Page 33 of All That Glitters (Endurance #1)

Ashton

Some of the air left the room with Helen when she walked out.

“You know where the door is,” Hale said, moving forward and stepping around me. “You had no trouble walking into a house that isn’t yours. You can see yourself out of it.”

“Hale…”

“Go, Ashton.”

“Why didn’t you back out?” My heart beat hard and my breathing accelerated the way it did every time I thought about the wreck, which was more often than not.

But I pushed the questions out. “Why didn’t you back out of the position and let me have it?

I was there. Why didn’t you wait until we were clear and you had room?

I had nowhere to go. You pinned me down.

If I backed out, we would’ve crashed. If you’d backed out, we’d have been okay, but you didn’t.

You swerved toward me. For a split second you swerved, you overcorrected and then…

You did to me what you did to her during that test, only I didn’t have any recourse.

I have watched every frame of the wreck including the laps leading up to it.

Two cars were torn up that day. And a friendship was fucked.

For what? I don’t understand. You had a good car, maybe even better than mine in some instances.

You could have… There were other choices you could’ve made that day, and in that moment, but you…

You forced us into something that didn’t have to happen. Why?”

I hadn’t meant to ask him any of that, not today, maybe not ever, but being left in a room alone with him, emotions too close to the surface… Maybe I was tired. Maybe I was tired of being angry… Maybe I was just tired of it all.

“Hale?”

“Because I didn’t.” It was all he said before leaving me standing alone with fewer answers than I’d come in with.

Maybe it was best Helen didn’t want the seat with Crossline Racing . Maybe it was for the best that things were over between us.

I crushed the folder still in my hand, then left the room, the house… A feeling settled inside that more of my life was about to shift and change and that everything was going to be all fucked up again. Not that it hadn’t been ever since the wreck.

“Thank you for waiting, Amber.” I settled in the backseat of the silver sedan with minimal physical signs that panic was riding my ass the whole time.

It wasn’t a luxury car, but it was top of the line for the manufacturer.

It was comfortable with heated and cooling leather seats, climate control, and plenty of leg room.

“Not a problem, Mr. Glitterati.”

“Do you know where my family’s compound and shop is?”

“Just down the street, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Is that where you’d like to go?”

“Yes. And please, don’t call me Mr. Glitterati again. I’m Ash or Ashton. Hell, I’ll answer to just about anything these days.”

“I’ll try to remember that.”

“Unless you’d like me to call you by your last name? We can be very formal. I do have manners, despite some of what you may have witnessed earlier today.”

“That won’t be necessary,” she said with a laugh. “I prefer informality. Makes learning about people easier and in my job, I need to learn about the people I’m working with.”

“I understand that.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.” Anything to get my mind off the fact I was in a car with someone I barely knew.

Anything to get my mind off the fact that I was in a car at all.

“I’m curious about your name.”

“What about it?”

“Well, Ashton is pretty American for an Italian racing family.”

“Right. I was the first one, other than my cousin Brax to be born in America and my mother wanted me to fit or blend in better. With a last name of Glitterati, fitting and blending didn’t really happen when I was a kid unless I was racing.”

“Oh. I can see that. Darien wants a close knit a group of drivers. He wants all of you to fit together well. He thinks the team will be more successful that way.”

“He’s not wrong. The drivers, the crews, the engineers, the mechanics, the car chiefs…

Trust is key. Sometimes you just know you can trust someone, other times…

” My words trailed off as my thoughts wandered back to Hale.

We’d known each other our whole lives and I’d trusted Hale with my life more times than I could count and he’d trusted me.

Where had that trust gone wrong? Where had it been lost?

Was it before the accident on the track?

Was it in the moment? Would I ever get it back?

Would I ever trust myself to be on a race track with Hale Troye again?

Was that part of the reason I was so hesitant to even attempt getting back in a car of any kind? Was there something to what Helen had taunted me with last night? Letting Hale beat me again? Letting Hale win again?

So much of my energy went into simply hating Hale for what had happened, being so angry with the man I’d called my best friend since we were kids in karts.

I’d accused Hale of taking something from me and I thought it was just my confidence, my drive, my fearlessness, but maybe what he’d really taken from me was my ability to trust not only myself, but my fellow competitors, my friends.

