Chapter 20 #2
Luca was one of my favourite people in the world, and a walking green flag, but even he received awful messages from time to time. He laughed them off, but Zolt… A few weeks ago, I would have assumed he didn’t care, barely even acknowledged them, but now I was second-guessing that.
Dr. Yvette Sannier leaned forward to her microphone.
“I have read all previous reports on Zoltán Farkas’s medical history.
From his first year racing for MotoBike to today.
He’s still going through some rehabilitation, which we as a team are taking very seriously.
If we had any concerns for his health, he would be benched. That is not the case.”
It wasn’t just reporters with us, but Imre and Benedek were leaning against the far wall. Benedek nodded and smiled at his brother. Zolt wasn’t looking.
Dr. Sannier took some questions, half of which she huffed over, claiming they weren’t relevant or too private. At one point, she sighed and told them to look at their policies, reminding them that Zolt needed to get on the track for the race soon.
And then it was my racer’s turn.
He cleared his throat and read from a sheet of paper we’d drafted with Derek last night.
He read it carefully, at an easy, natural pace, his tone formal.
He was so cute.
And going off script.
I let him read the whole thing, scrambling to write down his additions and omissions on my own version of his speech.
“I want to thank everyone for their concern for my health. I know it comes from a place of care, and I know I am truly honoured to have fans — and haters — that worry for me deeply. I want to assure everyone that I would not be racing without a full clearance. I wouldn’t put myself or my fellow racers at risk like that.
I couldn’t dishonour my grandfather in that way.
Racing has been my life for so long, and the last two years I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.
Where racing used to be what I lived for, the last couple of years — the last couple of months — have helped me to reevaluate my life.
My work-life balance is completely different.
Racing has been my first love for so long, but I now know that if I couldn’t race, I’d have the strength to leave.
It’s too bad you’re stuck with me for a few more years yet. ”
Reporters laughed and then asked questions, which we’d already expected.
We had a back and forth for five questions before Livie tapped her mic and said, “This will be the last one.”
“Zoltán, you mention your work-life balance changing— does that have anything to do with a romantic connection?”
I tried to keep my face serene as I relayed the question back.
My eyes demanded he didn’t fuck it up.
That cocky, wonky smile reappeared. He turned to the crowd and said in English, “Yes.”
* * *
Zolt won the race. I wouldn’t be surprised if he did it purely to show the press that he wasn’t lying — they’d be stuck with him for a few more years.
It meant that I had to be live on TV twice for multiple interviews.
Derek scheduled him for two new interviews. One was Hungarian, so technically I wouldn’t be needed, but Zolt gave a brow raise because, of course, I would be there.
And it meant that we joined the team in going out to celebrate.
I readied myself in my hotel room, listening to a playlist my uni friends and I used to blast in our shared kitchen, singing into spoons and shot glasses, or with less gusto the next morning over our greasy fry-ups.
It took me right back. I was so happy with Zoltán, but I was still missing friends.
Friendships used to come so easily—back before I carried a family-ending secret I was terrified of letting slip.
Once I was ready in an outfit Everly would be proud of — a black leather mini and a black lace off-the-shoulder top, and boots — I braved it downstairs, with Zolt’s encouraging texts.
At the bar, some of the girls were already drinking and laughing, and I slotted myself in, ordering a mai tai and listening to their conversations.
I shouldn’t have worn the heeled boots. I towered over them. Five-foot-nine and then an extra four inches wasn’t wise.
Most racers were on the shorter side, so the grid girls often were in proportion.
ZOLTáN: Fake it if you don’t know how. But every one of those girls should be honoured to know you. I am.
One of these days, the love I felt for him was going to just slip out.
“Do you text a lot?” one of the girls asked, nodding at my phone. “Sorry, not being nosy, I obviously don’t understand what it says.”
But I locked it quickly. “Sometimes,” I admitted. “It can be lonely when you’re trapped by the one language you speak. So we’ve got quite close.”
She turned her head with a raised dark brow. In true grid girl fashion, she was stunning. Rosy cheeks, pouty lips, and sparkling brown eyes.
“Gosh, don’t let Nora hear you say that,” she laughed. “She’s claimed ownership all championship. She was so angry at his relationship reveal.”
My mai tai was placed before me, and I looked around the room for @Noraaaaa12. She was in a slinky halterneck dress that clung to her like Zolt’s leathers did to him, laughing with some of the girls.
I shrugged. “I don’t know much about that. He’s really private.”
The girl nodded slowly, assessing me for a tell that I was lying.
I clinked my glass into hers. “My name is Fia.”
“Mine’s Nadia,” she said. “A shot?”
Nadia was clearly my type of person. We necked some sambuca, she introduced me to the other girls, and three drinks later, we were in the taxi.
Everly had always warned me about how bitchy they could be. She’d been one, been bullied by some, and now she managed them.
But, so far, I’d only enjoyed their company.
Even if I was a bit antsy to see Zolt in the club.
ZOLTáN: Show me what you’re wearing. So I can find you easier.
FIA: Winner finds the other first?
ZOLTáN: You’re on.
So I spent the first ten minutes of our time in the club looking over my shoulder while the girls tried to get my attention on the dance floor. Until a hand fell to my waist, tugging me back into a very large, hard body.
“Hello Zsófia,” he said in English, and it was not fair how those two very simple, very casual words undid me.
“Guess what!” I shouted over the music, clutching his arms. “I think I made friends!”
