Page 49 of Fast & Reckless
Will felt like his body was a live wire. As his success grew, so did his nerves. Controlling the car was immensely complicated, requiring constant analysis of data and tiny adjustments, all while processing race stats and instructions from Tae through the headset and reacting accordingly. And now that podium finishes were within his grasp, the stakes were that much higher. A difficult drive now had so much more riding on it.
Thanks to the finishes he’d been pulling, the Lennox team ranking was the highest it had been in years. Today’s race was number six, not quite a third of the season. A win today might finally shift the narrative away from the “troubled bad boy seeking redemption” to an acknowledgment of his talent.
Which was why, as he suited up for the Japanese Grand Prix, the last thing he should have been thinking about was Mira. But ever since he’d caught her in the middle of that freak-out in Barcelona, he’d been unable to stop turning it over in his mind. The drawback of having a driver’s pathological focus was an inability to let things go.
So the guy from her past was on the circuit. Did he know him? He kept flipping through the hundreds of people traveling the circuit, wondering who it could be, but the possibilities were endless. If she’d wanted him to know, she’d have told him, right? It was why he’d never snooped through her socials to figure it out for himself. He hated it when people thought they knew everything about him from the few photos of him online. Mira deserved her privacy. Which meant he should leave it alone and move on.
She wasn’t even his business, anyway. She’d drawn a line in the sand and firmly pushed him back to the other side of it, which rankled, but really, what was he hoping for instead?
Yeah, he was attracted to her … an attraction bordering on obsession, if he was being honest. Yes, she was fun to talk to and hang out with. But what would happen if they slept together? She was his boss’s daughter, so some casual sex, while enjoyable, would be seriously awkward the next day, and every day after that. And if she wanted more than casual? Was he really ready to declare himself someone’s boyfriend?Mira’sboyfriend? That was a little terrifying, especially if it didn’t work out. The team, the race season, his entire career might suffer if things went south.
Not that it mattered what he wanted or didn’t want. Since that day in Barcelona, she’d gone back to keeping her distance from him. He’d caught no more than a glimpse of her in Japan. Which was fine, because he was supposed to be focused on other things. Like driving.
As he climbed into the car, a horde of track workers buzzing around him, he resolved to leave all the unproductive, distracting thoughts of Mira back in the paddock where they belonged. There was too much to accomplish out on the track.
“Okay, Will,” Tae said into his earpiece. “You’ve got a pole position. No need to blow it all at the outset. Drive steady and you’ll have no problem with this field.”
Will begged to differ. Maybe he didn’tneedto drive the ride of his life to win today, but that wouldn’t keep him from doing it. He would leave nothing on the starting line, nothing in the tank, nothing on the tires.
“Tae, how many races have we done together?”
“Yeah, yeah. Just nod your head and say yes so the engineers stop crawling up my ass.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll do just what you said, sir.”
Tae laughed uproariously as Will fired the engine and made his way out onto the track.
As he took his place on the pole, the other cars assembling on the grid behind him, he settled into the zone. The whine of the engine felt like part of his bloodstream, keeping him alive breath to breath. Time slowed as the lights went on, one by one, till all five were lit. They filled his vision as he brought the engine up to the proper revs, held it steady, and prepared to launch.
As the lights went out, he dumped the clutch and the engine’s wail hit the stratosphere. The g-force pinned him to the back of his seat as he rocketed into the first turn complex. Sensing other drivers nipping at his heels, he danced the car through the turn then got early on the throttle exiting Turn Two. Running wide to the edge of the track, he shut the door on everyone crawling up his ass. Nobody was getting around him today. Seeing a gradually widening gap behind him, he smiled to himself as he sliced through the esses. Perfect start. The rest of the field would be hard-pressed to catch him now.
An hour later, the last pit stop approached, and he was almost ten seconds ahead of the three drivers closest to him. An easy win was nearly in his grasp.
“Box, box, box,” Tae said in his ear, calling him in for a pit stop.
Thanks to Harry’s ruthless drilling, this pit stop was perfect, and then he was back out on the track, screaming into the straight. Tae fed him a steady stream of stats, letting him know exactly how the rest of the race looked out on the track. Everything was going according to plan.
“I’ve got it, then,” he said into the headset.
“Not so fast. McKnight’s still up there.”
“But we were ahead on strategy.”
“They haven’t boxed yet. Currently he’s in first.”
“But he has to pit.”
“We think they’re trying to do a two stop and make those tires last. He’s pitted twice to everybody else’s three. They’ve outlasted everyone so far.”
Brody McKnight had been around forever—Formula One for a while, Indy Car, Le Mans, reserve driver for a few teams—he’d been all over. It was kind of surprising he’d landed a Formula One drive again this season, at his age. He’d never been in serious contention for the world championship, and had only found himself on the podium a handful of times, and the odds were against him seeing one again. If he’d skipped his final pit stop, he must have had a remarkably good day and seen a podium finish in his grasp. That meant running the end of the race on worn-out tires, one of which could blow at any second. It was a hell of a long shot, but it’s not like Brody was going to get on the damned podium any other way.
Fine, Brody wanted to drive cautious, save his tires, and spare a pit stop? Let’s see how he managed that with Will Hawley crawling up his ass. He laid on the throttle, letting the whine of the engine and the scream of fresh tires stoke his adrenaline.Around another turn and into the chicane and then Brody’s car was there ahead of him.
“I’m overtaking,” Will informed Tae.
“Bury him, Will.” But that wasn’t Tae responding; that wasPaul. Why had Paul taken over from his race engineer?
