20. Maddock
Maddock
Everest stands at the entrance to our pit, staring with wide eyes at the tarmac like he’s suffering from shell shock. He hasn’t moved from the spot since Harmony took off.
I’d come down to ask him what had happened and how he’d fucked up so badly. But he doesn’t look like he can take a joke right now.
“What are you doing?” I ask, coming up behind him.
The rest of the pit team looks dejected, and Everest droops over.
He looks up at me with blank eyes, and I almost flinch. Strawberries and cream hang thickly around him, but I can’t exactly lean in and sniff him when he looks like he wants to cry.
“Eight seconds,” he croaks.
“Yeah, I know,” I say. “But everyone has a shit day. It’s got nothing to do with you.”
And more that Harmony still hasn’t fixed her habit of perfuming when she drives.
She should have warned the team before that happened.
Back when she raced professionally, her pit crew was made up of betas for exactly that reason. Even when she used to cover herself in enough scent-blocking spray that her skin shone, it didn't matter. Cars have always made her horny as hell, and Jaxx hasn’t fucking helped.
“She’s not…” Everest trails off. “It’s not her fault.”
He looks so dejected that I don’t know if anything I say will work.
“She's like that with everyone. Trust me, most alphas get affected by her.” Though, out of all the alphas I know, I thought Everest would be safe.
But he still sighs heavily.
“Hey, don't beat yourself up about it. I know what you’re like.” At the beginning of the season, they did a four second pit stop when a front jack wobbled, and Everest was on edge for weeks.
“Just focus on the fact that it means you can get better in the future. On the bright side, you’re probably never going to do that badly again.”
As soon as I say the words, I realize I absolutely said the wrong thing, especially from the way his eyes widen.
“Everest, Jaxx is cooling down next lap, then he’ll return,” Jacob says over the radio. “Harmony has two laps left.”
“Has she reached 1.45?” he asks.
“Negative.”
Everest nods with a hard look before glancing at me. He’s probably blaming himself even though lifting the car has absolutely nothing to do with her final lap time.
“Yeah, okay,” I say. “I get it when I’m not wanted.”
I clap him on the shoulder again. This time, he gives me a nod before I leave.
I’m not exactly the king of motivational speeches, but I hope it helped. Somehow.
I really want to know what kind of favor Harmony had in mind for Jaxx, especially from the way they had been flirting with each other non-stop since they met this morning.
Which is why I made a beeline for the comms box to where Jacob and the rest of the strategy team set themselves up.
No one makes a comment as I hover behind them, focused on the screen.
“You don’t have to be so nervous.” Jacob glances at me as we stand in front of the screens. “She knows what she’s doing.”
“I’m not nervous,” I reply shortly, folding my arms, tightening them around myself to try to hold my shit together.
Jaxx has always been an asshole since I first met him, but I can’t believe he was flirting with her like that out in the open. Right in front of everyone. Including me.
I narrow my eyes as we watch their progress. There’s a map on the wide screen of the track in front of us, and she and Jaxx are dots moving around it.
She was good enough to challenge me when we’d practiced in F1 cars way back when.
I can see Jaxx is keeping it slow for her. His times are almost five seconds out from his Texas laps last year, and he’s letting her take over and lead the race.
Whenever I did that, she laid into me. She hated it when I was ‘nice’ to her on the track.
“Hey sweetheart, watch yourself on that corner, okay? You took it too wide last time,” Jaxx drawls through the radio, laying his accent on thick.
My jaw clenches as I glare at their dots, and the grins of the other techs in the tent.
The only person who is glowering along with me is Jacob.
“I’m going to have a talk with her, don’t worry. She’s still a professional; she knows not to cross lines.”
“I don’t care who she gets into a relationship with, just as long as she fucking focuses on the track and not Jaxx.”
A few of the techs stiffen at my growl, but I’m holding myself back from running out there and just ripping them both out of the cars.
“Who said anything about her getting into a relationship?” he asks, raising a brow at me. “I just wanted her to keep things low-key after the scandal.”
I feel like he’s caught me out. But that’s none of his business.
My muscles tighten even more as I think about the way her face was plastered everywhere after that Ross bastard had called her a stalker.
I would have stormed over to whatever city they were filming in and beaten the crap out of that piece of shit, but she would have hated me even more for doing it.
I know what she’s like—I know her better than anyone, and it isn’t just because we were scent matches or exs.
Even though there are four years between us, we grew up together and we were best friends on the track.
If only we hadn’t scent matched when she presented, nothing would have changed, and everything wouldn't be so painful.
“She didn’t stop driving, you know?” Jacob says, leaning back on his stool, his hands behind his head. “Just because she hasn’t been driving professionally doesn’t mean she hasn’t practiced. What do you think she does every time she goes back to London?”
I pause, my eyes widening. “I didn't think about it like that. I always thought she left because of me.”
Jacob snorts. “Are you serious? Christ, I knew you had a big head, but that’s just taking it too far. Do you really think my sister is going to quit just because you got in a mood?”
I scowl even harder at him, but he laughs again.
“If you care so much, go ask her yourself. It’s not like she kept it a secret from all of us.”
Which means she definitely has. She hasn’t told them the truth, and they don’t know we'd scent matched, fell in love, and she broke up with me. So I am not going to tell him either.
Jacob turns back to the screen to focus on her progress.
I’m glad Harmony’s car is only a moving pink dot. If I were to see a play-by-play of her turns, I’d start obsessing about everything she did wrong.
That’s one of the ways I screwed up our relationship. Because I wanted her to be the best, and I wanted her to be safe, I focused on everything she did wrong so she could improve.
Whenever she got off the track, I’d have a list of mistakes she made. Then we’d sit down after the interviews to go over what she could do better for her next race.
I could see the strain it took on her, I knew it wore her down, but it was to keep her on top form.
The fewer mistakes she made, the less danger she was in, and the more I could protect her. What kind of mate would I have been if I didn't look after her properly?
Even though Jaxx is an asshole, he’s on point with safety after the major crash years ago where he lost his friend. So I know he’ll take care of her.
“It looks like you’re going to be the one owing me a favor.” Jaxx purrs over the comms to her.
“I’ve still got two laps, Jaxx. Don’t write me off just yet.”
It’s the way she says his name, and the smile in her voice, and that confidence I’ve only ever heard from her in races until I started watching her movies.
“Okay, Harmony, we’re resetting the clock for you. Are you ready to go?” Jacob asks.
“I was born ready,” she laughs, reminding me of the bright omega I fell in love with.
She shoots past the comms booth in her pink car, her engine roaring as Jaxx follows close behind.