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Using my spare key, I make my way into my grandfather’s house, the same place Valentina and Gabriel are living in at the moment. I moved out after Val asked my teammate to move in with her because I wanted to give the two of them their space. It was also because I couldn’t stop seeing my grandparents everywhere. I’m usually pretty good at keeping my grief at bay, ignoring it, and fixating on everything else. I have found that if I am busy with something else, my brain doesn’t have time to remind me of everything I’ve lost, ofeveryoneI’ve lost. It works well most of the time, even better now that the constant reminders that Grandfather's households aren’t around me, but that doesn’t stop me from visiting Val as much as I can.
I miss her now that we’re not living together for the first time in our lives.
Chase, the little puppy Valentina found at the side of the road, jumps at me as soon as I walk into the door. I greet him because I miss him now that I’ve moved out. He’s always so excited to see me, too. He follows me as I step into the house before disappearing into the kitchen, probably to look for food.
“What the hell? Adrian, I love you, but you have your own place. Gabriel and I have only been engaged for four months. Do you know what that means?” my sister asks as I place my gym bag neatly in the closet, along with my shoes.
“What does it—” I cut off at the sight of her before smacking a hand over my eyes and saying, “No, Val, why? Why?”
“Because Gabriel texted me to put on this exact outfit so he can put me on the dining table and—”
“If you finish that sentence, I’m going to hurl,” I warn, pointing a finger in the direction of where I think she’s standing.
“I’m over here, dumbass,” she says, but there is no way I’m opening my eyes to look at my sister barely covered by a tiny set of lingerie and a small towel, which she probably grabbed to cover herself when I walked inside.
“Naked dinners are incredibly unsanitary,” I point out, grabbing my bag again and throwing one of my clean shirts at her head. I find a pair of extra shorts too, slowly side-stepping toward her to place it in her hand.
“Why are you here?” Val asks, slapping away the hand that’s covering my eyes so I look at her.
She’s drowning in my clothes now, which is a relief. I love my sister, but we both have boundaries set in place. One of them is that I don’t want to see what kind of lingerie she wears for my teammate and biggest rival. A shiver of unease runs through me, along with the desire to deck Gabriel in the face for whatever he does to my little sister. I tried to protect her as best as I could when we were growing up while respecting her boundaries even back then. Should have known the biggest threat would be the pretty boy of Formula One.
I still find it funny that everyone thinks of Gabriel that way.
Naturally, I’m the heartbreaker of F1.
“I miss you,” I admit, wrapping her in a hug even though she’s standing in front of me scowling and with her fists on her hips.
“You saw me three days ago. We had dinner together while we figured out which car you were going to buy,” she says against my chest, and I chuckle before stepping back and placing my hands on her shoulders.
“Well, I have attachment issues. I thought we all already knew that,” I reply, knowing full well it’s not just with Val, too. I spend all of my time with the people I love.
The days I’m not with Val, I spend with James, but he’s really busy with his kid when we’re not in our F1 season. Damian, his son, was adopted by Gabriel’s aunts a few months ago, but they’re more than happy to share custody with James when he’s in Monaco. It’s a good thing I love spending time with the little guy, too.
“Yeah, come on. I made your favorite. Homemade pizza,” she says, so I place a wet kiss on the top of her head. Val’s so short compared to me, but I also know she could knock me on my ass if she wanted to.
“And that is why I love you,” I say with a grin before stepping toward the kitchen.
Unfortunately, I’m not fast enough and when the door opens again, I hear Gabriel’s words loud and fucking clear.
“Get on the table, chérie. I’m starving and I’ve been thinking about your beautiful, thick thighs wrapping around my head all day.”
I cringe once before spinning around to glare at Gabriel. He spots me a moment after frowning at Val’s outfit, his eyes going wide for a fraction of a second. My sister’s fiancé lets out a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
“Well, there’s no recovering from that. Should I dig my own grave or do you want to do the honors?” Gabriel asks, and I flash him a mean smile as I take a step toward him.
“I’ll dig yours and you can dig mine because there is no way in hell I’ll ever get rid of that visual.”
“You’re both acting like children. Adrian, you know Gabriel and I have sex, don’t pretend we don’t. Gabriel, next time, check the room before you start dirty talking. There, problem solved.” My sister leaves no room for arguing as she strides into the kitchen to check on the pizza.
“I think our plan is still better,” Gabriel points out, earning himself an agreeing nod from me.
“Absolutely. We can start digging after Val goes to sleep.”
Gabriel smiles as he claps me on the shoulder.
Chapter 19
Nevaeh
