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“Is that what you would do if someone hurt your wife?” My question grips his focus in an instant. His blue eyes flash to mine, narrowed and pensive.
“Be smart.” Tapping his temple, he backs away, heading toward his team’s base.
Smart? Smart would’ve been rejecting Natalya when she first approached me. It would’ve been walking away instead of fucking her.
“Smart isn’t going to do shit now,” I mutter at the ground, ignoring the twist of my gut and how it causes my heart to pound harder.
Anger, panic, and the desperation to make up for failing Rosie so bad. The guilt is killing me, and it doesn’t matter what I try to do to fix it, I’m at a dead end. She’s been hurt in every way—physically, emotionally.
“Go back to the hotel,” Murph says, his hand resting on my shoulder, sympathy softening the morose expression on his face. “Try and get your shit together so you can think straight. We’ll be lucky if the FIA lets us drive this weekend after the way you and Schneider have conducted yourselves, but we’ll live in the hope.”
“The FIA, the weekend…they don’t matter, Murph.”
“Remember what you told me when you started with Ignite?” He gives me a weak smile. “We’re not just a team. Ignite is your team. It’s your legacy. It matters to you.”
“She matters more.” Until her, I had everything, but it was nothing. “Rosie matters more.”
“Focus on her, then,” he tells me before focusing his attention on Dad. “We’re going to have to sweet talk Schneider. We’re going to have a hard time renewing his contract after this. We’ve basically handed him over to the bidders.”
Leaving them behind, I head back to the car. Exhausted and unable to think straight, there’s no other option than to wait for Dad. In the meantime, I scroll through the notifications on my phone until I find Parker’s missed call. He said he’d look into the leaked hotel footage, so maybe he has some news on that front.
“Brody,” he answers on the first ring. “The police are here.”
“Is Rosie okay? What’s happening?” When I left she was in tears, but she seemed fine.
There’s a beat of silence before he tells me, “She wants to press charges.”
“Good.” I’m glad Rosie’s fighting back.
“Once the police leave, the doctor is discharging Rosie.”
“It’s too soon.” How can they release her so soon when she was unconscious not even thirteen hours ago?
The image of her collapsing in front of me haunts me again. So pale and weak. She couldn’t hold herself up. She shouldn’t be leaving the hospital so soon.
“Her vitals have been stable for the last six hours, Brody. Rosie isn’t a danger to herself or others.”
“What if she gets sick again, I—”
“She’s stable and they’ve checked her liver function to make sure that there’s no great risk of long-term damage. She’s okay.” Parker’s confidence in his words gives me pause. Albeit under different circumstances, he’s been here, and it shows in his calm. “The best place for her to be right now is with family and in surroundings that aren’t constantly reminding her of what’s happened. She needs rest, Brody.”
“She needs to go home.” The conclusion reaches me with no further leading by him.
“Any other time…” he murmurs with a disbelieving lull to his words. “Any other time, I would’ve said different. But I know Rosie, and I know how close she is to her family. Summer is keeping her afloat for now, but…”
“I know. I know, and I’ll start getting things ready to fly her back to Silverbell.”
“What about the race?” Parker asks with surprise. “Surely you can’t just leave? I can take care of getting her back home. I think Summer would want to be there for her too, so—”
“No, Parker. Rosie’s mine. She’s my girl, and I can’t let her go right now. I won’t let her out of my sight again.” The frustrated pang in my chest affirms my statement. “I’m waiting for my dad and we’ll be heading back to the hospital.”
“The police are still in the room with her.”
“Don’t leave her in there alone,” I snap quickly.
“Summer and Louise are in there with her.”
“Good, Louise’s Spanish is good enough to translate and understand if need be.”
