Page 113 of On The Edge

I don’t know why I love it so much with its constant noise and graffitied walls, but I do. It’s the skyscraper-filled skyline and the sparkling of the Hudson. It’s the feeling of opportunity just around the next corner and the nonstop bustle of the people in its streets trying to grasp it.

I love this town. Its people. Its attitude.

The funny thing is, I thought this place was everything before. I still do. But after the past few months, I realize that my opinion was based solely off how small my world was. Now my eyes are open much wider and that perspective has been skewed.

“So the board is happy?” I ask, my cell to my ear, and my eyes glued to the world beyond the wall of windows of the twentieth floor.

“The general consensus is yes. They’re pleased that Cruz has kept the promises he made and publicly looks more responsible. His social media is more you and racing than anything else. The photo with the Esmerelda woman did cause a little discomfort. Like maybe he can only behave for—”

“There was nothing to the photos,” I assert. “Just an old family friend wishing him luck in the garage.”

Her smug smile had disturbed me when I finally made my way into the garage. She’d been standing beside Dominic, which had caused me to wonder if being locked out hadn’t quite been the “accident” it had looked to be.

Would his father really do something like that? That was where my mind went eventually.

“It was one hundred percent my father interfering.”

“Why? Why would he bother, Cruz? I mean, it doesn’t make sense.”

“I’ve known her for years, and there has never been anything between us. Never will be. He told me that he’d paid you to leave me.”

“You didn’t believe that, did you? When I saw her, I couldn’t help wonder if you wanted her . . . She’s the type of woman you want—”

“Wanted. Past tense.” He leans in and brushes his lips over mine. “You’re everything I want now.”

“Won’t your dad keep persisting? The media had a field day with that image of her kissing your cheek.”

Cruz grabs my hand in his and sits down on the chair in front of me so I have no choice but to see the intensity in his eyes. “One, he’ll always keep pushing. Nothing is going to stop that, but the fact that the video of me kissing you like that is all over the goddamn world and will be synonymous with my victory forever, just might temper him a bit. A kind of fuck with me and find out.” A kiss to the palm of my hand. “And two, the media’s field day with the Esmerelda photo is drowned out by our kiss. But it also goes to show you how they’ll paint a picture to fit their narrative when there is no story to begin with. That is something you already know.”

“I know. It doesn’t make it any easier.”

“Madds. You stood up to my dad in Suzuka. You threatened and challenged him enough that he brought Esmerelda to Doha to try and intimidate you. Neither worked. You’re not scared of him, you know how the media misrepresents things for clicks, so why believe the rumors the media printed?”

He has a point. A very good point. I stare at our hands intertwined and nod. He’s right. I know he is. But it still was . . . traumatizing in a sense to feel shut out of the paddock, then being manipulated by first his dad and then the press.

“And can I just tell you I’d have given anything to see his face when you confronted him? No one does. They walk on eggshells around him. So the fact that you did makes me lo . . . love your grit.”

Was he going to say love? I get goosebumps. Does Cruz love me?

The unspoken words hang in the air as panic flickers through Cruz’s eyes. I rescue him by leaning forward and pressing my lips to his. “We do make a good team.”

“We do. I told you, you’re my good luck charm.”

“You sure about that?” Kevin asks.

“I am. Cruz is with me twenty-four seven. The woman is desperate for media coverage and used the moment to further her modeling career. Tell the board not to worry.”

“If you say so. I mean, I get he’s not squeaky clean, but he’s been washed with a nice window dressing and that seems enough for them. I just don’t want that image ruined.”

My spine stiffens at the comment. At the implication that Cruz wasn’t good enough how he was before.

And there’s irony in that.

In the fact that I sat in that conference room three plus months ago and found Cruz to be an asshole who I didn’t like. And now I’m sitting here speaking to my boss and wanting to defend Cruz for his actions.

“For what it’s worth, I’ve seen nothing but Cruz being an upstanding guy.”

Kevin makes a noncommittal sound, almost as if he’s not sure if he buys my sales pitch. “I have to say, Maddix, I’m impressed with your hard work on this. It’s an unconventional ask on my part and you handled it beautifully. In fact, it turned out even better than I thought. The big F1 driver plucking a Texas girl up out of obscurity who he met at a business meeting. I mean, that’s wholesome. Again, I’m impressed. I was more than certain you were going to leave within a week and then run home with your tail between your legs because it was too much. You showed resilience.”