Page 59 of Rush
‘Mind if I search you up?’ Marco waved his phone in the air.
‘Go for it, bud, but tryWes Jameson. I used my middle name as a stage name, probably half the reason Sav’s fans haven’t connected the dots yet.’ Weston beamed, and Savi and her parents exchanged quick glances paired with subtle smiles. He didn’t talk about his past with anyone, even them. It was hard to talk to him about anything personal these days, he would always change the topic.
‘Wow…’ Marco muttered, and Savi peered over at his phone, watching him scroll through countless articles about Weston’s short-lived but extremely successful career. He was undoubtedly a star in his industry and was easily the rodeo equivalent of his younger sister.
‘Entered my first comp when I was seventeen and competed right up until my accident when I was twenty-three. I’d already had one surgery before, and yeah, I was stupid for carrying on, but rodeo was part of me. It was all I knew. You get that, don’t you?’
‘I do,’ Marco nodded. ‘I can’t imagine not racing. I’ll do it for as long as I possibly can, and if there comes a time I’m forced to stop, whether it’s my choice or someone else’s, I’ll find a way to stay in the industry somehow.’
‘You kids,’ Calvin laughed. ‘So many people lack direction in life, and yet you guys had it all figured out before you even started high school. Dreams bigger than your fears.’
‘I’m just glad that all three of you have seen so much of the world and experienced so much of what life has to offer.’ Bonnie wiped her eyes, the wine obviously getting to her.
‘Well… not so much recently.’ Weston chewed on his bottom lip. ‘Sav, how hard would it be to get me out to a race? To come and see you?’
‘What?’ Savi sat up straight. ‘Is that something you want?’
‘I’ve wanted that since day one. I almost came to your first race with Dad, but I wasn’t ready, and I’ve regretted it every day since. I think…’ he swallowed roughly, ‘it might be time to bite the bullet and come support my baby sister from the sidelines.’
‘If all of you come, I’ll pay for it. Put you up in a hotel, get you VIP passes. The full works. And if you need a security team, I’ll get that sorted for you.’
‘Let me call Jasper tonight, see about bringing you to Le Mans with us when we leave here?’ Marco suggested. ‘It’s the biggest race in history, Savannah should have her family with her.’
‘Is it not short notice with hotels and everything?’ Bonnie looked nervous.
‘Ma, they’re rich and their bosses are super important people.’ Weston rolled his eyes. ‘Let them take care of us. I’ll have some champagne waiting on the jet, please. And oysters.’
‘I mean, you can have those things, but we will judge you harshly… The jet is usually full of sweets and all the crap we shouldn’t eat. Plus, water. A lot of water. Gotta keep hydrated.’ Marco laughed. ‘I’ll shoot Jasper a quick text, put the feelers out. I can’t imagine he’ll say no to helping us out, and if he does, we’ll just turn to Gabriel.’
‘Oh, of course! A Gal reunion!’ Calvin clapped his hands. ‘Haven’t seen my buddy in what feels like forever.’
‘Gal reunion?’ Marco frowned.
‘Gabriel and Cal. Gal.’ Calvin shrugged like it was obvious and Savi buried her head in her hands in embarrassment. The pair of them were a nightmare when they were together, and she had fond memories of them when she was younger, waving foam fingers at her from the grandstands of the karting track and making fools of themselves and her.
Marco leaned closer to Savi and whispered, ‘Cowgirl, I think Gabriel has a clone…’
They spent the rest of the evening sat around the fire, Marco impressing them with his guitar-playing skills and singing, while her dad did some sort of interpretive dance to the music. She hadn’t laughed so hard in so long, and watching her family do the same thing provided her with a comfort she’d been missing. Savi should be an ugly, crying mess, but she just wasn’t. She was starting to grow very accustomed to the bubble that was formed to protect her against the reality of the outside world every time Marco was around.
24
‘Please tell me this was for Halloween or something?’ Marco held up a photo from behind a mountain of plastic boxes, a grin plastered across his features.
Savi climbed over the boxes to get a closer look, immediately snatching it from his hands and hiding it behind her back. ‘I can’t believe you found that.’
They were in the basement, sorting through the Harts’ family photos purely to embarrass Savi as per her teammates’ request. So far, he’d taken photos on his phone of at least fifteen of them, and she just knew he would bring them out at the next team bonding event. He’d even sent some into the group chat already.
‘The green isn’t even the right shade!’ Marco cackled. ‘And the costume is so big on you.’
‘Because I was six!Monsters, Inc.was my favourite film, and it was last-minute, so we just used the only green paint we had in our crafting supplies.’ She smiled fondly at the memory. ‘There’s a photo somewhere of Weston dressed as Sully; we stuck bits of purple and blue fabric to a t-shirt, hat and gloves with a glue gun. Well, I say “we”, Ma did it.’
‘I would pay good money to see his Sully costume.’
‘Didn’t you ever have a fancy dress fail?’
‘I was and still am amazing at fancy dress. Just last year I went to a Halloween party at Julien and Faith’s house inHawaii dressed up as Michael Myers. Remind me later and I’ll find the photos. His kids were terrified, Emmy smacked me across the face when I picked her up with my mask on.’
‘I’m not surprised! They’re still babies!’
