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Theo narrowed his eyes at me before climbing onto the bed beside me anyway, tugging my legs across his lap like it was instinct now, like touching me had become muscle memory.

“How was your day with Serena?” he asked softly, rubbing absentminded circles against my ankle through my socks.

I hesitated—just slightly—which of course he noticed immediately because Theo noticed everything when it came to me.

“What?” he asked carefully.

I shut my laptop slowly and decided to test the water. I knew I swore to Serena, but I had a feeling Theo knew and these two were up to something. “She told me about the seat.”

His face lit up instantly. “She told you?”

“You knew!”

“She made me swear on your life not to tell anyone.”

I laughed quietly. “Apparently Kaz is really collecting some powerful drivers.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” The smile lingering between us softened a little before I looked down at my hands.

“She also mentioned the sim.”

Theo went still for half a second. Not tense. Just attentive. Careful. “Ah,” he said quietly. I hated how nervous I suddenly felt saying it out loud.

“She thinks I should try it.”

“And what do you think?”

I stared down at the sleeves swallowing my hands and tugged at the edges of the oversized sweatshirt I was wearing, one I had not-so-secretly stolen from Theo, one that smelled like him and was now officially one I would never give back. I twisted the fabric. “I don’t know.”

He didn’t interrupt. Didn’t rush to fill the silence. He just waited.

“I think…” I swallowed hard. “I think maybe part of me wants to.” Theo’s thumb stilled briefly against my ankle. “But I also think getting back in anything even remotely race related sounds completely terrifying.” I laughed weakly. “Which feels like a problem.”

“Red.” His voice softened even further somehow. “Being scared of something after what happened isn’t weakness.”

I looked over at him then.

He was watching me so carefully it almost hurt.

“You don’t have to prove anything,” he continued gently. “Not to me. Not to racing. Not to yourself.”

“I know.”

“And if you never want to touch a car again, that’s okay too.”

The thing about Theo was that he never pushed, not really. Even when I knew he wanted something for me, he held it so delicately in his hands it still felt like my choice.

“But, do it scared, right?” I admitted quietly. “Which honestly feels insane to say out loud when it comes to this, but I think I might want to, or I’m curious about it at the very least.”

A tiny smile pulled at the corner of his mouth then.

“Okay,” he said.

“Okay?”

“Okay.” He reached for his phone suddenly.

I blinked. “What are you doing?”