Page 10 of Kiss & Collide
“I have every confidence you’ll do as well this season at Pinnacle.” Translation: Make sure none of Reece’s nonsense spreads around.
“I will,” she said, even though she wasn’t at all confident about that.
“Enjoy your evening.”
He didn’t wait for her reply before ending the call.
“Fuck,” Violet muttered to no one. She needed that vodka now more than ever.
Inside it was all wood paneling and old-fashioned lamps hanging over the booths, carefully manufactured “olde English pub” vibes. The booths were full, so she chose a stool at the mostly empty bar and ordered a vodka on the rocks. When she’d taken a long, steadying sip, she pulled out her phone to call Mira.
In retrospect, Violet wasn’t even sure how she’d become friends with Mira, the daughter of and assistant to Lennox Motorsport’s team principal. In the beginning, it was because they were two young women in a male-dominated world, so forming an alliance seemed smart. Then there was that ridiculous chemistry between Mira and Will, Lennox’s star driver and resident fuckboy. She’d stuck around to watch Will get taken to his knees by Mira, because that was always fun.
And after that? Honestly it was just nice to have someone to talk to, someone who didn’t see her as competition or a sexual conquest. And then all that shit with Brody McKnight went down, a stark reminder of why women in a male-dominated world needed to have each other’s backs.
Once they’d come out the other side of it all, Mira had unexpectedly become her friend. She didn’t have many female friends. None, really. And not many male ones, either. That probably said something not great about her personality, something she didn’t want to think about right now.
Taking a deep breath, she hit call on Mira’s name.
“Okay, here’s what I’m thinking,” Mira said as soon as she answered. “We now work for rival teams, which means there’s a whole lot of work stuff we probably shouldn’t discuss.”
Violet sighed. “Right.” Perfect. Now in addition to having the shittiest job on earth, she couldn’t even bitch about it.
“So I propose that if we really need to vent, we speak in a cone of silence. Nothing we hear comes with us to work. Deal?”
“Deal. How do we enter this cone of silence?”
“Um, I don’t know. Maybe we have a word we use. When one of us says it, we’re in the cone.”
Violet sniggered. “Mira, are you suggesting we have a safe word?”
“You know what I mean.”
“Okay, okay.” Her eyes scanned the bar, looking for inspiration. “How about ‘maraschino cherry’?”
“Ah, I see. It’s bad enough that you’re already drinking.”
“Maraschino cherry.”
“Got it. Cone of silence engaged. Proceed.”
She glanced around the bar to make sure no one was within earshot. “Mira, you have no idea. Reece Hammond is such a fucking idiot,” she groaned. “And Pinnacle is so dysfunctional. Everyone hates everyone else. This place is a disaster.”
Pausing, she closed her eyes, biting back the wave of anxiety rippling through her chest. Generally, she never let other people see her uncertainty. Always look confident, even if you were just faking it. But Mira had been brave enough to turn to Violet when she needed support, and, as she had to constantly remind herself, friendship was a two-way street.
“Mira, I’m not sure I can do this,” she whispered.
“Do what?” Mira asked.
“Thisjob. It’s too much. I should have stayed at Lennox. I knew what I was doing there. This …” She lifted her hand and let it drop. “I don’t even know where to start.”
“Hey. You are brilliant at this. I’ve been watching you up close for a year, so I know.”
“I was just an assistant, though.”
Mira scoffed. “Justan assistant. You and I both know assistants keep these companies running. Violet, I don’t know anybody tougher or braver than you. You can do this.”
Violet sniffed and took a swig of her vodka. Fuck. Enough of being scared. It didn’t suit her. “Yeah, it’s just going to be a fuckton of work.”
