Page 45 of Retrograde
Faith’s entire demeanour softened as she took on the role of a concerned friend. ‘Luce, don’t you think you should tell him? Get it out in the open?’
‘Maybe. Even if it blows up in my face, I probably need to spit it out eventually. But not yet. He’s got too much going on in his head, I have to time it right. When I tell him, it could ruin our friendship for good. He needs me too much for me to be selfish at the moment.’
‘God, this is going to be painful.’
‘Oh, I’ll be fine. I’ve been doing this for years.’
‘Not for you, for me.’ Faith placed her hand over her heart. ‘I just want to know if he feels the same way. I’ve always thought he does, but that doesn’t mean he wants a happily ever after.’
‘I don’t even know if I do. I don’t know if we would work if we stepped over the line. It’s one thing to love a person, but it’s another to actually be compatible or share the same hopes and dreams. Anyway, you’re being super unhelpful right now, Jensen,’ Lucie deadpanned. ‘Let’s head back over to the table. We’re starting to draw attention to ourselves and I donotwant to deal with an interrogation…’
Sitting back down with the team, Lucie’s attention was on glassware. Each glass on the white tablecloth wasfilled with water. Just plain old aqua. None of the team were drinking alcohol at the table, they would instead head to the bar and stand there until their drinks were finished, leaving Brett to mingle. Even then, she didn’t think any of them had drunk more than two and they were already a few hours into their evening.
So far, Brett had kept quiet, not touched a drop of alcohol and accepted the situation for what it was, but slipped Lucie his credit card and insisted she let him treat her to something other than room temperature water. His only complaint of the entire evening had been that an event catering to such high-class clientele should up their ice game.
As she leaned back in her chair, her dress seriously restricting her movements, she observed Brett while he turned to speak to Ricardo De La Rosa at the table behind. The same De La Rosa they were supposed to hate since he’d broken up with Bea via a break-up announcement on social media instead of communicating with her directly. The same De La Rosa who was making a poor effort at winning her back. Nonetheless, Brett was happily chatting away. As loud as ever.
It wasn’t until he turned back around and knocked his drink over that doubt started to crawl up Lucie’s spine. Water spilled everywhere. On Brett’s phone and Marco’s, all over Brett’s suit trousers and on the silky material of Faith’s dress.
‘Anderson!’ Faith rolled her eyes and stood up, dabbing at the material with a napkin before sighing and hurrying away to the bathrooms.
Her dress belonged to the brand that was sponsoring them and if it was ruined, Faith would have to pay the costs. Lucie knew based on her own dress that her gorgeous floor-length gown was upwards of four grand.
‘Aw shit, sorry man, is your phone all right, De Luca?’ Brett frowned as Marco inspected the damage. Julien watched on in silence, concern etched across his features. His gaze didn’t even follow his wife out of the room like it usually would.
‘All good. Yours?’ Marco was typically unbothered.
‘Yeah, think I need to go get the hand dryer on my trousers though.’ Brett excused himself and left his friends sitting there in an awkward silence. Someone needed to say it, but who?
‘Luce, what’s in that glass? Give it a quick check before he comes back.’ Julien pointed at the half-empty glass of water that Brett had been drinking from.
Lucie picked it up, lifting it to her nose and inhaling before taking a hesitant sip for good measure. It was plain water, no doubt about it. She felt guilty for them all accusing him of breaking his sobriety so soon, but she had a feeling that for now, this would be a regular thing. They would constantly be suspicious of his every move. At least for tonight, they could just put it down to Brett being clumsy. He would no doubt receive a dry-cleaning bill from Julien’s wife, however. Or Julien himself, who still looked monumentally pissed off.
‘Will we ever be able to trust him?’ Marco said exactly what she’d been thinking. He usually liked to sugar-coat things, but it seemed that he was equally as worriedabout his teammate. After all, if Brett messed up and lost his seat or if it got out to the press, Jules and Marco would have to deal with the fallout.
‘Probably not. But it doesn’t mean we love him any less.’ Julien looked pointedly at Lucie. Could he see right through her? Did he know how she felt about their best friend? Or was he just clarifying that they would be there to support him, too? That she didn’t have to do it alone.
She observed the room. It was packed with businesspeople, higher-ups from the team. Not just the sponsor they were here for tonight, but other sponsors, too. Theownerof Revolution Racing, who was a step above Jasper. Every single one of these people would have a negative reaction if news of Brett’s issues surfaced. They would cut donations, end contracts. It could run the team into the ground.
How was she supposed to monitor Brett’s every waking move without him getting angry? Would he get angry, or would he thank her for holding him accountable and saving his ass from losing the career he’d fought so hard for? Jasper hadn’t said it, but he was counting on Lucie. So was Gabriel. So waseveryone. She could feel the pressure mounting, suffocating her.
Lucie needed to get out of this room. Faith was taking a while in the bathroom, so she used that as her get-out clause. ‘I’m going to go help your wifey with her dress.’
‘Sure. If you see Anderson, tell him us three drivers need to start making the rounds again. There’s loads of people we haven’t greeted yet and I can feel the PR teambreathing down our necks. You know how Chelsea gets when things aren’t done her way.’
‘Faith?’ Lucie hovered in the long, dimly lit corridor leading to the bathrooms. Both were engaged, and she assumed Brett was in the second one. She knocked on the first.
‘Luce, is that you? I’ll be out in a minute! My dress is almost dry. Brett is saved from my dry-cleaning bill!’ Faith’s voice called out over the noise of the hand dryer.
‘Hi, Sunny.’ Brett flung the door to the second restroom open, swaying slightly as he smirked at Lucie, his eyes glazed over. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’
‘Get back in there, right now.’ Lucie shoved him backwards and slammed the door, angry tears threatening to blur her vision. ‘Show me your pockets.’
‘If you wanted to get in my pants so bad, why didn’t you just say that weeks ago?’ he snorted. Actuallysnorted, as he laughed at his own bad joke.
‘You’re drunk,’ she stated. It was clear as day. How had he changed so much in fifteen minutes? Was it because now she was looking harder for the signs? Because she was already suspicious? Yet again, she hadn’t paid enough attention. She’d been too busy vlogging.
‘No, Sunny. I’m Brett.’ He grinned at her.
