I sigh, my breath vibrating in my chest. “It’s not even a big deal; I just made an off the cuff comment about the girl that is shadowing me.”
“Girl?”
“Woman.” I screw my face up as I look at him, tutting.
“What comment?”
I know what he is thinking. “Nothing like that.” I hold my hands up. “I called her a geek, a stuffy geek. I had the hump, and it left a bitter taste in my mouth, but I didn’t mean it. Just feels like an ulterior motive, y’know?” I scrub my face; I was too hot.
“Like you’re being watched.”
“Yes, like she has been hired by the team to make sure I behave.”
He chuckles.
“I’m not that bad… am I?” I question myself because maybe I am blind to it. Maybe I don’t realise that I am, in fact, a liability.
“No… well…” He grimaces as he looks at me.
I trust Dane. He has been with me over the last six years. He isn’t just my personal trainer, he is one of my good friends.
“After the whole Anaïs thing, you kind of took blowing off steam to a new level…”
I wince.
“Then Rue came along and that was good… but then you kind of…”
“Fucked it up.” I sigh.
He nods. “When you’re not racing, you’re sleeping with any girl who shows you attention and we know that’s a lot. But you need to protect yourself, Royce. You need to grow up. You’re twenty-seven, you can’t be out partying whenever you’re not racing.”
“It’s not like I am drinking and doing drugs.” I get defensive and it’s the wrong move; I need to learn to control my temper but it’s something I have never been able to get a grip of.
“You do drink.”
“When it’s break, but so do all the other drivers,” I snap, and I can feel my temper simmering to boiling point.
“Look,” Dane counters with me, holding his hands up in what seems like a peace offering. “All I am saying is, you could do better, and maybe having…”
“Athena,” I grit out, my jaw locked tight, my temples pulsing.
“Athena with you, by your side… well, it may help.”
I say nothing. “I’m out.” I flip, pushing from the wooden bench and walking out of the sauna, not waiting for Dane to follow.
Grabbing my bag, I slip into the changing room, dressing quickly before dumping the towel in the dirty laundry basket andpush out into the lobby. I pause for a moment, inhaling heavily as I weigh up my options.
Slipping my phone out, I call Kai and agree to meet him down theRiverland Bar. Outside the hotel, the valet goes to grab my keys, but I shake my head.
“Can you order me a taxi please?”
He nods, disappearing as I pace up and down. Stepping out of the shade, I let the warm Australian sun beat down on my skin. My eyes flutter shut as I switch my mind off, if only for a moment.
“Mr Lexington,” the valets voice floats through me.
“Yeah, thanks.” I clear my throat as I give him a smile and duck into the waiting car.
I sit in silence, aimlessly scrolling my phone. Opening Instagram, I type inOpal Bloomand click on her name.
