She gave me a reassuring arm squeeze. “Me too,” she agreed.
6
ALEXANDER
It was two hours before the race started. Raining conditions only made my heart race more, but not in theI am about to race a car at ridiculously high speeds,heart-racing way, in that thundering,I can’t hear my own thoughtsway. It was new, and I hated it. I pushed the thoughts down. I had driven in rainy conditions before, that was not new. It just was not ideal. One of my engineers reported to me that the storm was passing through today, and tomorrow there would be bright skies, which only meant more chaos for formation. Tomorrow would be ideal for the Dutch Grand Prix, but a rainy track was a dangerous track. It also meant that formation was a toss-up. Middle-ranking teams could find their way up, crashes could happen, safety cars would surely be abundant.
My thoughts continued to pound, a dull pain behind my eyes forming. I pushed my hands into my eyes, trying to rid myself of the thousand thoughts running through my brain. The music in my headphones was doing nothing at this point. Then came a tap on my shoulder. I turned, and my mind silenced.
“Hey, stranger.” Lucia smiled up at me. My body seemed to let out a full sigh, muscles relaxing as I pulled my headphones from my ears.
“Alex!” A little blur of curly blonde was bouncing next to Lucia.
“Hey, kiddo.” I smiled and reached for her. Gianna threw herself into me, I caught her easily, and she squeezed her arms around my neck.
“Mama said to say good luck today,” she whispered in my ear.
“Thanks, G!” I replied and snuck a glance over to Lucia.
“You see Matteo already?” I asked.
She nodded, her smirk sharp and teasing as her green eyes gleamed. “Yeah, he said he hopes your tire management is finally as good as you keep bragging it is.”
I raised an eyebrow, leaning a little closer. “My tire management? Please, he almost burned through his practice ones and slipped right off the track.”
She shrugged, the corner of her mouth twitching like she was holding back a bigger smile. “Maybe I’m just trying to see if the five-time champion knows how to handle a little pressure.”
I chuckled, crossing my arms as I tilted my head at her. “Bold move, throwing down a challenge. Should I be flattered or worried?”
“Depends,” she said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear and pretending to study me. “Are you better at handling tires or trash talk?”
I grinned, leaning just enough to close the space between us. “I guess you’ll have to stick around and find out.”
Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t back down, rolling her eyes instead. “We’ll see, Wright.”
“I got a new sports car!” Gia interrupted and reached out her hand.
Lucia laughed. “Oh, you’ll love this one.” She reached into her bag, pulling out a small Formula One model car, bright red in color. I tried not to groan out loud, I really did.
“You really brought that into my pit, on qualifying?” I kept my voice light for G, but covered the car with my hand and pushed it back into her bag, hoping no one in the pit saw it. Sure, everyone knew Matteo was my mate, but the boys here were a superstitious bunch. Bringing a rival’s colors into our sacred space, not great. I was letting the whole wearing Moretti gear slide, but no cars—even tiny toy model versions. Not here.
“I like the pink one better,” Gia said, making my ego expand tenfold.
That’s right. As she should.
“I’ll get you an even better one, okay, G?” I said to her. Gianna cheered, her little arms swinging in the air.
“She has too many already.” Lucia groaned.
“Notwithher, and now she only has the traitor’s colors.”
“What’s a traitor?” Gianna asked.
“Nothing, Alexander is being mean,” Lucia assured her.
“Don’t be mean, Mama says that’s not allowed.” Gia looked at me, little eyebrows scrunched together.
“I apologize.” I nod sincerely and try not to let the smile break through. From the corner of my eyes I could see Lucia doing the same.Fucking rude.
