Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
“Hey, um, Inigo, this is Derek... When you have a moment, could you please call me? There’s something I’d like to discuss with you. I’m on call and have surgery this morning, but you can leave a message on my cell or with my assistant. We really need to talk.”
Inigo saved the message. Worried something was wrong with Bianca, he dialed Derek’s number, but it went to voice mail.
“Hey, Derek. Call me when you get this? I’m leaving my phone on and I’ll have one of the engineers get me if I’m in the simulator.”
He hung up, rubbing the back of his neck.
Worry about his sister was at the front of his mind.
He’d been hoping to talk to Bianca about Marielle.
Though she still hadn’t shown any regret for being Jose’s mistress, Inigo was falling for her.
He wanted her in his life, but he knew that would never happen if he didn’t find a way to make peace between his sister and Marielle.
His timing was bad, though. Bianca was in her last trimester, and if Derek had called, it had to be bad news. He texted his dad to ask if Bianca was okay. He was so nervous, he saw dots dancing in his eyes before his dad’s response reached him.
Hiya, son, we had dinner with her last night and she was fine. Do you know something? Should I go over to her place?
His parents would know if something was wrong related to the pregnancy. Maybe Derek was calling about something else. He twirled his phone in his hands, trying to decide how to respond to his dad.
I was just checking in but didn’t want to bother Bianca.
How’s the training going?
Really well. The new facility is nice. We are going to head to Melbourne at the end of February.
Mom and I want to see you before then.
I will make that happen. I’m coming to Austin for some practice laps. See you then. Love you.
Love you too.
“Inigo, you ready to try this new setup?” Keke asked.
“Yeah. Sorry about that,” Inigo said, walking over to Dante’s desk, where Keke waited.
Both men had a new configuration up on the computer monitor.
“Dante, watch my phone. My brother-in-law left me a voice mail on my last run, and it sounded urgent. If he calls again, will you answer it and then pull me out of the simulation?”
“Is it about your sister?” Keke asked, putting his hand on Inigo’s shoulder and squeezing.
“I’m not sure. I just don’t want to miss another call. She’s not in labor and there is no emergency my parents know about, but that doesn’t mean anything,” Inigo said.
“We’ve got your back on this. Can you clear your mind?” Keke asked.
He nodded. He wasn’t going to allow anything to keep him from another good run.
He had noticed that as his relationship—could he even call it that?
—with Marielle had developed, he’d been finding a way to clear his head and drive faster.
Part of it was focusing on the remembered feel of her in his arms, but a bigger part was just that she cleared his head.
Even with the complications of her past with his sister, she gave him something to look forward to that he hadn’t had before.
He took his run. Technically he knew he’d done everything right, but he was also pretty sure that his time wasn’t that great.
When he got out of the simulator and saw the looks on Keke and Dante’s faces, he knew his gut had been right.
They both just told him to take a break and come back after he’d spoken to his brother-in-law.
Inigo went outside. Late January on Long Island wasn’t exactly balmy, but he needed the brisk air to help clear his head.
He was worried about Bianca, half in love with Marielle, unsure how to bridge the gap between the two women and what it would do to his driving this season if he didn’t get it sorted out.
The easiest thing would be to break it off with Marielle, but he knew he couldn’t do that. He no longer just saw the smiley, sexy persona she presented to the world. Instead he saw the woman beneath the surface. The woman who was struggling to get past her mistakes. He could sympathize with her.
Racing had always commanded all of his time and energy, so he hadn’t had the misspent youth that his brother Mauricio or Marielle had, but without racing, would he have been any different from them?
His phone finally rang, and he almost dropped it when he went to answer it.
“Derek?”
“Yes, sorry to bother you when you are working, Inigo, but I need to talk to you,” Derek said.
“Go for it.”
“We saw the new pictures of you and that woman online, and they showed up in the Houston Chronicle as well. Bianca is shocked and upset by this, especially since she’d already talked to you about the earlier photos,” Derek said.
“She’s really pissed, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she is, and I don’t blame her. I know it’s not my place to talk to you about who you’re seeing, but is it possible to not do this now?
