Page 69 of Red Flagged
“Fuckinghell?—”
I didn’t even blink. “Best driver in the world and you still don’t know how to properly brace for an impact,” I taunted sweetly, eyes locked on the road. “Who’s the real rookie here, Cal?”
He didn’t take the bait right away, but I could see the shift in his profile from my periphery. The slight shake of his head,the bobbing of his throat, the way he bit down on his lip like he wanted to respond but didn’t trust himself to open his mouth. Maybe he thought staying quiet would keep me from going off.
But I wasn’t looking for permission. I wasn’t asking for control. I had it already, and he couldn’t stop it. Just like he couldn’t stop the rain from coming down in heavy sheets, making these roads treacherous. And now was my moment, right here in the throes of the countryside, where I drove without a destination and our lives were in my hands as I accelerated more.
“HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME YOU WERE THINKING ABOUT RETIRING?!” The scream cracked from my chest like a lightning bolt. My voice didn’t shake. It burned. “After everything we’ve talked about, Callum? After everything we’vebuilt? You asked me to stay. Youbeggedme to believe in this! And then youambushme in front of everyone?”
“Auri—”
“Don’t you dare ‘Auri’ me.” My hands practically choked the steering wheel. “You told me we were a team. That we’d fight together. And then you made it sound like you’ve had a whole life planned without me. Like I was just a speed bump on your way out.”
“It wasn’t like that?—”
“Then what the fuckwasit? Because from where I’m sitting, it sounds like this morning you whispered sweet nothings to me about having a family, and then you didthis.”
His voice rose, hoarse and fraying. “I said I’d explain it. You didn’t give me a fucking chance?—”
I slammed my palm against the wheel. “Oh, I’msorry, were you saving the romantic part forafteryou nuked everything?”
“Would you stop forone goddamn minute?” he snarled, easing back into the seat and shifting to grip the safety handle on the door.
“No. You don’t get to pull the Dom card and shut me up just becauseyou’rethe one who fucked up.”
That hit. I saw it. The barely-there yet unmistakable flinch. His whole body seemed to draw inward, like he’d just taken a punch to the ribs and was bracing for the next one. But he didn’t interrupt or attempt to defend himself. Just sat there and took it.
And I wasn’t done. I merged onto the bypass, headlights streaking past like angry comets, the rain battering the windshield so hard it sounded like applause from hell. The wipers screamed back and forth at full speed, barely keeping up. Streetlights were halos in the dark, warping through the wet glass. I took a hard curve with practiced ease, the kind that saidthis road belongs to me.Because right now it fucking did.
“It wasn’t calculated,” he said finally, quietly. “Not in that moment. It was athought. One I wasn’t ready to say out loud. I was already pissed off and it just… came out when Reinhardt showed up and gave us a fucking war plan?—”
“So you panicked? You dropped a bomb to distract from the fact you were about toabandonme?”
His chest heaved. “It wasn’t about abandoning you. It was aboutsavingyou.”
I went cold. “Don’t youdareput this on me. Don’t youdaretell me you did it for me when you couldn’t even look me in the eye while you said it. And don’t youdareact like I need saving, Callum. I let you take care of me because Ichooseit. You asked me to let you love me while I learned to deal with my issues. That isallI have been doing. But do not mistake that decision for needing to be saved.”
I wasn’t a girl waiting for rescue. I was a woman who chose when to surrender. And he of all people should’ve known the difference.
And now all I was met with was silence.
Not the good kind. Not the comforting kind.
I pressed the gas harder.
“You’ve never needed saving, Aurélie. I’ve never once thought that.”
“Just like you never thought about what that would do to me,” I retorted, my eyes burning as the truth bubbled to the surface. “You didn’t think about what it meant for me to believe we were in this together, and then realize you’d made your decisionalone.”
“It wasn’t relevant until now.”
“Excuse me. Untilnow?”
“Until my crash,” he said at last, barely more than a whisper. “That’s when I started really thinking about it. When I didn’t recover as quickly. When I woke up on that stretcher thinking I wouldn’t be able to walk again… and realized how close I’d come to losing everything. I started wondering how much longer I could keep pushing. Risking it all, every damn day. Not when I had you now. Not when I finally had something to live for.”
My stomach twisted. I gripped the wheel tighter, but I didn’t speak. I just swallowed hard.
“And when I thought about stepping away—really stepping away—I knew there was only one thing I’d want to do after. Because I believe in you, Auri. In your cause. In making this sport a better place. Because it’s the only thing that’s ever saved me. And if I’m not racing…” he exhaled, voice splintering, “It’s the only thing I want to do with my life.”
