Chapter Nineteen
The track was a hive of activity. Thousands of fans streamed in a continuous line, wearing sunglasses and hats to protect them from the bright Australian mid-March sun.
High-powered engines revved until they were practically screaming before being taken to a low growl.
Quick short whines of wheel guns punctuated the air.
The first race weekend of the season.
It was only Thursday but that didn’t mean that they were in for a quiet day.
Drivers were being interviewed in fan zones, support races had practice and qualifying sessions, new drivers had to receive camera time, inserts were being filmed, and drivers and team principals had to hold press conferences.
Team principals like Lukas.
The man she had lost her heart to, the man she had hurt, who wouldn’t take her calls or answer her messages. Katherine had tried for weeks before she’d been forced to give up. Every time she’d reached out and he’d rejected her, she’d felt a stab through her heart.
Give him time, Kittykat, her father had said. Just don’t give up.
But she had to. She’d lost him.
She was on her way back to the Aero broadcast area when she saw Lukas talking to a group of journalists, most of them from European publications.
Lukas talking to the media wasn’t unusual.
He’s always had contractual obligations to fulfil.
But Lukas in a grey-and-gold-collared team shirt talking to the media with a smile was.
Katherine watched him from afar. There was no scowl on his face. His body language was open, he was talking with his hands.
He was being friendly to the people he disliked.
Except for her.
Earlier in the paddock, she had seen that unmistakable golden-brown hair, those storm-grey eyes, that chiselled jaw.
Lukas had walked towards her and her heart had skipped a beat.
Butterflies had erupted in her belly. Her lips tingled with the need for his.
His gaze had locked on hers for a moment.
Just a moment when she tried to think of everything she wanted to say in those calls and texts.
Everything she wanted to do to make her betrayal up to him.
‘Lukas,’ she had tried to say but it had come out strangled.
He had turned around and walked away.
Katherine was unable to get the image out of her head, even now as she joined her colleagues. When she was informed that they would be interviewing Lukas next, a thrill ran through her body. He would be close to her; he’d be forced to face her.
When he approached, she was ready, mic in hand, heart pounding in her chest.
Every step he took towards her felt like a piece of her was coming home. And when he joined them, she said, ‘Hello, Lukas.’
But he didn’t respond to her. Instead, he addressed everyone generally. ‘This is a little bit different, isn’t it?’
‘Definitely,’ James, the longest-serving presenter said. ‘Not seeing you in a race suit is going to take some getting used to.’
‘Well, I’ve swapped one suit for another,’ Lukas joked.
He joked.
And when the camera light turned red, he continued being charming and friendly. Was this the same man she had fallen in love with?
‘What was the press conference like this morning, with Thomas Dudek also in attendance?’ Katherine asked.
Of course, the drama would appeal to fans but also, she was genuinely concerned about how that experience might have affected Lukas.
He wouldn’t even look at here, so asking was the only way she would know.
It wouldn’t be his words that told her anything—it would be his body. His eyes.
Lukas glanced at her so quickly before looking away, almost as if to look at her was poisonous.
‘Thomas runs a team as do I now. He doesn’t get a say in my team and neither do I have a say in his, but we do share a passion for the sport, and we will have to interact from time to time.
Perhaps he made some questionable decisions when it came to me as a driver, but he did so for his team.
And just because I’m not driving doesn’t mean I can’t take a team to a championship. ’
That told her plenty. Of course, he was hurt having to see the man who had ended his career so heartlessly, but Lukas was trying his best to be diplomatic.
‘We’re different people,’ Lukas continued, ‘and will make different decisions.’
Meaning he would not be as unscrupulous as his previous boss.
‘And do you think you can take a team as small as this to a championship?’ James asked.
‘Absolutely. We have to be realistic about our goals and the team is very new, but every team started somewhere, and we just have to be mindful to make the right decisions that will take us in the direction of those goals,’ Lukas answered.
He answered every question without snark, without complaint and when James thanked him, Lukas handed back the mic, turned around and walked away without sparing Katherine a second glance.
She could have been anyone. She could have been invisible and her already aching heart shattered like the most fragile glass.
Katherine handed the mic off to someone—she didn’t really notice who it was—removed the transmitter and all the cables from her clothes, handing those off too, and walked away.