Chapter 33
thirty-three
LOS ANGELES, CA
Watching the Vegas race alone on her couch had been extraordinarily depressing.
At least Teddy had continued his second-half of the season hot streak, earning another third-place finish, and Zack had come in second.
A double podium again. But, no one swept Avery off her feet for a kiss this time.
Heck, no one had even given her a high five.
She refused to let herself wallow and watch all alone again, so two weeks later she’d invited herself over to Ben and Adam’s house to watch the following race.
Avery settled into the leather camel-colored sofa in their media room as best she could.
It was not the most comfortable piece of furniture imaginable.
The cushions were a bit overstuffed and there was no give under her, but she was grateful for the company.
She didn’t want to watch another race alone in her apartment, shouting at the TV in her sweatpants.
Well, she was still wearing sweatpants, but at least she wasn’t alone.
“Will you turn up the volume, Ben?” Avery asked her brother, passing him a touchscreen remote with approximately 1200 buttons and options. “I still can’t figure this thing out. Why can’t you guys have a normal TV remote like everyone else?”
“Here, give it to me,” he reached over and grabbed it, ticking up the volume. “See, it’s not that hard. And can your TV do this?”
Avery rolled her eyes as the custom shades automatically rolled down, blocking out the sun and turning Ben and Adam’s multimedia room as dark as a movie theater.
She’d been so busy running from meeting to meeting that it should have been easy to not think about racing, about Teddy. She’d been burning the candle at both ends, and she should have been able to fall asleep the second her head hit her pillow at night.
But everywhere she went, there he was. The gold rimmed plates she’d selected for the tables?
They were the golden flecks in his eyes when he smiled his real smile at her.
The Silver Racing logo on the event website?
The baseball cap he’d worn the first time they met at the track.
The holiday plaids in store windows? His helmet. His pajama pants.
“Want a drink?” Adam asked. He motioned to the glass fronted fridge on one side of the room that was stocked with several flavors of sparkling waters, sodas, hard seltzers, and beers.
“I would, but I don’t want to have to get up and pee during the race,” Avery replied.
Another reason she couldn’t exactly watch the race with friends, none of them would understand the intensity with which she and her family watched a race.
There was no side chit-chat, no bathroom breaks, the only talking a Silver would do during a race would be nuanced strategy analysis or an emphatic cheer or groan.
“Ok, here we go,” Ben shushed his husband and sister as the five lights above the track turned red one by one. The mood was tense: Teddy was starting ninth, Zack sixth. Super disappointing after back-to-back double podiums.
Avery bit the inside of her cheek. Teddy sure had his work cut out for him just to stay in the top ten.
His old teammate on Alpha Fuerte was lined up next to him in tenth, and Cody was right behind them in the eleventh spot in his Archer.
It would take some real defensive driving to keep those two behind him and earn a few points for the team today.
She sat up a little straighter, the leather squeaking underneath her.
She could feel adrenaline course through her, like it did at the start of every race.
She’d been doing that her whole life. She was grateful that she couldn’t see Teddy’s face on the screen, it might have sent her over the edge.
With his face hidden beneath a helmet, she could almost forget that the boy who had broken her heart was the one behind the wheel.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. The lights turned red one by one, and then it was lights out.
The two cars in the front row: Ferrari and Phoenix, battled for first place, with the second place Ferrari pulling ahead for a strong start.
She knew that it would only be a matter of time before the Phoenix took back the lead, but it was still impressive.
Now, if only they would show the cars in mid-field, so she could see how Teddy and Zack had done.
Had either of them managed to gain a position or two at the first corner?
Finally, the TV camera zoomed out, showing the full grid from above.
Avery saw Cody’s Archer go straight up the middle of the track, trying to squeeze between Teddy and the Alpha Fuerte.
Risky? Yes. Ambitious? Also, yes. But if he pulls it off…
I’ll be impressed, even if it puts Teddy at a disadvantage.
