“Does she though?” My voice cracks.
“Yes.” Her tone is blunt.
“Right.” I pad towards the window and look down at the pretty city of Monaco.
“I promise she is okay.” Her voice is quiet, almost hushed and I wonder if Athena is close by.
“I kind of wish I never proposed this fake dating,” I say with a sigh.
“What’s done is done, finish the contract…” She pauses for a moment. “Morning,” she chirps and I am assuming it’s to Athena. “You’ve helped her out too. She was telling me that her book sales have been amazing since the viral video, and you know, the fact that she is writing an F1 romance bookwhilstdating an F1 driver… so yeah.”
I nod, as if she can see me. “Is she still doing her signing at Rue’s?”
“Yes, four p.m.”
My heart pitter patters in my chest. “I’ll be there.”
“I know you will.” Nora’s voice is soft. “You’re not a villain, Royce, no matter how they paint you in the press.”
My chest aches.
“You know what you want and nine times out of ten, you get it. Keep your head down, keep doing you. As much as you regret setting this fake relationship up, you’ve only been in the news a couple of times. The latest is the Cowan saga, but our team are already dealing with it. We’ll get Cowan to make a statement too. Just play nice today. Our social media teams will be there, we will focus catching you two getting along, throw Athena in the mix too.”
I clear my throat. “I think it may be best for Athena to watch from elsewhere today.”
“But…”
“I don’t need the distraction. Put her in the VIP area over the pits. I’ll walk in with her, put on our show, but I can’t have her being where she normally settles. I need this race; she’s haunting me and I just… I can’t.” I gasp, sucking a deep breath into my lungs and ignoring the way it burns.
“Okay, okay,” she whispers.
Tightening my grip on my phone, my chest tightens. Fuck. I’m going to die. My sight flickers, turning fuzzy for a moment as the crushing weight in my chest intensifies.
“Royce?” I can hear Nora’s voice floating down the earpiece of my phone, she sounds a million miles away as it echoes.
“I can’t…” I pant, “catch my breath.”
Panic claws at my throat as I stumble and drop my coffee cup. The smash is loud, but not as loud as the piercing ringing in my ear that penetrates through everything. I squeeze my eyes shut tight.
My legs buckle beneath me as I stumble to the sofa, my phone slipping from my hand as I watch in slow motion as itbounces off the floor. I let my head fall back, resting on the back of the sofa, eyes wide as they pin to the ceiling.
My chest caves, each inhale gets tighter, shallower breaths pass my lips and my lungs burn, begging for oxygen. Black spots scatter across my sight, and I try my hardest to blink them away. Sweat beads across my brows, goosebumps prickle over my skin as a shiver blankets me.
This is it.
This is how I am going to die.
Alone.
It was always going to be this way. Settling into my fate, I let my heavy lids close, ignoring everything around me. No point in fighting.
Footsteps echo around me, the distant voices of Nora and my dad growing closer.
“Royce!” My dad gives me gentle slap to the cheek.
Fluttering my eyes open, I see him, blurry at first but then he comes into focus. The chest pains have eased; my palms are no longer sweaty. Rolling my head to the side I see Nora in a panic on the phone.
“I’m fine,” I mutter, swallowing the sand off my tongue, my throat dry as fuck.
