Page 121 of Hot Lap
“It’s toupee tape, darling. Specificity matters.”
He chuckles, but he also eats the couscous.
We dine in easy silence, elbows bumping now and then. I feel him letting his anger go. After a few minutes, I nudge his foot with my toe. “Tomorrow is media day?”
“Yeahhh, not looking forward to it.”
“Ignore any question that isn’t about the race.”
He nods slowly, chewing. “Gonna be hard to sleep tonight.”
I tilt my head and flutter my lashes. “I could help tire you out.”
That earns me a proper smile, and God, it’s good to see it.
“Deal.”
After dinner, Reece has one more engineering meeting, then we head back to the hotel.
We’re barely through the door to our room when his phone buzzes. He glances down, then groans. “Claudia.”
I freeze halfway through kicking off my shoes. “Bad news?”
He shrugs and puts the call on speaker. “Hi, Claudia.”
“Is Maiken with you?”
“Yeah. You’re on speaker.”
“What’s up?” I ask her.
“Someone just dropped footage from The Golden Oyster. It’s spreading fast.”
My heart jumps. “Footage of what?”
“Junior grabbing you, and Reece forcing him to back off. Whoever shot it was close to the action. I’m sending the video now.”
The file pops up on Reece’s phone and pings mine. I hit play.
"Beautiful show." Junior invades my space, hulking and predatory. "Damien Betterton, Junior. You might know the name."
I give him a quick stage smile. "Thanks for coming."
His greasy grin widens and he leans closer. "I’d love to come again. How about a private encore?"
My disinterest is obvious. "Sorry. No. We don't do private shows." I step back and glance toward the bar because that’s where Eddie is.
Douche Bag scowls, grabs my wrist, and yanks me toward him. "Don't be like that, sweetie. I can make it worth your while."
I try to pull away. “Please let go of me.”
Based on my tone and expression, “Please” is a metaphor for “motherfucker”.
He drags me even closer. "I'm not finished?—"
Then Reece appears and grips Junior's wrist, forcing him to release me. I step back and look up at Reece as he says, "She said no."
Wow, he looks pissed. I was so trapped in the moment when it happened that I didn’t truly appreciate how enraged my now-husband was at the time.
