Page 4 of Retrograde
‘Lucie, my furry friend and I are the power couple of the grid.’ Julien said it with such a straight face that shewished she had caught it on camera for the sake of the fans, who were almost as invested in Julien’s love story with his dog as they were in the one with Faith.
Marco held his hand out for the lead. ‘Can I take him for a walk?’
‘Not too far.’ Faith handed it to him and immediately took her phone out of her pocket to snap a shot, showing Lucie her lightning-fast editing work before posting it online.
‘Morning, kids.’ Jasper Kotosovski, the principal for Revolution, appeared behind them, coffee in hand. He had about a gazillion cups a day to fuel him through the stress of managing the team, but he enjoyed his racing family.
‘You’re onlyjustold enough to be my dad, Jasper. I’m no kid.’
‘Moretz, you brought your dog to work. You’re a big kid at heart, admit it.’
Julien scowled, shoving his hands in his pockets. ‘He’s my baby. I’d like to point out I do bring my human baby, too. You know, the teenager I raised.’
Faith tucked herself into his side and smiled up at him. ‘You can still be a big kid, babe. I think it’s a good thing.’
‘Right, enough of the lovey-dovey shit. It’s too early in the day.’ Brett rolled his eyes.
‘It’s two o’clock in the afternoon, Anderson,’ Julien defended.
‘Exactly.’
‘You guys all set for quali tomorrow? Heads in thegame?’ Jasper asked the group. ‘Got to keep Kahan Racing off our tail. Their rookie driver is really something else.’
‘He’s got nothing on us. One drop of rain and that team falls to pieces. They don’t have our secret weapon.’ Brett nodded in Julien’s direction, hyping up his teammate’s impeccable driving skills in the awful weather.
It didn’t matter if rain was pelting his helmet and blurring his vision through the visor, Julien Moretz wasn’t going to let up for anything or anyone. Cars would spin left, right and centre and he would just keep driving like there was nobody else on the track. Unless the safety car came out and the race was yellow flagged, of course. Each of them brought something different to the team, which made them almost unstoppable. Marco was an expert at keeping the pace steady in longer stints and Brett at fighting their rivals off at high speeds.
‘We’ll have another strategy meeting at four. Until then, get comfortable with her.’ He gestured at the car, sitting proudly before them in all her ruby-red glory.
‘I meant to say earlier, Jasper, the new livery looks so good! Imagine how much it’s going to stand out on the feed! Plus, it’ll be super easy to spot on the TV footage amongst the more minimalist liveries,’ Faith commented.
Revolution Racing had been known for their subtlety in the design of their car. They had always opted for red and kept the zebra stripe pattern strictly for the drivers’ race suits, but this season they had gone all out. The stripes wereonthe car. It looked bold, and it stood outon the track amongst more than sixty other cars from thirty-plus teams.
Most teams stuck to one or two colours, with the occasional one opting for an artistic design if they had a collaboration in the works. But none looked as impressive as the work of art that Revolution had presented this season. They would change it for Le Mans, of course, they always did. Teams typically came up with a one-off livery for that particular race due to its grandeur. But for the rest of the season, this was what they were working with.
‘We’re the best of the best, Lucie. Got to have a design to match,’ Jasper grinned.
This was the worst part; waiting around for the race to start. Autograph sessions were done, fans had all had a nose at the car and the garage and tracked the drivers down in the paddock, and now Brett stood silently watching them in the grandstands from his spot in the garage. They were cheering as IEC staff used T-shirt cannons to launch merchandise in the air for them to catch from their seats.
‘Nervous?’ Lucie sidled up to Brett, who was in full racing gear. They’d spent the last couple of days holed up at the track, barely spending any time at the hotel in favour of working until the sun went down and returning before it rose.
‘Nah, you know me. Cool as a cucumber, Sunny.’
‘You know you don’t have to play that game with me,’ Lucie murmured so the mechanics and engineers wouldn’t hear.
Brett turned to look down at her, his gaze burning into hers. ‘I know. But I’m feeling particularly confident today. Don’t know why. Must be because my lucky charm is here.’
‘You know I’m always by your side at a race, nothing different there.’
‘Yep, which is why I don’t get nervous.’ He tapped her nose fondly, but she knew he was lying. She’d seen the panic attacks and the fear in the past, particularly in his early days in the championship when he’d had less confidence, experience and a smaller fan base, but she’d let it slide. If he needed to convince himself there was nothing wrong then that was fine.
‘Did you have a good few days in Brussels?’
‘Mm,’ he mumbled absentmindedly, a sure-fire sign his nerves were getting the better of him. ‘Exactly what I needed. Managed to blow off some steam, have some drinks with the lads. Feeling refreshed.’
‘Drinking before a race?’ She eyed him, hoping he couldn’t see the judgement written across her face. The drivers rarely drank in the lead-up to a race, they needed to be at peak fitness before they got in the car. They were all about health and nutrition and Jasper wouldn’t be impressed if he knew one of his drivers wasn’t taking good care of himself.
‘Don’t give me that look, Sunny, it wasn’t a heavy sesh. Oh, I got you something.’ He beckoned her to the back of the garage, where his rental car was parked. A Ferrari, of course. Bright red, so in-your-face one would only assume it belonged to a driver. Brett didn’t knowhow to keep things low-key. Then again, any driver who didn’t rock up in an SUV typically rented a sports car. It wasn’t just a Brett thing, he was just far less subtle than most.
