Page 66 of Red Flag
“Where is he?” I screeched, grabbing onto Abbe’s arm.
“He crashed,” he said and nodded to the screens that came up with theStormSprintlogo, then a shot of Nix going around the corner, going for the overtake in the hammering rain, wobbling and skidding off the track.
My heart thundered. I could hear it pounding in my ear. The last crash he’d been involved in had led to someone in intensive care. It couldn’t be him.
That couldn’t be our last conversation. It couldn’t.
“But look,” Abbe said and pointed at the other screen. “The flag was flown before he crashed. If he can get the bike back — if it’s not too fucked — he can still claim second.”
“What?” I asked, blinking, becauseof coursethat’s where the men’s minds went. The race. Championship points. “On the track? That’s not safe!”
I could hardly listen, hands sweaty grabbing Abbe’s top as my eyes scanned the screen for any sign of him.
“If he goes any way other than the track, he’ll be disqualified.”
This made no sense to me.
The live camera zoomed in on Nix standing, brushing himself off and grabbing his bike.Marshallsjumped over the barrier to help him, but he waved them off, clearly knowing what Abbe had just toldme.
Criswas swearing and muttering again. From the sounds of it, talking toLuca. “Turn around!” he shouted in Italian.
Abbe sat and put his head in his hands, shoving off his headset. “Fucking hell.”
“What? What’s happening?” I asked, only for the camera angle to change so I could seeLucadriving against the other bikes.
“Speak to them,”Crissaid, passing me his headset. “I’ve had enough of these boys. Maybe they’ll listen to a pretty face.”
I took the headset slowly, my hands almost numb with anger that he would label me as such. A pretty face?
OldLivieresurfaced with red-hot fury and I wanted so badly to let her loose, to remind him of all the hard work I’d put in that wasn’t anything to do with my looks.
But I was still temporary.
The headset was far too big, so I held it tight against my ears. My voice had more bite than I intended when I asked, “Lads, what is going on?”
“Going back for him,Quinnie,”Lucasaid. His voice was muffled.
“Shit, don’t do that,” Nix groaned. He was now trudging the bike back along the side track, the green they weren’t normally allowed to touch with their wheels. I breathed a sigh of relief at the slight safety.
It was bad that my first thought past their health wasfuck, that’s a good photo opportunity.
“Too late, pal,” Luca said. “Got you now.”
And there, on the camera,Lucapulled up beside Nix, got off his bike, pulled down his visor and walked alongside him in the pouringrain.
“Ridicule! Absurde!” Cris was ranting, pacing up and down.
“Luca, will you lose points for this?”
“Doubt it,” he said and I could imagine the careless shrug he would give.
Abbe shook his head and shrugged when I glanced at him. Had anyone ever done this before?
“Wait, I want to take a photo of you two,” I said, already reaching for my camera while holding one of the headset’s ears flat against my shoulder.
“No!” Nix shouted in the headset. “It’s not safe.”
“You’ll get drenched,” Luca offered.
