Chapter 1
one
SAKHIR, BAHRAIN
Four months earlier
People moved around Avery in every direction, like a human beehive, or that famous intersection in Tokyo.
Her body buzzed along with the activity around her as if the crowd’s excitement was rising up from the asphalt and entering her body through her feet.
Or maybe it was the heat? A bead of sweat trickled down her neck, and she grabbed a ponytail holder from her wrist and pulled her long, jet-black, curly hair up into a messy bun on top of her head.
Was Bahrain always this hot in April? Avery had been to this race track before, but she didn’t remember the desert heat being quite this intense.
It was going to be a three shower kind of a day.
In exactly thirty-two minutes the first Formula One race of the season would be underway, and drivers were trying to make their way to their respective cars and garages while being mobbed by photographers, reporters, and VIP fans during the pre-race grid walk, one of her favorite race day traditions.
It was absolute chaos, but she relished every second of it.
Throngs of VIPs were taking selfies with the drivers and cars, thinking that the absurd amount of money they paid for grid walk access for ten minutes before the race entitled them to get in the way.
Avery cringed at the poor reporters, their shirts soaked through and stuck to their backs, and who were jamming microphones in celebrities’ faces, mostly being ignored by these noobs who didn’t actually know anything about the cars or the sport.
As much as she was enjoying taking in the spectacle, Avery needed to get back to the Silver Racing garage, where her dad, Michael Silver, the majority owner of the team, was waiting for her.
But her feet were glued to the ground beneath her as she took in the scene one last time as a fan before she had to report for duty as an official employee of the Silver Racing Charitable Foundation.
She hadn’t made it ten feet through the chaos before two huge dudes stopped in their tracks, blocking her path.
“Bro, that’s him, for sure,” she overheard one say. She stood on her tiptoes to see what they were looking at.
It was the Prince of Wales. Fair enough.
He and his cousin, an over-dressed princess, appeared to be giving their best wishes to Cody Davis, the rookie driver on the Archer team.
She reached into her bag for her phone to snap a picture since she didn’t see a photographer capturing the moment.
A million cameras and not one pointed at senior members of the British royal family? Weird.
“Cody, over here!” she yelled. They’d met a few times before.
Hopefully, he’d recognize her voice. He somehow managed to hear her over the blaring techno music and the roar of helicopters overhead, and posed, putting his arm around the princess.
Only a blonde-haired, blue-eyed American would be so bold as to casually embrace a bonafide princess.
She’d send the pic to Josh, who did PR for the Archer Automotive team, one of Silver’s rivals on track. He was standing behind the driver and royals, his brown skin glistening in the sunlight, and wouldn't have been able to get a pic from that angle.
Josh’s gray eyes lit up when we saw her, and she waved.
Josh and Avery had briefly dated for a semester in college after bonding over their obsession with motorsports.
They broke up when Josh graduated, but had remained good friends.
Her family’s introductions had helped him land his first job in the sport.
He managed to make his way over to her, nearly rubbing shoulders with the prince as he squeezed past.
“I got a pic of Cody with the royals for you,” she said proudly.
“Thanks! How are you? How was your off-season?” he asked.
“The usual, mostly,” Avery was grateful she didn’t have to explain what she meant by the ‘usual’ to Josh.
He knew she’d spent the time off with her family in Los Angeles.
My mom parading me around at holiday parties in front of Hollywood’s most eligible bachelors.
Even though they had been squarely in the “friend zone” for a long time, it didn’t seem right to share that bit of information.
“But, I do have one piece of news to report. My dad offered me a job opportunity I may or may not be qualified for,” she jiggled her new employee ID badge hanging from the lanyard around her neck.
He looked at the badge. “Director of Silver Charitable Foundation. Congratulations, you’ll be perfect for it,” he grinned. “And now we both get to work with young drivers whose reputations precede them. What do you make of your dad’s new young gun?”
Josh was referring to Teddy Ross, the driver that her dad and his partners had hired in the off-season.
“I’ve never spoken to him, so I don’t know,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I think everyone calling him the future of Formula 1 is a bit premature.”
Could he live up to the hype? Avery had seen so many promising drivers flame out after a season or two, so she wouldn’t get too excited yet.
Teddy would have to prove himself to her, and to everyone else, with results on track.
Especially because despite a successful rookie season the year prior on Alpha Fuerte, Teddy was infamous for an epic meltdown a few years ago that had cost him the championship in Formula Two, Formula One’s version of the minor leagues.
Regardless of his performance, she was grateful that she’d get to work with a new driver, one who would be able to see her as a professional, not just the kid who had been hanging around the garage for years, the way Teddy’s predecessor had.
That is, if she ever had a chance to have a real conversation with him.
He had the benefit of many years of media training, and in every interview she’d seen of him, he was perfectly polished, a master at skirting a reporter’s question, always giving an obviously rehearsed answer.
“I better go deal with that,” Josh nodded his head to reporters trying to get a last word from Cody before he slipped on his helmet and got into his car. “Good to see you, Aves,” he said quickly as he trotted off after his charge.
Avery knew she should hustle to the Silver garage with the race start drawing nearer, but she allowed herself to take a second, to breathe in the scent of the rubber and tar and sweat as a fan one last time.
Because today, as soon as she walked into the garage, everything would change.
Everyone would be counting on her to do real work, or at least she hoped so.
All eyes would be on her to see if she was up to the task, or if she was just another nepo-baby.