Page 45 of Crash Course Omega
“You don’t have to be so nervous.” Jacob glances at me as we stand in front of the screens. “She knows what she’s doing.”
“I’m not nervous,” I reply shortly, folding my arms, tightening them around myself to try to hold my shit together.
Jaxx has always been an asshole since I first met him, but I can’t believe he was flirting with her like that out in the open. Right in front of everyone. Including me.
I narrow my eyes as we watch their progress. There’s a map on the wide screen of the track in front of us, and she and Jaxx are dots moving around it.
She was good enough to challenge me when we’d practiced in F1 cars way back when.
I can see Jaxx is keeping it slow for her. His times are almost five seconds out from his Texas laps last year, and he’s letting her take over and lead the race.
Whenever I did that, she laid into me. She hated it when I was ‘nice’ to her on the track.
“Hey sweetheart, watch yourself on that corner, okay? You took it too wide last time,” Jaxx drawls through the radio, laying his accent on thick.
My jaw clenches as I glare at their dots, and the grins of the other techs in the tent.
The only person who is glowering along with me is Jacob.
“I’m going to have a talk with her, don’t worry. She’s still a professional; she knows not to cross lines.”
“I don’t care who she gets into a relationship with, just as long as she fucking focuses on the track and not Jaxx.”
A few of the techs stiffen at my growl, but I’m holding myself back from running out there and just ripping them both out of the cars.
“Who said anything about her getting into a relationship?” he asks, raising a brow at me. “I just wanted her to keep things low-key after the scandal.”
I feel like he’s caught me out. But that’s none of his business.
My muscles tighten even more as I think about the way her face was plastered everywhere after that Ross bastard had called her a stalker.
I would have stormed over to whatever city they were filming in and beaten the crap out of that piece of shit, but she would have hated me even more for doing it.
I know what she’s like—I know her better than anyone, and it isn’t just because we were scent matches or exs. Even though there are four years between us, we grew up together and we were best friends on the track. If only we hadn’t scent matched when she presented, nothing would have changed, and everything wouldn't be so painful.
“She didn’t stop driving, you know?” Jacob says, leaning back on his stool, his hands behind his head. “Just because she hasn’t been driving professionally doesn’t mean she hasn’t practiced. What do you think she does every time she goes back to London?”
I pause, my eyes widening. “I didn't think about it like that. I always thought she left because of me.”
Jacob snorts. “Are you serious? Christ, I knew you had a big head, but that’s just taking it too far. Do you really think my sister is going to quit just because you got in a mood?”
I scowl even harder at him, but he laughs again.
“If you care so much, go ask her yourself. It’s not like she kept it a secret from all of us.”
Which means she definitely has. She hasn’t told them the truth, and they don’t know we'd scent matched, fell in love, and she broke up with me. So I am not going to tell him either.
Jacob turns back to the screen to focus on her progress.
I’m glad Harmony’s car is only a moving pink dot. If I were to see a play-by-play of her turns, I’d start obsessing about everything she did wrong.
That’s one of the ways I screwed up our relationship. Because I wanted her to be the best, and I wanted her to be safe, I focused on everything she did wrong so she could improve.
Whenever she got off the track, I’d have a list of mistakes she made. Then we’d sit down after the interviews to go over what she could do better for her next race.
I could see the strain it took on her, I knew it wore her down, but it was to keep her on top form.
The fewer mistakes she made, the less danger she was in, and the more I could protect her. What kind of mate would I have been if I didn't look after her properly?
