Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Royce
ROUND ELEVEN
Silverstone - Race Day
A distant knocking has me groaning. I blink a couple of times, laid on my front, lifting my head and listening. Nothing. Must have been dreaming.
Nestling back into the pillow, I hear the knocking noise again. Sighing, I grab my phone to look at the time but the screen is black.
“Oh fuck.” Panic runs through me as I rush for the door, checking through the peep hole I see an agitated Nora.
Unlocking the door, I give her the widest grin. Her eyes are ferocious as she steps towards me, causing me to jump back.
“The fuck?” she hisses, slamming the door behind me.
“What?!” I hold both my palms up.
“Don’t give me that. You should have been in briefing half an hour ago.”
My face falters.
“But of course, I covered for you… again.”
Relief swarms over me, my shoulders sagging.
“Get dressed.” Her eyes trail down before they’re back on me. I’m still wearing my clothes from last night. “And have a shower.” She moves closer and sniffs. “You stink.”
Puffing my cheeks out, she turns on her heel and walks into the kitchen. “Have you heard from her?” I call out as I slowly tiptoe over to my room.
“Not talking about it, Royce,” she shouts back and I roll my eyes.
“I just want to make sure she’s okay.” I peek my head around the door frame and wait for her to answer.
She comes into view, eyes narrowed on me, her lips pursed. “What do you think, Royce? You were an asshole.” I wince when she throws the teaspoon into the sink. “Her agent has pulled the deal anyway. It’s off.”
My eyes widen, panic clawing at my throat as I go to move to where she is filling a to-go cup with coffee.
“Get in that room and get dressed, Royce Lexington.” She points her bony finger towards my bedroom.
I ignore her, padding towards her. “What do you mean she’s pulled the deal?” My voice cracks.
“Just that. After your little show, once again,” she mutters under her breath, “her agent didn’t want her to have any more to do with us.
So, not only have you messed it up for her, but you’ve also messed it up for us, too.
” Her facial expression is sharp; hand curled on her hips. “She’s also lost her book deal.”
The colour drains from my face. “No, no, no.” I shake my head.
“Fortunately for you, that’s nothing to do with you.”
“I don’t give a shit if it’s about me or not.” I pull back, brows dug deeply into my forehead. “I care about her.”
“Could have fooled me,” Nora says nonchalant.
I know this is just her acting out because I pissed her off yesterday. Honestly, she’s such a knob.
“Nora,” I snap.
Her icy stare slowly fades into softness. “Her agent didn’t think it was good enough.”
My stomach falls.
“Apparently, they had a publisher interested at the start. The agent wanted her to take it down another route and well…”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah.” She hums.
I feel sick. Athena poured her fucking heart and soul into that book. All those hours, all those words she spilled onto the pages… everything she felt she sprinkled into that story. It was her story.
“I need you to get dressed Royce,” Nora says, and I nod, feeling numb.
Sitting in the back end of briefing, Dad, Pascal, and Glenn are going into details about the drama that unfolded yesterday. I was hounded by the press as I walked through the paddock earlier, but I kept my glasses on and ignored them.
She lost it all in one day.
The gaping hole in my chest widens, slowly sucking every ounce of light that she put there, back inside where it belongs. My mind flickers back to last week, my eyes fixating on the clock on the wall, the soft ticking drifting off as I lose myself in the memory.
I’m lying on the sofa of our hotel room in Austria. We’re having a chilled evening before race weekend. Lifting my eyes from my screen, I see her bounding towards me with a wad of paper.
“Lucky,” I groan.
She’s standing beside me, her amber eyes sparkling. “Would you read this?” She stammers ever so slightly, and I can tell she’s nervous.
“You didn’t even have to ask.” I grab it, pulling it towards me but she’s reluctant to let it go.
“I need you to be honest with me, okay?” she whispers, her fingers turning white where she is holding the paper so tightly.
“Promise.” I wink, and finally, she lets it go.
I shuffle up the sofa, so my back is against the arm rest, my knees apart. She still stands next to me, and I chuckle. Reaching for her, I drag her between my legs.
“I’m nervous,” she whispers.
I catch her gaze, a flicker of self-doubt passes through her eyes, and I shake my head.
“It’s going to be amazing. I’m telling you, this is going to be the one to send you soaring, lucky.”
She gives me a faint smile. “You think?”
I shake my head again. “I don’t think, I know.”
She leans into me, kissing me softly before her head rests on my chest. I flick the first page open.
