Page 11 of All That Glitters (Endurance #1)

Helen

“There you are.”

Hale caught up to me as I walked out of the downstairs powder room.

I’d needed a few minutes to myself. Not long after Ashton walked away, the terrace began crawling with people and I wasn’t interested in conversation.

I needed to stare at myself in the mirror for assurance that I was still the same woman who’d arrived at the party and not someone completely different after Ashton’s insistent presence during my one weak moment.

Of all people to have noticed and come to my rescue.

I smiled.

“Who was looking?”

“Me.”

“Okay, well… You found me. Is something wrong? Did something happen?”

“No, I…” Hale glanced around and edged us a little further out of earshot. A small library was across the hall and we slipped inside.

“Hale, what’s going on?”

“What were you doing outside alone with Ashton?” he demanded.

My brow furrowed and I pushed down the defensiveness that rose up. “Nothing. Why?”

“You left with him.”

“I didn’t leave with him. He took me outside to get some air.”

“Are you okay? Why would you need air?”

“The whiskey got to me and I was a little lightheaded. He stayed to make sure I was all right.”

“That’s it?”

“Yes. That’s it.”

“Whiskey doesn’t usually do that to you.”

“I haven’t eaten since this morning. I knew better than to have something like that on an empty stomach. What are you really asking?”

I was uncomfortable with his questions. He’d never been this way with me. I hadn’t done anything that would have or should have provoked the mini-interrogation session.

“I just…” He had that look on his face again… Anger. Frustration.

He needed to go punch a bag until he was exhausted, go for a long drive with loud music, or something, anything.

He raked a hand through his short hair, messing up the carefully styled strands and hung his head, shaking it back and forth.

Taking his hand in mine, I brought his attention back to me.

“We didn’t talk about you or what’s been going on.

We didn’t really talk…at all.” There was the slightest hesitation, but not enough that Hale should notice.

Ashton and I talked about a lot without saying much and I wasn’t sure the confusion swirling through me needed examination, though I wanted to dissect every word he said.

Hale sighed and squeezed my fingers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even know you’d gone anywhere at all until I heard others talking about it.”

If I rolled my eyes any harder…

“There was nothing for anyone to talk about. Besides, before all this happened, we were friends. I could have disappeared with Ashton for the rest of the night and there wouldn’t have been a question or gossip.”

Hale nodded, but he didn’t look relieved or satisfied. He looked suspicious and like a whipped puppy all at the same time.

God, I fucking hated gossip and drama. This was our first major incident and the stress levels were through the roof. Watching what we do, what we say, where we go… This was not us. Not the Troye’s. Friends of ours? Sure. Ashton Glitterati? Definitely. Us? No.

We might have all been friends before, but maybe I had been mistaken in how I’d seen us. Maybe I’d seen us one way and the rest of the paddock saw us another way.

I wasn’t in the spotlight, but I was a familiar face in the garage, around pit road. People within the business of racing knew me and through my position at Troye, LTD . I even knew a few of things that happened inside other race teams from time to time.

Since the wreck, there’d been questions about the longstanding friendship between our family and the Glitterati family and carefully constructed comments had been given from us as well as from Leonardo.

I believed him when he said he didn’t think Hale had wrecked Ashton on purpose, that it had been a freak thing.

I tried again. “There’s nothing for you to worry about, Hale.”

“I’m… I just want everything to go back to the way it was.

” He leaned back against the wall next to the door.

“If this is the way it’s going to be, especially with Ashton, I don’t think I want to race anymore.

This isn’t… I thought it was hard between races after the wreck, but at least I had things to keep me busy.

Seeing Ashton the other day, though, and now tonight… I don’t know.”

I was unsure what to say that hadn’t already been said. I wanted to tell him that I understood, but I didn’t. Not really. Not from his perspective, at least.

As kids we’d raced together, the four of us. Each one - Hale, Ashton, Brax, me - aspired to the level of professional in the sport we loved. We didn’t know which way we’d all end up, but racing was what we wanted.

I swallowed my feelings and disappointments down that it hadn’t worked out for me and focused on Hale. Again.

I could feel his pain through this crazy wonder twin bond that we’d shared since before we were born. I could feel his hurt.

He was in a car because he was good, because he deserved it, because that’s how things worked out. And I… I did everything I could to make sure he stayed in a car, that he kept a wheel in his hands, that he had everything he needed both on and off the track to succeed.

I watched everything, listened to everything, took it all in and helped Hale figure out where he fit, where he could take advantage, where he should put himself for the most exposure and position to win.

I didn’t know what this season would bring. I didn’t know if Ashton was going to be back in a Glitterati car or not. It really seemed that no one did. I wondered if part of that uncertainty among the drivers was what Hale was feeling more than anything else.

The series didn’t revolve around one driver, but Ashton was different. He was better than most veterans of the sport, a Glitterati when no one had really talked about the family in decades, at least not outside Italy… He was brash and flashy and in every conversation now.

The attention on Ashton, on his family, on anyone associated with him…

“If you’re looking for me to tell you not to race this season, you’re not going to get that.”

“Until you said that, I didn’t know what I was looking for you to say.”

“Get it out of your head and this is not the place. We can talk about it when we get home, if you want.”

“Can we go now?”

I shook my head. “No.” I said, knowing we both wanted nothing more than to run and hole up at home.

“And just what are you two whispering about?”

Brax poked his head around the doorframe, a sly look sliding between me and Hale.

“That garish tie you’re wearing,” Hale commented without missing a beat.

