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“Maisey! Thank Christ. I am so glad you’re okay, and we all love you, but can you please, please get the idiot next to you to get dressed and convince him he still has a career he should probably try to save?” Maisey glanced toward me then, amusement fading slightly, worry replacing her expression, guilt clouds casting over her. I shook my head at her, knowing where she was going mentally.

I sat up slowly against the headboard, rubbing a hand down my face while the weight of yesterday settled heavier onto my shoulders. The adrenaline had worn off, leaving only consequences behind. Maybe I really had screwed everything up. The thought should’ve terrified me more than it did. Instead all I could think was, “I would do it again for her.” Because yesterday, curled on a bathroom floor in my arms, Maisey had looked at me like she finally believed she wasn’t alone anymore. I’d burn down every contract I had before I let her feel abandoned again.

Maisey handed the phone back carefully. “You should go talk to them.”

I stared at her quietly for a moment.

“Trying to get rid of me, Red?”

A small smile tugged at her mouth. Sebastian made a disgusted noise through the speaker. “Okay, enough. You’re both revolting. Be downstairs in 30 minutes before the team principal explodes and I have to pick up tiny pieces of Simmons everywhere.”

The line disconnected. Silence settled over the room afterward.

Then Maisey looked over at me carefully. “Are you scared?”

I considered lying, putting on a brave face and brushing it off like it didn’t really matter. But that was never an option with Maisey. Instead I admitted quietly, “A little.” Because I had never chosen something over racing before. Not once, not even myself. And somehow, yesterday I’d walked away from the grid without hesitation because Maisey mattered more. Maisey slid closer, taking my face gently between her hands.

“Theo,” she said softly, “I love you, but please go save your job.” I looked at her for a long moment, then leaned forward and kissed her slowly. Because maybe the rest of the world was about to become a complete disaster, but I got my girl.

“Bauer, nice of you to show up,” Simmons drawled from his leaned-back position in a chair in a stark hotel conference room, the same hotel the whole team stayed at. Honestly, I was surprised no one broke down my room door—not that I was in there.

“Simmons—” I started walking toward him. He only shook his head and waved at a seat. I sat down, Sebastian following after me and sitting to my left.

“You might be a complete fucking dumbass,” Simmons started with a glare, making my heart shoot to my throat, “but you’ve got one hell of a brother.”

My head swiveled over to my brother, who only shrugged at me.

“Uh, yes sir. I do,” I responded, still in shock. I had expected yelling, a lot of yelling. Not this. Honestly, this might be worse. Simmons was far too calm. I didn’t even know what to do with this energy in the room.

“It has come to my attention that Maisey Andrews is important to you, and after a very thorough explanation and history lesson from not only your brother but also Angel, I have been made aware of your past”—he paused—“entanglements.”

“I’m so sorry, Sir⁠—”

“No, son. I am sorry,” Simmons cut me off, leaning forward, and my mouth clamped shut, pure shock overtaking any coherent thought in my head. Sorry? Why the bloody hell is Simmons sorry, and for what?

“I had my assumptions after approving your father be banned from Formula One events. Toxic parents in this sport are not out of the norm, and I pride myself on making sure everyone in my employ feels safe and valued here at Kaz. That being said, no one—and I mean no one—deserves to grow up without choices in such a way as you did.”

My head snapped again to Sebastian, who reached out a hand to pat me on the shoulder. “You—” I wasn’t sure the emotion brewing under my skin, somewhere between anger and gratefulness and shock. “You told him?”

“He did, and I am glad for it.” Simmons brought my attention back to him. His gray hair was pushed back behind his ears and looked like it had been messed with all day, physical evidence of the chaos I had left when I abandoned my team. Guilt raked through my body, because no matter that this sport started as a way for my father to have control or money or status, it was still my sport. It was something I loved so dearly, and I had learned how valuable every member of a team was when I entered Formula One. Simmons pressed up the gray, thick-rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose. “Theo, while I wish you would have been able to come to me to share these burdens, I also understand.”

Shock rolled through me again at the very last thing I thought my team principal would ever say to me after abandoning my team.

“If it had been my wife or my daughter… If anything were to happen to them, I would have left everything behind as well.” I watched him in awe as he kept going. “I don’t share this with many people, but we had two daughters. One passed away in a car accident when she was only 17, the same age as Maisey when…” Pain burst over his features. “She didn’t make it.”

“I’m so sorry.” I put a hand to my chest in horror. Simmons had always been reserved, but he was a strong family man. His daughter and wife would come visit from time to time and were always so bright and lively for the garage. But with how private Simmons was, apart from meeting them, we didn’t know much else about him.

“When the anniversary comes around, it’s unbearable most years. I used to throw myself into work, bury myself there and try to forget it all, but my daughter and wife were suffering all the same without me. It wasn’t fair.” He shook his head with deep regret etched on his features. “I tell you all this because I have a permanent date in my calendar that I will not work. I think you should do the same.”

“Sir, I don’t know what to say…”

“You survived a trauma, Theo, and you kept it so far buried that no one knew. I will do everything I can to protect you against extreme ramifications with upper management, but there will be a lot of hoops to jump through. If Maisey is important to you, which—from what I’ve been told—I assume she is, then you should take the day every year to be with her so she is not alone in this either. We will rearrange that race to be a testing race with a reserve driver or pull someone from our development driver team to test on the track instead of at the end of season. It’s unorthodox, but I think I can swing it with management as a good option.”

“Thank you, thank you so much.”

“Now, I want you to take the rest of the week to rest, get your head on straight for training on Thursday, and come back fresh for practice on Friday. That’s an order.”

“Understood.” I nodded seriously. “I did not think this was how this would go when I walked in, but I am so grateful.” I reached out to shake Simmons’s hand, and he took it with a smile. “So, I still have a job?”