Chapter 4
Savi was all dressed up in her Revolution Racing race suit and she felt like a million bucks, even if she’d had to abandon the cowboy boots for the day to meet health and safety standards.
The adrenaline that had been coursing through her veins since she woke up that morning only heightened when Jesse’s name appeared on her phone screen for the first time all week in bold, white letters, her favourite photo of him staring back at her.
‘Hi, baby.’ His deep, gravelly tone sent shivers down her spine. ‘How’s my superstar?’
‘I’m good, better now I finally get to hear your voice.’
‘You can hear my voice any time you turn on a country music station on the radio, darlin’.’
‘You know that’s not my Jesse, that’s the Jesse Montalvo the rest of the world gets access to. The shiny, polished version.’
‘Ah, yeah, I forget you like it rough.’ She could practically hear the smirk in his tone, and she went weak at the knees.
Jesse Montalvo, her secret boyfriend of four years, was a global country music sensation.
Born and raised in Story, Wyoming, just twenty minutes away from Sheridan, he was one of few people who had ever made it out of the state and been launched into stardom before he could legally drink. Savi was close behind him.
He was touring North America, so he’d been singing love songs to everyone but her and she had been wrapped up in pre-race season preparation.
They hadn’t seen each other for four months, and there was only so much they could do over video calls and texts.
It had been four years of hiding in the shadows and pursuing their dreams, the trials and tribulations of a long-distance relationship still not quite destroying that spark they’d had when they first met.
Even now when there was so much pressure on her shoulders, he was there as her safety net, reminding her where she came from and how hard she had worked to get there. If anyone could make her believe she deserved this, it was him.
‘How’s the tour going?’ She never liked the answer to that question.
He always told her how incredible it was to do something he was so passionate about, and she knew what that was like.
That wasn’t the problem. The problem was she had never been part of his world, and he had never been part of hers.
Not when it came to work. It always left a bitter taste in her mouth.
‘Well, I get a whole two weeks off come Sunday morning…’ His voice trailed off like he was more annoyed than happy about that.
‘Since when?!’
‘Since the arena in South Carolina got flooded and we had to reschedule. My stupid ass donated thirty grand to help fix it and now they’re not sure they can fit me into their schedule, so I’m gonna have to find a new venue and do a show later this month. Sucks for the fans.’
‘It was out of your hands, Jess.’ She imagined they would feel how motorsport fans felt when a race got red-flagged. She’d driven in a few of those, and it was never a nice feeling.
‘Mm. Anyway, I mentioned it because I want to fly you out during your break. It’s such a long one. You, me, two weeks in the mountains. Potentially a quick trip to Nashville if I can get security sorted out in time. I want to celebrate your first race with you since I can’t be there.’
‘I would love that.’
‘How about I send a jet to pick you up from Brussels tomorrow evening? You can fly overnight, and I’ll have someone meet you at the airport and bring you right to me.’
‘Can’t you come and get me yourself?’ she pouted, thankful that he couldn’t see her.
She didn’t like to seem ungrateful, but she was tired of being ferried around by his security team.
She just wanted to sit in the passenger seat of his truck, and she could only do that at home in Wyoming.
Except they rarely went back there together these days, because locals liked to talk.
‘You know it’s not that simple, baby. Tell you what, I’ll wait on the side of the road a few miles away from the airport, security can drop you to me and you can switch cars. Then we can road trip into the mountains together.’
‘To your cabin, right?’
‘Exactly.’
She couldn’t help but smile at that. The journey to Jesse’s cabin was stunning, if not a bit treacherous as you got closer. They had spent many days holed up in there, away from prying eyes and soaking up their time together before one of them inevitably had to leave.
Sometimes she liked being a secret, but on days like today, she wanted him here. She wanted to run into his arms when she crossed the finish line, but as the years went on, she started to doubt if he would ever be willing to expose their relationship to the public.
He’d always told her that when he got down on one knee, the whole world would know about it. But the idea of marriage hadn’t been mentioned for over a year now, and she wasn’t sure it was on the cards with the direction their lives were heading in.
‘I can’t wait to see you, Jess.’
‘Me too, Sav. It feels like forever. And so much has changed for us both, this trip is definitely needed. I just want to hold you in my arms and enjoy you.’ She sat there grinning like a lovesick idiot as he spoke.
