Page 58 of Fast & Reckless
Fucking whore.
Stupid slut.
I hope she dies.
“Mira? What happened?”
Will’s voice startled her back to the present. She’d seen only a fraction of what was said about her, but it was enough to stay with her until this day. Even now, with seven years between that moment and this one, she felt the cold horror and shame creeping over her skin like it was yesterday.
“I ran straight to Brody’s hotel room. He knew already, of course. His publicist had called him first thing that morning. He’d been manning the crisis for hours at that point.”
“And the asshole didn’t think to give you a heads-up?”
“I wasn’t his main concern anymore, as I was about to find out. I said it was too bad it had come out this way, but maybe it was for the best. Once people could see how in love we were, they’d stop saying such horrible things about me.”
Will exhaled, his hand tightening on hers. “I’m afraid to ask what he said.”
Letting out a humorless huff, she shook her head. “He smiled this patronizing little smile and said girls always blew things out of proportion. Then he told me I needed to move on, because he was marrying Lulu, and it would be reallyawkwardfor him if I made a big stink about our little fling.”
“I hope you told him to go fuck himself.”
She sighed wistfully. “That would have been nice. You have no idea how many hours I’ve spent imagining the epic ‘fuck you’ speech I should have given him. I used to practice it in the shower, and in my car when I was stuck in traffic.”
“Yeah, those things never come to you when you want them to, do they?”
“Especially not when the man you loved with all your heart just ripped it out of your chest and fed it into a papershredder. When he got tired of my hysterics, he handed me a wad of euros and told me to go buy something pretty to cheer myself up. Then he told me to go back to my room and clean up because I was embarrassing myself. Then he kicked me out.”
“Christ.” Will downed the rest of his scotch in one gulp.
“That’s when I had my first panic attack, in a bathroom stall in his hotel lobby. We were in Budapest, and I walked around the city all night, crying. I wanted to walk until I couldn’t think or remember what had just happened. It doesn’t work that way, of course, so eventually I had to go back to the hotel. I hadn’t counted on the press lying in wait for me.”
“Shit. Mira …” He stroked a hand down her hair.
“It’s okay,” she said quickly, squeezing his other hand. “That’s when Natalia showed up. She got me inside, up to my room, just the two of us. I thought for sure she’d start screaming at me, telling me how stupid I’d been.”
“I’m guessing she didn’t do that?”
“Nope. She took one look at me and held her arms out. That’s all. I cried forever and she just held me. Natalia is the best. And she stayed right next to me while I told my dad everything. He knew already, of course. It was all over the media. God, the press … the things they said about me …”
“Nobody said anything about goddamned Brody seducing a kid?”
“Brody’s good. Or at least his PR people are. He got it out there that it was all me pursuing him, seducing him.”
“You thinkhetalked to the media?”
“I can’t prove it, but after the photo hit, I’m pretty sure he got out in front of it right away to make sure he looked like the victim. No matter what that made me look like.”
“That fucking asshole. I knew he was a shit, but I had no idea … I get it now. How angry Paul was in Japan after that shit with Brody.”
She looked up at him. “I’m sorry you got in the middle of that.”
Will smiled at her as he reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Don’t worry about me. I can handle Brody. I’m guessing Paul and Brody had it out, though?”
“Dad went after Brody the next day, confronted him in the paddock, got in his face, shouting and screaming. Took a swing at him. He threatened to end his career, kill him with his bare hands …”
“Sounds about right,” Will muttered harshly. “Good for Paul. If I’d have been here, I would have held him down while Paul did it. I mean, Mira … you were a kid. Couldn’t Brody have been arrested?”
“Believe me, my mother was screaming for his head. But all the … all ourencounters… had taken place in a million different countries. It was legal in most places. Brody had it coming, but Dad was a team principal, threatening a rival team’s driver. Threatening tokillhim. Brody’s team filed a complaint with the FIA. They didn’t care about me and Brody, since it was technically legal. They only cared about what happened after, between Dad and Brody. In the end, they penalized Dad and Lennox for the fight. Dad was suspended from racing for a year. Theteam principal.Suspended from the sport.”
