26. Maddock
Maddock
I grit my teeth as I soar down the track in second place.
I never want to hear another fucking word from Jaxx Sands. Not one. Ever.
Because the asshole has been walking around all weekend with a shit-eating grin that makes me want to lay my fist into his face. Again.
And now he’s speeding along in front of me, and we’re barely missing each other on each turn and straight.
Something is going on, but I can’t figure out why he’s driving like this. Maybe because it’s his home race? But we did Texas last year, and he still drove normally.
Because of my sheer fucking rage and his assholery, we are three seconds ahead of the pack, both on good tires, and close enough to the finish line to get ourselves over with a clean run.
On the fifty-fifth lap with everything to lose, we have to be fucking careful. I need to keep away from him when he’s driving like that.
Normally, I’m the one who gets pulled up for reckless driving. I can just imagine what Jacob is shouting at Jaxx's engineer to keep him in line.
As we speed under the lights, signaling the last lap, I see it again. Just like I did every single lap, and before when we were on the grid, and in the fucking garage.
That shock of ginger hair that has been driving me insane since I saw her again in Vegas.
And I can’t tell who she was cheering on, because Jaxx has been all over her for days since they both vanished after her first drive.
I try to not let the stab of hurt get to me. But if I have to watch as she falls in love with Jaxx and I get pushed to the sidelines without a thought, I don’t know how I’m going to manage.
I just have to focus on the race. The faster the race is over, the quicker I can get to her and ask her what the hell is going on with us. If there even is an us anymore. And find out if Jaxx is her future.
Maybe I never even had another chance, and the way she perfumed for me when we were alone together was just a mistake.
I groan as I chew through the gears to pick up speed.
“What is it?” Jacob asks in my ear, and I can’t roll my eyes because the both of us are hitting the first sharp corner.
“Nothing, just enjoying the race,” I say in the grumpiest voice I’ve heard all day.
“Just keep yourself focused. You guys are killing it. You’re 5.2 ahead of P3.”
I don’t want to tell him I know what I’m doing because I feel like a bloody trainwreck.
I need to win this fucking race and then find her and see her smile, hold her, tell her I want to try again, and everything will be okay.
Jaxx is swerving around the bumps, stopping me from taking him over, but I’m not giving up. I don’t care if it’s his home race, I’m here to win.
“Okay, Maddock, keep an eye out. P3’s gained a second since the last check-in,” Jacob says.
I swear as I put it up a gear and go through the corners and out onto the straight. I should have fucking focused when Jacob said the obvious.
I get too excited by the idea of winning
“Who is it?”
“Runa, one of the Valkyrie girls.”
I glare at the track. The two alpha females are notorious for bumping into people and causing unnecessary crashes. If she takes me out before I get into the last lap, I’m going to kick off.
I have a move for sharp corners I’ve tested in the VR sim over the past few weeks.
It’s a risk, and I haven’t practiced it, and I’m going to get chewed out until the end of time if I fuck it up.
But she’s too close, close enough that if I slow at just the wrong moment, she’ll bump my tail and could blow a tire.
“Maddock, we’re almost there. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“But ‘stupid’ is my middle name,” I say before I tune him out. We’d raced together since we were kids, and I know how much he likes to stress about things.
A low growl rumbles from me, my whole body tense as we hit the sharp corner halfway into Sector 2. My gaze repeatedly jumps between the track and her gray and white car, waiting for her nose to turn at just the right angle.
My hands harden around the steering wheel as I twist it left and grit my teeth. I force the brake pedal down, accelerate for one second, before braking again, gliding through in a U, screeching as I spin the steering wheel hard to the right and speed off into the straight.
I swear I did it; I almost had it.
And it would have worked out perfectly if the Valkyrie hadn’t gone into the corner at the wrong fucking angle.
A shudder goes through my car as something hits it in the back.
“Fuck!” I yell as I push the car forward. There’s another shake, and my heart drops as it feels like I might have burst a tire or snapped a wing.
“Jacob, any damage?” I ask hurriedly.
“I told you, Maddock,” he says, his voice dripping with disapproval.
“That one wasn’t on me!” I shout. Sticking my pedal flat against the floor, my gaze stays fixed on the track as I speed off. I feed my awareness into the car, trying to tell if there’s anything off apart from slight lag on the back left.
“Jacob, don’t go silent on me. What’s going on?”
If he tells me I have to box now, I’m going to rain fucking hell down on the Valkyrie team.
“Runa’s slipped off the track. She’s coming back on now,” he says. “But don’t worry about that. Just fucking focus like I told you to.”
I grimace as I keep the race up, pushing as hard as I can to catch up with Jaxx.
“How far ahead is Jaxx?” I ask as I fly through the gears, throwing myself into the speed trap. My battery is at 20% and I can make it. Jaxx should be the same as well, as long as he hasn’t gone too crazy with his gears.
“Only 2.2 seconds. Just make sure to get behind him and nothing else, okay? I don’t want more crazy shit from either of you.”
I don’t reply as I focus on Jaxx’s tail and go for it.
I can’t catch up to him on the hairpin, but by the time we slam into the last ninety-degree turn, I’m on him. There’s no way we aren’t coming in first and second, whatever order it is.
We’re going to win.
We’re both going to fucking do it.
We’re going to take it home for the Grace team.
Even though it grates that Jaxx will get the first. It feels fucking annoying to be proud of us, but we’ve never won like this since we started driving together.
But I still want that number one spot.
Harmony will be there as we cross the finish line, and I want her to see me come in first more than anything.
I need to make sure I’m the one she sees when we pull up.
So I put my head down, watch the rear of my asshole teammate, and we race.
The world fades away as all I think about is getting back to Harmony.
This is how I used to race in the past. With my foot to the floor and my eyes on my omega.
We hurl into the speed trap with maybe twenty seconds left on the lap. There’s nothing holding us back now.
Except this one moment, This one tiny moment where I’m flying in to overtake, and Jaxx takes the ninety degree too tight. He has to slam on the brakes, pulling up, letting me cut over him.
One glance at him, one fucking salute hidden from the drone following us around, and I sail past him and out from the corner and into the hairpin.
It’s like a fucking gut punch as I shoot ahead of him.
I need to win, I need the points. But not this way. This doesn’t feel right as Jaxx pretends to fumble, slicing left then right like he’s lost control and draws up behind me.
Suddenly the tension is gone, the need to win choked out of me. A growl tears from me as disappointment swamps me.
I won’t forgive him for this. There’s no way I can let him get away with it.
As I speed towards the last corner, I have a clear advantage over him, and there is nothing stopping me as I swing around the last ninety degrees, and roar through the checkered flag.
But it’s a hollow win. It doesn’t feel like mine as Jaxx burns through behind me, keeping myself and the Grace team at the top of the leaderboard for the entire championships.
It doesn’t matter. I’ve strived for years to get to a level where I can win firsts race after race.
I don’t want to win like this.
There’s only one thing I want now.
To get back to my omega as she jumps up and down on the other side of the barrier, waving at me from the crowd.