“Rafael Souza, life coach.”
Julien’s attention snaps back to the stream, where thousands of people are watching them.
“No, seriously, how do I get Rafael Souza to give me a pep talk?”
Julien picks up his controller again and resets the lap. He can do this—he has three more chances. “You got girl problems again, John?”
“What do you mean again?!”
“When have you ever had a girl without problems?”
“Stop embarrassing me in front of Rafael Souza!”
Julien ignores them for the most part, since this lap is going much better than the last. Still, he can’t not comment on John’s love life—it’s his favorite topic. “Well, you already know my advice.”
Turn, turn, straight, turn. There’s a pause in the conversation and Julien’s eyes flick up to catch the other guys grimacing. “What’s wrong? It’s a solid lap.”
“Are we supposed to talk about—?”Mick nods his head forward, like he expects Julien to know what he’s inferring.
“What topic haseverbeen off limits between us?”
The guys are silent again until Kevin asks,“What advice would you give John?”
Julien grins. “Suck cock, get good.”
Rafael stiffens against his arm, but he doesn’t pull away.
On the stream, there’s a chorus of relieved sighs.
“So the gay thing is fine?”
“Yeah? I think?” Julien forgot to mention the sex stuff to Ferraro PR. Oops. “I mean, you guys give me shit for it on every stream. There’s hours of replays anyone could sift through for dirt on me. What’s the point of stopping now?”
“Fair enough.”
When Hugo leaked the Romeo thing, Julien only cared about how the guys would react. Who cares if the world knows his personal business? He’s gay and he isn’t exactly shy about it.
Oh, that’s right. “Hugo watches this stream, by the way.”
“Tremblay?”
“The McLean rookie?” Rafael asks.
“Since when?!”
Julien shrugs. “He helped me create my account, so… I dunno, a couple of years now?” Since before Julien won the Formation 2 Championship. Before?—
“Jesus fuck.”
“But he’s a Form 1 driver.”
“Years?” Rafael repeats. “How do you know Hugo?”
“We raced together. And roomed together.” Julien crosses the finish line and finally knocks Mick out of pole position.
“Are there any other Formation 1 drivers watching the stream?”
“We should probably talk less shit about them.”
