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He threads his hand through mine and gives it a squeeze.

We leave the closet, me still leaning into him.

I feel the attention before I see it. When I look up, there’s a pair of blazing blue eyes fixed on us from the door.

Jameson.

He’s wearing a jacket over a button-down, his clothes perfect but his expression wrecked.

My hair is a mess. My hand is threaded in Theo’s.

I have no reason to feel guilty, but I do anyway.

He looks…betrayed.

Before I can react, he’s gone.

22

Shay

“You get any sleep?” Megan asks sympathetically the next morning.

I glance over at her from where I’m finishing brushing my teeth at the second sink.

She slides me over a jar of under-eye corrector from her impressive bag of makeup. “This is the good shit.”

All night I’d been lying awake thinking of walking out of that closet with Theo, of Jameson’s face when he saw us. Was it anger, or something worse?

We take the shuttles to the track. It’s a gray day, but so far, the radar isn’t showing rain.

The fans are out in full force, bearing signs repping their favorite drivers—it’s mostly a sea of Ashford red but pops of other colors, too.

There are cameras everywhere. So much for this just being a qualifier event. It has the feel of the real thing. There’s even a podium by the finish line for popping champagne.

The mechanics are in the pits making final adjustments to the cars.

“Miss MacDonald.” An Ashford steward waves to me as Megan and I head to our car. “Mr. Ashford has asked that you not be involved this morning.”

For a moment, I think he means Luca. When I realize which Mr. Ashford he’s referring to, my teeth grind together. “Where is he?”

Megan’s head swivels to me, startled. I stalk toward the changeroom.

“You can’t go in—”

I barge inside to find half a dozen drivers in various states of dress.

“Shay?!”

“What the fuck, MacDonald?”

I ignore the cries from drivers and stalk around the lockers. In one corner I find Jameson, his broad back to me.

“You’re really being that guy?” I demand. “You won’t let me do my job.”

“The one you were doing with Theo yesterday?” he says as he zips into his fire suit.

I throw up both hands. “You weren’t here!”