Page 107 of Dream Chaser

I swallowed my frustration, but its bitter aftertaste lingered. “Ask for some ibuprofen at reception and text me once you get there.”

She squeezed my forearm—a brief touch that seared through layers of clothes. “Okay, boss.”

Boss. That night, I’d been Ale.

Nova’s cab pulled up to the curb. I opened the door for her. “Text. Please,” I said as she slipped inside and buckled in.

She nodded.

The driver pulled away. I rubbed my chest absent-mindedly, watching the vehicle merge with the traffic as I readied myself to head back.

“Ale?”

My blood froze. That fucking voice. Seven years, and I’d recognize it anywhere.

Slowly, I turned toward my ex-boss and mentor. And like I once foolishly believed, friend.

“Ignacio.”

He stepped forward, one hand tucked in his pocket, a lit cigarette wedged between the fingers of the other. He must’ve been at the restaurant next door and gone out to smoke. Not that I cared what he was doing here.

“No has cambiado nada.” He took a drag. You haven’t changed at all.

Liar. I wasn’t the same.

Neither was he, but I chose not to comment on the gray at his temples and the web of new wrinkles around his sharp eyes.

They slid over me in an unnerving perusal. “You must be thrilled that your racer’s the New World champion. Congratulations.”

The racer he’d tried to steal. I nodded, my indifferent mask hopefully in place. “Thanks.”

He flicked ash onto the sidewalk. “I’ll be at the award ceremony. That’s why I’m in Valencia.”

“Good to know,” I said with a touch of boredom.

His dry chuckle rose over the hum of traffic, grating on my composure. “This isn’t going how I thought it would. Out of the two of us, I’m the one who should resent you. I didn’t leave you stranded.”

“You had a choice.” I crossed my arms, heart pounding. I couldn’t snap, no matter how hard he was trying to make me. “And you made the wrong one.”

I glanced at the restaurant’s entrance. I was taking too long.

Ignacio lifted a shoulder. “I saw the beauty who called you boss. Looks like I taught you well after all.”

I clenched my jaw. He winked, patting my bicep. “Disfruta de la noche, chaval.” Enjoy the night, boy.

A comeback froze on my tongue. I balled my hands into fists, swallowing every retort I didn’t have the fucking courage to say.

A corner of Ignacio’s thin lips hiked up. “See you at the award ceremony, Alejandrito.”

His old nickname for me. Only now it sounded condescending. He’d gotten under my skin. Always had.

I could say it wasn’t like that between us. I could deny kissing and touching every inch of Nova’s skin barely a few nights ago.

Should’ve, but I hadn’t.

Then he was gone, and with him, every argument I’d used over the years to convince myself Ignacio Espinosa and I were nothing alike.

CHAPTER THIRTY