” Derek asked. “Even as I hear myself saying this, I feel stupid. But you know your sister. She’s freaking out, and that’s not good for the baby or for her. And she’s my world...”
He sighed. Maybe there was no choice but to stop kidding himself that he could be with Marielle. He had never wanted to hurt his sister, and there was the complication of being with a woman who made him feel the same burning excitement outside of the track that he did on it. It was hard to handle.
Betraying Marielle would put distance between them.
It would definitely put an end to whatever was going on between them, and he wouldn’t have to worry about how trying to have a relationship with Marielle would affect his racing season.
But hurting her? Could he live with that?
Then again, could he live with himself if he brought a woman that his sister couldn’t endure into their family?
He had started something in ignorance, never guessing that love would hurt like this.
“I know that. I promise you that this relationship isn’t what you think it is.
I’m not seeing her anymore. It was...doesn’t matter.
I’d never hurt Bianca like that and turns out neither would Mari.
” He couldn’t really say that was the reason she’d broken things off with him but he was going to frame it that way.
There was silence on the phone. His heart ached even saying those words, but he knew he needed to do something.
“Inigo, I don’t think that’s what Bianca would want.”
“What does she want?” he asked Derek.
“I’m not sure she knows herself,” Derek said. “It would be easier if Jose were still around to talk to. I think what hurts her the most is she never got closure.”
“I agree. Jose left behind a mess and we’re all still dealing with the wreckage,” he said.
“True. Will we see you before you leave for Melbourne?”
“Yes, I’m hoping to come home when Bianca gives birth and mix that with a training session that Moretti is sending me to Austin for,” Inigo said.
He hung up a minute later and turned back to see Dante standing there. “So, how’s things with your sister and Marielle?”
“Not good. The press keeps running the picture of that kiss even though we haven’t seen each other in a while. Bianca is upset by it and I can’t do more than walk away. Everything is a damn mess.”
“Did you walk away?” Dante asked.
“Reluctantly,” Inigo admitted. “Why?”
Dante shrugged. “I might have said something in the bar the other night about Jose and Mari and your sister.”
“What do you mean might have?” he asked. This didn’t sound good.
“I can’t recall the entire night. I remember someone asking me about Mari and I know I said something about the stuff you told me when you were talking about revenge. Dude, I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t screw up royally.”
“Hell.”
“I know.”
“Listen, whatever happens, it’s on me. I shouldn’t have been talking to you about it,” Inigo said. He owned his mistakes, unlike Jose who’d just run from them as fast as he could.
“You trusted me,” Dante said. “I should have had your back.”
He nodded and just turned away. “Want to talk about racing instead of women?”
“Yes. In fact, I think from now I’ll stick to cars. I understand them much better than women.”
Dante just patted him on the shoulder and led the way back into the building to talk about the setup for the car.
Inigo spent the afternoon trying to concentrate on driving in the simulator, but his heart wasn’t in it.
He thought about the pain in Derek’s voice and the hurt he might cause Marielle if he didn’t figure it all out.
He realized he’d looked at love like a child.
He’d thought he could play around with a complex woman and walk away unscathed, never realizing that he could be hurt by this too.
He finished his laps, and his time was slightly improved, but not enough to make him or Keke happy. Marco was due back tomorrow, and everyone was on edge, wanting to see some major improvement from him.
He got in his car and drove not toward his house in the city but out toward the Hamptons. He needed an escape, but he knew that the road wouldn’t take him away from the weight that was heavy on his shoulders.
He turned around at the first exit and headed back toward New York. The traffic was heavy, and by the time he parked his car in the garage under the building, he was irritated with himself and with Marielle. If she’d been willing to meet him part way, this wouldn’t have happened.
He walked into the lobby and saw the paparazzi waiting. Some of them were stringers for online gossip websites like TMZ and E! They wanted a story, and were out for blood.
“Is it true that you are involved with Jose Ruiz’s mistress?”
Inigo froze, staring at the man who’d asked the question. How had he known? Marielle had never been named in the press. Dante had said he had mentioned it at a bar when he was drunk...who had he been talking to?
“It’s Marielle Bisset, right?” the reporter persisted.
“I can’t—”