Page 53 of Kiss & Collide
He sighed deeply. “Fine. I’ll do Vegas. But tonight I do you.”
That made her look up. He was giving her that mischievous grin again, the one that should annoy the fuck out of her, but all it did was make her fight back her own smile.
“Hush. Now that you’re getting serious with Madison, not a word about that where anyone can hear you.”
“Relax, nobody cares.”
“Did you just catch that with Leon?” She hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “If anyone outside the team gets wind of it, it’ll embarrass Madison and makeyoulook like a world-class asshole.”
Chase’s brow furrowed for a beat as he considered that. “You make a good point.”
“So. Tomorrow Vegas.”
“And tonight?”
“Yes, tonight.”
He saluted her. “See you later then, General.”
22Las Vegas, Nevada
Chase was standing on a plaza in front of the Bellagio, in his race suit next to a Pinnacle car—one of last year’s cars, since this year’s cars were in pieces, packed into shipping containers, and on their way to Azerbaijan. Floodlights lit him up from multiple angles. Behind him, the famed Bellagio fountains were lit up against the Vegas skyline. A photographer circled him, snapping pictures. A crowd of tourists milled around, chatting and snapping photos on their phones, and probably uploading them all to social media.
Violet hung back, outside the ring of lights, and congratulated herself. Trying to generate positive news about Pinnacle was a daily uphill battle, but her project to turn Chase into a superstar was going perfectly.Vanity Fair, and nowGQ. Hannah, theGQreporter, had spent most of the flight to Vegas doing a deep-dive interview with Chase, pulling out details about his childhood in Chicago, his race-obsessed family, and his rough early years of training in Europe. His narrative couldn’t be more appealing if Violet had written it herself.
So with all this professional success, she couldn’t figure out why she was watching this photo shoot feeling so unsettled.
A calendar reminder pinged on her phone and she glanced at it on instinct.
7:30- Dinner- Chase & Madison- Picasso
It was their first in-person date, and judging from that comment he’d dropped on her Insta, Violet was anticipating the fake relationship could become a real hookup. They were two young, beautiful, unattached people. It was practically expected, and she absolutely refused to be bothered by it. It was all her idea, after all.
If that did happen, she wouldn’t allow herself to give him another thought. They’d had their fun. It was never meant to go on this long.
Her phone buzzed again.
Goddamn it. Ian.Again.
She never responded, but that didn’t seem to faze him. His texts kept showing up with a tedious regularity. Why hadn’t she blocked him?
“Chase, turn to your right a little more.”
She glanced up just as Chase angled his body as directed and flashed an absolutely devastating grin at the camera. At least, it devastated something somewhere deep down in her chest. Yeah, it would probably be a good thing if he moved on with Madison. Ian was something she understood, something she could control. This thing with Chase was starting to feel … uncontrollable.
So maybe that was why, for the first time, she texted Ian back.
What do you want?
Where are you?
Not an answer.
Nowhere near you. Silverstone was a blip. It was just a couple of hours north of London, so Ian hadn’t had to exert much effort to pursue her there. For the rest of the season, she’d been much harder to reach.
I don’t know why you’re bothering me after all this time, but I’m at work.
Like I said, I miss you, Sunshine.
