Page 70

“Morning!” I replied, already slipping into work mode—mostly.

“Strategy briefing in a few if you want to listen in.”

“Perfect.”

I set my things down, flipping open my tablet and pulling up the race models, trying—trying—to anchor myself in something familiar. While I only reported and commented on strategy during races, I had grown rather fond of listening in on the strategy meeting. A few of the race engineers started letting me join in, after about a thousand NDAs were signed, of course.

I listened in from the edge, knowing I only had a few minutes before I wanted to be heading toward the gate to wait for Serena. I listened as the engineers and crew looked over some analytics on a bigger screen and talked through the race plan.

Track temp projections, tire windows, fuel loads. I loved the numbers side, all the things that made sense. But even as I scanned the data, my attention kept drifting to the entrance. I could see a sliver of it from where I was, half outside the garage leaning against a pillar. I scanned every new person who walked in, watching for a flash of blonde. Because at any second⁠—

“Maisey!”

I turned so fast I nearly knocked myself over. A sea of people was walking past before I saw a hand raised and waving erratically. And there she was, my favorite blonde-haired baddie best friend, Miss Racer Barbie herself.

A PR badge hanging around her neck and sunglasses pushed up into her hair, she looked entirely comfortable surrounded by the chaos. I was always the late one, and she was on time—if not early—for everything, which explained why she was walking toward me fifteen minutes before she should be here. “Are you kidding me?” I laughed, already walking toward her. “You made it.”

“Obviously,” she said, grinning as she opened her arms. I didn’t hesitate—I crashed into her, wrapping her up in a hug that was probably too tight and definitely too long.

“God, I missed you,” I said into her shoulder.

“Missed you too,” she replied, squeezing me back. “Look at you though, so official.”

“Stop,” I groaned, pulling back. “Do not start.”

“Oh, I’m absolutely starting,” she shot back, eyes scanning the garage. “This is insane. You work here!”

“Try to act cool,” I said, grabbing her wrist and tugging her farther inside, half-kidding. “Please. For me.”

“No promises,” she said easily, already taking everything in with wide, curious eyes. “God, Maise…this is⁠—”

“I know,” I said softly. Because I did. I knew exactly what this meant to her.

All that excitement twisted into something mixed with feeling protective, proud, and nervous all at once. Because this world could chew people up just as easily as it lifted them. I had my ear down trying to hear any and all gossip around the track to relay back to her, but her agent had it locked down that she was having unofficial meet and greets with some higher-ups this weekend.

“Come on,” I said, squeezing her hand once before letting go. “I’ll show you around before things get too crazy.”

“Lead the way,” she grinned. And just like that, everything else faded a little: the tension, the stress, the thoughts about the dumb brunette boy who took up entirely too much of my brain for the last eighteen years, and whether he would show up to the next interview scheduled for today’s post-race.

“Hey, dipshit,” Serena smiled as she walked over to Theo. His eyes bounced to me for only a second, so fast I thought I might have hallucinated the small crease between his brow and the soft blue eyes landing on me. because they were back to glaring down at Serena.

“Why are you here?” he asked, looking rather irritated. I shot him a glare that he caught before letting out a deep sigh and fixing his attitude, if only slightly. “Hello, Serena. How are you doing? Still terrorizing everyone around you?” he said in an overly nice way, making me glare harder.

“Obviously. And surprise, surprise, you’re number one on the list of dumb men to terrorize,” she smirked and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Serena!” Sebastian’s voice boomed through the garage as he walked over, shoving past his brother and enveloping Serena in a hug. She smiled and squeezed him back before pulling back and punching his chest.

“Ouch!” he said with a bit of dramatics, clutching his chest.

“You said you would make your brother be less of a douche to Maisey!” she chastised.

“I tried!” he replied, holding his hands up then pointing a thumb back at his brother. “He’s a right pain in the arse.”

“I am standing right here,” Theo said, deeply unenthused.

“Well the fuck aware,” Serena sneered, waving a hand at him in dismissal.

“Still such a delight,” Theo threw back, rolling his eyes.