Page 19 of Crash Course Omega
But I won’t let it bother me. The engines are already revving, and that’s what I’m really here for. All I need to do is gently escape and hang out with Nat as we watch the race from the other side of the paddock. Well, while I watch the race and she tries to sneak glances at Jacob.
Harmony
My heart picks up as we get comfortable against the glass barrier of the hotel platform that extends out onto the Vegas Strip.
We’re only two stories above the track, and my hands are already sweating, desperate to hear those engines fire again.
Racing will always be my comfort food, and even just seeing the cars is enough to make me feel settled.
“What's going on now?” Nat asks as the last cars pull into P19 and P20.
“You mean you haven't seen a single race?” I look at her in shock.
She gives a sheepish grin.
“Girl, the charity race is literally in two months. What are you doing?”
“Well, I thought I'd pick it up while we were training.” She shrugs, rubbing up against my arm. “Come on, Harm. You’re my best source of info.”
I roll my eyes with a grin. “You're lucky I love you.”
“You're literally the best!” She throws her arms around me, and I laugh before I focus on the track, pointing as I speak.
“Okay, there are ten teams, two drivers on each. Each team has different colors, but I want you to keep your eyes on the white and green. If I catch you cheering for any other team, I'm going to spank you,” I tease. Nat nods, looking so serious it’s adorable.
“Maddock and Jaxx came second and fourth during the qualifying race yesterday, so that’s where they start the race from. They aren't quite at the front of the pack. But they’re close enough to pull in front at the start.”
It feels strange talking about them both normally when I’ve been craving them so badly that I can’t sleep because my body is pounding with need.
Even just seeing the tops of their helmets in the cockpit from what feels like a million miles away stirs heat through my core.
Maddock is smart and fast enough to win; he just swears he’s cursed to come in second, and that he’s going to beat it. At least that's what he says in interviews.
The Grace team started as a bottom-five team ten years ago. When Dad retired from racing, bought the team and changed the name. And we’ve slowly risen in the ranks since Viktor became the team manager and Jacob adopted the Principal role.
They found new technical engineers and race strategists, and brought in Jaxx two years ago, but it’s definitely a family team through and through.
The night air is surprisingly cold. Even though it is October, we're still in the desert, and I hadn't expected to feel a chill. But my body is hot and hums from the excitement drumming in me.
“See those traffic lights at the far end there?” I ask Nat. “Right above the front cars? They'll light up in red, and the race will start when they switch off.”
Five lights, one per second. As each lights up, silence sweeps through the crowd. Because it’s coming, that first moment, the best moment, where thousands of eyes are on the red lights, engines rev, and the tension booms around the stands.
The lights vanish, and twenty engines roar like hurricanes as they take off, zooming past us, and stealing my breath.
Even so high above the track, the sound still vibrates through my body, and I love it.
There’s a huge screen in the paddock so we can watch the race from closer up. Especially when the pack shoots off down the track, and away from us.
Helicopters hover above the circuit, along with the drones that follow the head of the pack to film how the top three positions are racing.
“How can you tell the difference between them?” Nat asks.
I wanted to laugh, because I recognize Maddock's driving style as soon as they swing around the first corner. I’ve watched him drive almost all my life, and I know how he likes his sharp turns and sticking to the left on anti-clockwise circuits. But it isn’t just that.
It’s the way he sails as he drives. Maddock doesn’t know how to make an awkward movement; even when he takes a risk, he still goes into it flawlessly.
I glance at the board over us to check the placements, and my heart leaps as I see Maddock is already in P1. Within the first minute of the race, he’s taken the lead, but I don’t have any right to feel so proud of him.
