Page 50 of Faster

They went through the drivers who wouldn’t have a place on the grid next season. Cece threw out a couple of names. Paola shook her head. “Hendriks has a seat. It hasn’t been announced. And Majors is going to drive ovals in the US next season.”

“That only leaves Heka,” Micaela said, though her tone lacked confidence. “But he’s ready to retire.”

“Cece, did you tell Jocelyn about your relationship with Luca and Ethan?” Paola asked.

“Absolutely not.” She didn’t know why she responded with such vehemence until she remembered all the times Jocelyn had mentioned the account.

Hell, she was the one who’d shown it to her first. “I haven’t even enjoyed her company very much lately.

I certainly don’t trust her. But I did hear about the account from her. ” They all looked at each other.

“She’s your good friend, though,” Paola said.

Micaela cocked her head. “She was lurking around the Panther garage during Monza,” she said. “Do you think she would do something like this? Heka seems to want to retire.”

“Jocelyn wants to stay in the paddock more than anything in the world. And this is the first time that Heka hasn’t cooperated with that.

” The more she thought about it, the more it made sense.

“She’s trying to get Micaela or one of the Lupo guys fired.

This late in the season, either Panther or Lupo would have limited options—Heka would be one of the only reasonable ones. ”

“How do we stop her?” Paola said, ever the goal-oriented pragmatist.

Not that Luca minded having his cock in Ethan’s mouth, but he missed Cece. If he closed his eyes, he could imagine her sitting on the bathroom counter, horny beyond belief, as her husband sucked him off in the shower.

She wouldn’t be able to resist joining them, and she’d slip off one of those silky nightshirts she liked to wear, step out of her lacy panties—they were white in his fantasy, even though she liked black underwear—and step inside the steamy glass enclosure.

She’d claim it was for a better look because the glass was cloudy, but she’d start touching them both.

Luca would cup her breast when she leaned over and told Ethan how Luca liked to be sucked. Then, she’d reach between his legs and tug on his balls.

In this reality, Luca opened his eyes and looked down to find Ethan stroking himself as he took Luca’s cock all the way to the back of his throat. He was torn between watching what was happening in the present moment and the scenario he couldn’t have.

The speculative scenario—the one in which Cece was with them—won out.

He closed his eyes again and watched as Cece knelt down behind Ethan and took over fucking him with her hand.

In both realms, he sawed in and out of Ethan’s mouth faster, until he gagged but didn’t push Luca away.

Instead, he dug the fingernails of one hand into Luca’s thigh so hard, pulling him closer, until he likely drew blood.

In his mind, Cece stood up and stepped closer to him, pressing her full lips along his jaw as she threaded her long, delicate fingers through his hair.

He wanted to taste her, so he reached between her legs and speared into her wet, soft cunt.

He could smell her arousal in the humid air as the tension in his body approached the breaking point.

“Fuck.” He was so close. When the memory of her taste on his lips came, so did he. It seemed to go on and on because his mind wanted her back so badly, but it was also over too soon.

He’d had to fight not to say her name when he shot down Ethan’s throat.

He and Ethan had tried very hard not to talk about her during the Dutch Grand Prix.

It was all they could do to get through the weekend.

The following race, they’d been shoved out of the spotlight by the controversy after Micaela Cartwright’s crash during practice and the drama that ensued.

And then they’d taken P1 and P2 in the race. The celebration had been weird. None of the mainstream broadcasters had wanted to ask about their scandal, and yet it was right there, the whole time.

But now that they had a week off, staying silent on the matter of Cece was getting harder.

It wasn’t like they could avoid each other.

Ethan was right here, in the apartment with him.

He was kneeling at his feet, recovering from an orgasm that had felt almost like an exorcism.

Except the ghost of Cece was still right in the room with them.

Ethan stood up, and Luca pulled him close. They kissed, and it was like they weren’t both missing an integral piece of themselves for a short moment. But then Ethan pulled back. “Are we going to talk about her?”

Luca nodded, and they finished their shower. They hadn’t talked about anything really important since she’d left them. He’d overheard Ethan telling her to stay in their apartment as long as she needed. When he’d hung up the phone, he’d looked at Luca and said, “She’s not going anywhere.”

