Page 105

“Finally someone is making this understandable.”

“She actually knows what she’s talking about.”

“Need her on every race weekend.”

“I love not having racing mansplained to me.”

“Women in sports!!!”

I stared at the screen, almost numb. Andrea watched me carefully. Emotion climbed unexpectedly into my throat.

Because people loved to assume women in motorsport were decoration first, that we were there to look pretty beside cars driven by men. Every mistake got scrutinized twice as hard. Every success got questioned. I had spent years trying to prove I deserved to take up space in this world before it was all taken away. In a way, I felt so behind, all that life spent proving my worth whirled away by not being able to race again.

“You know what the funniest part is?” Andrea grinned suddenly.

“What?”

“The comments are half race strategy and half people thirsting over your tension with Theo.”

I immediately dropped my head onto the desk with a groan. “No.”

“Yes.” Andrea was dying laughing now. “Apparently the internet thinks you want to kill each other, and there are these edits being made of you two when you were rivals. You guys were seriously competitive.”

I muttered into the desk, “Unfortunately accurate.”

Andrea gasped loudly, “Tell me everything.”

Before I could stop her, she launched into dramatic kicking-her-feet squealing while I threatened to end the call.

“The theories are absolutely insane, but I want to know from the source, babes!”

My phone buzzed again beside me.

Theo:

Sebastian says you’re blushing at your laptop.

Should I be concerned?

I stared at the text in disbelief, then looked up to see Sebastian sitting by the bar sipping on a coffee. He smirked and gave me a little wave to which I replied with a roll of the eyes.

Maisey:

Your brother is a narc.

Theo:

You should confront the traitor.

A pause.

Then another message appeared.

Theo:

Miss you already.

My heart absolutely betrayed me.