Page 123 of Hyperspeed
Still, I couldn’t bring myself to speak to the other drivers, not when it meant getting closer to Kai. I wasn’t ready to meet his eyes. Zylo had spotted me and made to come over, but Saelix stopped him, like he understood I needed space.
I took a seat at the back of the crematorium, alone, only half listening to the service. I kept my gaze fixed on the photo of Cass smiling down at us from the top of her coffin, because if I didn’t, my eyes would gravitate to Kai, sitting between Jax and Valen.
Jax noticed me just as the service ended. He nudged Kai and pointed my way, but I didn’t wait to see what happened next.
I slipped out before anyone could reach me, glimpsing Kai’s face falling just as I climbed into Mum’s shuttle.
After that, the only time I left my apartment was to compete in the penultimate race at the Void Loop, where I came in dead last. My head and heart weren’t in it, and it showed.
Tavoris and the team had said little about my performance. They knew I didn’t need the reminder. I was already beating myself up enough.
And now, with my standing knocked down to eighth in the championship, the damage was more than just emotional.
So here I was, drowning in my pity party on the couch.
The same one I’d been glued to for weeks.
Mum and Grandma had dropped off their food delivery, and Kai had made his daily gift run. I expected to be left alone for the night, so I jumped when my watch buzzed with an incoming call.
I frowned at Nina’s name on the screen. She rarely called me unless it was to do with something press related, and even then she preferred to speak in person.
“Hello?”
“Rev!” she chirped, her voice way brighter than I felt. “How are you doing?”
“Fine.” I kept it short, knowing Grandma would flick my ear for being rude.
But I didn’t have the energy to talk. I just wanted to zone out to another episode ofLove Planetand crash in bed.
“Are you sure? Did you contact the grief counsellor like I suggested?”
Nina had sent me the name of a local counsellor after the accident. But every time I thought about reaching out, I’d chastised myself for needing help.
I wasn’t grieving; I was wallowing. So why did I need to speak to someone?
“I’ll take your silence as a no.” She sighed. “Look, I can only imagine what’s going through your head, but I think it’d do you good to speak to someone.”
“I know,” I replied, even if I disagreed.
Talking about myfeelingswas the last thing I wanted to do, and the idea of taking a deep dive into my head was enough to make my stomach hurt.
“Just promise me you’ll think about it, okay?”
“I will.”
“Okay, well, I have a reason for calling,” she said, paper rustling in the background. “The Governor of Intergalactic Relations got in touch, and they want to meet with you.”
“What? Why?”
“You’ve made it clear since day one that one of your main reasons for joining the ASL was to bring attention to the Iskari.”
“Right . . .”
“Well, you’ve caught the GIR’s attention. Now they want to meet and talk about it.”
“Caught their . . . wait, what?”
“They want to talk to you about the Iskari, Rev. And I think this could be what you’ve been hoping for.”
