Who was grinning despite that ugly, orange grid girl outfit.
Thank you, Prixton, for having the grossest colours of any team.
They clashed so beautifully with our purple.
Before she could say much more than‘hey,’I was at their side, glaring at her touch on his arm. Like a vice.
And he acted as if it were normal.
“Zolt,” I said, taking slight joy in giving him a nickname. We weren’t friendly enough for it — I’d only called him that when he was railing me on a bike — but she didn’t know that.
His eyes locked on mine as if he were remembering the exact heat-inducing moment.
“We need to go and find Julian.”
His head inched back. “Why? What’s wrong? I thought I had an interview.”
Nora looked between us, her smile fake. “Who’s this?” she asked in English. “Are you thetranslator?”
She said it like I was the help in some Victorian BBC drama. Like being a translator was beneath her, when it was the only thing I’d wanted to be. What I’d worked to become for years.
And the way she stood between Zolt and me suggested she wanted as much space between me and her ex as possible.
I opened my mouth, ready to explain that I wasn’t just his translator and give her the full, erotic translation ofexactlyhow well I knew him.
Maybe three espressos before noon had been a mistake.
I was no longer calm. But I stopped myself, because that night he hadn’t mentioned her once, which could mean multiple things.
“Yes.” I turned back to him. “Zolt?”
“Maybe you could translate for the two of us,” she said with a mischievous grin. I could already hear Everly in my head:Don’t start shit in the paddock. Start it where there are no cameras.“You could tell him all the things I—”
“You don’t speak Hungarian?”How did they communicate for the two years they were together before the crash?
I heard the disgust in my voice before I could stop it.
My mind went back to all of those dirty, filthy words he’d spoken to me in English. I knew I hadn’t been the first girl to hear them, but…
“I do,” she snapped and started stroking his arm.
Zoltán sighed, eyes closed, as if he was done with our catty drama.
She wasn’t. She pouted, took a deep breath, and thensaid in his language, “Itry say congratulations on contract! So much more penis now!”
I saw Zolt’s eyes widen for one second before I couldn’t hold it in and bent over, clutching my mouth to stop the laughter.
I completely understood why she had made the slip-up she had.‘Penis’and‘money’were only a consonant off.
But oh my god.
My stomach hurt by the time I gathered myself, realising I had crumpled the medical file slightly. I managed to deadpan, “He’s certainly not poor there.”
I’d felt him for a week.
I’d thought of it every day after.
Zolt’s jaw was slack, and he looked me over as if he was seeing me for the first time, like he was proud and hungry.
