days once every two weeks at the school. Only one intern would be placed per team, so we were on our own. No more challenges, no more tests, no more competitions, and no more having the back up of our teams and friends. We now had to prove our worth. We had to prove we belonged out there. I was terrified, but excited at the same time.
    I pulled my warm winter coat from my shoulders and slipped into my seat. I waited impatiently as the room filled around me with chattering, excited men. There were only twenty of us in the program in my year, twenty people for twenty teams. The season didn’t start for about a month, which would give us time to become acquainted with the teams and drivers. It would also give us time to be a part of testing the cars at different tracks and to be involved in fixing problems as they arose. I felt ready for this next challenge, I’d worked hard and I excelled. Even though I did well, I was scared. The thought of proving myself once again concerned me. But it was the same feeling I got every time I stepped into a new situation. I wanted more than anything to be an engineer, and my dream was finally coming true. I thought back to that first day of shop in high school, how I had been just as nervous then as I was on my first day at NPCT. Tomorrow would be just another step to reaching my goal.
    My classmates and I sat and talked about where we might be going and what teams we could be working for. The hum of excited deep voices echoed through the cement block room. The resonance made me flinch a little, still affected from my bad dream. As much as I loved this group of guys, some of their voices reminded me of Todd’s; especially the higher pitched ones. Days like today were hard for me to handle.
    “You alright, Toni?” Steve asked. Steve was a nice guy and a damn good mechanic. He was on my team for the last challenge and we had worked well together. Sweet and down to earth, but he had a voice that sent chills down my spine. He just sounded too much like Todd; it was hard for me to discern the difference sometimes. Other than his voice, Steve was quite different. He was kind and easygoing, I had no doubt he would treat any woman he loved with respect. He’d made it abundantly clear he was attracted to me over the past year, but he respected my no dating rule. We talked at length about it one night when he came to