“Yeah.” She hums.
I feel sick. Athena poured her fucking heart and soul into that book. All those hours, all those words she spilled onto the pages… everythingshefelt she sprinkled into that story. It washerstory.
“I need you to get dressed Royce,” Nora says, and I nod, feeling numb.
Sittingin the back end of briefing, Dad, Pascal, and Glenn are going into details about the drama that unfolded yesterday. I was hounded by the press as I walked through the paddock earlier, but I kept my glasses on and ignored them.
She lost it all in one day.
The gaping hole in my chest widens, slowly sucking every ounce of light that she put there, back inside where it belongs. My mind flickers back to last week, my eyes fixating on the clock on the wall, the soft ticking drifting off as I lose myself in the memory.
I’m lying on the sofa of our hotel room in Austria. We’re having a chilled evening before race weekend. Lifting my eyesfrom my screen, I see her bounding towards me with a wad of paper.
“Lucky,” I groan.
She’s standing beside me, her amber eyes sparkling. “Would you read this?” She stammers ever so slightly, and I can tell she’s nervous.
“You didn’t even have to ask.” I grab it, pulling it towards me but she’s reluctant to let it go.
“I need you to be honest with me, okay?” she whispers, her fingers turning white where she is holding the paper so tightly.
“Promise.” I wink, and finally, she lets it go.
I shuffle up the sofa, so my back is against the arm rest, my knees apart. She still stands next to me, and I chuckle. Reaching for her, I drag her between my legs.
“I’m nervous,” she whispers.
I catch her gaze, a flicker of self-doubt passes through her eyes, and I shake my head.
“It’s going to be amazing. I’m telling you, this is going to be the one to send you soaring, lucky.”
She gives me a faint smile. “You think?”
I shake my head again. “I don’t think, I know.”
She leans into me, kissing me softly before her head rests on my chest. I flick the first page open.
“Oh,” she says softly, not moving from my body. “My mum reached out the other day. She wants to see me for her annual check in.” She scoffs but I can hear the sadness that laces her voice. “I think I am going to plan it for after Silverstone, then we can go chill for summer break.”
“You want me there?” I half expect her to look at me, but she doesn’t.
“You can come back with me, but I’m not sure whether I would put you through the torture of meeting my parents.”
It’s my turn to scoff.
Silence wraps around us and I begin reading. I have no idea how long it has been, but Athena is asleep. She’s curled in my lap, her head still on my chest.
The way she writes pulls me into their story and the more I read, the more I notice little bits about me and her. She’s sprinkling our story through this book and my heart swells in my chest.
“This is really good baby,” I whisper, lowering my lips to the top of her head.
Proudness blooms deep inside of me as I continue through the pages and then I pause, my lips curling as I get to their first sex scene… and fuck, this is hot. I love her previous books, but I’ve always said the chemistry was lacking between the characters. But this one, holy hell.
My cock throbs in my boxers, my heart racing in my chest, and I cannot believe I am getting turned on by her words. I think, though, it’s because I am imagining it is me and her.
Shuffling slightly, I turn my phone over and see it is past midnight. My lips twitch, wanting to go back to their story so I can tell her how much I loved it. Sleep can wait.
I’m lost between the pages, transported into a fictional world that she has built brick by brick. Her heart and soul seep from the pages and I know she has poured so much of herself into this story. I flick the end and stare at the blank page. I need more. I want to know how it ended.
