Page 119 of Game on, Love

His shoulders dropped as he took my words in, rubbing his face before he replied. “I don’t know how to fix this with you.”

“I don’t either,” I admitted. “With any of you.”

“We’ve all said too much and hid too much from each other to resolve it one day,” Dev sighed. “Maybe instead of having the same fights over and over again, we just give each other a break and start fresh.”

I gave my oldest brother a sad smile. “I think the only that would be possible is we break open the vase and spill everything before starting fresh.”

“If that’s what it takes,” He nodded, his eyes going to Vedant. “Start with telling her why you were being a dick.”

He was silent for a long time before he released a breath, and said. “I found out you were going to leave F1.”

“Howdidyou find thatout?” My eyes flicking between Rihaan and Vedant.

“I overheard someone mention it at the Christmas shoot,” Rihaan spoke, and I pursed my lips. Almost glad thatthatwas the way he found out.

WE SPENT THE NEXThour talking and sharing things that felt like would help us somewhat move forward. Even though it wasn’t much, it was astart. And after all we had gone through, something was better than nothing.

“Great, anything else?” I asked, a yawn escaping me as I laid my head on Oliver’s shoulder, who had been sitting next to me, like he wanted to make sure if I needed him, all I had to do was look in his direction.

The three of them turned to us, wearing similar frowns. “Yeah… what’s the deal between you two?”

Closing my eyes, I sighed.

We may have agreed to call it a truce and start fresh, but it turns out all they needed was permission before they started acting in their truly overprotective way.

36

Oliver

BY THE TIME Iunlockedmy hotel room, it was almost 3 am. I had spent most of Friday travelling, between flights and layover times, it had been a long day, but I knew each second of it would be worth it.

I had been planning this for weeks. Between training camp beginning last week and her spending some much-needed time with her brothers, we’d barely spent any time together, and video calls had been our lifeline. Even though we were about to travel and work together come next month, I wanted to do this for her.

And there was the added thing of ticking off another item on our list. The list that had only taken a life of its own. Long forgotten was the bet, as we both came up with even more things we wanted the other to try. I think somewhere along the line, we both realised that it was more than just something that we’d started to help her; but instead turned it into our way of doing something we loved with the other. But every time I looked at it, I couldn’t help but remember the look on her face when she talked about me visiting her on a weekend she was working so she could show meherworld.

A part of me still felt bad that I had yet to tell her about visiting Silverstone before and knowing about the basics beforehand, but I’d planned to make that right later today.

By the time morning rolled around, I texted Rihaan asking about her schedule. He had been here since Thursday, considering it was the championship-deciding weekend, and Vedant had come into the weekend on equal points with Axel.

A part of me was surprised at how easy that shift had been between us, as the night her brothers had spent grilling the two of us, he was the one who had the most questions. Even though I think he caught on quicker and earlier than both of us realised.

While a part of me wasn’t surprised at all. Rihaan had his issues, having really low lows, and even higher highs and he obviously saw the difference we made in each other’s lives. I knew that when it came down to the wire, it wouldn’t have mattered that we hadn’t told him from the start, or that he was still trying his best to work on his relationship with his sister, because I knew he’d be the guy who had always been there for me, no matter what.

My phone buzzed just as I finished getting ready.

Rihaan:We’re about to leave.

Rihaan:How long will you be?

Me:I need to grab a bite first. Haven’t had anything proper since yesterday.

Rihaan:What about the food on the plane?

Me:Roasted Duck.

Rihaan:LOL

Rihaan:The poor bird had already died, Ollie. It wasn’t gonna jump off your plate and chase you around as revenge.

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