Page 77 of Rush
She felt herself burning up again, but this time she wasn’t fussed about trying to make it stop. He hadn’t flirted with her like this for ages; could he sense that her boundaries were shifting? Was he pushing them knowing that she was becoming more open to it? ‘We should go back to the others…’
‘Agreed,’ Marco said, but his eyes flashed with desire. She wasn’t making this up; this was not just a friendship. Savi wanted this, in some capacity. She wanted to see that side of him.
‘Look what they gave me!’ Brett yelled as they got closer, and they saw him holding a t-shirt cannon and aiming it at the grandstands opposite the pits. They watched him shoot rolled up navy IEC shirts at the fans as the crowds erupted in screams of joy, and waited for Gabriel to announce over the speakers that it was time to get in their cars.
‘Savi, Julien…’ Jasper joined them. ‘Ready to get us started?’
‘Yep, aren’t we, Sav?’
‘We are,’ she nodded. The anxiety had dissipated, and now the excitement and adrenaline were building as the entire grid came to a standstill. The planes flew over, unleashing red, white and blue smoke over the pit straight. She felt euphoric, and this was just the beginning. She had twenty-four hours of this ahead of her.
‘Right, we all need to clear off. The army guy is about to deliver the flag, and then the official countdown will start,’ Faith explained to Savi more than anyone else, then she kissed Julien goodbye. ‘Good luck, everyone.’
Savi’s family crowded around her, wishing her luck andtelling her how proud they were of her. It didn’t matter how often she heard them say it, she would never tire of it. Everyone was starting to leave the grid in preparation, Savi and Julien heading over to their cars which sat side by side, ruby red paintwork glistening in the sun.
Climbing into the cockpit, Savi took one final deep breath and gripped the steering wheel, mentally preparing herself for the next three hours before she switched out with Kodie. It was a long twenty-four hours, she knew that from watching it and talking at length with the team. But she was ready: to enjoy it, to fight and to do her teammates proud.
‘I’m going to be in your garage while you’re in the car, not mine,’ Marco crouched down by the car, ‘I want to be with your family, so I can explain stats and things to them. I’ll be third in our car, so I’ll be there when you get out, but I’ll leave you be when you join them.’
‘You don’t have to leave me be, Monaco. Ever. I want you there, in fact, I’d prefer it if you were. If you can be, obviously. If you hadn’t pulled me off the grid when you did and sat with me in that garage, I might not have made it back out here. You’ve been a huge support for me so far this season, and I know we’re only just halfway through, but I’ve grown so much as a driver and a person. You’ve played such a big part in that. So please, don’t leave me be.’ She held his eye, hoping he understood what she was fighting so hard not to say aloud.
‘Okay,’ he nodded, pausing when Gabriel’s voice interrupted them, letting the drivers know it was time to get in position. Marco kept looking at her, waiting for who knew what.
‘What’s wrong?’ she frowned, her helmet stopping him from seeing anything except her eyes. ‘You’ve got seconds, Monaco.’
‘I know,’ he sighed. ‘I just… I’m so fucking proud of you, Cowgirl.’ He reached for her glove-covered hand, removed it from the steering wheel and peeled her glove back just enough that he could place a gentle kiss on the inside of her wrist. ‘See you on the flip side.’
32
Savi’s stint was one of her best performances yet. She had successfully held off Talos Sport and Kahan Racing for ten laps and then overtaken Brett towards the end, leaving Kodie with a solid lead going into the final six hours. She was currently curled up on a camping chair in the back of the garage, watching Miko and Marco’s progress like a hawk.
He’d spun out at one point and her heart leapt out of her chest, but he’d got it together and kept driving with minimal damage. A quick trip to the pits to replace part of the rear wing and he was good to go.
Her parents were fast asleep in the trailer, but Weston was still wide awake in the garage next to her, wrapped in a blanket and watching Savi watching Marco. ‘What’s the deal with De Luca, Sav? he quizzed, squinting at her suspiciously.
‘Hmm?’ she mumbled, still focused on the television screen which was tracking Marco’s fight with Ricardo De La Rosa, Bea’s partner.
‘You and Marco. Something you wanna tell me?’ She turned around to see his eyes were still narrowed, and his arms were folded.
‘Nope,’ she shrugged. ‘Nothing at all.’
‘Okay, but there’s something I wanna tell you,’ he retaliated. ‘You’re blind, Savi.’
‘Am I? Well then, looks like you’re not the only one in the family with a disability.’
That made her brother laugh, but she could sense he wasn’t going to shut up about this and she was going to end up confessing her deepest, darkest secret to him. She seemed to have had a few of those recently. At least if he started giving her advice and insisting she take it, she could do the same to him about that girl back home who kept trying to insert herself into his life.
‘You two have so much chemistry, it makes me want to tear my hair out. It’s like watching a romcom coming to life in front of my very eyes. I saw it from the moment you rocked up on our doorstep with him, and I watched it blossom into way more than friends while he was on the ranch with us. Now, I don’t know for sure that something went down in the barn, but whatever it is between you was building long before the truth came out about Jesse.’
‘I wasn’t disloyal to Jesse.’ She frowned, hating that it could look that way.
‘I didn’t say you were, Savi. That’s not who you are. I’m just saying that the universe brought De Luca to you for a reason, and I don’t think the timing was a coincidence. You knew in your heart it was time to go, and Marco was your vessel for moving on. You haven’t told me to shut up yet, which means I’m on to something.’
‘Fine… You are indeed on to something. And yes, something did happen in the barn and it changed everything. Even if I told him I wasn’t ready,’ she confirmed, wincing when he whacked her on the arm. ‘Ow, Wes! I hate it when you’re right.’
‘Are you serious, Sav?! What are you waiting for?’ Weston asked, looking like he’d just been told Santa Claus was real.
‘Call me crazy, but I think jumping into something new mere weeks after finding out my ex-boyfriend of four years is fathering another woman’s child and cheated on me more times than anyone can count might not be the best idea. But I’ve been hoping he might stick around, you know? Wait for me to figure out what I want next.’
