Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10
KINSLEY
I wipe my clammy hands on my thighs for the fifth time in three minutes. The commentators on the screen drone on as the reporters walk down the starting grid and I wait for the tiniest glimpse of Jace when they make it to the front.
“Where’s this one again?” Lily asks, munching on her popcorn.
“Austria. It’s roughly 4.3 km long with ten turns, elevation changes, and seventy-one laps.”
She snorts. “Okay, Wikipedia.”
“What?” My cheeks heat and I take a sip of my drink.
“You really did your homework, didn’t you?”
I shrug. “I didn’t want to be clueless going into this.”
“And what is this ?”
I raise a single brow and glance at her. “Uh, a race?”
She rolls her eyes. “I’m talking about you and the man who’s a Disney prince come to life.”
My mouth falls open in an ‘o.’ “I, uh, I’m taking it one day at a time.”
She hums. “Well, there’s nothing wrong with that.”
I duck my head, fiddling with the sleeves of Jace’s jumper.
When I woke up this morning, I saw it hanging off the back of my closet door and nothing else felt right to wear today while I watched his race.
It’s the one he gave me to wear that first night we met a week ago. I meant to give it back, but there’s a possibility that I may keep forgetting to.
It definitely isn’t on purpose, though.
Maybe just a little?
“Don’t get your hopes up though, okay?”
“Who? Me? I’d never.” I stare at her with a ‘let’s be real’ expression and she scrunches her face. “Excuse me for wanting a lifetime of happiness for my best friend.”
The anthem finishes on the TV and I watch as the drivers disperse. The camera sticks with Jace as he walks over to his car, confidence radiating off of him.
My stomach flips when he looks directly in the camera and winks before turning to the team member next to him. He puts on the gear handed to him and hops into—what I recently learned is called—the cockpit.
His entire focus shifts to the track in front of him as he slips on his gloves and grips the wheel. My fingers flex in time with his and a shiver runs down my spine at the look of pure determination glinting in his blue eyes.
“I am happy.” I meet her stare and shrug. “I don’t know what’s going to happen and there’s a good chance it won’t end well, but right now I’m happy.”
“One day at a time,” she smiles.
“One day at a time.”
My phone pings with a notification and I look down to see I have a new follower on Instagram. I’ve gained a lot of those lately, starting with Jace. His friends joined those numbers a few days later.
It settled after that. Well, until he shared one of my posts on his story and the floodgates burst open. In the past two days alone, I’ve gained around five thousand followers.
Clicking on the profile, her feed is plastered with professional pictures mixed with selfies and videos of her partying with friends. I don’t recognize the blonde with blue eyes, but then again, I don’t know who the rest of these new followers are.
“I am immensely impressed with how quick they can do that. Like how is that humanly possible, I don’t understand.”
“Huh?” I look up and Lily laughs, pointing to the screen as someone drives into the pit lane.
We’re halfway through the race and Jace is back on the track after a seamless pitstop. The cameras catch the pit crew cheering as he races off, closing in on Ryder in second place.
“I saw them practice when he took me to the teams headquarters and it was nuts. It’s like they’re training for an Olympic level sport.”
“Did you get to try? Please tell me you tried lifting those tyres.” She cackles. “God I would have loved to see that.”
I scowl. “For your information, I did get to try something. I did the gun thingy that puts the tyre on the car. And I was fantastic.”
She snorts. “So you could go out there and do that real time?”
“Absolutely not, but I liked the ‘vrip vrip’ noise it made when I pulled the trigger.”
Our laughter cuts off when the commentator’s voice ramps up. I shoot off the couch as I watch his car propel down the straight, its twin rounding the corner just ahead.
“Come on,” I yell.
“How can you tell who is who?”
“Oh! I know this one.” When the screen changes to a shot where you get a glimpse of both cars, I point. “See that yellow T shape?”
She nods.
“Those are the T-Cams. They transmit all of the car’s information to the engineering team. But they’re also used to distinguish between the drivers on a team. One driver gets the yellow while the other gets the black.”
“The more you know.” She raises her hands and slowly drops them down like a rainbow as she laughs. “I don’t think you studied this hard for our exams, and that’s saying something.”
I fall back onto the sofa. “I didn’t study.”
