Page 43 of Eight Seconds to Fly

“He means that Senior said one of us dirty Brazilian riders, but not quite so nicely,” Frankie said, the anger in his voice basically a living thing.

Branch nodded, though he looked just as pissed. “Anyway, he convinced the management that Junior must have been protecting your honor and that Miguel needed to be kicked off the circuit and sent back to Brazil. They all flew here for an emergency briefing. They want to call you in to get your side of the story, and Dylan thinks they’ll probably try and kick you off the circuit, using the assault as the reason. That it isn’t safe for you.”

My top lip pulled back and I snarled. “Because all men are animals that can’t control themselves?” I was furious. How dare they? “Why Miguel?”

Branch shrugged. “He’d been there watching Junior, making sure he didn’t slither off when the cops turned up. They decided that he must have done it, even thought there was literally nothing incriminating. His hands were clean, hell even his boots were clean. But they want a scapegoat.”

Rage replaced the pain. It replaced the fear and the terror and the horror of yesterday. I became a livid being of rage and retribution. I climbed over Branch and got out of the bed, slamming into the bathroom.

“Tessa, what are you doing?” Beau yelled through the door. “Are you okay?”

I stopped peeling off my clothes. I opened the door and stuck my head back around. “No Beau. I am not okay. I am pissed. I am beyond pissed. I am livid.”

Beau looked at me and grinned. “Get ‘em, girl.” As I slammed the door shut, I heard Beau tell Branch. “Told you she wouldn’t take this shit lying down. She is going to make those rich old fuckers wish they’d never been born.”

I grinned, but it wasn’t a pleasant expression. From his tongue to God's ears.

We all climbedout of Beau’s truck, and I held my head high. I wasn’t wearing makeup to reduce the appearance of the painful bruises on my face. I wasn’t wearing my hat to hide my eyes. I’d brushed out my hair until it was a golden halo and clasped my mama’s cross around my neck. I was righteous vengeance.

The guys stood behind me. They had my back, even Dylan.

As I strode into the temporary offices of the WBRP, my blood was well and truly up. “Fuck you are beautiful,” Dylan groaned. “Honestly, you looking like an avenging angel makes me hard as a rock.”

Branch slapped the back of his head, and I smiled. We’d all avoided the topic of sex, because, well you know why. But the fact that Dylan didn’t look at me like I was damaged and fragile made me smile. I winked at him over my shoulder, and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

A part of me didn’t doubt they would still be mine even if I said I never wanted to have sex again. And that was an overwhelming notion for another day.

As we got to the elevator, we ran into Miguel coming out. My feet slowed and stuck to the floor as I had a brief flashback. But I gritted my jaw and squeezed Frankie’s hand. Miguel stopped when he saw me, his face full of rage and sorrow.

I raced across the space between us and wrapped my arms around him. “I’m so damn sorry. So, so, sorry.”

Miguel patted my back. “We’ve talked about thismenina. This isn’t your fault.”

I pulled back and looked at his haggard expression. “What did they say?”

“They paid me out to leave. Hush money to retire early. Oh they didn’t word it like that, but that is what it is.”

I frowned. “Did you tell them to shove it up their fat, entitled asses?”

Miguel grinned, but shook his head. “No. I took the money. A payout is better than the off chance I will make it to the final. There is also the off chance that I’ll die. My wife would be happier with this outcome; she wanted me to retire two years ago. I am done with this sport. I just want to go home and enjoy mybebêsand my family and my ranch without worrying about all this.” He waved a hand to encompass everything. Sadness washed over me and it must have shown in my face. “Now stop that. This isn’t a bad outcome. We both know that if I had told them to, err, stuff it up their fat entitled asses?” I grinned and he smiled back. “If I told them that, they would have made sure that I went home penniless at the end of the year. This way I get paid, they feel like they’ve won something.” He looked me over. “Though I’m not sure they are aware of the storm coming,Menina. You let them have it.”

I hugged him once more, and this time he hugged me back. “You bet your ass. If I can do anything for you, you let me know. Promise?”

“Sim,yes. I promise.”

I let him go and he wandered over to say something to Frankie. He said goodbye to the other guys as well, and Branch had a short, intense conversation that had Miguel raising his eyebrows. Hmm, I’d get that out of him later.

Too soon, Miguel was gone and my rage had gone from a simmering bubble to an all out boil. The elevator moved too slowly for me, but Dylan was on his phone talking to a lawyer. He leaned over and kissed my cheek, indicating a park bench just outside the front doors. He covered the speaker of his phone. “I’ll wait here. I’m going to call my sponsors, and anyone else I can think of.”

I nodded and stepped into the lift. Branch pressed a button and the lift doors closed. “I’m going to call my parents. If this doesn’t go how we want, there's other options.”

Yeah, so technically, I was pretty loaded too. Not as loaded as Junior’s family, but not exactly the poor girl on the other side of the tracks either.

The elevator doors opened and a woman stood up from behind a desk. “How can I help you?”

“I’m here to see the board of the WBRP.”

She took in my face, the bruises around my neck that were highlighted by the gold chain and cross. Sympathy crossed her face. “I see. I’ll let them know you are here, Miss?”

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