Page 74 of Kiss & Collide
For a second he was confused. She was there every weekend. Then he realized Tom wasn’t asking him about Violet. He meant Madison.
“Oh …” He paused, searching for the right words. He should have practiced this one with Violet. “I’m always pretty focused on the race, you know? I can’t afford to get distracted.”
“She’s a distraction, for sure,” Rob said, and the other guys chuckled.
His phone buzzed in his pocket and he fished it out, hoping it was Violet telling him she was on her way to rescue him. Not Violet. Madison.
I have a movie premiere tomorrow in LA. Want to come?
It was the sort of public event Violet would go nuts for, but this felt different.
It hadn’t come through Violet and Cam. Madison had asked him herself. Which meant this probably wasn’t for a PRappearance. He got the sense Madison was asking him out. On a date.
Okay, this was officially too much. He’d been fine faking it as long as Madison had been faking it, too. Nobody was getting lied to except the press. But he’d felt uncomfortable introducing Madison to his family because now he was dragging his parents into the lie, too. And now it felt like Madison wanted this to be real.
He had one rule. He didn’t sleep with other people’s partners. And it went the other way, too. He didn’t get entangled with women when he wasn’t free, and while he and Violet hadn’t put a name on it, he now considered himself involved. Wasn’t that what they’d figured out after that fight in Austin? Not specifically, in words, but they were a thing now, right?
That meant he could not keep up this thing with Madison. It wouldn’t be fair.
Tomorrow he’d tell Violet and Cam to come up with some clean and equitable end to the whole situation that would allow both of them to walk away looking good. And for tonight, he wouldn’t answer Madison. He didn’t want to lead her on with any possibility this was more than it was. If it was strictly business, he’d let the experts handle ending it.
“Gentlemen, do you mind if I join you?”
Chase looked up from his phone to see who it was. Eric Lenore, the team principal of Allegri.
Tom, Rob, and Other Guy greeted Eric with boozy familiarity, even though he was pretty sure none of them had met him before.
Eric reached out and shook his hand. “Chase. Good to see you again.” He’d never directly spoken to Eric Lenore in his life.
“Eric. Nice to see you, too.”
“You’re looking very strong this season.”
“Thank you. Allegri looks good, too.”
Eric smiled and shrugged with a bit of false modesty, because come on, Allegri was number two on the grid, second only to Lennox. René Denis had won two world championships for Allegri, one as recently as two seasons ago.
“We’ve got a good car this season,” Eric said simply. “And it’s looking even better for next season.”
“Is it?” Why was Eric Lenore telling this to him, of all people? Again, he wished Violet were here. She was so good at this stuff. She’d have seen Eric coming from twenty feet away, and instinctively known every hidden motivation and angle.
“Yes, next year’s car is going to be really special,” Eric went on. “Why don’t you stop by the garage in Mexico City? Our head of design, Karl Aurbach, is eager to meet you.”
“Me?”
Eric laughed, like he’d said the funniest thing, but Chase was still clueless.
“Sure. Swing by and let’s talk.”
“Okay? I mean, sure. Yeah, I’ll stop by.”
Eric shook his hand again. “Good talking to you. See you in Mexico.”
“Right. See you.”
Eric disappeared into the crowd. Chase watched him go in confusion.
Suddenly, Rob clapped Chase on the shoulder. “It’s gonna be a blast bragging that I was here when it happened.”
