Page 25 of Rush
‘I understand that the two of you are seeing each other.’ He tried to hide his smile and stay in super serious Jasper-mode. ‘I don’t know how serious it is, but I will say the same to you as I did to Brett, Lucie, Julien and Faith…’ The poor man, what other team principal was put in this position three times by four of his drivers?
‘Don’t let it impact the team.’ Marco and Savi said in unison, earning a grin from Jasper and unleashing his obvious excitement at the prospect of them being a couple.
‘I needn’t have bothered with this meeting. You’re not kids, you know how to handle yourselves,’ he stated, except Savi was still a kid compared to some members of the team. She was only twenty-four and Marco was in his early thirties. ‘I got the PR team to prevent photos being leaked yesterday of you two kissing at lunch, because I was worried you weren’t ready to go public…’
‘Nah, this has been brewing for a couple of months. Pretty much since Savi first joined the team. We just kind of clicked instantly even if it only got serious in the last week or so, so we’re down to go public. We don’t want to go through the trouble of trying to keep it secret.’ Marco was so quick with it, so smooth, it was as if he’d been rehearsing what to say. Perhaps he had been, and perhaps Savi should have, too.
‘Yeah, why bother trying to cover it up? It would soon come out anyway.’
‘Noted. So should I tell PR to expect lots of stories in the press after today’s race that are totally unrelated to the results?’ he laughed.
Savi knew he was joking but she still felt weird about it, because he was right. Two teammates dating was hot gossip for the fans, and it would be talked about on a much larger scale than their fastest lap time or what position they were in the championship. It shouldn’t be like that, just like the fact she was a female racing driver for a top team shouldn’t be such a big deal, but they didn’t have the power to change it.
She was worried about the backlash she’d receive for dating her teammate, but it would never be as bad as the backlash that came with having her identity attached to indecent photos with a country music superstar. No matter how bad opinions of this situation with Marco got, she had to remind herself of that.
It also helped that although Marco was more famous than her, he had nowhere near the legions of dedicated fans and press attention that Jesse got, which meant therewasn’t the same risk of scrutiny on his personal life, and therefore hers. It was still a risk, but it was a much safer one.
‘You’ve done this twice before, Jasper. I don’t even think fans will be shocked. It was my turn to create waves, bring some excitement.’
‘I’mexcited. Have you told Gabriel?’ He directed his question at Savi.
‘Not yet. I’m thinking we surprise him when he sees it on TV.’
‘The man might have a heart attack at his prodigy finding happiness so close to home, but yes, I agree. I will ensure he’s in the Revolution Racing garage before the end of the race so I can witness his reaction in real time. Right, you guys had better get back to work!’
Savi and Marco ambled back down the paddock, hand in hand, just to really drive it home. If it was going to be this easy the whole time, they’d have no problems. It wasn’t that it felt natural, it just didn’t feel wrong. And it certainly didn’t feel like she was holding her brother’s hand…
‘I knew something was going on!’ Lucie pounced on them as soon as they stepped over the threshold, and the entire team turned around to take notice of the new couple’s arrival. ‘When he kissed you on the cheek this morning we all pretended not to see it, but I knew!’ she beamed.
‘Let’s not make a big deal out of it,’ Savi mumbled, earning a squeeze of the hand from Marco before he let her go and reached for his helmet from its cubby at the back of the garage.
His helmet this season was Revolution red with white detailing and sat right next to hers, a turquoise and purple design with a lucky horseshoe design on the back. It had much better detail than her poor excuse of an ankle tattoo.
Savi always tried to incorporate a little bit of home into her helmet, to make it feel like her family were with her even though they couldn’t leave the ranch. Her dad being there for the first race of the season had meant the world to her, and she wished he could be at every one. She wished Weston would stop shying away from his new reality and join her, that her ma could finally witness her daughter crossing the finish line with her own eyes and not through the lens of a camera. But she understood their predicament, and had learned to accept that Weston just wasn’t ready to take that step.
‘Hey, Sav?’ Faith pulled her aside, away from Lucie’s squealing, and beckoned Marco over to join them. ‘Guys, can we make a tiny bit of a deal out of this?’ she pleaded.
‘You mean you want to use us as this season’s guinea pigs?’ Marco raised an eyebrow in suspicion. ‘I know your game plan, Jensen.’
‘Well…’ Faith feigned innocence.
‘I don’t see anything wrong with it,’ Savi agreed, albeit cautiously. ‘Just don’t make us the new stars of the team’s social media, a few posts here and there is fine. I know it’s going to be hard to avoid but I don’t want to be known solely as the girl dating Marco De Luca.’
‘Oh, no, of course not! We will really be pushing yours, Kodie’s and Miko’s presence on the team this season, especially in the first half and at Le Mans. But the fans do loveour boys.’ Faith ruffled Marco’s curls, and he batted her hand away. ‘We just won’t hide the fact you’re together. Brett and Lucie made us do that when they went official and it was a nightmare, the fans recognised something was off immediately. We went from posting about them every day to acting like Lucie wasn’t even around half the time.’
‘Savi! Come over here!’ Miko called out, her and Kodie looking very excited. The reactions of her teammates made her uncomfortable. She didn’t mind lying to the public, but lying to them? They were her extended family, and she wouldn’t dare lie to her actual family.
Right on cue, Weston texted her. He wanted to know if today was their big debut and said he hoped Jesse cried himself to sleep tonight, knowing he caused this. He wasn’t his biggest fan. Her family hadn’t been impressed when they heard about the photos, but thanks to a life shielded from social media and gossip mags, they hadn’t seen them. Weston, however… His reaction had been explosive. Almost enough to get him on a plane to kidnap his sister and bring her home where he could keep her safe.
‘Stay cool,’ Savi whispered, pretending to be embarrassed.
‘How long has this been a thing?!’ Kodie gripped her arm tightly.
‘Not very long.’ She focused on getting her helmet on, seeing as the race was starting soon.
‘But the chemistry was just undeniable, right?’ Miko might as well have hearts for irises.
‘Yep,’ she nodded.
