“Keep walking,” Delaney said, approaching from the Ravensport garage, two down. “It’s not worth it.”
“It’s not,” Reese said. She much preferred to beat Danielle Todd on the circuit in front of thousands of people, where it would hurt the most.
“Your washed-up girlfriend teach you that in one of her cute classes?”
Reese froze. “What did you say?” Her blood ran cold, both from shock and offense. She turned back and waited.
“Sloane Foster. You’re fucking her, right? I saw you leave her room. Got a good laugh. How ridiculous.”
“You don’t get to say her name.”
Danielle placed a hand on her hip. “Guess it makes sense. Sloane couldn’t hack it when it mattered, so now she fucks the girls who can and pretends that’s mentoring. Is she as boring in bed as she was behind the wheel?”
The words landed like a slap. Reese moved before she thought. One sharp step forward, fist clenched, pulse spikingso fast it made her dizzy. The noise of the paddock fell away, replaced by the rush of blood in her ears.
“Don’t,” Delaney snapped, grabbing her arm and holding back the swing. Several crew members from inside the garage ran out to help. Danielle just stood there smirking, making Reese look like the violent animal ready to attack her, and damn if she wasn’t still ready to do just that. Her body thrummed with heat, anger, the ugly need to protect. She stared at Danielle, her expression gone flat and cold, every ounce of humor stripped away.
“You’re both an embarrassment,” Danielle said and shook her head. “Look at you.”
“Watch yourself,” Reese said, voice low and dangerous.
For a beat, it was clear how close Danielle had come to getting precisely what she wanted: Reese out of the academy and out of her way to the driver’s championship. And fuck her for that. She exhaled and straightened her race suit, gathering her control.
There were a lot of people swarming now, doing what they could to defuse the tension. Rodney Krauss, her team principal, was one of them.Dammit. Of course he’d been there for this.
“My office,” Rodney said, fixing her with a level stare. “Now.”
Reese closed her eyes and shook herself free of the hands holding her back. “I’m fine. Let me go. Okay? I’m good.” She wasn’t. Her face burned, adrenaline roaring through her veins, every instinct screaming to lunge for Danielle and let her fists finish what her mouth hadn’t.
“Listen to me,” Delaney murmured close to her ear. “Don’t even sweat it. She’s the worst kind of person and not at all worth what you’d pay for that punch.”
“She’s a lowlife,” Reese snapped. “She doesn’t deserve restraint.” She met Delaney’s gaze and found not judgment,but understanding. Fire recognizing fire. Delaney had her back. Always had.
“Fuck her,” Delaney said quietly. “But think about your career right now.”
Reese exhaled hard. “Okay. Okay. Yep. I’ll try.”
She stormed into Rodney’s office and dropped into the chair opposite his desk, heart still pounding, muscles tight with leftover fury.
Rodney stared at her, jaw clenched, eyes hard. “What in the hell was that?” His voice was louder than Reese had ever heard it. Rodney was usually reserved, a man who carried pressure without broadcasting it, and Reese respected him for that. She liked him as a boss. Trusted his instincts. Trusted the calls he made on strategy. This was different.
“I don’t know what that was about,” he continued, “and I don’t need to. But that kind of behavior does not represent this team.”
“I hear you,” Reese said, blinking as she forced her breathing to slow. “But she was so far out of line.”
“That was schoolyard bullshit, Reese. And it doesn’t fly.” He leaned forward, palms pressing into the desk. “She wanted to get in your head—and you let her.”
Reese bristled. He wasn’t wrong, and that stung worse than the reprimand. It didn’t mean she’d change a thing if she had the moment back.
“Look what you just handed her,” Rodney went on. “We don’t need you rattled over some juvenile driver squabble.”
Reese’s jaw tightened. “Understood. Won’t happen again.”
“You’ve been warned,” Rodney said flatly. “This team has a lot on the line. I need your focus on winning races, not personal vendettas.”
“Got it.”
Rodney exhaled and leaned back in his chair, some of the rigidity easing from his shoulders. When he spoke again, his voice had shifted. Quieter, more measured.