“Oh,” she says softly, not moving from my body. “My mum reached out the other day. She wants to see me for her annual check in.” She scoffs but I can hear the sadness that laces her voice. “I think I am going to plan it for after Silverstone, then we can go chill for summer break.”
“You want me there?” I half expect her to look at me, but she doesn’t.
“You can come back with me, but I’m not sure whether I would put you through the torture of meeting my parents.”
It’s my turn to scoff.
Silence wraps around us and I begin reading. I have no idea how long it has been, but Athena is asleep. She’s curled in my lap, her head still on my chest.
The way she writes pulls me into their story and the more I read, the more I notice little bits about me and her. She’s sprinkling our story through this book and my heart swells in my chest.
“This is really good baby,” I whisper, lowering my lips to the top of her head.
Proudness blooms deep inside of me as I continue through the pages and then I pause, my lips curling as I get to their first sex scene… and fuck, this is hot. I love her previous books, but I’ve always said the chemistry was lacking between the characters. But this one, holy hell.
My cock throbs in my boxers, my heart racing in my chest, and I cannot believe I am getting turned on by her words. I think, though, it’s because I am imagining it is me and her.
Shuffling slightly, I turn my phone over and see it is past midnight. My lips twitch, wanting to go back to their story so I can tell her how much I loved it. Sleep can wait.
I’m lost between the pages, transported into a fictional world that she has built brick by brick. Her heart and soul seep from the pages and I know she has poured so much of herself into this story. I flick the end and stare at the blank page. I need more. I want to know how it ended.
Dropping the manuscript on the floor, I glide my fingertips over her cheek, trying to gently wake her up. “Lucky,” I say softly, and she stirs.
It takes her a moment to realise where she is. Blinking, she turns to face me.
“I fell asleep.”
I nod, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. “The book…” I’m giddy as I look at her, eyes all sleepy. “Amazing.”
That wakes her up, she repositions herself between my legs, sitting on her knees. “Really?” Her voice is quiet.
“Really…” I nod
“You’re not lying, are you?” One of her brows lifts and I laugh.
“I never lie when it comes to you, kid.”
She melts slightly.
“And those scenes…” I trail off, sinking my teeth into my bottom lip. “Opal Bloom, you dirty, dirty girl.”
Her cheeks blush. “That’s all thanks to you.” She nibbles the inside of her lip.
“Well.” I smirk. “It’s definitely worked because I am horny as hell and all I can think about is fucking you in that skirt.”
My needy hands curl around her hip, pulling her onto my lap.
Letting my fingers fall to her silky thighs, I draw small circles against her skin just as my other hand cups around the back of her head and drag her lips towards me.
Her fingers make quick work fumbling with the tie of my sweats, and I lift myself from the sofa as she glides them down, rolling her hips over my hard cock.
“Fuck,” I groan, gliding my hand under her skirt and pushing it around her waist. “You’re going to kill me,” I rasp, sitting up, both hands on her face as I cover her mouth with mine.
She’s wearing a black pleated skirt with a cream, ribbed, button-down long-sleeved top.
Her tits are full and round, making the buttons pull slightly.
Pulling her closer to me, her head falls back as I trace my lips over her pulse point, sucking and licking.
Teasing my index finger at the top of her buttons, I pull it down with force, the buttons popping open and she whimpers.
My hands slide around her back, my mouth dropping to her heaving chest, grazing my wet lips over her hot skin.
“Royce,” she whispers, her hands clasping my face.
Dragging my tongue over her rounded tits, I pull the thin material of her lace bra down, her nipple popping over the top.
“Fuck, I love your tits,” I groan, sucking her nipple into my mouth and spending my time caressing it with my tongue.
“I need you.” Her breathy moans pull my attention, her fingers still holding onto me.
“I am obsessed with you.”
“Good.” She smirks, tilting my head back as she lowers her full lips on mine.
Her tongue invades my mouth, and I can’t help but notice how she has become so much more confident from when I first met her, first tasted her, touched her…
Hooking my finger into her panties, I drag them across and reveal her bare, wet, pussy. “Shit, look at you.” Pushing her back ever so slightly, she pushes to her knees and lifts herself to give me access.
Gripping around my cock, I line up at her entrance and slowly glide her down my length, stretching her, watching as her eyes roll into the back of her head.
“Oh God,” she whimpers.
My large hands push her skirt around her waist so I can watch as she moves up and down my cock, fingers digging into her hips through the material, guiding her.