The color on Tessa’s face has drained. She’s less lively, and I don’t really like it.
“Grip is going to be touchy,” Noah adds.
I’m still staring at Tessa.
It isn’t until she nudges me with her foot that I snap out of it.
“Yeah, means we can’t fully trust the sim this week,” I add.
“You’re breaking the rules!” Vivian shouts, drawing the attention to her. “No talking about racing at the dinner table! That’s all you talk about! It’s all you care about.”
Van sighs, “Vivian.”
Her bottom lip wobbles, and then she slips out from her chair and takes off through the back door.
Tessa stares after her niece with a frown.
Again, I don’t like it.
“That’s what I’m referring to,” Rose says softly to Van. “She’s been having these emotional outbursts lately.”
I look past my plate at the opened back door. “Can I go after her?”
Noah chuckles. “Since when are you a therapist?”
“You?” Van questions suspiciously.
My shoulders tense, and I shift my gaze to Tessa. She stares at me with those curious doe-like eyes, and it knocks down one of my carefully constructed walls. “I used to do the same thing as a kid.”
“I remember that,” Vince notes.
Tessa looks from me to her dad, her brows pulled inward.
Unfortunately, he knows a lot more about me than anyone else at this table.
Or at least, what I was like as a kid.
Van drops his shoulders. “If you think you can fix it…”
I scoot my chair out. “I’m not sure I can fix it, but I can relate.”
Beck catches my ear on my way to the door. “Okay, fine. Rome isn’t as big of an asshole as I thought he’d be.”
“No, but his dad sure is,” Graham says.
If only they knew half the shit Vince and I know.
Then there’s the fact that he spiked Tessa’s drink for a better advantage against our team–something I can’t seem to admit to anyone, not even her, because the truth of the matter is that I’m partly to blame.
It’s no longer a rival between Pierce Racing and Vanstone. It’s too dirty and corrupt for that now. It’s something much more dangerous, and if the FIA doesn’t catch on soon, I may have to follow through with my threat and ruin myself just to ruin him.
Faint sniffles pull on my heartstrings the closer I get to the tree in the center of the Halstons’ backyard.
With steady steps, I walk across the soft grass until the tree branches are a canopy above me. Instead of telling Vivian to climb down, I place one foot on the trunk with my hand on the branch above and pull myself up to her.
She wipes her wet cheek and turns away. “Go away.”
“You know, I think you’re just as stubborn as your Aunt Tessa.”
