Page 52 of Head Over Wheels

Seb emerged, his whistle going flat and trailing off, hispresence completing the absurd tableau before I could work out a suitable justification for my behaviour. He’d changed into fresh bib shorts, but he hadn’t bothered with a shirt. The gear sprocket tattooed above his right pec was dewy and dark with moisture. The muscle and tendons over his chest and arms bunched as he moved and his skin radiated heat and there went my ability to form sentences again.

By the time I curled my tongue back into my mouth, I noticed the ugly graze on his side that would need to be bandaged before he pulled on a clean jersey.

It was little wonder I was scrambling around for the slightest feeling of control over my own life when I was a wreck just looking at him, torn between the desire to protect him and the insistent firing of all my pheromones in the presence of his battle-hardened body.

He seemed to accept Dad and Colin’s presence as the requisite drama of the afternoon, his shoulders jerking with a deep sigh as his gaze switched between us, lingering on me with a hint of a raised eyebrow that shouldn’t have been enough to steal my breath, but was anyway.

Then Colin put his foot in it, turning to Seb in indignation. ‘You said she was messing with you, not the other way around!’

Seb

I opened my mouth to respond, but froze with the knowledge that anything I said right now would be the wrong thing. Lori was less circumspect.

‘Iammessing with him!’ she insisted and although part of me melted at how veryLorithat blurted statement was, mostly I was scraped raw everywhere and rather put out that she’d reduce the best kiss of my life to messing around. ‘He’s got such good form, he just needed a... nudge to get a result.’

That kiss had been a hell of a lot more than a nudge and I wasput outenough to think about walking her back into the shower stalls and proving it.

‘You didn’t have tokisshim to do that, Lori,’ Tony Gallagher said, his tone nasal and high with exasperation.

‘You were worried about the sponsors, Dad. If I can’t win races, at least I can do something to attract attention to the team.’

My head spun with all the subtext in her statement. It had to pinch that she’d had another rotten result yesterday and, if she resented me for having form when she didn’t, I wouldn’t judge her for it. But using this… chemistry between us for sponsors? That part made me want to barf.

‘Lore—’ I began, but Colin cut me off.

‘Did you hear what those reporters were saying? They’re talking about how you have atypeand it’s guys in a Harper-Stacked uniform! They even asked him if you’re the reason he got a contract with the team!’

She flinched, a flicker of panic crossing her expression, and our audience started to chafe. I didn’t want to make things worse for her, but I also needed to settle my own feelings about the kiss and what it had meant.

‘Chill out, little bro,’ she responded, and the expression‘Attack is the best defence’ crossed my mind as I watched her press Colin’s buttons until he inflated like an accordion. ‘You document all your pranks on social media. A bit of attention to my love life isn’t anything new and I’ve heard it all before – and worse.’

Her words sent a chill of dismay through me: she was talking about Gaetano. The more I learned about her life, the more complications I saw.

The conversation felt like a tightrope. ‘I’m sure no one will—’

‘Does that mean he’s your boyfriend?’ The disbelief in Colin’s tone pricked me, even though I understood it was warranted.

‘Um’ was all I managed, earning a blistering look from Lori. ‘No!’ I insisted more strongly. ‘Of course not. She’s completely focused on her training.’ When Colin narrowed his eyes at me, I wondered whether I’d come on too strong with that one, even though it was true.

‘But there’s no harm in a few reporters thinking he is,’ Lori said with a jerky shrug. ‘People love a romance.’ She said ‘people’ with such a particular tone, I suspected she’d thought about substituting ‘suckers’.

Tony reached for her, his wrinkles curled up in concern. ‘I know I talk a lot about the sponsors, but it’s not your—’

‘Don’t worry, Dad. I know what I’m doing.’

That one was clearly a lie.

She whirled to face me, her jaw set. ‘I really didn’t mean anything—’

I cut her off with a shake of my head. She’d made her point as best she could in front of her family and I wanted to wallow in the misery of remembering that kiss on my own from now.

‘Enjoy the podium,’ she said, her voice unexpectedly heated. ‘You bloody deserve it.’

8 October 23:15

zpeed.com/chatserver/voicechannels/@LoonieDunes/645 8362946115

Folklore99: One more sprint? Just something quick? I had a nap today and I don’t think I’m going to be able to get any sleep.

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