‘Text me when you get out of the car safely, okay?’ That was their rule.
He texted her after his shows and she texted him after every race.
Not a day on this tour had gone by where she hadn’t woken up to a message from him, even if it was a whiskey-influenced outpouring of love in the form of a voice message.
‘I will. And I will see you in less than forty-eight hours.’
‘See you soon. Good luck, Superstar.’
‘Back at you.’
She would never tire of him calling her that.
In her eyes, he was the superstar. His fame was on a totally different level to hers.
But she had her own fans, and he was up there as one of the biggest along with her family.
Her brother especially. Speaking of, he was still waiting for his own phone call, and she didn’t have much time to spare.
‘Nice of you to show up!’ Weston huffed before his face came into view.
‘Sorry, I was talking to Jesse. What’s up?’ She flipped him off as he fake-gagged at the mention of the country singer he hated most of all.
‘What’s up?! My baby sister is about to do her first race as a rookie for one of the biggest racing teams in motorsport history, that’s what’s up!’ He cheered like a rowdy frat boy, threatening to deafen her and making her phone’s speaker crackle.
‘Wes! My ears!’ she laughed. ‘Damn, you’re louder than my race car.’
‘Hi, honey!’ Her mum appeared behind him, leaning down to Weston’s level and beaming into the camera, albeit way too close. Their parents weren’t the best with technology which was a real pain when Savi was thousands of miles away most of the year.
‘Hi, Ma. How’s it going?’ She shook her head as Wes had to physically wheel away from her, so her head was no longer blocking him from Savi’s view.
‘Weston has set the television up with his computer plugged in so we can watch your race!’
‘Think I finally convinced them to get a bigger TV, you can thank me later.’ Wes winked.
‘Send me a link to the one you want, and I’ll order it.’
‘Shut up.’ Wes rolled his eyes and changed the topic, listing all the snacks they had got to watch the race with.
Better hope the livestream didn’t cut out.
Any time Savi tried to buy things for Weston’s benefit, he got cagey.
He hated it. Hated that he couldn’t afford small luxuries like he used to and that his little sister had to help him out, but Savi wouldn’t see him go without the things he needed or wanted.
‘Where’s Dad?’ Savi frowned, realising he hadn’t joined them.
‘Oh, he’s sorry he couldn’t join in on the call! He’s just out with the horses, Mocha got out again so he’s securing the fence.’
‘Does the fence need replacing, Ma?’
‘Not yet!’ She said it with enthusiasm, but Savi knew she was sugar-coating it.
Their horses were their babies, they couldn’t be escaping on the daily.
She mentally added it to her list of tasks.
It was better to just send someone to the ranch to fix it without warning than for Savi to send money that her family wouldn’t want to accept.
‘You’d better get moving, Sav. We just wanted to wish you luck with your race.’ Weston wheeled back towards their mum.
‘Yes, good luck! You’ll smash it.’ She blew a kiss. ‘Oh! Wait, not literally!’
‘Thanks guys, I’ll call you after!’
‘Ma, you can’t say that when she’s about to careen a race car–’
Savi cut them off and sat back on the sofa, absorbing the few moments of silence she always allowed herself before she got in the car.
This was her pre-race ritual. Some drivers meditated, some worked out, some gathered in their teams, but Savi spoke to her loved ones, gave herself two minutes of me-time and then got back out there.
She left the trailer and headed into the garage, trying not to get upset over the fact Miko and Kodie had their families here today and her own family couldn’t be with her.
Weston couldn’t travel all that way easily, and her parents stayed behind to care for him, and Jesse, well he just couldn’t show his face in a place like this.
‘Savannah.’ Marco rushed up to her before she’d even got over the threshold. ‘Got something to show you.’
‘Okay…’ She reluctantly let him lead her to his side of the double garage with his hands covering her eyes. She didn’t like this.
‘Ta da!’ He moved his hands, and Savi opened her eyes to none other than her dad standing there with his arms open wide. Out with the horses . Of course she’d fallen for that.
‘Dad!’ she squealed, jumping into his arms. Just as well he still had the whole lumberjack thing going on at the age of fifty-six and could support her weight. ‘How did you get here?’
‘On a plane.’ He spun her round, her hair flying out behind her.