“What?” Heidi spread her hands. “It’s true. Some people like vintage. Some people like winning.”
“That must be why you’re here watching us,” Hank said mildly. “Research.”
A few of the Red Dragons’ crew snickered. Marcus’s smile tightened a fraction of an inch.
Bree pressed her lips together, fighting a smile of her own.
“You’re welcome to look around,” Marcus said. “We don’t have anything to hide.”
Except you do, Hank thought, but he didn’t say it. Not yet.
He shifted his weight, the ache in his leg reminding him to keep it short. “Bree, Colby’s got some telemetry he wanted to show you. Thought you might want the data for painting the lines around the track.”
It wasn’t entirely a lie. Colby had mentioned something like that. He just hadn’t intended to use it as an extraction tool.
Bree hesitated, glancing between him and Carmen. “We were just…”
* * *
“She was just about to come with me,” Carmen said firmly. “We’ve got that thing, remember?”
Heidi rolled her eyes. “Oh my God, you two are so dramatic. We’re not savages. We’re just fast.”
“And loud,” Carmen said. “And one of you almost took my head off with a flying socket ten minutes ago.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” one of the crew muttered.
Bree shifted her sketchbook under her arm. “I appreciate the tour, Heidi. Marcus. But I should go see what Hank and his team are up to.”
Marcus studied her for a second longer than Hank liked. “Suit yourself. The offer stands. You want to ride with a winning team; you know where to find us.”
She smiled, polite and distant. “I’m not here to ride with anyone. I’m just here to paint.”
Her tone made it clear that was the end of that.
She stepped over the tape line, careful not to catch her foot, and moved to Hank’s side. He felt the subtle brush of her shoulder against his arm and had to bite back the urge to slide an arm around her and walk her out of here like they were a unit.
“Carmen?” Bree asked.
Carmen shot her sister another warning look. “I’m right behind you.”
Heidi hopped off her stool with exaggerated grace. “Don’t be long. We’ve got fittings to finish.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Carmen fell into step on Bree’s other side. “Don’t blow anything up while I’m gone.”
They’d barely cleared the tape before Carmen blew out a breath. “Well. That was a lot.”
Bree let out a quiet laugh. “You weren’t kidding about intense.”
“Marcus is a jerk,” Carmen said. “Einstein’s tolerable. The rest are a hazard to themselves and others.”
“Einstein?” Bree asked.
“Nicknamed Einstein,” Hank said. “He’s their tech guy. Smartest one in the bunch. Knows engines inside out, but he doesn’t say much.”
They’d reached the safer stretch of sand between pits. Hank slowed his pace a little so they could talk without shouting over every engine.
Bree glanced back over her shoulder toward the Red Dragons’ area. “I didn’t like the way Marcus looked at me.”
