9. Harmony
Harmony
My heart picks up as we get comfortable against the glass barrier of the hotel platform that extends out onto the Vegas Strip.
We’re only two stories above the track, and my hands are already sweating, desperate to hear those engines fire again.
Racing will always be my comfort food, and even just seeing the cars is enough to make me feel settled.
“What's going on now?” Nat asks as the last cars pull into P19 and P20.
“You mean you haven't seen a single race?” I look at her in shock.
She gives a sheepish grin.
“Girl, the charity race is literally in two months. What are you doing?”
“Well, I thought I'd pick it up while we were training.” She shrugs, rubbing up against my arm. “Come on, Harm. You’re my best source of info.”
I roll my eyes with a grin. “You're lucky I love you.”
“You're literally the best!” She throws her arms around me, and I laugh before I focus on the track, pointing as I speak.
“Okay, there are ten teams, two drivers on each. Each team has different colors, but I want you to keep your eyes on the white and green. If I catch you cheering for any other team, I'm going to spank you,” I tease. Nat nods, looking so serious it’s adorable.
“Maddock and Jaxx came second and fourth during the qualifying race yesterday, so that’s where they start the race from. They aren't quite at the front of the pack. But they’re close enough to pull in front at the start.”
It feels strange talking about them both normally when I’ve been craving them so badly that I can’t sleep because my body is pounding with need.
Even just seeing the tops of their helmets in the cockpit from what feels like a million miles away stirs heat through my core.
Maddock is smart and fast enough to win; he just swears he’s cursed to come in second, and that he’s going to beat it. At least that's what he says in interviews.
The Grace team started as a bottom-five team ten years ago. When Dad retired from racing, bought the team and changed the name. And we’ve slowly risen in the ranks since Viktor became the team manager and Jacob adopted the Principal role.
They found new technical engineers and race strategists, and brought in Jaxx two years ago, but it’s definitely a family team through and through.
The night air is surprisingly cold. Even though it is October, we're still in the desert, and I hadn't expected to feel a chill. But my body is hot and hums from the excitement drumming in me.
“See those traffic lights at the far end there?” I ask Nat. “Right above the front cars? They'll light up in red, and the race will start when they switch off.”
Five lights, one per second. As each lights up, silence sweeps through the crowd. Because it’s coming, that first moment, the best moment, where thousands of eyes are on the red lights, engines rev, and the tension booms around the stands.
The lights vanish, and twenty engines roar like hurricanes as they take off, zooming past us, and stealing my breath.
Even so high above the track, the sound still vibrates through my body, and I love it.
There’s a huge screen in the paddock so we can watch the race from closer up. Especially when the pack shoots off down the track, and away from us.
Helicopters hover above the circuit, along with the drones that follow the head of the pack to film how the top three positions are racing.
“How can you tell the difference between them?” Nat asks.
I wanted to laugh, because I recognize Maddock's driving style as soon as they swing around the first corner. I’ve watched him drive almost all my life, and I know how he likes his sharp turns and sticking to the left on anti-clockwise circuits. But it isn’t just that.
It’s the way he sails as he drives. Maddock doesn’t know how to make an awkward movement; even when he takes a risk, he still goes into it flawlessly.
I glance at the board over us to check the placements, and my heart leaps as I see Maddock is already in P1. Within the first minute of the race, he’s taken the lead, but I don’t have any right to feel so proud of him.
It breaks my heart that he’s never once stood on the number one spot on the podium. I always wonder what would have happened if I had taken the offer to be his teammate.
“And that's it?” Nat asks as she blinks at the board. “They just do that fifty times and then see who wins?”
I grin at her, squeezing her tight. “Not a chance. We're not just watching them go around the track; we're here for the fight!” I laugh as the cars scream past us, and I nearly moan.
It’s the most beautiful thing in the world.
I love acting with all my heart, but watching those cars fly around the track fills me with a sense of power nothing else could.
They feel like wild beasts that are tamed just for the race. I love the way the energy surges around us, and how everyone cheers as they stay captivated by the dance of cars on tarmac.
I’m so focused on the race that I only realize Jacob is standing next to me when Nat squeaks again.
He stays silent as we look at the screen, but we both watch Maddock, tense as he leads the race.
“Do you have everything ready to start my magical crash course?” I ask, as if I can hide how much I want to get back into the driver's seat. Nat and the other co-stars just need to learn the basics of the sport. They’ll do most of their scenes in the studio with a green screen behind them.
“We've already arranged a practice session for you in Texas next week,” Jacob says. “Everything is set up for you, and the rest of the cast can take over VR rooms.”
The other actors and stunt people will spend the next month practicing in 360-degree race simulators while they wait to be cleared to drive F1 cars. Then a month of on-track training.
The months will also be filled with photo shoots and sponsorship gigs as I do laps of the circuits outside official races.
They want to make a short film of the actor's training sessions for the behind-the-scenes footage.
But the big publicity stunt we are practicing for is a race for charity in Silverstone back in the UK, where the top five drivers of the Formula One season will race the stars of the movie.
“Have you told Maddock yet?” I ask.
Jacob grimaces as he avoids my gaze.
“I thought I'd leave that as a nice surprise. You know how important Vegas is to him.”
I nod before fixing my hard gaze back on the race.
Vegas was the first race I’d ever won in F2. And it was the perfect place to make a bet.
We bet that if I came in first, he'd agree to date me. And the moment I won, Maddock raced out onto the track to meet me before anyone else, spinning down around, and it had been so hard not to kiss him as we both laughed and cried.
We kept our relationship a secret from my family, but everyone knew what good friends we were. That’s why it hurt so much when it all collapsed around us.
I would rather see Maddock after the Championships are over.
He’s the only consistent racer on the board this year.
The fastest racers keep hopping between first and tenth, while he’s stayed straight second for the entire season.
There’s only a ten-point difference between him and the number one, with Jaxx three places behind him.
And I know how much that must hurt for him.
If Maddock doesn’t have any distractions, if I’m not there, then maybe he will be in with a chance of scoring first place this year.
Though maybe I’m putting too much pressure on myself, like I always do.
“I can’t imagine he’s going to take it well,” I say. “Why didn’t you tell him when they chose me?” Although, I had taken on the role right after everything blew up with Ross.
“The same reason I asked the Director not to tell you he and Jaxx would be your teachers before they bought the plane tickets.”
He gives me a cheeky grin, glances at Nat again, and I glower at him.
“I need to get back to the comms tent before Maddock causes more trouble,” he says. “Enjoy the race.”
He throws one more wink at Nat and darts off before I can ask him any more questions.
There are lots of reasons he’s a good Team Principal, but one is because he knows the best moves his people can make at the right time. So I have to trust him and hope Maddock’s famous temper doesn’t flare up when he finds out he’ll spend the next two months training his ex.