Page 29 of On The Edge

“What if I make it the purpose, huh?” I tilt my head and pout playfully. “Life is meant to be lived, Hart. It’s meant to be taken by storm so that whatever is left in your wake is proof that you had a great time doing it.”

“Sounds like a Hallmark card.” She rolls her eyes.

“Yeah? So? Your job is to calm me down. Make me seem presentable and mature. What if my job is to push you out of your comfort zone? To make you see life through my eyes?”

“Sounds dangerous.”

“Perfect. Danger is the code I live my life by.”

“Look, I appreciate the pep talk here, but this is a lot of supposition for someone I only met thirty-six hours ago. You looked at my Instagram, saw my pictures, and clearly labeled me as boring. What if I like my life? What if it’s what I want?”

The clench of her jaw says otherwise, but our stares hold as I wonder how much to push her. Then again, since when do I think about shit like that? My life is an endless cycle of lap times, track tests, weights and cardio, simulator training, the media, and nutrition. Okay, and women and clubbing. Let’s be real.

But now it includes Maddix, and I’m still figuring out what the fuck that means.

“You wouldn’t have said yes if you weren’t curious otherwise. You could have said screw you to Kevin and walked. I’m sure there are a million other jobs like yours elsewhere. But you didn’t. You could have called Michael over and gone to the rodeo or hoedown, or whatever it is you guys do in Texas, and laughed about what a prick I was and how you escaped being stuck with me. But again, you didn’t.”

“That’s not fair,” she asserts, her spine a little stiffer. But her eyes tell the truth.

“You didn’t because, deep down there’s a small part of you wondering what it’s like to live this life. One different than the one you see set out before you. And you want to know the truth before you settle for your life of complacency.”

She grits her teeth. Doesn’t seem to like that word—complacency.

“For the record, Cruz,” she says, my name almost like a curse word. “I was biding my time. I wasn’t complacent. I have goals I’m trying to achieve. A career in brand management I’m working toward and money I’m trying to save so I can eventually move to New York or Los Angeles and achieve it. So what might have looked boring to you was me laying the foundation for my goals.”

There’s that fire. There’s that backbone. And that’s why I chose her. She didn’t know who I was, and yet she was both kind and assertive.

I nod slowly as her anger eats up the air in the car. Clearly, I touched a nerve.

“I picked you, Maddix, because you don’t want anything from me. You weren’t being selected by Kevin to play a role. You weren’t trying to figure out how to segue this to an acting or modeling career. I picked you because you didn’t know who I was, and you were still kind without demanding to know ‘why’ like every other fucking person in my life. And it doesn’t hurt that you’re easy on the eyes or that the expression on your face when Kevin slid the folders across the desk said you were horrified by his ask. Does that answer the question you were afraid to ask?” I lift my eyebrows and take in her lips shocked into an O and her eyes wide. “So . . . can we be done with this or what?”

My phone ringing tells me we are. Like my father couldn’t be any more of a buzzkill than he already is.

I push the button to answer the call and put the phone to my ear but don’t say a word.

“I see you’re in Amsterdam. Good. Time to get back to the business of racing and not this bullshit you’ve been up to.”

“Hello to you too, Papá,” I say quietly. I should be surprised that he knows my whereabouts but no doubt he tracked the flight and knows it landed.

Just a different version of the ball and chain when it comes to him.

“You didn’t stop home first.”

My chuckle lacks all humor. “Says the man who says I wasn’t welcome.” I’m aware that Maddix can hear my side of the conversation. The last thing I want to do is to explain anything about my father right now.

“So how did the meeting end up? Is the deal signed and done or did you fuck that up already before it even began?”

I hesitate. Torn between hanging up and telling him to fuck off. Either will give too much away to Maddix.

“You fucked it up, didn’t you?” he says, mistaking my hesitation for the worst possible thing. Par for the fucking course. “You couldn’t even seal it. As expected.”

I clear my throat. “I have company,” I say by means of explanation. “And all is fine on that front. Not a problem in sight, but thanks for your obvious concern about my business dealings.”

“Company?” He snorts. “Just like you to bring someone from the States with you before you tire of them. Yeah. I saw the flight manifest. I know you brought one of the ladies—and I use that term loosely.” He emits a sigh of frustration that seems to be the soundtrack to my life. “You still have a championship to win. You do not need her as a distraction.”

“Again, thank you for your concern, but I can handle myself.”

He will not know about Genesee or Revive or all the details until the deal is finalized, ink dried, and is something he can’t try to influence or change. That is if I want to tell him. His curiosity is killing him and I love that it is.