Page 58 of Crash Course Omega
I don’t want to tell him I know what I’m doing because I feel like a bloody trainwreck.
I need to win this fucking race and then find her and see her smile, hold her, tell her I want to try again, and everything will be okay.
Jaxx is swerving around the bumps, stopping me from taking him over, but I’m not giving up. I don’t care if it’s his home race, I’m here to win.
“Okay, Maddock, keep an eye out. P3’s gained a second since the last check-in,” Jacob says.
I swear as I put it up a gear and go through the corners and out onto the straight. I should have fucking focused when Jacob said the obvious.
I get too excited by the idea of winning
“Who is it?”
“Runa, one of the Valkyrie girls.”
I glare at the track. The two alpha females are notorious for bumping into people and causing unnecessary crashes. If she takes me out before I get into the last lap, I’m going to kick off.
I have a move for sharp corners I’ve tested in the VR sim over the past few weeks. It’s a risk, and I haven’t practiced it, and I’m going to get chewed out until the end of time if I fuck it up. But she’s too close, close enough that if I slow at just the wrong moment, she’ll bump my tail and could blow a tire.
“Maddock, we’re almost there. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“But ‘stupid’ is my middle name,” I say before I tune him out. We’d raced together since we were kids, and I know how much he likes to stress about things.
A low growl rumbles from me, my whole body tense as we hit the sharp corner halfway into Sector 2. My gaze repeatedlyjumps between the track and her gray and white car, waiting for her nose to turn at just the right angle.
My hands harden around the steering wheel as I twist it left and grit my teeth. I force the brake pedal down, accelerate for one second, before braking again, gliding through in a U, screeching as I spin the steering wheel hard to the right and speed off into the straight.
I swear I did it; I almost had it.
And it would have worked out perfectly if the Valkyrie hadn’t gone into the corner at the wrong fucking angle.
A shudder goes through my car as something hits it in the back.
“Fuck!” I yell as I push the car forward. There’s another shake, and my heart drops as it feels like I might have burst a tire or snapped a wing.
“Jacob, any damage?” I ask hurriedly.
“I told you, Maddock,” he says, his voice dripping with disapproval.
“That one wasn’t on me!” I shout. Sticking my pedal flat against the floor, my gaze stays fixed on the track as I speed off. I feed my awareness into the car, trying to tell if there’s anything off apart from slight lag on the back left.
“Jacob, don’t go silent on me. What’s going on?”
If he tells me I have to box now, I’m going to rain fucking hell down on the Valkyrie team.
“Runa’s slipped off the track. She’s coming back on now,” he says. “But don’t worry about that. Just fucking focus like I told you to.”
I grimace as I keep the race up, pushing as hard as I can to catch up with Jaxx.
“How far ahead is Jaxx?” I ask as I fly through the gears, throwing myself into the speed trap. My battery is at 20% and Ican make it. Jaxx should be the same as well, as long as he hasn’t gone too crazy with his gears.
“Only 2.2 seconds. Just make sure to get behind him and nothing else, okay? I don’t want more crazy shit from either of you.”
I don’t reply as I focus on Jaxx’s tail and go for it.
I can’t catch up to him on the hairpin, but by the time we slam into the last ninety-degree turn, I’m on him. There’s no way we aren’t coming in first and second, whatever order it is.
We’re going to win.
