Page 14 of Head Over Wheels

I gulped, wondering if I needed Lori to come out and translate. I’d learned a few phrases from her on Zpeed, but ‘give something a burl’ was not one of them. ‘Yes?’ I guessed. ‘The Tour of Flanders is my lucky race.’

‘A lucky man! Always happy to have some extra luck in the team. What about Paris-Roubaix? Have you got the balls for that?’

There was a titter from behind the bathroom door. ‘Well, I’ve started it every year for the past twelve years.’ I hadn’t always finished it.

‘Ah, so you don’t have any balls left!’ Tony said with a snort.

Lori didn’t make a noise, but I couldfeelher laughing. At least the crass joke got rid of the last traces of an erection. Eventhinkingthat word in front of Tony Gallagher made me want to dematerialise.

‘Look, Colin is starting the Paris-Roubaix, so we’ll plan to get you in at this stage. You never know what’ll happen in that race, so your experience will be valuable. And if the Tour of Flanders is your lucky one, how about we try and win it! All in, show us what you’re made of!’

‘Eh, what I’m… Win it?’

‘Yes, you drongo! Winning!’

I mustered enough enthusiasm somehow, because he made some more mumbling exclamations I didn’t quite understand and clapped me on the shoulder some more. He wasn’t serious about the winning. It was mind games that I was getting too old – and too jaded – to play.

But for all I’d said about cheese and a fucking B&B, I couldn’t truly picture what came next, either. I wasn’t rich; I’d had my team salary and a trickle of prize money over the years, not a deluge. It was more about what I was running away from, rather than towards.

‘Regarding that, ah, stunt with the doll, Colin’s just testing you, son. Don’t let him get to you, ay?’ Tony said as he turned to go, sending a ripple of surprise and something warm and sharp through me when he called me ‘son’.

I had no idea how to respond. ‘Ay?’ I repeated, adding apanicked, ‘okay,’ onto the end when he shot me a confused look. ‘A-okay,’ I repeated brightly, choking off the urge to add a ‘sir’ before I embarrassed myself completely.

Tony’s fingers were on the door handle and I was looking forward to getting back to Lori – totalkingto her – when the tinkle of a cell phone sounded through the bathroom door, followed by a bump and a bang before the room fell silent again. Because I’m an idiot, my knee-jerk reaction was to glance at my own phone, sitting on the desk behind me. Tony blinked and his brow dropped.

‘Er, Amir must be—’

‘I saw him in the dining room on my way up.’

Zut, now I was in the poop. ‘Oh, um, I must have—’

‘I know it’s none of my business, boy, but it’s supposed to be rest time—’

The bathroom door swung open and Tony’s theatrical gasp would have been funny in any other situation. ‘It’s just me, Dad. Don’t chuck a wobbly.’

Were they even speaking English?

‘What are you—’

‘Seb is a friend of mine. I didn’t know he was joining the team. We… met last year.’ She mumbled the last bit after a moment’s hesitation. Tony looked doubtfully from Lori back to me. ‘You caught me. I sneaked into his room so we could make out like teenagers,’ she said, deadpan. Any words I might have uttered died in my throat.

But Tony grinned and patted her shoulder. ‘Always the joker, like your old man. Maybe you can talk some sense intoyour friend. I’m not so sure his head’s screwed on right, this one.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ she agreed.

‘You need to prioritise your rest, though, especially after last year,’ Tony said.

‘I’m just about to,’ she assured him, although the look that passed between them suggested that wouldn’t be the end of the discussion.

I studied Tony, thinking of all the things Folklore had told me about her cheerleading dad and hard-arse mum and, if I’d grown up with these expectations, I would be at home feeding goats right now. She was a tough one. Tough and really very sexy.

With one more perplexed glance, Tony left us alone. When the door swung closed behind him, we both slumped in relief.

‘I hope I didn’t get you into trouble,’ I blurted out.

‘If anything,Igotyouinto trouble.’ She laughed then, her body shaking. Grasping my upper arms, her forehead brushed my shoulder as she doubled over with it and I got those full-body tingles again, as though she really was my friend, my… mine. My entire skin bloomed at the light touch and I was getting into trouble again in my boxers.

‘Did you really say “a-okay” to my dad?’

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