The way he said it, Luca believed Ethan would move heaven and earth to keep his wife.

And, although they’d been inseparable, they hadn’t talked about their future all together.

Luca didn’t want to seem insecure, so he didn’t bring it up.

But it was getting to the point that silence on the matter was stifling.

So, they dressed, and Ethan made them both coffees. They sat at the island where Cece had sat and poured her heart out over Ethan’s infidelity over eggs and looked at one another warily.

That the team didn’t care about them being in a relationship, as long as they were winning, had surprised Luca, because they were an Italian team that had priests saying masses in favor of their victory every weekend.

But, after a woman that Luca and Ethan had hooked up with together before Cece had gone to the press, they’d been called into a meeting.

Both of them thought they’d be sacked, but the team’s CEO had said something about the stock being up and his experiences at boarding school—“ Who hasn’t hooked up with their best mate?

” And they seemed more excited about the possibilities for sponsorship by Grindr or Scruff more than anything.

That would probably make the team more money than the saint candles depicting Luca and Ethan.

“I want her back,” Ethan finally said. “And I’m not giving you up either.”

Something that had been coiled inside Luca’s chest for weeks unspooled. Ethan wanted to be with him and Cece. But the problem of Cece not wanting to be with—or even talk to—either of them still hung over his head like a cloud.

“I want that too.”

Ethan dropped his gaze to his coffee. “We should have talked about this sooner.”

“It was easier to ignore it during the race weekends. And then fuck every time we had the opportunity to discuss it thereafter.”

It was strange they’d never been intimate together alone before—not without a woman they were both with in the next room.

But, after Cece left, neither of them questioned the attraction they’d always had for one another.

They’d taken too much comfort in one another to break things off, even though that’s what would have happened before.

“I don’t hate that approach. It gave us both time to think.” Ethan smiled at him, and it felt like they were fourteen again. Maybe he’d been a little bit in love with his friend this whole time, and it had taken their girl to unlock it. But it was out of the bag now.

Luca grabbed the back of Ethan’s neck and pulled his mouth to his. Even though he’d just gotten off, he wanted him again. The absence of the other part of them made their need that much more urgent. Soon, they were both on the same side of the island and grinding their hips together.

Ethan had the presence of mind to pull back before one of them had the other bent over the back of the couch. “We need to figure out how to get her back, though.”

“She was so convinced that us being together in public would ruin our lives. It won’t be easy.

” Luca rubbed the damp hair at the back of his head.

Ethan put his arms on either side of his hips.

He wasn’t going to let Luca get away with avoiding this any longer.

Where it might have made Luca feel caged-in and dying for an out before, it made him feel safe in that moment.

He wasn’t used to seeking that feeling out, but it was okay because it was his oldest friend.

“My parents are assholes, so they are going to disinherit me regardless.” Ethan didn’t seem as emotional about that as Luca would have been, but then Ethan’s parents were cunts.

“And my parents don’t care.” They’d called Luca after the news broke, but they were only concerned that he was okay.

They’d checked in on Cece and Ethan too.

He didn’t know what he’d done in a past life to deserve the two people who’d raised him, but he was grateful every day.

“They’ll be happy if we figure this out. They’ll be your family.”

Ethan kissed his jaw, and said, “It wouldn’t matter if they wouldn’t. You and Cece are my family. You have been for a long time. And I think I could be happy if it were just us. But I don’t want that. I want more. The two of you are everything.”

Those words choked Luca up. He cupped Ethan’s face in his hands. “I love you. Not just because you and Cece are a package deal. You need to know that.”

Ethan nodded. “How are we going to get her back, though?”

“She has to be absolutely sure that this is not going to affect our careers negatively.” They separated and were silent for a few long moments. They both took drinks of their coffees and looked out the window, over the Mediterranean. He didn’t think the ocean was as blue anywhere but here.

The weather was perfect that morning, barely any clouds. The only way today could be better was if Cece was with them.

Ethan looked over at him and smiled. “I have an idea.”