Chapter 13 #2
“Hit me,” I mumble, eyes locked on her as I watch every inch of her.
“Is each race the same number of laps?” Her gaze hits mine.
Tossing my head from side to side, I answer, “No, it depends on length of track. This weekend’s race is fifty-eight laps.”
“Wow.” Her lips turn down as she jots down her notes. “So, you just keep going round and
round.” Her head moves in a small circle which makes me laugh.
“Basically, yes. But we have pit stops in between. And of course, if there are any red flags, or a safety car, things change slightly.”
“Aha.” Her eyes are fixed down on the notepad.
I want to tell her everything, but I also want to spend time getting to know her before the next few weeks really set in with work.
“Would you mind if we check back after the race tomorrow for notes?” I ask and her face tips up, her eyes wide, lips parted.
“Er, yeah of course, sorry… I didn’t even think.” She taps her palm off her forehead. “You’re tired, you have your race tomorrow.” She places her flute down on the side table before pushing to her feet.
Panic claws at my throat as I stand, stepping closer to her just as she grabs her bits. “No, no,” I rush the words out as if they’ve burned my tongue. “That’s not what I meant.”
We stand toe to toe, she’s small up against me. I’m not overly tall, but I seem to tower over her. She blinks up at me, neck craned as my eyes dart between hers.
“I don’t want you to leave,” I whisper, my fingers burning with the need to touch her, if only just once.
“Oh.” Her lips form a perfect ‘O’, and I have to stop my mind from diving into the gutter.
“I just didn’t want to talk about work.” My voice is low, a soft laugh catching at the back of my throat.
“Oh,” she repeats again, her vice like grip loosening on the notepad that is clutched against her chest.
“Yeah.” My smile deepens. “I just thought we could take the next couple of hours getting to know each other a little more. We have spent most days together and we’re still strangers.”
She nods, slowly dropping her arms, fingers clutching her notepad still.
“Are you hungry?” I look at the time; it’s just past seven.
“Yes,” she replies. “Are you?”
I laugh quietly. “Yes, Athena, I am starving.” The slow drawl of my voice has her cheeks turning pink.
“I don’t want to keep you up late,” she whispers and I inhale heavily.
“I’m a big boy, it’s fine.” Reluctantly I step back, walking for the phone. “Do you eat everything?” I call over my shoulder as I hover my finger over the phone to dial.
“Yup,” she shouts back, lowering herself back on the sofa, one leg crossed over the other as she places her work bits next to her.
“Cool,” I mutter to myself as I dial down and place an order for room service.
The sound of a mobile ringing catches me off guard just as I cut the hotel phone off.
“Sorry, it’s my friend. I’ll speak to her later.” She taps the screen of her phone.
“Doesn’t bother me, answer it.” I shrug and she looks at me for a second longer than she intended before pressing the green icon.
“Hey.” The phone is to her ear.
I busy myself, pacing the floor not wanting to eavesdrop on the conversation. I move to the bedroom and slip into the bathroom as I clean up. I had already showered but I need to keep myself occupied for a few minutes.
“Royce?” Her voice floats through the open planned space and I pad back out to her.
“All okay?”
“Yeah, fine, just trying to work out what race she is going to head out for.”
“I see, is she staying with you?” I ask, lowering myself back into the armchair opposite.
“Think so, that’s what Nora said anyway.” She shrugs.
“Sounds good.”
I have no idea why that has rattled me slightly. The thought of not being near her whenever I want made me bristle. Now, I’ll have to contend with her friend. Bitterness stirs in my stomach, but I ignore it.
“So,” she asks me, “what would you like to know?”
Everything.
“Birthday?” My index finger rubs against my bottom lip as I burn my gaze into her.
“Twenty-second of November.” She smiles.
“Sagittarius.” My heart races. Twenty-two, my race number.
“Yes.” She smiles. “You’re into astrology?”
“Sort of, I know a few bits.”
“When’s your birthday?”
“Twenty-second of August.”
“Leo,” she chimes, her dimples teasing me.
“That’s a good match.”
She rolls her eyes. “Maybe.” She plays it down and my stomach twists.
“How old are you?”
She blinks once or twice. “I would say guess, but I don’t know… you might offend me.”
I chuckle softly, running my hand back and forth over my chin. She makes me laugh. I like that. I feel like no one ever really does.
“I don’t know if I want to guess now.” My tongue flicks out and coats my upper lip.
“Go for it, I’m only joking… you won’t offend me.” Her gaze turns cold as she glares me down.