“Don’t hate on the tie just because you’re too jealous to admit that you have all the style of a dead guy at his own funeral.” His eyes slid to me. “No offense, Helen of Troye. You’re always beautiful and stylish. Your brother, on the other hand…”

“Maybe the rest of us just naturally pale in your shadow, Brax.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere.” His eyebrows danced and his smile lit up the room. “I was sent to retrieve you both.” His smile turned into a smirk. “Dinner is about to be served.”

“Retrieve us?”

“Eavesdrop, listen in, sneak around… Pick one, any one.”

“Hear anything good?” I took the arm he offered while Hale took up residence on my other side. I took his hand in mine again.

“Not a damn thing,” he groused.

“You should try harder next time.”

“I know. I would make a terrible spy.”

Brax would look after himself just like every driver in the paddock did.

There was trust, goodwill, and camaraderie among the series regulars and among the ones who came over for a few races from stock cars and open wheel, the endurance series’ in Europe and Asia, and a couple of drivers from super cars in Australia.

But the regulars, the ones who were after the championship trophy at the end of the season, they raced each other, worked with each other, talked and shared cars… They were a unique and individual family.

Hale was part of that.

I forced a smile and walked between the two men into the dining room, avoiding the eyes that settled on us.

We’d been to a number of dinner parties over the years, but this was one that would be remembered, not only for the unsettling tension around the table, but for the spread of food.

Francesca Glitterati had not been kidding.

The antique china was a bold move and if every piece was returned to the cabinet at the end of the night without so much as a nick, I’d be more than a little surprised.

Same with the crystal water goblets and wine glasses.

And much as I wanted a glass of whatever was being passed around in the decanters, after what happened earlier, it would be smart for me to stick with water.

Our hostess met us in the doorway. “Excellent,” she exclaimed. “Brax found you.” She leaned toward me, lowered her voice. “I was afraid you might have decided to make a run for it.”

“We thought about it.”

“Well, you’re here and you’re seated down at my end. Hale, you’re next to me with Brax on your other side, and Helen you’re here next to —”

“Me.”

I turned to find Ashton walking toward us from the kitchen entrance. When I glanced at Francesca, nothing more than a tightening at the corner of her smile gave away that Ashton was messing up her carefully planned seating arrangements.

He spoke in a hushed tone to one of Hale’s teammates, Ritchie Sanchez, who nodded and stood, moving down several seats to the empty chair in the middle.

I couldn’t help but notice the pretty brunette that would have been directly across from Ashton.

I didn’t know her, but that wasn’t anything new.

New drivers entered the sport every season, older, younger.

It was possible she was the daughter or sister or girlfriend of one of them.

Or maybe she was the daughter of someone Ashton’s mother was hoping to tempt him with to keep his focus off Hale.

Either way, she had a pretty pout and though I had complicated feelings toward Ashton, I wish he’d taken the seat his mother had wanted him in instead of the one beside me.

Lying to Hale earlier was hard. Until all of this…mess, I’d made it a point to never lie to my brother. He could read me too well, same as I could read him, but I couldn’t let him know anything about my encounter with Ashton. And now… Shit.

Brax offered me an apologetic look and Hale looked suspicious as he was tugged away.

I glared over my shoulder as Ashton escorted me to the table and pulled out my chair. “Thank you.”

He inclined his head. “Careful, Helen,” he whispered as I sat and he moved to take his own seat. “We’re old friends, remember? You’ll cause a scene with those eyes.”

“You haven’t been very friend-like lately and you would know all about causing a scene, wouldn’t you?”

The only answer he gave was to compose his face into one of innocence with a smile that was made of pure sin. I had only seen it directed at women he was interested in, never at me and it was unnerving.

“Everyone?”

My thoughts were interrupted by Francesca calling everyone’s attention toward her. To be honest, I was grateful for the distraction. I turned toward her, giving Ashton my back.

I could feel his focus on me and it did strange things to my insides. Things it shouldn’t do. Things that once upon a time I’d have welcomed, but not now. Not when there was nothing good that could come from it.

“I’m so glad you all were able to accept my invitation to this year’s pre-season dinner.

A few of you have never been to one of my dinner parties, but I’m happy you’re here.

As you can see, there’s way too much food, so you’ll all be taking enough with you when you leave to feed your entire family for a month. ”

The laughter around the table was genuine. Ashton’s mother had missed her calling as a party planner. She loved to entertain, but she loved the racing world more. And she loved her family more than that.

“I know there’s been a lot more attention paid to our little series over the last several months, some of it good, some of it not, but as we go into a new season, I hope that we’re able to put those things behind us, have some fun, and enjoy some great racing.”

She lifted her glass, looked down the length of the table, then back to where Ashton sat. Her eyes filled with something I couldn’t decipher and then she passed her gaze over me and her smile returned, full of affection. She gave Brax and Hale a kind, empathetic glance before taking a drink.

Glasses clinked and while I reached over toward Hale, and to Brax, across the table to two of Brax’s teammates, Roger Dawes and Felix Hernandez, I made sure to avoid Ashton because I couldn’t trust myself not to spill my water in his lap.

His laughter drew my curiosity, and I relented. “Something funny?”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. But that’s fine. Keep it up. Two can play.”

I bit my tongue to keep from telling him that he’d started it by escorting me out on the terrace and then forcing himself into the seat beside me. He was right in one respect, though. I was going to only draw attention to us if I didn’t change how I treated him for the rest of the evening.

I lifted my glass to his and he met it. “To a new season,” I said, not quite meeting his eyes.

“To a lot of new things,” he replied, his voice soft. My gaze drifted back to find him staring at my mouth for a split second before he turned toward the person who was seated on his other side.

I stifled a sigh.

Confusion meet Off Balance. I think the two of you are going to be great friends .