Page 59 of Fast & Reckless
“I knew Paul was out of the sport for a while, but I didn’t know why.”
“It took him another year after that to convince the Lennox board of directors to give him back the team. They weren’t going to at first. And during that time, a ton of the personnelDad had spent years recruiting left for other teams. Lennox won the constructor’s championship the year before all this happened. By the time Dad was back, Lennox was ranked twelfth on the grid. All because of me.”
“No,” Will snapped, eyes blazing with fury. “Because of Brody fucking McKnight. He’s the bad guy here.”
“But I’m the liar who dragged everyone I love into my mess. I almost ruined Dad’s career. I almost ruined this team.”
“That’s bullshit. Brody’s the one who should have paid. It might have been legal, but that doesn’t make it okay. He was a grown adult. Didn’t people give him shit for it?”
“Brody might be a wretched human being and only a mediocre driver, but he’s brilliant at crafting his narrative, I have to give him that. A month later, he married Lulu. All these gorgeous pictures of their fairy-tale wedding on Lake Como were splashed across the media. He was a handsome racing star. She was a beautiful actress. I was just some kid from LA, desperate for attention. He told everybody I’d been throwing myself at the drivers all season and he just had a ‘moment of weakness.’ Lulu called me a ‘sad, disturbed girl’ and she hoped my parents would keep better control of me in the future.”
“What a bitch.”
“Hey, she probably just believed his lies. They’re divorced now, so I’m guessing she saw through him eventually.”
She rubbed a hand across the back of her neck, emotionally wrung out and exhausted.
Will scooted back on the bed until he was leaning against the headboard, then patted the spot next to him. “Come here.”
She crawled up the bed and dropped down next to him, leaning against his shoulder. Like he could sense how tired she was, Will lifted an arm and wrapped it around her shoulders. She let herself snuggle against his chest. He smelledgood and felt even better, so warm and strong under her cheek.
“What did you do afterward?” he murmured, his voice a low, soothing rumble through his chest.
“I couldn’t stay on the circuit. I wanted to, but …” Abruptly her throat closed up with emotion. Every word from her last conversation with her father, before she left for LA, was still burned in her mind. He’d been so angry, so frustrated, so disappointed in her. And the suspension hadn’t even been handed down yet. She couldn’t imagine what he’d have said if she’d been there for that. But she wasn’t. By the time he was kicked out of the sport he lived and breathed, she was back home in LA, not to return for seven long years.
“Everybody agreed it would be best if I went back to LA. People were saying horrible things about me, and I kept having these panic attacks. So my mom came over and took me home. The next year was rough. I just fell apart. I wish I hadn’t let him win.” She hated admitting how weak she’d been, how she’d shattered like glass under the pressure.
He pressed his lips to her hair. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt, letting herself be wrapped up in his steady, safe embrace. After a few moments, he nudged her head back until he could look her in the eye. “Mira, he didn’t win. You’re back here, aren’t you?”
“I guess. It got better. Eventually. I finished high school, got accepted to college, and tried my best to just get on with it. I never came back here, though.” She blinked against the burning in her eyes. “That was probably the hardest part.”
“I’m surprised you wanted to come back at all after that.”
“Ibeggedto come back. I love racing too much to let him keep taking it from me. And my dad … I ruined that. I had to come back and try to fix it.”
“Why do you think you ruined things with your dad?”
“Come on, Will. I cost him a year with the team.”
“He can’t possibly blame you—”
“He does. He said that it had been a mistake. Having me here with him.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean it.”
“Yes, he did. That’s why I had to fight so hard to convince him to give me this chance.”
“Ah. I see.”
She lifted her head enough to see his face. “See what?”
“That’s why you work so hard. You think you’ve got something to prove.”
“Ido. I’m never making a mistake like that again.”
“I’m guessing that’s also why you hated me so much when we first met. You thought I was like him.”
She laughed, nudging her shoulder into his ribs. “I didn’thateyou. But you definitely threw up a couple of red flags.”
