Page 67 of Knot So Fast
Then again…my parents wouldn’t mind going the extra mile in that department…
"I was in Russia at the time," the manager continues, oblivious to the tension radiating from Lachlan. "Training some underground racers for a private client. Missed whatever drama went down. But surely if she was good enough to be noticed before, she might be worth considering now? Though I'd never ask Lucius directly—that boy's a ticking time bomb waiting to explode."
"And I'm not?" Lachlan's voice is dangerously quiet, the kind of calm that comes before a storm.
The boss laughs nervously, the sound grating even through the phone speaker.
"No, no! Not trying to insult you, champ. It's just... well, everyone knows how troublesome Lucius can be. Surprising that you're twins when you're polar opposites. He doesn't seem to be taking these new stakes seriously, just assuming we'll magic an Omega out of thin air in time."
"Well, we have no choice if we want to participate," Lachlan says, but there's a resignation in his voice that makes my chest tight.
"About that..." The boss's tone shifts to something more cautious. "You do realize that whatever Omega we choose, we'll have to create a temporary bond, right?"
The silence that follows is deafening.
I can feel the tension ratcheting up in the room like a physical presence, pressing against my skin and making it hard to breathe normally. I focus all my energy on keeping my breathing steady, on not giving away that I'm awake and listening to every word.
"What did you just say?" Lachlan's voice has dropped even lower, carrying a dangerous edge that makes my skin prickle with awareness.
"It's in the fine print," his boss explains, sounding increasingly uncomfortable. "I just finished reading through all the regulations. Regardless of whether it's a real relationship or a business arrangement, any Omega joining a team has to undergo a temporary bonding. It has to be documented and acknowledged officially, or the team won't be allowed to move forward, even if we qualify."
"Then I'm out."
The words are delivered so flatly, so finally, that it takes a moment for them to register. His boss clearly has the same problem because there's a beat of silence before he explodes.
"You can't be serious! You can't just drop out! You're the four-time consecutive champion! The face of our team! The face of the entire fucking sport!"
"Watch me."
"So you're just going to throw away your career because you have to endure a temporary bond with some random Omega?It's not like you have to fuck her! It's just paperwork, a formality to satisfy the new regulations?—"
"Stop." The command in Lachlan's voice is absolute, cutting through his manager's rant like a blade. "Just stop talking before you say something that makes me reach through this phone and throttle you."
There's a pause, and when Lachlan continues, his voice carries a pain so raw it makes my chest ache.
"Do you know what it feels like to pull the woman you love from a burning car? To feel her lifeless body in your arms and know that seconds are the difference between saving her and losing her forever? To perform CPR while her blood mixes with rain on the asphalt, begging any god that will listen to just let her breathe again?"
The manager stutters, tries to form words, but Lachlan isn't finished.
"Or how about watching her wake up in that hospital bed, seeing the relief in her eyes turn to confusion and then fear as she stares at you like you're a complete stranger? When just hours before, you were planning your future together, talking about the house you'd build, the races you'd win, the life you'd share? Can you imagine having an entire year of intense, passionate history—on and off the track—erased like it never existed?"
"I... no, I can't?—"
"Then you can't possibly understand what it would feel like to betray that woman. To form a bond, even a temporary one, with another Omega just for money and glory and to prove to the world that I've still 'got it.' As if trophies and championships mean anything compared to what I've lost."
My eyes burn with unshed tears, and I have to focus every ounce of control on not letting them fall, on not giving away that I'm hearing this confession. The raw emotion in his voice,the pain and loyalty and love—it's overwhelming in ways I don't have the context to fully understand but that resonate in my bones nonetheless.
"Lachlan, I didn't realize?—"
"You can talk to the others about this arrangement," Lachlan cuts him off, his voice returning to that flat, professional tone that somehow sounds worse than the raw emotion. "But my answer is no. I'll participate in the race for appearances, for the team, for the sponsors. But if we truly have to choose an Omega and create a temporary bond to make this work, then I'm officially out."
"The team needs you. The sport needs you?—"
"The sport survived before me and it'll survive after me. If Lucius, Caspian, Kieran, and Dex want to go through with this, you have enough drivers to field a team. Just don't include me in the plans. I'll go back to the shadows where no one gave a damn about my life before stardom, and I'll be perfectly content."
The sound of the phone hitting the counter with perhaps more force than necessary makes me flinch slightly. I hear Lachlan's harsh breathing, followed by a string of creative curses that would make a sailor blush.
"They can go fuck themselves with these rules," he mutters, and I hear the sound of cabinet doors opening and closing with barely controlled violence.