“You’re telling me you didn’t make a single flashcard?”
“Nope.”
She squints at me before glancing at my bag on the chair. We jump for it at the same time and she takes me to the ground. We roll and she pins me down with a cry of victory.
She springs off of me and grabs my bag, sticking her hand in the opening. “Aha!” She pulls out my box of notecards and smirks. “I knew it, you little love sick nerd.”
I jump to my feet and snatch my stuff out of her hands. “Shut up,” I grumble, shoving the flash cards back in my bag and tossing it on the chair. “I don’t want to be the girl that just smiles and nods when he talks about this stuff.”
“That’s fair. No one wants to date a bobblehead.”
“What?” I laugh.
My head jerks back, eyes wide as she puts on a wide grin and nods her head repeatedly. “Stop that. It’s creepy.” I sit on the couch and glance at the TV, smiling when I see Jace is now in front of Lawson, taking second. “And we aren’t dating.”
She plops down next to me. “Yet.”
I shake my head, my eyes not straining from the screen. She peppers me with questions as we watch and by the time there are five laps left, her eyes are as glued to the screen as my own.
The room is silent as we watch the lap counter tick up until they pass under the solid white flag, signaling the last lap. We huddle together as Jace’s car creeps closer to Nik, who leads the race. I clutch her hand, my body vibrating with nerves.
“You got this,” I murmur.
“Come on, Collins. Get your shit in gear,” Lily yells.
A laugh bursts out of me and we jump to our feet when he gets within inches of the car’s back wing. We cheer him on as if he can hear us when they pull out of a turn side by side.
I squeal, eyes going wide as he pulls ahead. We wrap our arms around each other, screaming at the TV as he takes the last corner. He passes the finish line, the checkered flag waving high above him and my voice breaks with a cry of pure joy.
“That’s your man,” Lily screeches, pointing at the screen.
I ignore her, watching as the camera switches to the dash, showcasing his captivating eyes when he flips the visor of his helmet up. They light with pride and he lifts a hand fist pumping the air.
“Woohoo, hell yes!” His voice cracks through the loud speakers of the TV.
“Good job, Jace. Incredible race, mate.” A man’s voice comes over the radio.
“Thank you, thank you, great job, lads. Couldn’t have done this without you.” He sticks his hand out, waving to the crowd as he drives by, heading for the pit lanes.
He pulls into the first place spot and hops out, ripping his helmet off. Lily whistles and I glance at her. “Explain to me how someone can still look like that after hours of sweating their arses off.”
I look up to see him talking with a reporter. He takes his hat off and runs a hand over his hair, his eyes twinkling in the light. His sweat slicked hair falls forward as he laughs, brushing the impression lines of his helmet.
I press my legs together as I track a bead of sweat rolling down his temple and over his jaw.
Whoa, what the hell?
I look over at an oddly quiet Lily and she points at me. “Oh, you so have the hots for him.”
“Shut up,” I grumble, snuggling into the couch as I watch Jace walk out onto the stage.
He steps up to the tallest podium moments before the British anthem plays. His shoulders are back, chest puffed with pride, and eyes alight with triumph as he looks over the crowd.
My lips tip up as he lifts his trophy in victory while holding up the number one on his other hand. It breaks into a full smile when Ryder and Nikolai soak him with champagne.
He whips his hair back and forth, spraying everyone before flipping it out of his face. Running a hand over his soaked hair, he locks eyes with the camera and winks.
Lily swoons—literally, falls onto my lap with her hand over her forehead—and I laugh, shoving her off. She sits up next to me and we turn so the celebrations are behind us.
Lifting my phone, I snap a quick picture and send it with a text telling him that his two newest fans are very proud of the first place win.
A few hours later, we are lounging on the sofa, watching a rerun of Project Runway when my phone rings. I pick it up and smile at the name flashing across the screen. Putting it up to my ear, I slide off the couch and walk into the kitchen.
“Kinsley.” His smooth voice sends shivers down my spine.
“Don’t tell me you’re done celebrating already.”
He chuckles. “I had an important call to make.”
“Oh yeah? How did it go?”
“It’s going pretty well so far. What do you think?”
I laugh. “Good. Really good.”
I just hope it isn’t too good to be true.