“Twenty-eight.” I have a feeling she is older than me, but not by much.
“Nope.” She crosses her arms against her chest, pressing her tits together and I fight the urge to look.
“Higher?” I wince.
She nods.
“Thirty?”
“Not close.”
A tingling sensation tickles the back of my neck, her eyes not leaving mine.
“Thirty-five?”
“Getting closer.” She smirks.
“Thirty-seven?”
“Mmhm.”
It takes me a moment for it to register. She is ten years older than me, but she definitely doesn’t look it. Why is this turning me on?
“You don’t look it.” I play it down, my insides burning, the flames licking against the blood that thrashes around my body.
She shrugs, a coy smile on her face.
“Do you have any hobbies?” I ask, reaching for my glass at the same time she drains her flute.
“I like to read, I like getting coffee.” Her cheeks turn crimson. “I like being in my cosy cottage.”
I couldn’t stand that. Those pink cheeks…
“It’s not really a hobby, but I like to collect snow globes of places I have been.”
My chest tightens. “Snow globes?”
She half nods, half shrugs. “I need to get one before we leave here, actually.”
I make a mental note to make sure I get her one. If that’s what she likes, then that’s what she’ll get.
“How did that come about?” I press, wanting to know anything and everything I could about her.
She drops her face, focusing on the empty glass. I wait a beat or two before I stand and fill it back up again.
“My dad used to buy them for me.”
We haven’t touched heavily on parents, but she has mentioned a couple of things before. I think they’re assholes. But, hey, who am I to judge?
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Her nod is heavy. “He used to work away a lot, all over the world. He was a lawyer for an old businessman. To make up for always being gone, he used to give me snow globes. They filled me with some kind of warmth, something I had always craved from both my parents. I knew I was never going to get that kind of love from them, so I got what I could from him giving me shitty snow globes.” She laughs but sniffles at the same time. “It’s a weird one.”
“Not at all.” I shake my head slowly. “Never think that.”
She sighs. “How about you? Parents… Obviously, I know your dad owns the race team, and he is married to your ex…” She scrunches her nose.
“Now that’s a weird one,” I say, and she giggles loudly.
“Nah, my mum just upped and left one day. Wish there was some elaborate story to tell but it was just that. She left. Never came back.” I shrug and ignore the tightness that creeps across my chest. I was fine. I’ve no idea why I am trying to convince myself.
“Royce…” she whispers.
“Yeah, but it’s fine because my dad stepped up to both roles. He never made me miss having my mum.”
Fuck, I think that’s the first time I have ever said that out loud. Never once did I mutter a word to Ana?s.
“She wasn’t a bad mum, from what I can remember, anyway.” I pause locking my fingers into my lap. “Dad said she was always around, until one day, well, I suppose she had enough.”
Athena’s eyes flit between mine, searching for something.
“So yeah, just me and my dad until Ana?s came along,” I scoff.
“Was that weird for you?” she pries.
I could ignore her, but I can’t seem to. I want to bear my soul to her.
“I don’t know. I broke it off with her last year at my home race,” I begin, brushing my thumb pad over the back of my hand. “I wanted to focus on my career.”
“How did she take it?” she asks, her eyes not lifting from me.
“As you would expect.” I snort a laugh. “But she understood it. We were good together, we worked, but I wanted something more and she couldn’t give me that. And honestly, I didn’t want to be held back. Didn’t want the same life as my dad.”
Her brows pinch.
“He was one of the best drivers, but then he wanted more with my mum. He wanted to settle down and have a family and look where that got him. Broken hearted raising a young boy whilst trying to be the best person he could be, masking the loneliness. He gave up everything for me. Never let me quit, wanted me to be the best version of myself and that’s what he got.
He paid a huge price. But now look at him.
” I finally let my gaze trail up to her.
“He has his own team, a wife… he got everything he ever wanted… again.”
She tilts her head.
“Proves that just because something doesn’t work out the first time around, it doesn’t mean it’s the end. It just means it wasn’t meant to be in that moment.”
Her throat bobs and I know I have struck a chord.
“Never give up on your dreams,” I mutter just as the door knocks.
Pushing up, I make my way to greet room service and push the trolley in. Slowing my steps, I glance at her and notice her eyes are misty, and I fucking hate it. I don’t push, just observe.
“I went for cheeseburger and chips, a few sides too. Don’t tell Dane, though.” I wink at her, trying to lighten the mood.
She beams at me then tries to readjust herself without flashing her underwear.