Page 15 of Retrograde
‘You left early last night, right? Around eleven? Did you both keep drinking after you got back to the room?’ Julien asked, his eyes on his teammate.
‘We didn’t even finish the bottle of wine, and I had a glass more than he did.’
‘Brett, get your ass up.’ Jules began pulling the covers back, and it was then that Lucie realised she was still wearing Brett’s shirt and nothing else. They probably thought that last night she had become just another one of Brett’s sexual conquests. That they’d partied together and had meaningless sex until the sun came up. That she was a bad influence.
‘Luce, don’t cry. It’s okay. He’s just got an attitude and a hangover from hell. He’ll be all right.’ Marco spoke softer than Jules did, but that was because Julien was in full dad mode.
‘Lucie, go to my room, okay? Faith will let you in. Get Bea and Esme, hang out with them for a bit.’ Julien may have been in dad mode, but he was pissed off. Whether it was at the situation in general or at Brett himself, she couldn’t be sure, but as she grabbed a robe from the bathroom and made her escape, Lucie finally caught sight of two empty JD bottles on the coffee table. Those hadn’t been there when they’d gone to sleep.
‘There’s your culprit.’ She gestured at them.
‘Why the hell would you drinkthatmuch whiskey alone?’ Marco scolded Brett but Lucie had already closed the door on them. She was certain she knew why.
Brett didn’t handle rejection well, and although they’d had a great night, she had done just that. He’d tried to take her to bed, and she’d turned him down. When she had told him they couldn’t take things further, she could see the hurt in his eyes and knew at that moment something had shifted between them.
Even though they had stayed up most of the night and talked, their previous antics not mentioned again, she’d made him think she didn’t want him in the way that he wanted her, and because he was human, that must have stung. He was probably embarrassed, maybe he thought there was something wrong with him. Or maybe he thought he’d offended her by even trying. She recalled the moment he had flinched when she’d put herhand over his as he passed her his shirt, and a wave of regret hit her.
Despite Julien’s reassurance, and despite knowing Brett would be fine when he’d fully sobered up, as Lucie padded down the hotel corridor with bare feet, she felt awful. This was her fault. She should’ve explained herself better. Poured her heart out, told him the only reason she didn’t want to sleep with him last night was because she wanted more than that from him.
If she was going to have Brett Anderson, she wanted all of him. The good and the bad and yes, looking at the state he was in now, the ugly. But Brett was not the kind of man who could commit to her, and Lucie was in so deep with him that anything less would break her into pieces.
‘Lucie, love?’ Faith opened the door, a mug of coffee in her hand. ‘Take this, drink it and then go shower and wash your hair. I’ve left spare sweatpants, underwear, socks and all that in the bathroom for you. Sweatpants are Julien’s so you might have to roll them up, but they should be okay for now. Bea and Esme are on their way. I’ll call room service, too. Blueberry pancakes?’
Lucie looked at her friend and burst into tears. ‘Thank you.’ She pulled her into a tight hug and let her mascara-saturated tears fall onto the soft white cotton of Faith’s top. Stain remover and dry-cleaning existed for situations like this. Well, maybe not thebest friend may have a drinking problempart, but thecrying in last night’s makeuppart.
‘Nothing to thank me for. Off you go, you’ll feel clearer-headed after.’ Faith shooed her into the bathroom, coffee mug and all. If there was anything Faith could do well, it was nursing other people’s hangovers and heartbreaks. She’d used the tough-love approach on Bea when she’d almost broken up with Ricardo De La Rosa over a tiny blip, and on Julien’s daughter, Jasmine, when her first-ever school crush rejected her. This situation was potentially a little more serious, but Lucie still appreciated it.
If Faith wasn’t there to look after her, she’d have sat in Julien’s hotel room and stared out at the Las Vegas Strip, letting her thoughts run wild. It wasn’t healthy. But Faith knew exactly what Lucie needed. She knew her almost as well as Brett did. Their friendship had blossomed quickly, and although they didn’t have ten years behind them, they did have an instant bond that had grown over the last two race seasons.
Stepping into the shower, Lucie’s mind was still clinging to guilt. Analysing his recent behaviour, Lucie came to the realisation that Brett had indeed been drinking more. A few extra beers at dinner, whiskey before bed. They had spent more vacations in cities and popular tourist spots than in quaint European villages or at luxury spas. There had been more trips to bars and clubs than trips up mountains.
They’d spent four days at a ski resort in the summer; it was meant to be a hiking trip and he’d only hiked once, which seemed strange for Brett. He instead opted to drink and admire the view from the restaurant’s balcony.Alone. He’d called it ‘taking a break’ and she hadn’t paid any mind. How had shemissedthis? She should have seen the signs. This definitely wasn’t just a reaction to her rejection.
She sat on the floor of the shower, letting the water wash over her and ignoring the girls’ knocks for what felt like hours. Her eyes stung and her skin burned with the heat, but she couldn’t bring herself to get up for the longest time. Only the knock from room service and the subsequent waft of pancakes brought her out of her spell, and she finally turned the water off.
Faith was right, Julien’s sweatpants did drown her, but she didn’t have the energy to care right now. If Marco and Julien came to the same conclusion and they mutually agreed Brett needed help, she’d be the one to do it. Get to the bottom of whatever this was. He would do the same for her if she was in his position.
That was one of the things she loved about the IEC. They were a family, and nobody had to struggle alone. She had heard about the drama in other racing championships and could count on one hand the number of scandals she’d heard of within the IEC. Once drivers were involved with the organisation, it took a lot for them to leave, which gave everyone the chance to build genuine, long-lasting friendships– of course there were always going to be hiccups along the way, but this wasn’t a toxic place. If Brett needed more help than they could provide, they’d rally around him.
‘Hey, there you are.’ Esme spoke softly as Lucie stumbled out of the bathroom in a daze, the cool airawakening her senses more than the shower had managed. ‘We ordered you granola and fresh orange juice, too. It’s all on Julien’s credit card, take full advantage.’
‘I will.’ Lucie let out a gentle laugh.
‘So, what happened?’
‘I couldn’t wake him up. He was completely unresponsive for far too long, I was close to checking his breathing. And then when I finally got him to surface, he just wasn’t Brett. He was so… so cruel.’
‘You guys didn’t gothatwild last night, did you?’ Faith frowned.
‘You were gone when we came back from our hunt for food,’ Bea added.
‘Spotted two empty bottles of JD on my way out. He must have stayed up after I crashed.’
‘Oh… that’s so strange,’ Bea pondered.
‘I’m worried I might have sent him over the edge, or at least rocked the boat. We almost slept together last night.’ She grimaced, waiting for the dramatics.
‘I bloody knew it!’ Faith shouted.
