AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cheers erupt when I get on the yacht. Champagne is spraying all around me from every angle, and with every step I take in the crowd, the music gets louder until it’s filling the night air with its energetic beat.
“How does it feel to be World Champion?” my father asks when I reach the heart of the celebration.
“Better than the last time, I guess…”
“You guess?” The team principal asks with a wry smirk. “Three years straight, and you guess?”
“It feels great, Murph, but it’ll feel even greater next season.”
“That’s my boy,” Dad toasts, shaking up the magnum of champagne in his hands and holding it over our heads. “Here’s to another great ride!”
I toast to that. Great rides are what I live for. Nothing beats the rumble of a powerful engine. Nothing compares to the heat of it during a race or the sweat that soaks the suit for that hour and a half. My body and mind are pushed to every limit, pushed and pulled every which way. It’s sweet torture. An ache that taunts and spurs. It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of. All that I’m made of. What I was born to be.
Pushing through the celebratory throng, I find the bar. While the bartender serves my sparkling water with a slice of lime and some mint, I take stock of the guests. A wide smile greets me when I turn back to the bar.
“Congratulations,” the girl says, big catlike eyes watching me intently. When I don’t reply, she fusses with her long, dark blonde tresses. Winding them around her hand as she turns to the bartender and orders herself one of whatever I’m having.
I’m certain she’ll be disappointed once she gets her drink. She looks like a model, and the deep pink tinge on her tongue when she licks her lips tells me that she’s already been drinking the popular fruity cocktail like most of the other female guests. It makes her reaction to her first sip of sparkling water amusing to watch. Confusion and surprise tug at her brows as she takes another longer pull before her eyes flash up to mine.
“Water?”
“I don’t drink,” I tell her, taking a leisurely sip of my water.
“Aren’t you a good boy?” The haughty tone of her remark is unmistakably salacious with the suggestive lick of her lips that follows.
“I don’t fuck drunk girls, either.”
When I straighten to my full height, she does the same so that we’re eye to eye when she states, “I’m not drunk.”
A manicured hand presses to my chest before her body comes flush to mine. Her lips aren’t exactly plump and promising, but her confidence is. Girls like her always work hard to please because they’re desperate to be kept around for their fifteen minutes of fame. I’m not that guy, though. I’ll fuck and be done with her before she opens her eyes in the morning. Baggage isn’t my thing, and I don’t need the unnecessary distraction relationships bring. I have one relationship in my life; my ride.
Pulling my keycard from my back pocket, I hold it between us. As I expected, she’s quick to grab it, and when I don’t let go, she gives it a firm tug.
“Get naked,” I tell her plainly. “Wait on the couch.”
“On the couch?” The quizzical look she gives me is cute, not enough to endear her to me, though.
Leaning in, I whisper in her ear, “The thing you sit on…Google it.”
Taking a step back, I release the keycard and search the crowd for my assistant. Once I’ve fulfilled the photo opportunities for the sponsors tonight, I’ll be out of here. I’ll get laid, and by the time my guest wakes up in the morning, I’ll be somewhere over the Atlantic, heading to London for Christmas. The likelihood of us seeing each other again is slim, if not none.
Six months later
“What the fuck was that out there?” Murph slams his office door shut, the ricochet threatening to implode the glass walls. When neither of us reply, he flips our caps off to get our full attention. “Can’t talk back now?”
“Why the fuck are you asking me?” I spit, my anger and frustration coming back to life as I glower back at him. “I did my fucking job out there…unlike this fucking clown.”
Connor laughs dryly, twisting to look at me. We’ve said nothing to each other since the end of the race. He knows he fucked up today, and I don’t have the patience to point it out to him if he’s too fucking stupid to see it.
“I’m a clown because I didn’t hand you pole?”
“You’re a clown because you actually thought you could hold me off.”
“God, you really are an entitled prick.”
“I’m what it takes to be a world champion, and you need to stay the fuck out of my way.”
A loud crash silences our argument as Murph flashes a scowl between the two of us. As pissed as he is, we both know I’m right. The team may have the strongest car, but any other driver in it wouldn’t come near to my success. Any other driver wouldn’t keep delivering the points the team needs to maintain its reigning champion status. I’m here because the best need the best. It’s a mutual convenience. For me and the team.
