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I was almost used to this. If you were a NASCAR fan, you inevitably knew my name. Mostly because Buck’s death, and the resulting blow-up, had been big news for a while. But I didn’t offer him any more than that, because I just wanted to forget that period of my life, before the other shoe had dropped.
Fuck, it was basically raining shoes at this point.
Someone came running up, holding an envelope that was bulging with cash, tackling Jesse around the back and slapping the winnings into his chest, forcing Jesse to grab it. “That was fucking amazing! You smoked that Porsche right at the—” His head snapped up at my gasp, and I met the eyes of a guy I didn’t think I’d ever see again. “Tally?”
“Hey, Hayes.”
Shit. I didn’t need this blast from the past right now.
His gaze ran over my body, snagging at my belly, and I mentally cursed. Was it too late to put my fire suit back on? His eyes went comically wide, and I could see the flash of headlights in their deep blue depths.
“You’re pregnant?”
THREE
TALLY
Every set of eyes in our small group fell to my waist. Willy stumbled back like I’d shot him, and Jesse seemed more perplexed than anything. I hadn’t even thought anything of it. It wasn’t like I was carrying a watermelon down there. I was barely showing at all, which is why I’d had no fucking idea until this week. Hell, I didn’t know how Hayes could even tell. The doctors had called it a cryptic pregnancy. I called it a kick in the uterus—quite literally.
“Yep. I’d appreciate it if you kept that to yourself.” I didn’t know if he was still working for Ryclo, but mechanics gossiped nearly as much as a knitting circle.
I was worried if word got back to Brick Willtot that I was possibly knocked up with his grandchild, I was in for a world of trouble. Even the thought made my blood turn to ice. He was rich, powerful, and grief-stricken. I was a nobody, with a dangerous job and no support system. If he tried to take the baby in court, I’d stand no fucking chance.
So I was going to lie out my ass. “Five months along. I made some mistakes after… everything.” I could have a baby a month early. It happened a lot. Let them think that my baby was from a seedy one-night stand.
I should have known Willy wouldn’t drop it. “Who’s the father?”
Lie, lie, lie. “Some loser I met in a bar while I was drowning my sorrows. Also, none of anyone’s damn business. It’s mine, and that’s all that matters.” Willy’s eyes promised this wasn’t over, but he dropped it.
But the question had drawn Hayes’s focus to Willy. “Who are you?”
“Will Love. Tally’s friend.” He basically chewed on the word friend; that was how much emphasis he put on it. His tone suggested we were way more than friends, and that, ladies and gentleman, was the reason I’d never gotten any dates in high school.
They eyed each other up and down, like they were going to brawl. Finally, Hayes gave a sniff. “Can’t be too good a friend if you couldn’t tell she was pregnant. It’s obvious as shit to anyone who’s spent any time with her.”
I sighed and rolled my eyes to the heavens. “Neither of you have ever seen me naked, so you can stop the damn posturing.” Jesse laughed, and I was glad one of us was enjoying the moment. “What the hell are you doing here, Hayes?”
My old mechanic shrugged. “Same thing you’re probably doing here—answering the call-out in Palo Alto. I thought while I was in town, I’d catch up with Jesse. We’re friends from way back.”
I blinked dumbly at him. “Uh, I’m here because I need the prize money, so I don’t have to raise my kid in a mold-infested roach hotel.”
Jesse frowned at my words. “You really don’t know? It’s been the talk of the industry for the last couple of months.”
I swallowed down the ache in my chest that came from knowing I’d lost my dreams. Someone had stolen them away, and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly on the Christmas card list anymore.”
Rage flashed across Hayes’s face. “I know. I left Ryclo soon after you. I couldn’t give everything to a team who’d do that shit to one of its drivers. I told Ryker where he could shove it. I’ve drifted around for a couple of months, but when VANT Enterprises announced they wanted to get into racing—particularly open-wheel—well, I wanted in. They have the money and the drive to do big things.”
His passion was a mirror of my own, or it had been, up until a few months ago. Now he was talking about a dream I no longer had a place in.
I pasted a smile on my face. “Sounds great. IndyCar? Or Formula racing?” I’d never driven anything but stock cars at a competitive level, but if it went vroom-vroom around a track, I was here for it.
And just like that, we were back to being coworkers, as Hayes told me all about VANT’s supposed trajectory. IndyCar first, then maybe try and petition the FIA for a team status, perhaps buy out an existing team and rebrand it.
I ate up his words, even as my heart broke. Hayes had always been as passionate about motorsports as I’d been, and one of the few people on the team who used to sit and talk with me about it like we were buddies, not like they thought I was just a novelty to appease the fans.
The only other person who’d talked like that with me had been Buck. But Buck was dead.
A sleek red Ferrari pulled into the lot, and to say it turned heads would be an understatement. People stopped and watched as it purred past them. It was like a beautiful woman walking down a catwalk—you held your breath until they were gone from sight once more.
