Page 32 of Red Queen
“Now we can make up for yesterday’s breakfast.” He grins, pulling off the covers, already heading towards the kitchen.
“Hello, won’t I get morning cuddles?” I shout after him, and I hear a chuckle from afar.
“You will, after I serve you breakfast in bed. Deal?” He shouts back, his voice occasionally stifled by the harsh sound of the clatter of the dishes.
“Deal!” I shout back, already looking forward to the delicious food.
19
MATEO
This weekend has been a disaster so far. We brought upgrades here, and I finished in 11th place yesterday at qualifying. While fighting for the championship, it’s an awful start. Thankfully, Aiden qualified three places before me, so we hopefully can snatch some points in the end. We’re positive I can work my way up in the race, but we’ll see.
Engines roar, and we’re waiting for the green lights to come after we’ve done the formation lap. The tricky part is coming, trying not to get stuck in traffic, then managing my way through the rain, starting on intermediate tires.
After the lights go out, adrenaline and instincts kick in, and my engineer, Wiley, lets me work. I told him to leave me to it in the first few minutes. He can’t help if I’m stuck in traffic. I managed to do some nice overtakes, working my way up to 8th place. Aiden is now in 6th as he has overtaken two drivers.
I’m only at around the fifth turn when I see the red lights appear again, my engineer warning me of the safety car. Two drivers crashed at the beginning, but both of them are already out of the car safely. Now we’re protecting the new tires and waiting until we can go with full speed again.
My earpiece is blowing up, my engineer is providing me all the data and info I’ll need later and even now. We go through the plan again in secret codes, informing me that both our cars are safe, we can continue the race, and don’t have to stop for a pit stop now.
The safety car returns to the pit lane, giving Hayes the right to restart the race, as I’m informed he’s in 1st place. He takes his time, everyone tailing the car in front of them, not wanting to stay behind, as this is the best opportunity to overtake some cars. He finally steps on the throttle, cars going after cars, trying to overtake while we’re in a long line.
I overtake another car, now in 7th place. I’m behind Aiden, and as I hear the pep talk in my ear, I think about the plan. I ask my engineer if I should fight him or not, and I raise my voice and ask again when I don’t hear a response.
“Wiley? Can I overtake him?” I ask for the third time, now annoyed. Aiden’s set as the first driver, but this year I’m doing better than him so far, and I need as many points as I can.
“Just a sec, Mateo.” I finally heard a response, but not the one I wanted to hear. I need an answer now.
“Hurry up. He’s getting away.” We could just swap places, but the other car’s up my ass, so I need to speed up if they give me the good to go.
“Swap, Mateo. You can go past him. Vamos.” Aiden slows down, and I drive past him, thanking him. Now I can do my job.
The rest of the race went by slowly, but at least it’s finally over. It was a long and difficult race, the rain making it hard to stay focused and keep going. I managed to work my way up to 5th place, but Liam in front of me had a five-second penalty, and I sure as hell didn’t let him get away with that. I finished the race four and a half seconds behind him, securing my 4th place. He almost had me, that little menace.
This way I was promoted to fourth place, meaning it’s two more points for me and the team. Aiden finished sixth, overall a good result given where we started from.
I get out of the car, congratulating some other drivers on the way to my garage. I chug down the bottle of water, peeling off the racing suit, the cold air hitting my chest and back, making me shiver. Ours is the last garage, so I have to walk all the way down to the pit lane to reach it.
I peek inside all other garages as I’m walking with Dodger; some engineers wave as we go by. We reach Atlas’s garage, which is next to ours, and I almost go inside Moscardi when I whip my head to the side and take a couple steps back.
Is that… Is that Rosa I see inside? It’s definitely her. She’s laughing with some other guests, dressed in blue and white, her paddock pass hanging on her neck.
Why is she dressed in our rival’s colors? Where is the sexy red dress she was proudly wearing the other night? And why is she so beautiful?
Her eyes wander to mine, the smile faltering off her face at my expression. It’s not even a VIP pass, but a full-on Atlas Autos pass, and I doubt she’s here to sponsor them, or I would’ve seen it on her social’s already.
My eyebrows shoot up in slight shock, but my features soften a little when I see her walk towards me, excusing herself from the guests.
“Hey.” She stops in front of me, greeting me with her gorgeous smile, but I can’t let it distract me.
“You lied to me.” My tone gets angry, and I feel sorrow about her actions.
“Lied? About what?”
I scoff at her question, like she doesn’t know what I’m talking about.
“You said you don’t know who I am, when you’re here, strolling around our rival’s garage like you own the place.” I point at her as I get more and more angry. I thought I finally found a woman who doesn’t want to be with me for my looks or my money.
