“Royce.” Marcel my race engineer walks over to me, a giddy smile pressed against his lips. “You all good?”
“I’m all good,” I chime. Glancing over my shoulder, I feel her before I see her as she walks down the tunnel and towards me.
“One sec,” I say to Marcel as she runs towards me and I scoop her into my arms. My fingers lock behind her back; I lift her feet off the floor as she kisses me.
“I just wanted to say good luck.”
I smile, placing her feet back on the floor. “I don’t need good luck when you’re here, baby,” I whisper, and give her another kiss.
“It’s race time,” my dad’s voice claps through the garage, and I roll Athena into my arm as I hold her close to my side. “You doing okay?”
“Yes.” I smirk.
“Did you get enough sleep?”
I roll my eyes. I didn’t. I was far too occupied. I look to Athena who ducks her face into my armpit as she hides the blush.
My dad is toe to toe with me, his hand pressing against my chest. “I’m so proud of you,” he whispers. His other hand cups around the back of my head as he brings his forehead to mine. “Whatever the outcome, I want you to know that.”
I close my eyes for a moment, nodding.
“It’s time.” His voice is steady, but I know inside he is probably a nervous wreck.
I place another kiss to Athena’s temple as she walks to join the girls. Glenn gives me a pat on the back as he passes through followed with a wink.
I am good under pressure. I know that. But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious. This is all I have dreamt of since I was a kid.
But now, I have new dreams. My eyes slice to her, the woman I am going to ask to marry me after this race. The woman whom I want to spend the rest of my life with. The woman who I am so irrevocably in love with…
Reaching for my helmet, I glance at the new design. Yellow stars, mixed with smoky grey clouds and shimmers of silver glitter connecting all of them. I chose them because they remind me of her freckles. The ones I would join together, as I mappedout the constellations that only I knew existed whilst she was sleeping on my chest.
My heart lurches against my rib cage. Spinning the helmet around, there in tiny detail is a snow globe, with a manuscript tucked inside. Underneath, in her writing, she wroteLucky.
Looking up, my fingers gripped just inside the helmet, she gives me a smile.
“Come here.” My voice rumbles and my heart swells as she stands in front of me, eyes locked on mine.
“You’ve got this.” She presses her hands against my race suit, softly tapping her fingertips.
I give a steady nod.
“Bring it home, baby,” she whispers, pushing onto her tiptoes as she kisses me one last time.
“Four laps to go, Royce.”Marcel’s calm voice floats through my ears, the lights whizzing past me as I drive around the track.
I take each apex with care, not wanting to fuck this up by getting track limits, plus there’s the plank under the car. It was that close of a fight between me and Matt that I couldn’t risk anything.
“How’s the car looking?” My voice trembles as I glide the car over the kerb.
“All good, Royce,”
Checking in my mirrors, I see Ajax is gaining.
“Time between me and Ajax.” I’m trying to keep my cool.
“Two seconds, you’re all good, mate.”
I can feel him breathing down my neck. My fingers tighten around the steering wheel. Crossing the line, I count down in my head.