I was unashamed in my excitement as only he could understand me.
He chuckled. “Of course you did! Who wouldn’t want to be your friend?” His beaming smile matched my own. He bent down to my ear. “But I’m still your best friend, aren’t I?”
Were we friends? I mean, of course, we were friends. But my stomach sank at the thought that he was friend-zoning me despite the way he had fingered me in a press conference about ten hours ago.
He’d told me he wanted to tell Jordan I was his.
He’d told me I was becoming a part of him.
And he wasn’t wrong — he was my best friend.
And the alcohol was making me overthink.
“Yes,” I said so quietly, he couldn’t have heard me over the bass of the music.
He looked me over, from my hair to my shoes, stepping back. I looked around us at the raging dance floor. The girls side-eyed Zolt, and I, and Nadia wiggled her brows at me.
“Fuck, you look so good. I already want to take you home.”
“So do it.”
“You’re going to be in my trailer ass in the air within the next twenty minutes if you say that again,” he said, bending to talk in my ear. “And you’re having a good time. Making friends.”
But I would have a better time with him. Alone.
“Stay,” he said.
“But we’re obvious around each other,” I sulked, bottom lip jutting out.
“You do have that blush on your cheeks again.”
I laughed, forcing the memory of my sister to the back of my mind. “And I want to dance with you.”
“If you brush your ass up against me, it really will be game over,” he sighed. “But fuck I want you to. When we get back?”
“Now?”
He shook his head. “Zsófia.”
“Fine, fine,” I said and rolled my eyes. “Within the hour.”
He rolled his in return. “If you insist.”
We danced, and when one of the other girls tried to rub up against him, he said his goodbyes before joining Henrik and the other racers at the bar. And Nadia, her friends, and I necked a couple more shots before going out to the smoking area.
I didn’t smoke, but they all puffed on vapes that smelled like sugar candy. I wasn’t wearing much, and the cold chill of the night was a good excuse to go.
FIA: Leave in five?
ZOLTáN: Ordering a taxi now.
“Fia,” I heard Everly’s voice behind me.
I braced myself as the girls all looked from me to her and back.
I may have drunkenly told them that my sister and I were arguing.
Over what, I didn’t have the balls or trust in them to say.
But they were enthusiastically on my side without having to hear the story.
I followed her to the corner of the smoking area, away from listening ears. Luca was there waiting. He hugged me. “You were amazing at the conference today, little Bacque!”
“Thank you,” I said before curtsying. “I tried my best.”
“You were great. And for Zolt’s interviews.”
Luca was one of my favourite people on the planet.
He was grinning, but his eyes told me he’d had a bit more to drink than usual.
“You’re fucking him, aren’t you?” Everly asked, scanning the smoking area, unwilling to say Zolt’s name. “You saw him when you were at Imre’s, and you started it all up again.”
“Everly…” But I didn’t have the words to follow it up.
She sighed and shook her head. “I don’t want this to blow up in your face, Fia. There are so many people this will hurt, but mostly, you. Your job. Your father. Your nan. Your heart.”
“My heart isn’t involved.”
She scoffed, and Luca grimaced.
“Fia, he’s your step-brother, and you’re the most intelligent person in our family. You wouldn’t risk it if not for your heart.”
“You look about ready to tattoo the sound of his sneeze on your ribcage.”
Everly and I both looked at Luca in bewilderment.
He shrugged.
Yeah, he was a little drunk.
“Ever, maybe this isn’t so bad… because he looks about ready to write her name on his helmet in a pink glitter pen.”
Now we both laughed, and I hugged them. “I love you both.”
“And we love you,” my sister said, squeezing me tight. “But please don’t get hurt.”
“I’ll try,” I said as my phone pinged.
ZOLTáN: I’m in the taxi, just taking it round the block so people don’t know we’re in it together.
I said my goodbyes and rushed to the taxi rank, Luca walking me to it. As I got in, my brother-in-law threatened, “Look after her, Farkas.”
The ride home, I cuddled into him and explained how my sister and I had made up.
He stroked my hair back, telling me how glad he was. And that one of the few people he feared was Everly. “If she had told me to look after you and not Luca, I’d be shaking in my boots.”
We laughed, and time drunkenly blurred until we were in his trailer. And my arousal brought me right back to consciousness.
We hadn’t been alone since the press conference.
I kicked my shoes off and, looking up, saw him admiring me with a soft smile.
“What?” I laughed, pausing as I was about to unzip my skirt and get straight to business.
He stepped forward and took a strand of hair around his pointer finger, twisting it. “I’m so proud of you,” he said, voice low and silky. “You are amazing. Today you were perfect. You were such a good girl.”
His fingertips brushed my parted lips. “In the press briefing, you were so quick, so eloquent. Exactly how I knew you would be.” His fingers slipped into my mouth.
“You let me take your mind off things, didn’t you?
” He thrust his fingers inside, slowly, measured, and I sucked on them.
“Your tight cunt took these fingers just as well as you’re taking them now, and you’ll take them everywhere, won’t you? ”
I nodded, sucking harder.
He brushed my hair behind my ear. “You deserve to be spoiled, Fia.”
My entire body clenched.
“Mmm,” he moaned, thrusting faster as my hands found the bulge in his jeans. “You like praise, don’t you, Fia?”
Another nod.
“You’re going to have to get used to it. Forever.”
And he put those two fingers up my skirt, straight inside me, and swallowed my gasp with a kiss.