Page 5 of Rush
‘Yeah, well I like hanging out with people whostopme doing stupid shit in the name of love, but we can’t always get what we want.’
‘Marco–’ There it was again, that feeling that she was out of her league here.
‘Nope. I was feeling pretty vulnerable, Savannah, which you knew, and you stood back and watched as I poured my heart out to your best friend, who you know is in a stable, happy relationship. Pretty shitty move if you ask me.’
She could have defended herself. She could’ve told him that he was already worked up when she reached him, or that shedidmake a weak attempt to stop him. But truthfully, Savi liked this side of her new teammate. The media always got the soft, gentle Marco De Luca, but turns out he had some bite. That, she could get on board with.
3
‘Red is your colour.’ Marco’s hushed voice in Savi’s ear caused her to jump, her heart racing more than it had when she’dalmostspun out on the track during testing. That had been Marco’s fault, too. He’d got in her way and had the cheek to laugh over the radio.
‘Why are you in my trailer?’ she snapped.
He leaned against her closet door while she pulled her socks on. ‘I’m your buddy for race week. So you can treat me like your own personal fountain of knowledge, take all your stress out on me…’ Marco smirked like he wanted to add more to that last part. Perhaps she was imagining it, or maybe he really was attempting to flirt. Regardless, she was going to ignore it. They didn’t have that kind of dynamic in their relationship.
Savi slammed the door to her shoe cupboard. ‘I don’t need a buddy.’
‘Has the big boss not spoken to you?’
‘About… ?’ She looked at him quizzically, because of course Jasper had spoken to her. Countless times over the last few days. But clearly, somewhere along the line their team principal had failed to fill her in on something.
‘He’s matched you, Miko and Kodie up with Julien, Brett and I to guide you through your first season with the team.’ He grinned. A genuine, enthusiastic smile that threatened to piss her off even further.
‘Great, my team principal is playing cupid.’ She rolled her eyes, more so at his obvious enthusiasm, and shooed him out of the way so she could finish putting the last of her things in the closet. ‘I don’t need a buddy, Marco. I may be a rookie in this championship, but I have been a racing driver for a number of years. You’ve seen me in the support races, might I add. Watched my name rise to the top of the leaderboard. I know the drill by now.’
Marco smirked again, eyeing her up and down. ‘You haven’t driven for Revolution Racing before. We do things a certain way round here.’
His fixated gaze on her was making her feel very hot and bothered but she put it down to anxiety, something she had struggled with for years. ‘I’ve had a lot of in-depth talks with the socials team. I know what Faith and Lucie are expecting of me. The PR team, too.’
‘Savannah, let me do my job.’
He looked irritated now too, and it gave her a thrill. Savi had always been up for a challenge, and she performed better when she had a point to prove. ‘Let me do mine.’
With a blasé glance over her shoulder, she hopped down the steps of the trailer and left him standing there with his hands on his hips. Less of a superhero pose this time, and more of a pissed off co-worker vibe.
Savi played the role of sweet, wholesome country girl in front of the cameras, fans and her bosses but her friends and family knew she had some fire in her. She never would’ve picked an equally sweet and wholesome Marco De Luca as her equal, but the way he had looked at her in her race suit had made it quite clear she hadn’t given him enough credit.
She was happy with Jesse, and she definitely didn’t see Marco in that way, regardless of his European charm and effortlessly good looks, but if she could get him riled up and frustrated with her, it would create one hell of a race out there.
‘Ready, girls?’ She joined Miko and Kodie outside the conference room, where they were standing with Julien and Brett. Matching red and zebra stripe racing suits on, other teams milling around nearby and talking animatedly.
The outside of the conference room could be compared to a zoo; everyone talking at once, yelling across the crowd and exuding chaos, and the atmosphere inside would be the same. The drivers may switch into professional mode, but it was the media who would start acting like animals to get the stories they wanted out of them.
Despite this, everyone looked raring to go. Hadn’t anyone warned them there would be an onslaught of invasive questions and borderline harassment from the media? Savi had done this before. She knew what to expect. But her rookie teammates were inexperienced and had only just started racing a couple of years ago. Daddy’s money and a private school education couldn’t buy them a backbone.
‘Oh! Is Marco your buddy?’ Miko looked excited, her long dark hair swishing around her shoulders. You wouldn’t catch that girl with her hair up unless she was putting her race helmet on. She’d got lucky with Brett as her glorified tour guide slash babysitter, and Savi couldn’t help but think that Brett was more suited to her own personality. Sarcastic, always cracking jokes. Jasper’s foresight hadn’t been the best here.
‘Something like that,’ Savi shrugged, catching the way Brett tried to hide his grin behind his hand. ‘Can I help you, Anderson?’
‘No, no. Just… Lucie warned us about you.’
‘What?’ Savi frowned. She thought she’d been getting on well with the socials team.
‘She didn’t say anything bad about you, at all. Sang your praises, in fact. She just said you were fiery. So, God only knows why the boss paired you up with baby Mars.’
‘Oh, someone agrees!’ She high-fived him, although from the sudden one-sided flirting and lust-filled gazes she had been on the receiving end of just now, she could safely say there was nothingbabyabout Marco De Luca.
‘Agrees with what?’ Marco appeared behind her, almost managing to murmur into her ear for a second time today. Only this time, it didn’t send shivers down her spine, it just wound her up. She wasn’t in the mood, given the hell they were about to walk into.
