Page 11 of Speed Trap

I thanked my team as we finished our clean up, patting a few backs and having a quiet word with each of them. Despite how the day had started, we weren’t going to let it get us down.

“Hawk. Got you a spot for a test lap in thirty. Too fast?” Ryan looked up at me, his eyebrows crinkled.

I was nowhere near ready, but I knew what sort of strings he had to pull to get me a spot after the schedules had been made up. A movement in my peripherals drew my attention. I watched Sunny out of the corner of my eye.

She’d hovered around the pits all day, alternating promo shot co-ords and worrying a stack of papers as though torn between wanting to help and not getting into trouble with her boss. Not that I’d been watching her, of course. The thought flitted through my brain and I banished it as fast as it had arrived.

If Benson was the cause of the damage then their racing champion was sabotaging other racers and he wouldn't want her anywhere near us, telling tales that might come back to haunt him.

Or to taint her.

I bared my teeth in a feral grin and pushed Sunny Cooper and her fine ass out of my mind for the time being. There was a raceto win, even if each lap was only a test or to beat my personal best for giggles on a shitty-ass day.

“How many souls did you have to sell to make it happen?”

Ryan grinned. “You don’t wanna know.”

“You’re a wizard. Let’s do it.”

The weekend passed in a blur of warm laps, tune ups and the art of tweaking everything in the pursuit of speed and efficiency. By the time I sat back in my chair, waiting to speak at the Sunday evening press conference, exhaustion swamped me.

Benson chatted with the press while we watched from the side entrance to the room. His face was slightly red, but after a tough week fielding media in between the technical aspect of the job and some damn hard hours in the seat, all of us had some level of exhaustion showing.

I yawned behind my hand, tilting my head back, and spotted Sunny on the opposite side of the stage.

Her face was drawn tight as she tapped at her phone frantically. Dressed in a racing team jacket that matched her driver, she wore dark, tight denim beneath it. Sky high black heels were tied around her ankles.

I rose and stuffed my hand in my pockets. After cleaning the mess up in the garage, I’d done what York recommended—knuckled down and focused on the race and prep. All things considered, we’d come in strong for the start of the season. A small urge to smash that first next race out of Benson’s grasp washed over me, followed by another yawn.

“You’re dead on your feet,” Ryan murmured beside me. He folded his arms as Benson finished up with his part of the press conference. “One more question and you’re up.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I blinked bleary eyes.

When I opened them, Sunny had disappeared from her spot near the stage. She’d probably disappeared with the rest of Benson’s crew but some urge deep inside me needed to see where she had gone.

A foot hit my shin and I started, guilt straining my lips in a silent grimace.

“Don’t you dare trail after that ass.” Ryan continued his mini tirade. “You stay right there and do your piece.”

“Yes, Dad.” I closed my eyes, tilting my head back but the need to see her was too strong.

I took a step back to find Ryan’s foot behind my boot.

“Stay the fuck there, Hawk. York’ll have your head on a stick for his trophy wall if you screw this up.”

“Fine,” I grumbled, shooting him a sideways look. “Always about the money.”

Ryan glared at me. “And the reputation, and the sport and you pulling your head out of your ass. Must be damn dark in there, Sunshine.”

I grinned. Pushing away from my spot as someone called my name, I headed up to the stage.

Night fell, shrouding everything in pitch by the time I’d showered and gathered my things to head out to the team RV. Otherwise, the lot was deserted. Everyone was already having dinner but I lagged. The day slammed into me, bone deep exhaustion replacing the adrenaline that had rushed through me. The team might be states away from home, but mine was across the city. Still, the glossy black badged bus was our base.

I ran my hand over my face. Bristles bit into my skin, but I didn’t care. All I wanted was to crawl into my bed and sleep for twelve hours before we hit the rebuild tomorrow early from today’s results.

Heels clicked sharply on the pavement, the sound echoing across the otherwise empty lot, accompanied by a voice I had grown to know well. There was enough stress in Sunny's tone to draw me around the side of the building and eavesdrop on her conversation without a single speck of guilt.

Okay, more than eavesdrop. I wanted a visual to go with her voice that hit me like sunrise and that first mouthful of scalding coffee. That's the sort of wakeup call my cock got the moment I laid eyes on her ass in those damn black leather pants I swore she spray painted on and I wanted to peel right off her perfect body.

---