“Did she accept the offer?” Amber asked, her question breaking into my train of thought. I was mildly grateful.

“No.”

Not that I expected any different.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I thought Helen would at least think about it and maybe she would have if Hale hadn’t been in the room.

Maybe we’d have been able to have one more argument about it.

Maybe I’d have been able to push a little harder, use her desire for me against her enough that she’d consider doing what I wasn’t yet able to.

“Do you think she will?”

“I think she wants to, but I don’t know that she will. We’ll have to see.” My answer was an evasion and I’m sure Amber knew it. Then again, maybe she didn’t.

I wanted to steer the conversation away from Helen because I was still trying to figure out what to do, how to not lose her completely.

What I’d started with her had gotten under my skin and to simply lose her was unthinkable.

I didn’t care at this point what I had to do, what I had to promise, who I had to move out of the way or go through to get to her…

Even if it was her that I had to go through.

“How long have you been in motorsports?”

“Honestly, this is my introduction. I’ve been Darien’s assistant for ten years in his other businesses, but when he sold his interests in all but one of them and decided to start a race team, he asked if I wanted to help him build it from the ground up.”

“But you knew he raced.”

“Yes. I helped him keep his businesses straight. His racing was something completely different and he handled it all on his own. I researched what I could so I would know what it was all about, but being directly involved like this? It’s a little daunting and quite frankly, overwhelming.

There’s so much to learn and to understand. ”

“There is. I think I’d forgotten that because I grew up right in the middle of it.”

“I’m sure you know more than I ever will,” she said, pulling into the long drive that would take us up to the place I’d called home during race seasons for most of my life.

“A word of warning, Amber? Once the bug grabs hold of you, it doesn’t let go,” I told her, my gaze flitting between the walk that would lead me to the house or the gravel walk that would lead me to the garage and corporate offices.

“Thank you for driving me this afternoon. I know it was a long haul.”

“My pleasure. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call. You have both my numbers, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Would you like me to come and pick you up the day after tomorrow for your next meeting with Darien?”

“No. That shouldn’t be necessary.”

“Okay.” She turned slightly and smiled at me, kind and unassuming. I hope she stayed that way. The business of racing could jade anyone.

I closed the door to the car and though my mind hadn’t made up its mind which way I was going, my feet had other ideas and took me straight into the garage. I was met with wide eye from the head engineer on my cars. Or I guess what used to be my cars.

“Ashton.”

“You seem surprised to see me, Clay.”

“I… I just didn’t expect you.” He said gruffly, doing his best to cover up the shock.

“I know. No one expects me anymore.”

“Well, it’s just that… I mean…” His shoulders slumped forward and his uncomfortable smile fell.

It was then that I realized the reality of the situation. My father had told everyone else, or at the last the important people. He just hadn’t told me.

My own smile wasn’t uncomfortable as much as sardonic, wry. “I know, Clay. I found out about it today.”

“I’m sorry, Ash. I think it was really shitty for your father to do that.”

“I imagine you told him that, too.”

“You bet your ass I did.”

“Thank you for standing up for me.”

“It wasn’t just me. Karl did, too. It’s just not right. You’re his son.”

I took a deep breath filled with metal, oil, brake dust, rubber. I fucking missed those smells. “This is also a business. His business. We both know he always does what’s best for the race teams, for the Glitterati legacy.”

“Still…” Clay was at a loss for words and so was I, so I gripped his shoulder and squeezed, letting him know that I understood and there were no hard feelings. After a few minutes, he seemed to regain his composure, and asked, “Do you know what you’re going to do?”

“I do. I have an offer from the team my father sold the contract to.”

“Wait… He sold your contract?”

“Yes.” I was as confused as Clay looked. “What did you think he’d done?”

“He just said you wouldn’t be racing for Glitterati anymore.”

I shook my head. “He sold my contract to a newly formed race team. Crossline Racing . It’s owned and run by a gentleman driver named Darien Cross. He’s offered me any position I want until I’m able to get behind the wheel again myself.”

“I can’t believe your father did that. Damn. I wish I could go with you. Several of us do.”