Still, Rafael pushes. “You lived together?”
“We went to the same boarding school.” The race starts and Julien locks in. “I didn’t know a lot of English, but Hugo speaks French, so I kept close to him. Plus we both?—”
Oops, not that. He’s so used to racing and talking that it almost tumbled out.
It’s fine for Julien to talk about his own sexuality, but he can’t go around outing other drivers.
“Hugo speaks French? I thought he was Canadian.”
“He’s French Canadian.”
“He speaks Canadian French. Hon hon maple syrup.”
“You both what?”
“Uh, karted.” Good save. “We were the foreign weirdos with the same hobby, so it made sense for us to stick together.”
Rafael nods and leans back against his seat, out of frame. “I didn’t know you were close. Makes sense, since he dropped the impeding penalty. I wouldn’t do that for just anyone.”
Well, he probably wouldn’t have outed Julien’s secret eRacing persona either. “Yeah.”
“Haven’t seen you talk to each other, so I thought it was odd.”
Thomas chooses that moment to shift in his chair and readjust the arm pillowing his face. “Julien is still mad at Hugo for taking the open McLean seat.”
“Was that Thomas?”
“What did he say?”
“Go back to sleep.” Julien mutes his microphone, just in case his brother decides to spill anything else in front of thousands of people.
Thomas peeks an eye open. “Hugo probably does not like you either. You have already showed the world that McLean is wrong for choosing him.”
Literally nobody asked. “Why the fuck do you care about Hugo and I anyway?”
“It is important to know the competition.”
“So you can take advantage of their weaknesses?”
“Julien,” Rafael warns again.
Always with theJulien, Julien, Julien. It's neverShut up, Thomas.
Thomas shrugs. He doesn’t even care that he’s so smarmy. “In a championship, every win counts.”
“And in a career? What then? What did you do to my chances of finding a seat for next year?”
“A podium finish is still good. You cannot expect to be handed a victory for your third-ever race. You have to earn it.”
“I didn’t want anything to behandedto me!” Julien slams his laptop shut, though that probably isn’t good for it. “I wanted a fair chance at fighting for the win, and you blindsided me before the race even started.”
Rafael raises his hands between the brothers, blocking their eyeline. “Let’s stop this here.”
Julien leans around the hands to look his calculating,manipulativebrother in the eye. “If you were a better driver than me, you wouldn’t need your little mind games. You’d out-race me on the track.”
Thomas unfolds his legs and sits straighter. “The entire weekend is the track. Media day to podium celebration—anythingis fair game. Everything is strategy.”
“But I’m yourbrother!” Apparently that doesn’t matter. Who needs love when winning exists? “You didn’t have to trick me—toembarrassme in front of the other teams.”
