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The assistant continues talking to the photographer. “Luca loves a dramatic ending.”

“We have pistols. Ten yards at dawn,” Theo calls as he enters the gym.

They bow their heads as he drops his bag near me.

“Eden sent flowers to the house. Obscenely huge. Probably on Dad’s credit card.”

“She called too.”

Our sister was worried enough to forgo our usual text conversation and leave ten messages the moment she found out about the accident. From the amount of her on my voicemail, she must have missed the equivalent of a week of senior-year classes at her Swiss private school.

We’re doing shoots for ARI press, in the gym dressed in fire suits to promote the upcoming season. I’ve been involved in PR since I was four, but this is the first time I’ve done it with a broken bone.

He snakes a hand toward my shoulder, and I reach across with my good one to slap it away.

“Dad’s pissed. That’s going to be hard for his favorite son to drive with. You really fucked yourself this time, Jamie.”

“I did? You’re the one who made me spin out.” I grab a water and twist it open, crossing to the window to stare out. “Heard you got the win, even with the ten-second penalty.”

“Made up enough points to tie us going into the final race,” he says lightly.

Luca couldn’t have designed it any better. I don’t need to go online to know ARI talk is blowing up, that the F1 news cycle will be hijacked for the better part of a week by my crash and its implications.

The photographers are checking lighting and setting up again, deciding exactly what props they want in the background. It’ll all wind up getting photoshopped out anyway.

“Dad would be proud.”

Theo grimaces. “You’re angry.”

“I didn’t expect my little brother to try to kill me.”

He sighs. “I didn’t mean to. I wanted something that was mine for once.” He lifts a hanger off the rack and inspects the jacket, making a face.

“I didn’t realize how hard you’d fight for it.”

“The seat or Shay?” Theo shrugs into the jacket, turning to look at the sleeves in the mirror.

I think of the last time we were together, the night before the race when she pushed me away. I’ve never wanted to let someone in who does nothing but create havoc in my life. Somehow, she dug her way under my skin, left an ache like my collarbone that I can’t get out of my head.

“Both.” I frown.

When Theo pressed me in the race, the logical thing to do would have been to back off.

I couldn’t.

Not because of pride, or even competitiveness, but because I needed to prove I wouldn’t back down this time. Until the car started to spin out and I wasn’t thinking about the outcome.

All I could think of was her.

“I tried to stay away.” My words sound distant. “For weeks, I held back. A hundred moments when I wanted—”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.” Theo groans, and it’s pain and frustration rolled into one. It’s always been my job to fix his problems for him. But I can’t this time.

“She was at the hospital,” he says at last, and my head snaps up at his words. “She left you this. I didn’t want Dad to find it.” He holds out Shay’s necklace.

I take it, staring at the ring, the inscription.

Doesn’t seem like it worked.