I really liked them, Heather and Hunter and Matty and Erin. I think they liked me, too, but I definitely get the sense that I’ll be on probation until they’re sure I’m not going to hurt Travis again. Which is fine with me, really. I like that he has people to be protective of him. And I have no intention of hurting him, now that we’re back together.
Your boyfriend, he said.
I grin foolishly at the memory. I’m actually kind of excited to introduce him to Nate next weekend. I suppose there’s a chance Nate will react badly, but I’m not that worried. He’s a really laidback sort of guy, plus he’s a huge F1 fan. If anything, he’ll probably just be annoyed I didn’t tell him about Travis sooner.
Morocco bats impatiently at my hand. I pet her obediently for a minute or two and then roll over and reach for my phone. Kelsie’s texted to see how things went last night, and there’s a text from an unknown number that just saysSup bro!!, which is either Matty or Erin imitating Matty. I send back a string of question marks to see who it is and then scroll absently through Instagram.
My thumb stills over a post from an F1 news account. There’s a photo of Tom Kellen frowning, with the caption “Kellen throws shade at Olsson after Crosswire dominates preseason testing.”
My stomach twists unpleasantly. Olsson is Stefan Olsson, Harper’s team boss.
“What’s that face for?”
Morocco’s tail thumps eagerly as Travis steps into the room carrying a steaming mug of coffee.
I hold my hands out eagerly. “Oh my god, thank you.”
“This was mine, actually,” Travis says dryly. “But you can have it.”
He nudges Morocco out of the way to sit down beside me. I slide up in bed and take a sip of coffee.
“Fuck, that’s good. Do you think it would be a bad idea to inject this directly into my veins?”
Travis grins. “Probably. So?” he adds, nudging my shoulder. “What was the face for?”
I shift uncertainly. “I’m just... not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow.”
His eyebrows lift. “I thought you were liking it so far.”
“No, I am.” I hesitate. “I just don’t know if I should tell Tom that we’re dating again.”
Travis pets Morocco’s head. “Does he know that we were dating before?”
I wince. “Yeah. I sort of told him during my interview. Or, well, I didn’t actually tell him it was you, I just said that I was dating another driver, and he guessed that it was you. And I know I shouldn’t have told him that without talking to you, but that was when we were—you know, broken up, and he swore he wouldn’t tell anyone else...” I trail off guiltily. “Sorry.”
Travis shrugs. “I don’t care. I told Stefan about you, when you were in the hospital.”
“And he didn’t care?”
Travis tilts his head thoughtfully. “Not sure. We never talked about it again.”
My lips twist up into a wry smile. He sounds like he hasn’t given it a moment’s thought since.
“Yeah, well, Tom wasn’t thrilled when I told him we’d dated. Or at least, he said it made things ‘complex.’?” I look down at my coffee cup. “He’ll probably fire me when he finds out we’re back together.”
“Why? What does it matter?”
I look at him in fond exasperation. “I don’t know if you’re aware, but there’s a bit of a rivalry between Crosswire and Harper.”
He laughs. “I vaguely remember hearing something about that, yes. But what does Tom think you’re going to do? Find out all their secrets and pass them on to me?”
“Er—basically, yeah.”
“Hm.” Travis takes the coffee cup from my hand and sips it for a moment, staring at me. My cheeks go slightly warm under his gaze. I forgot what it felt like, to have all his focus and attention. “Let metalk to Stefan,” he says. “There must be some sort of nondisclosure agreement we can sign to stop them worrying.”
I hesitate. “You mean, like... something they’d work out together?”
He shrugs. “Why not?”
