Page 3 of Rush
‘I’m done, promise. Think that was the residual weekend hangover doing the talking there. Sorry for the snapping and the dramatic as fuck sighs, not my finest moment.’
‘You don’t say.’
‘Oh, shit. You’re friends with Ez aren’t you?’ Marco looked like a deer in headlights, running a hand through his chocolatey curls and causing them to become even more dishevelled.
‘Yeah, but I didn’t know about you two. Not even an inkling,’ Savi shrugged, trying to act like she wasn’t bothered.
‘That’s because there was never really anus, Savannah. I really liked her, but she’s too caught up in her shenanigans with that girl.’
‘Okay, first of all, you don’t get to use my government name. It’s Savi, to you. We have been over this so many times, De Luca, please. You may not know me well, but you have known me long enough and still haven’t learnt. Second, you are a millionaire racing driver with multiple world championship titles under your belt. Thalia doesn’t even have a podium win. She’s still considered a rookie after four seasons.’
‘But she has Esme’s heart. And I don’t.’
‘What I’m saying, Marco, is if you want her, go get her. It’s not like Thalia Kotas is here to stop you, is she?’ Savi raised an eyebrow then thought about it further, and frowned, ‘At least, I don’t think her team is here yet…’
‘You’re right, damn it Savannah, you’ve always had a bit of a way with words.’ Marco stood up and put his hands on his hips in somewhat of a superhero pose. ‘I’m gonna get her back. I’m gonna get my Esmerelda back.’ Despite the conviction with which he said it, he stayed put, silence filling the motorhome.
‘Esmerelda?’ Savi frowned.
‘I was not supposed to tell you that. Fuck it, you got a pen and paper? I’ll write up an NDA.’
‘No need, I can keep a secret.’
‘I’ll take your word for it.’
She sipped her bottle of water, waiting for the supposedly bold and courageous driver to get his ass into gear. Except Marco was still in the same pose, gazing longingly at the door as though Esme were going to materialise. She was going to have to give him a hard shove in her friend’s direction.
‘Marco, if you’re going to make a grand gesture you can’t stay in this overpriced metal box forever. Come on, let’s go down the pit lane together.’ She held her hand out, coaxing him out into the unknown. ‘You’ve got this.’
‘I one hundred per cent have not got this, but I appreciate the encouragement.’ He grabbed her water out of her hand and took a big swig, gulping it down.
‘You’re fine, this is no big deal.’ She laughed and tugged him down the trailer steps, back towards the RevolutionRacing garage. Savi watched as Marco did his best to snap out of his sad and sorrowful energy and feign confidence as he walked past his team.
‘Were you guys getting down and dirty in the team motorhome?’ Brett gave them a once-over, earning himself a slap on the arm from Lucie, his wife and one of Revolution’s two social media managers.
‘No, Anderson, because my heart is elsewhere.’
‘Uh, so is mine!’ Savi defended herself, not letting Marco make it sound like she had been rejected by him back there. If they had seen the state of him, on the brink of tears over a woman, he’d be mortified.
‘Savannah actually gave me a pep talk, and it was quite effective. Gave me a kick up the ass. I’m going after Ez.’ He continued walking out of the garage and down the pit lane, gathering a crowd as the team trailed behind him.
‘Whatever he’s about to do, this is going to go so wrong…’ Miko grimaced, as she and Kodie rushed to follow their teammate, watching in horror as Marco marched himself into another team’s garage in the middle of their workday, uninvited, on the hunt for Esme.
‘Can I have everyone’s attention please!’
‘Oh no…’ Savi cast nervous glances back at her new teammates, her eyes silently screaming for help. Esme put her camera down and looked at Marco like he’d lost his damn mind.
‘I think you might have helped get him into this mess,’ Brett grinned in response, leaning against the entrance to Eden Racing’s garage and enjoying the show. ‘I vote you don’t get him out of it. It’s been years since Mars madea fool of himself like this. About time someone took the title from me.’
Esme ran towards them in a state of panic, bypassing Marco who still looked to be preparing his grand speech, ‘Savi, what have you done? What did he tell you?’ she whisper-yelled.
‘I don’t know,Esmerelda, what haveyoudone?! You broke him! The man is about to declare his love to you in front of all these people. A usually very sane, very rational man.’
‘We never even slept together! Might’ve kissed once, just once, but that’s all.’ Poor Esme looked genuinely concerned for him, as she should be.
‘Well apparently that one kiss has ruined his life. You sure there wasn’t more to it?’
They waited for Marco to complete his deep breathing exercises, the same ones he did before a race. Could they just get his therapist on a video call right now? This wassofar from what Savi had meant when she told him to go get his girl. There were so many more discreet ways he could have gone about this. Like a text message, which was her speciality. Type your feelings, hit send and launch your phone across the room. Job done.
