Page 33 of Jump Start

I squeezed Thomas’s hand. “This is so beautiful.”

He kissed my cheek and lingered near my ear to whisper, “Not as beautiful as you.” His proximity and his sweet words sent shivers through my body.

We both searched the room for Chris, eventually finding him standing near a platform with a microphone towards the centre of the room.

“Jesus, who gave you a microphone?” Thomas directed at Chris before pulling him in for a hug.

Thomas and I settled on a bar stool and table with drinks when Will walked over to greet us.

“Mate, how are you?” he reached his hand out to shake Thomas’s and they hugged briefly. “Harps, good to see you. Heard you were a little sick at the last race meet.” His eyes danced around the room rather than looking directly at me.

I nodded. “Yeah, thanks. Just food poisoning!” I replied as I emptied my glass of champagne.

Thomas picked up our glasses and nodded towards the bar to get refills. As he excused himself, he kissed me quickly and turned towards the bar, leaving Will standing opposite me.

Will seemed a little on edge, I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.

“You doing okay?” I asked him, trying to read his face.

Nodding, he took another step closer to me. “I’m great now that we are alone.”

I was confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, now that Jackson isn’t here.” He grabbed my waist a little too tightly and pulled me flush against his body. I was blindsided by the action and felt every fibre of my body react in flight. Surely, he wasn’t trying to hit on me in a room full of his co-workers and my boyfriend. I tried to push him away, but his grasp was too strong. He started to lean his head down to mine. I closed my eyes and kept trying to push him away.

Suddenly, he was gone. I opened my eyes and Thomas had him by his shirt, scrunched into a ball with his fist. I couldn’t hear what he was saying at first, but I suspected it wasn’t good. The music stopped and everyone standing around them hadtaken a wide circle to get out of their way. Chris appeared and separated them.

“I’m fucking out of here. Don’t you fucking touch her ever again!” Thomas said loud enough for the people standing close to hear. Striding past, he collected me by the hip, and we hastily walked towards the top of the stairs. I couldn’t keep up with his pace. My heart was pounding, making my hands sweat. They kept slipping between Thomas’s fingers.

“Thomas, I can’t walk that fast!” I called up at his stern face. His expression softened slightly, and his grip loosened.

“Sorry.” Halfway down the stairs, he stopped and abruptly sat down with his head in his hands. I sat down next to him and put my hand on his shoulder.

“What happened up there?” I asked, noticing his hands were trembling and his breathing was sharp and short.

I placed both of my hands on either side of his face, turned him towards me, and attempted a weak smile. I waited patiently for a response.

“I think Will was on something tonight. He had been acting weird ever since we got here. I was keeping an eye on him, but I didn’t want to ruin Chris’s night. Then I saw him touching you and I saw red. I didn’t punch him, I just wanted to scare him,” his voice broke a little on the last word.

“Are you alright?” he asked, looking me up and down, assessing me from head to toe.

“Yeah, I’m a bit shaken up but I’m okay,” I reassured him. “Hewasacting weird. I did notice that, too. Has he ever done any sort of drugs before that you know of?”

He shook his head but didn’t speak.

“Let’s go home, okay?” I stood up and offered him my hand.This was not the time or place to unpack what had happened.

***

The cab ride home was mostly silent. I didn’t want to bring up what had happened until we were home and in private. Thomas spent most of the drive scrolling through his phone in silence. I assumed he felt embarrassed about his actions and concerned about me and his teammate.

The next hour went by in a blur as we readied ourselves for bed. I made two cups of tea and placed Thomas’s on his bedside table. He caught me by my hip as he came out of the bathroom. “Thank you,” he murmured.

Settling into bed, I turned to face him. “You know we have to talk about this, right?”

He nodded but didn’t turn to face me. “Yes, I know. Oh, Chris is calling.” He was holding his phone as it rang, and he answered with the speaker. “Mate, you’re on speaker with Harps.” Chris greeted us warmly and explained the situation to us.

Will had taken drugs, which apparently was not a first. Chris was now going to have to suspend his second-best driver. Will was taken straight to the police station for further testing as there were enough people at the party to attest to his behaviour. That seemed a little harsh to me, but because the team had a zero drugs policy, Chris had to make an example out of Will.

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