It’s quite moving, if he says so himself.
“It’s sad to be losing one of our own, but I’m happy to say, we have good news as well!”
Matt barely manages to catch himself before stepping forward. Good news? For who?
“I am proud to announce that our very own Robert Miller has accepted a three-year long contract extension!” Sylvain starts clapping and the rest of the team joins in, whooping and cheering as the giant idiot emerges. “Would you like to say a few words?”
“Well, shucks. Y’all’re makin’ me blush.” Robert laughs and waves at the team until they quiet down.
Matt wants to scream.
“I’m mighty proud’a what we accomplished last year.”
He shouldn’t be. He was sixteenth in the championship.
“And I’m a-ready t’keep on buildin’ this team up until we got that big ole championship trophy in our hands!”
The crowd goes wild, as it always doeswhenever Robert speaks. He’s tall and broad, with a symmetrical face, blond hair, and syrupy voice that makes people want to stop and take notice.
Not that Matt has ever stopped or noticed. Not specifically.
He’s just an observant person.
Sylvain claps and says, “That’s all I wanted to gather y’all for.”
He never uttered a single ‘y’all’ before Robert joined the team. He used to poke fun at Matt for saying it until the beefcake showed up.
The same Texan accent—born and bred in the same small town—just doesn't seem quite as vogue when Matt is the one speaking.
“Get back to work. Pre-race meeting in twenty—usual place.”
The meeting goes about as well as it usually does, right up until the lead strategist says, “Matthew, we’d like for you to support Robert during the race.”
“Wait.” Maybe Matt heard him wrong. “Support? But I’m starting ahead of him.”
It’s the third race of the year and the second time he’s outqualified his teammate. Two to one. He’s keeping score.
“When it’s safe to do so, we’d like for you to swap places and defend him from behind.”
“But—?” Matt looks around the room, but even his own race engineer won’t meet his eyes. “Why?”
Because Robert is the golden child. Always has been, always will be.
“Our data shows Robert will be stronger on a track like this. We don’t want to cause a scene by having the two of you fight it out—especially if we can’t count on you to race cleanly.”
Matt isn’t the one who has a problemracing cleanly. Unlikesomedrivers, Matt knows the dimensions and limitations of his own car.
Hang on.
“Faster on a—?!But haven’t I already proven I’m faster on this track? That’s the whole point of qualifying!”
“Matthew.”
That’s the tone people use when they’re tired of Matt talking. He hears it a lot.
“These are the team orders. We’re looking at the bigger picture.”
‘The bigger picture’is just a photo of Robert. Probably a billboard ad from one of his many sponsors.
