“That man,” she seethed, but stopped dead when she saw Imre and Benedek at another table. “Are we in an epidemic? Assholes cloning?”
She looked me over, and I hated to think of what she’d see. I hadn’t cried; there may have been a couple of tears, and I’d rubbed at my eyes and nose a couple of times.
“That man swanning around, leaving emotional skidmarks all over the place,” she tsked and wiped at my eyes as my bottom lip wobbled. “That’s it. You’ve gone through enough. I’m going to get Livie to change your team.”
13
Chapter 13
Fia
Livie handed me a headset as I leaned against the winner’s box barrier, trying not to look like I was waiting for anyone in particular. Journalists were already eyeing the box where the winners would pull in, even though the race hadn’t started. Their brows lifted at my presence. I didn’t blame them.
Zolt had said — loudly, in English — that I should wait for him at the winner’s box. Like he owned the podium.
Like he owned me.
Our team director had nodded, more to appease him than because it made sense.
In the four races we’d had so far, Zolt had been on the podium once. Third place in Japan. Today, in Malaysia, he’d qualified first. He implied to our team that because he’d raced on this track with MotoBike, he knew it intimately and was going to win.
He looked hurt by my eye roll, but it was all an act because that cockiness turned me on more than I would willinglyadmit.
But the more he spoke in the pit box, the more I realised… he knew English far better than I’d expected.
“Why am I here?” I asked Livie the second she attached her walkie-talkie to her belt.
“Because your racer’s an asshole,” she said, pulling the pen cap off with her teeth before scribbling on her clipboard. “If he doesn’t win, I’d be so embarrassed if I were him.”
I felt a twinge of discomfort and rolled my shoulders back.He would win.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Why am I inVeltar?”
She frowned, stopped writing, and pulled the cap from between her teeth. “Because it’s your placement. Are you on about switching teams?”
“I mean, no—”
“Because Everly already asked about that. Not particularly nicely, either.”
“Oh?”
“She threatened to release a clip of Dickson being rude to a hotel manager. Told me she would Photoshop a tear in as well.”
I laughed. Yeah, that was my sister, alright.
“I don’t know what is going on there, but she despises Zolt,” she said and laughed. “And you don’t seem heartbroken, so what’s going on?” She herded me into one of the corners, far from the barrier for the press.
“Nothing. Nothing is going on.”
She sighed and shook her head. “I can’t help you if you’re not honest.”
“I’m just moving on.”
Her brows rose. “You look pretty pally with Henrik.”
We’d gone for a drink at the last two races. Purely platonic. He wanted help with his English.
“Relationships in teams are frowned upon,” I reminded her. “So why haven’t you moved me as Everly asked?”
