Page 29 of Crash Course Omega
“You're such an asshole,” I grumble.
“I bet you say that to everyone you love,” he laughs as he grabs my hand, pulling me into a hug, and I can’t help but chuckle in agreement.
Maddock
I’m perfectly happy storming through the corridors as the transport team moves things from the garage to the huge trucks that will drive everything nonstop to Austin during the week.
They’re the heart of the operation. If we didn’t have over one thousand people to organize and transport everything, there’s no way we could do any of this.
But that doesn’t change the fact that I want to be alone.
I parked my rental car in the staff lot behind the hangars. I made sure it was white and inconspicuous. No one will guess that I’m driving a Toyota Prius after that win. No one apart from Jacob and the operations manager should have known aboutit. So why is a gorgeous redhead leaning against it in a yellow sundress and a wide-brimmed hat in the October desert heat?
My heart freezes, but I have to keep walking toward her. I don’t want her to know I’m stunned at the sight of her. I don’t want her to get a clue about how desperately I want to run to her like we used to do after a race.
Harmony's thick headscarf almost hides her hair and neck, and huge supermodel-sized sunglasses shade her expression, apart from the hitch of red-painted lips that are already driving me crazy. My mouth is actually watering.
I’m only two cars away, but I’m already taking deep breaths through my nose like I’d just been suffocated.
“This is my car,” I say numbly as I reach her.
“Hello to you too.” She nods, and I grit my teeth.
Even just standing this close to her makes me want to tug her to my chest and tell her how much I fucking missed her.
I think she’s going to tease me like in the past, but she reaches up to slip the glasses from her face.
And she hits me with the same expression she had when she walked out of the door all those years ago.
It’s like a shot to the heart, and I nearly flinch back.
“How are you, Maddock?” she says softly. “Congratulations on your win.”
“What are you doing here, Harmony?” I ask coldly.
She trembles as if she’s the one shocked, even though she’s turned up like this. Like she didn’t expect me to speak to her even though she’s the one curved against the car with breasts shaped perfectly by her dress.
“If you haven’t figured that out, you’re dumber than I thought you were,” she says dryly. “You get the opportunity to teach me for the rest of the championship season. Isn’t that exciting?” she says with a fake simper.
My upper lip curls as I look at her, trying to pretend that I’m disgusted even though I want nothing more than to mold my body to hers and kiss her.
Was she always that thin? I don’t remember her jaw being so sharp or her eyes sunken like that.
I remember the young athlete matching me in the gym stride for stride on the treadmill, or hefting 10kg balls to keep her muscle up.
“You shouldn’t even be within ten miles of a fucking racetrack after everything you did,” I hiss.
I'm already pissed off that she’s here. But she’s changed so much, and I hadn't been there for it.
“Oh, you mean how I left F2 for my mental health because I was so stressed that I was downing twenty pills a day just to stay ‘on form’? You mean that? Or do you mean having to deal with a boyfriend and family who never supported me the moment I said I wanted to act? Oh, wait, do you mean the fact that you, Maddock, spent every single day of the year berating me because I didn't drive howyouwanted me to?”
Then I really do flinch back, because she gives me that look again, the one that says I betrayed her.
I’m too worked up to answer her properly. We’re in a public car park and my alpha senses are screaming at me louder than a fucking engine to hike her dress up and thrust into her.
I can’t talk to her like this. But I also can’t stop myself.
“I meant because we had a single argument and then you left without another word. You didn’t even give me a chance to apologize; you were just gone.”
