Page 47 of Fast & Reckless
When she reached the garage, both cars were surrounded by mechanics, but Harry was not with them. “Omar, have you seen Harry? Paul needs him.”
“Getting lunch,” Omar said without looking up.
Out in the paddock, the sun was at its apex, and the strip of asphalt lined with team facilities was crowded with people. She was passing the Deloux team headquarters when she spottedhim. During the past few weeks on the road, she’d managed to duck out of the way whenever he popped up, so while she’d seen him several times, he’d never seen her. Until today.
He was coming out of the Deloux team headquarters and paused at the top of a short set of metal steps. At that very moment, all the people around her suddenly evaporated, one cluster of guys peeling off to the left and another group of people stopping to duck into the Hansbach offices. Suddenly she was all alone in the middle of the blacktop, too far away from anything she could hide behind for cover.
His eyes scanned the crowd, passed her by, and then jerked back. Her stomach bottomed out and she froze. No matter how adept she’d become at avoiding him, especially since the hotel lobby in Bahrain, she’d known this would happen eventually. She’d practiced it in her mind, and nearly convinced herself that she’d be able to put up a good front.
But practicing it in her mind turned out to be useless when he was standing twenty feet away and looking directly at her.If he came over, if he spoke to her, she wasn’t sure how she’d handle it. Sweat beaded on her forehead, even though her skin felt clammy. Her heart was pounding so hard she could almost hear it.
Then the corner of his mouth twitched, almost a smirk, if he’d cared enough to make it one, and he looked away, already dismissing her from his notice. He jogged down the steps and disappeared into the crowd.
She couldn’t see him anymore, but she still couldn’t make herself move. Her lungs refused to fill with air, sucking the blood from every other part of her body until her hands and feet began to tingle. The constantly shifting sea of people was slowly whited out by the bright sunlight until she could hardly see anything at all.
“Mira?”
The familiar voice echoed through the roar of her pulse.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
She blinked and his face swam into focus in front of her. It was Will, ducking down to look at her. She’d managed to avoid him since Singapore and now he was there in front of her, exactly when she didn’t want him to be.
“I …” But her lungs were still trapped in a vacuum. Panic flooded in hot on the heels of everything else she’d been feeling. She dragged in one thin, wheezing breath, which only made her feel more lightheaded. The intense sun and sweltering heat pressed in on her from all sides like a suffocating blanket.
“Mira, you’re about to pass out.”
He was right. Her head felt disconnected from her body and everything had gone white, like an overexposed photo.
“Here, sit down.” He nudged her backward, stumbling, until her calves hit a set of fold-out steps leading up to someone’s portable office. She sank down on the hot metal. “Headbetween your knees,” Will directed, a gentle hand on the back of her head.
With her face in the darkness of her lap, things began to clear. His fingers gently swept her hair to the side and she sighed in relief as air hit the back of her neck. The horrible, pounding, racing heartbeat slowed and quieted. Her vision came back. Feeling returned to her hands and feet. When the swell of nausea had subsided, she raised her head. Will was crouched in front of her, worry filling his face.
“Will you be okay while I go for help?”
She reached out to grab his arm before he could rise. “I don’t need help.”
He brushed a lock of hair off her face, clammy with sweat. “You’re sick.”
“Not sick. It was a panic attack. Just give me a minute. I’ll be okay.”
“A panic attack?”
“I’ve had one before.” A handful of times. It had been years. Mortification made her cheeks flame, and she closed her eyes against it. Jesus, one look from that asshole and she reacted like that?
“Let me go get your dad.”
“No!” Her eyes flew open and she grabbed for him again. The last thing she needed was for her dad to get dragged back into this. Especially not now, when she was still trying to dig herself back out of a hole. “I’m really okay. I just need a second for my head to clear.”
Will shifted his weight to the balls of his feet and examined her skeptically. “What caused it?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Come on, Mira. That was not nothing. Tell me what’s going on.”
“Just a ghost from my past. He caught me by surprise.”
His eyes narrowed as he pieced it together. “The guy? He’shere?” He swiveled around to look, but thankfully, there was no one for him to see. He was long gone.
