Chapter 31
LARK
People around me are jumping, waving Ferrari flags, losing their absolute minds.
The massive screens throughout the paddock area are showing replays of his final defensive moves, that last corner where he held off the other driver by pure will and racecraft.
The Ferrari team behind the barriers is going ballistic, engineers and mechanics hugging each other and shouting.
And I’m standing here among strangers trying not to cry because I’m so proud of him I could burst. This is what he looks like when he fights for something. When he lets himself care enough to risk everything.
When he finally parks and kills the engine, there’s this long moment where he just sits there in the car, hands still on the wheel like he can’t quite believe what just happened.
Then he’s climbing out, yanking off his helmet, and even from where I’m standing I can see that grin.
My heart does something painful and wonderful in my chest and the tears I’ve been holding back start streaming down my face.
I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy for someone else in my entire life.
The Ferrari team swarms him immediately. Everyone wants to hug him, congratulate him, be part of this moment. Someone throws him a Ferrari cap and he’s laughing, pure unbridled joy. Luca jumps on him, nearly taking them both down, and Jack’s just laughing and smiling like he can’t stop.
The crowd is deafening now, thousands of people chanting his name.
People around me are shouting about the drive of a lifetime.
I wipe my eyes with the back of my hand but more tears keep coming.
Happy tears. Proud tears. They usher him toward the podium and I push through the crowd, getting as close as I can to the barriers.
When he climbs the steps and holds up that trophy, the entire circuit explodes in noise and color. Fireworks burst overhead in reds and golds, and the roar is so loud it vibrates through my entire body. His eyes scan the crowd below. And then they lock onto mine.
He sees me. He knows I’m here.
JACK
Her eyes lock onto mine and everything else falls away.
The roar of the crowd, the announcers blaring, Luca saying something beside me about the drive being fucking magic.
None of it registers. All I can see is Lark pressed against the barriers below, tears streaming down her face, hands covering her mouth.
She’s laughing and crying at the same time, looking up at me and the whole world narrows to just her.
I grab the champagne bottle and spray it, the foam exploding everywhere. Luca’s soaked and laughing, spraying me right back, and the team is going wild below us. The crowd is losing their minds, chanting and cheering.
My eyes find Lark again in the crowd. She’s still crying, still smiling up at me, and everything else is just noise. I hold up the trophy and the circuit explodes with cheers, but I’m looking at her when I do it.
The second we’re dismissed, I’m moving. Down the steps, pushing through Ferrari team personnel trying to congratulate me, engineers wanting to talk about the drive, photographers shouting for one more photo.
Thomas appears at my elbow looking like he just won the lottery. “Jack,” he says, and he’s more excited than I’ve ever seen him, “holy shit, that was incredible. The media wants you, Ferrari executives are waiting, we need to—”
“Give me ten minutes,” I say, not stopping.
“Jack—”
But I’m already gone, weaving through the crowd.
My heart is hammering harder than it did during the entire race, harder than it did on that final corner when I was defending position with everything I had.
I’m still in my champagne-soaked race suit, scanning desperately for that blue dress I saw her wearing.
Where is she?
I push past security trying to redirect me toward the media pen. People are reaching out, trying to congratulate me, slap my back, get selfies. I barely register any of them.
Then I see her pushing through the crowd toward me with the same desperate energy, and our eyes meet across the chaos.
She breaks into this huge smile and I’m grinning like an idiot. I whistle sharp and loud to get security’s attention, pointing at her. “Let her through!”
The guard looks skeptical, but I don’t wait. I’m already running.
She’s running too.
We collide and I’m cupping her face in both hands, kissing her before either of us can say a word.
She tastes like salt from tears and something sweet, and her hands fist in my race suit as she kisses me back just as fiercely.
Camera flashes explode around us, people shouting and cheering, but none of it matters.
Nothing matters except her mouth on mine and the fact that she’s here and we’re together.
When we finally break apart, we’re both breathing hard. I keep my hands on her face, my thumbs wiping away tears. She’s laughing, her eyes bright.
“You came,” I say. “You’re here.”
“Of course I’m here.” She’s grinning through the tears, her hands gripping my shoulders. “You were incredible, Jack. That was… I’ve never seen anything like that. I think I was screaming the whole time!”
“I heard your song.” I brush her hair back from her face, and I can’t stop touching her, can’t stop looking at her. “Earlier tonight. I watched you perform.”
Watching her up on that stage, completely owning it, performing her songs her way even though it probably cost her everything. That took more guts than anything I did in that race car. She was fucking fearless.
Her breath catches. “You did?”
“Every word.” I lean my forehead against hers. “You were incredible. I’m so proud of you.” My voice drops. “I love you. I’m so fucking sorry for leaving, for walking away, for what I said. I was an idiot.”
“Stop,” she cuts me off, her hand pressing flat against my chest right over my heart.
“I’m sorry too. I attacked you instead of listening.
I said things I didn’t mean. I was hurt and I lashed out when I should have just talked to you, and deep down I knew you weren’t lying but I let everything bubble up and then had too much pride to take it back. ”
She pulls back slightly, talking with her hands now, and I’ve missed her so much it physically hurts.
She’s talking faster, the words tumbling out.
“Which is completely insane when you think about it, and honestly if I’d just stopped for two seconds to actually think instead of spiraling I probably could have—”
I pull her in hard and kiss her, cutting off the rest of whatever she was going to say.
She makes this small surprised sound and then she’s kissing me back, her hands sliding up to grip my shoulders, then my neck, pulling me closer.
Her mouth opens under mine and I deepen the kiss, tasting salt from her tears and that strawberry chapstick she always wears.
One of her hands moves into my hair and she’s pressing against me like she’s trying to eliminate any space between us.
When we finally break apart, we’re both breathing hard.
“I love you,” she says against my mouth. “So much.”
“I know, and I love you more than you can know.” I kiss her forehead, her nose, her lips. “You’re it for me, Lark. I’m done running.”
“You’re it for me too.”
I kiss her again because now that I have her back, I never want to stop.
She melts into me completely, her body pressed against mine, her fingers threading through my hair, and everything else disappears.
There’s just her. Just us. Just the absolute certainty that she’s mine and I’m hers, and this time I’m staying.