Page 141 of Hyperspeed
My jaw hit the floor. His brutal honesty left me speechless.
After a beat, I just gave his arm a solid pat.
“Good talk, man,” I muttered, and Zylo’s laugh followed me into the garage.
As the crew rolled the vehicles out to the grid, I realised I still hadn’t spotted Rev, so I asked Tavoris.
“Kai Mercer,” he said with a grin. “No room for you here if you’re thinking about jumping teams.”
I laughed with him, but I was glad to know he was happy having Rev around. “Not this time, mate. I was just wondering if you’d seen Rev?”
Tavoris glanced at his watch and frowned.
“Not for a while. Kileen!” he called to one of the engineers. “Have you seen Rev?”
The engineer shook their head. “Nah. He said he was going to the bathroom, but that was a while ago.”
“Can I check on him?” I asked, and Tavoris raised his eyebrows. “I just want to make sure he’s okay. No funny business, I swear. He . . .” I hesitated, not wanting to reveal too much without Rev’s permission. But I was worried, so he could deal with it. “He means a lot to me.”
Tavoris’s mouth curved into a smile. “I had a feeling.”
So much for being subtle.
“Go on,” he said, nodding towards the open garage. But just as I stepped forward, he held out a hand to stop me. “And keep your eyes off the screens, yeah? Gotta preserve a little mystery.”
“You got it.”
I marched through the garage before he could change his mind, eyes fixed straight ahead. Curiosity tugged at me, and loyalty to Nexus whispered that one little peek wouldn’t hurt. But I behaved. I stopped only once to ask a crew member where the bathrooms were.
I found Rev curled up at the far end of the room, arms wrapped around his legs, head resting on his knees. The lines on his skin flickered lime green, and his breaths came short and uneven. I crossed the tiled floor without hesitation and dropped down beside him, slipping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close.
Black eyes peeked up at me through the curtain of hair falling over his face.
“Kai?” he croaked. “What are you doing here?”
“I was worried about you, rookie,” I said, giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Hadn’t seen that pretty face in a while, and you know I go into withdrawal.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He sniffled and leaned down to rub his nose against his sleeve. That’s when I noticed the glassiness in his eyes, the tension in his shoulders. He looked nothing like the relaxed guy who’d left my apartment that morning.
“What’s going on, Revvy?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
Sound bounced like hell in these cramped bathrooms, and right now, anything louder than a whisper felt like it might spook him.
He wouldn’t look at me. Just dropped his head back onto his knees, his voice muffled against his racing suit.
“I don’t think I can do it, Kai.”
My heart skipped. I didn’t think he meant us, not after everything we’d shared. I didn’t ask, though. This wasn’t the time to project my own fears. I had to trust he was in this the way I was.
Most of the time, I did.
It would take time for both of us to believe, deep down, that the other wouldn’t run. But we’d get there. I loved him too much to let him go, and I was sure he felt the same.
“What do you mean?”
“The race,” he mumbled, and I let out a quiet breath of relief.
Alright. This, I could handle.
