Page 94 of Fast & Reckless
“Okay, Miranda,” Alison said, when she’d started recording, “where do you want to start?”
Mira inhaled deeply, running back over all of it in her memory. “Well, I guess it all started right after I turned sixteen …”
41
Spielberg,Austria
Will sat in the back of the black sedan, watching through the tinted glass as the teams set up their race bays on the track. A day before practice, thing were relatively quiet, just team workers and press. His eyes scanned endlessly for a glimpse of Mira. Tae had told him she hadn’t gone home, which was a huge relief, even though it didn’t change anything between them. Still, she was here somewhere. That’s all that mattered. She wasn’t gone forever. Not yet.
He hadn’t seen or heard from her since that night at the hospital. No phone calls, no texts. Done meant done. At least he still had racing. His thumb had healed fast, in time for him to make it to Austria. His massive points lead had evaporated when he missed Monza, but there were still enough races in the season for the championship to be within reach if everything fell perfectly into place. He could still win it all.
That didn’t set his blood pumping the way it would have three months ago. Who knew falling in love would color everything else in your life this way? When he’d been with her, every victory had tasted sweeter. Now a world championship wouldbe, at best, a consolation prize, since what he really wanted was out of his reach.
The last morning they’d spent together—the one he hadn’t realized would be the last—he’d kissed her goodbye as she’d slipped out of his room, and the words had been right there on the tip of his tongue.I love you.
He hadn’t said it. Now he supposed he never would. It didn’t matter that he’d never told her, though. His heart was still hers, no matter that she’d left him. He hadn’t expected that. Seems that once you fell in love, you stayed there, even when the other person was gone.
A security agent in a dark suit rapped on his window and opened his door.
“This way to the press conference, Mr. Hawley.”
Team press conferences were mandatory before every race. Facing this one felt like facing a firing squad. In there, he wouldn’t be able to outrun the media shitstorm he’d so steadfastly avoided for the past week. Simone would instruct the media to stick to racing, but inevitably someone would ask about Brody—about Mira. He sighed, willing the patience, the energy, the smile, to come from somewhere. One press conference and then he could hide out again until practice tomorrow.
When he stepped out of the car, Violet was waiting, wearing a solid black suit and looking as severe as a head of state in mourning. “Have you been online since you got here?” she asked, with no preamble. Before he’d left for London, Simone had recommended staying away from news sites and social media while things were, in her words, “at their most volatile.” He’d been happy to oblige. Instead he’d spent the last week working out in his home gym and watching old races online.
“‘Hi, Will. Welcome back. How are you feeling?’ ” he asked sarcastically. “I’m fine, Violet. And how are you today?”
Violet rolled her eyes and handed him her iPad. “You need to read this before you go in there.”
“I really don’t need to read yet another story about how I’m a hotheaded wanker, thanks.”
She pushed the iPad into his chest. “Read it.”
Sighing, he took it and began to skim the article she had open. His heart stopped. He didn’t read it all. He didn’t need to. The important parts leapt right off the screen at him.
… one of us was sixteen and one of us was thirty. I would ask yourself, who should have known better? I can tell you for a fact, it wasn’t me …
… my father was the one who ended up being sanctioned. I’ll never forgive myself for that, but I don’t blame him for going after Brody …
Mira had talked to the press. Oh, god. She hadn’t just talked, she’d dredged up that entire ugly spectacle from seven years ago and told themeverything. She’d poured out her secrets, her past, her heart and soul, to this reporter for the whole world to see.
Then he got to the final passage.
… this time, Brody’s actions affected the man I love, so I’m telling my side of the story …
Stunned, he read and reread it until the words blurred together on the screen as his eyes burned with tears.
“Why did she do this?”
“I don’t know, maybe because she was tired of being called a whore in the press? Or maybe because she’s still being all noble and trying to clear your name. Maybe it was some of both. Either way, this dropped this morning, so as you can imagine, that pack of wolves inside is in a frenzy, and—”