She looked over to Ben, who wrinkled his nose at her in silent agreement.
The track became blurry, multiple plumes of dark gray smoke shooting into the air, making it hard to see what was going on.
Avery sucked in some air through her teeth, her hand flying to her chest. Yikes.
Had Cody misjudged the space down the middle and made contact with one of the other cars?
Two cars spun out of the melee in opposite directions, sparks flying, the sound of crunching metal so loud that the TV cameras were able to pick it up and broadcast it. Avery held her breath, Archer orange spinning to the left, and the Alpha Fuerte stopped in the gravel on the right.
Where’s Teddy?
Then out of the smoke, another car went careening across the track, wheels up, like a turtle on its back. It kept going across the asphalt on its shell, leaving a trail of white-hot sparks in its wake.
Oh , no, no. Avery gasped.
Please don’t let it be Teddy.
“Someone is upside down. This looks bad,” a British voice announced through the TV screen.
“I think it’s Teddy Ross,” the other commentator announced.
Avery jumped up from her seat and heard a shrill, desperate scream from somewhere.
Oh wait, did that scream come from my throat?
Teddy. She could no longer pretend it was simply another driver inside that blue Silver, it was Teddy, her Teddy.
She covered her eyes with her hands, but simultaneously wanted to deny that this was really happening, but couldn’t look away.
As she peaked through her fingers, she saw the upside down Silver skid over the gravel.
She shuddered. Okay, the gravel will slow it down, and then the tire barrier is right there to stop it.
She tried to relieve the pressure in her chest by breathing, but she could only manage a short inhale before…
No. Oh my god.
The car didn’t stop at the barriers, instead it went airborne, cartwheeling in the air before it finally came to a stop on its side, on top of the barrier, wedged up next to a fence, Avery’s heart stopping with it.
“No, no, no.” This can’t be happening. Avery’s body shook so hard that she wasn’t sure her legs would be able to keep holding her up.
“Oh my god, is he alive? Is he okay in there?” Suddenly, it no longer mattered that he hadn’t wanted a committed relationship; their connection had still been real.
Her feelings for him were so real. She’d take back everything for the chance to see him again.
She looked over to Ben, who looked aghast, his mouth hanging open.
Emergency personnel and race stewards ran at full speed in the direction of the car, and the driver inside, climbing and clambering up the barrier to provide assistance. The announcers were eerily quiet as they too watched in horror from the press box.
“Go! Get him out of there,” she shouted at the stewards through the television.
She felt Ben come and put his arm around her shoulder, trying to steady her, and heard Adam’s voice on the phone trying to reach her dad or someone in Miami.
Avery thought she might be having an out-of-body experience.
It all felt a little far away, like she was watching her hands quiver from above.
Ben didn’t say anything to her, simply gently led her to sit back down on the couch, and rubbed her back.
She’d never experienced shock before, was this what it felt like?
Avery sat and stared at the TV screen, the sound of her thumping heart filling her ears.
She tried to breathe, tried to focus on the feeling of Ben sitting solidly beside her, his hand on her back.
The cameras kept a respectful distance from the crash scene, and Avery couldn’t see much except the backs of suits as they worked to free Teddy.
The announcers finally broke their silence, filling the empty air time with platitudes like “You never want to see a crash like that,” and “We’re waiting for any indication or news, and will share more as soon as we are able,” but Avery barely registered what they were saying.
Their voices sounded like they were a million miles away.
Finally, one of the race marshals who had rushed over to Teddy’s car to give aid turned to the camera and gave a thumbs-up.
Avery’s lungs finally allowed her to exhale a gasping, audible breath.
Okay, he must be alive, he must be conscious in there.
She felt a primal urge to go to him, to hold him, and tell him it would be okay.
She imagined herself sprinting from the Silver team garage to reach him, but obviously she couldn’t do that from her utterly useless location on the couch.