“What? No!” he yells, hauling me closer. “Don’t ever think that. I’m just annoyed they went behind my back like this. We are supposed to be a family.”
“I know.” I sink into his arms. “It’s going viral, apparently. We are going to have to release a statement or something.”
“I know. I’ll get with HR and the PR team and figure something out,” Noah says. “We didn’t do anything wrong. It’s fine.”
Leaning back, I eye him, the words choking me.
“What is it?” he asks.
“I don’t think we should confirm our relationship to them.”
He blinks and drops his hands from my shoulders, so I grab them, not wanting him to feel hurt. “I won’t lie, nor will I hide our relationship,” Noah argues.
“I’m not asking you to lie or hide it. I’m telling you I won’t let you jeopardize everything you have built. The world isn’t ready for us, and that sucks, and I hate it, but it’s the truth, so we’ll tell them it isn’t true for now.” When he goes to speak, I add, “Until we win this championship, and then nobody could dare say anything against us. We will prove we can date and race at the same time. Noah, as much as I want to say this doesn’t change anything, it does. Sponsors will pull out. We’ll be slandered online and lose fans. Until the world can accept we can do both, we should keep this private—just for now.”
“I won’t hurt you like that,” he protests.
“It doesn’t hurt me, as long as we and the people we care for know the truth,” I assure him as I kiss each of his hands. “You’ve protected me for so long. Now it’s my turn to protect you, okay?”
“Fuck, I hate this,” he admits as he tugs me into his arms and holds me.
“Me too,” I murmur, “but it isn’t forever, just for now.”
“I’ll probably have to do an interview,” he grumbles, making me smile as he blows out a breath and buries his head in my shoulder. “When I do, and when I say something along the lines of Mackie is nothing more to me than one of my best racers, I want you to know I mean the opposite. You are everything to me.”
“I know that already,” I assure him as I pull back and cup his face. “This doesn’t change anything, okay? I’m not mad, and I need you to understand that. This is just the best option for now.”
He nods, but he’s unhappy about it, so I kiss him softly. “I love you,” I tell him, and he shudders in my arms, holding me tighter as he kisses me.
“I love you too,” he rasps when he pulls back, “more than anything, more than this garage, more than racing. You are my only priority, Mackie, and I need you to know that. I’m only doing this because you’re asking. I want to tell the world, fuck the consequences, but I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Good.” I smirk. “I’ll remember that for later tonight.”
He groans as I laugh, pulling away as I take his hand. “Now, let’s go out there and tell the team. They are all probably scared shitless.”
“You aren’t scared of me,” he rumbles.
“Nope, but everyone else is,” I reply as I straighten his jumpsuit. “I always knew you would never hurt me. Everyone else? Maybe, but not me.”
“Too right.” He nods, holding my hand as I tug him out of the office and into the garage. Everyone is hard at work, quiet and purposely not looking at us—all but Skylar, who’s bent over the table, doing something. Noah and I share a look. It’s never good when he’s quiet or focused, so we walk over and lean in to see what’s going on.
“What are you doing, Skylar?” Noah asks.
“Designing us a new logo,” he murmurs as he doodles on a sheet of paper, his tongue stuck between his teeth in concentration.
I look at Noah, who blinks. “What’s wrong with our current logo?” he asks, confused.
“It doesn’t suit us anymore. Look.” He presents the paper proudly as we stare at it, and I have to bite back my laugh.
“Garage of Gays . . . What the fuck, Skylar? The car is a rainbow with a bedazzled dick on the hood!” Noah groans.
“More fitting, don’t you think?” he asks hopefully.
Noah gives me a look and then turns and walks away, heading to the rest of the team.
“Besides, we aren’t all gay,” I add to Skylar. “Michael’s straight.”
“Michael.” Sky sounds extremely serious. “I’m very disappointed.”
