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ALEXANDER

W e did it. We fucking did it.

My cooldown lap was a blur, tears were in my eyes. It had been six races since I had stood on the top step at the podium. After some changes to the car, FIA penalties, and growing pains, the car had been giving me hell. I had managed to scrap by a third place and second place, a few times not placing at all in the top three. The weight of it all was heavy. I needed the points to secure my next championship, and this win was exactly what we needed today.

“Congrats, mate, a good run, a real good run,” my engineer said over the radio.

“Thank you to the team. Good work today! Let’s keep ’em coming!” I replied. Pulling behind the first-place marker, I got out of the car and stepped onto the front, raising my hands in the air for a cheer. I could hear my team’s loud screams of victory. I closed my eyes to soak it all in. When I opened them, there was a sea of black, blue, and pink. I jumped down, walking over to Carlos and shaking his hand.

“Nice job.” He congratulated me.

In third was my own teammate, James, and we ran to each other and collided in a hug.

“Let’s fucking go!” he cheered.

The cameras clicked off rapidly around us. They loved our bromance. It was rare to be close to a teammate, since they were, in a sense, your biggest competitor. He had a long way to go, but I was in his corner nonetheless. He would be one of the legends, I felt it in my bones. Plus, the barely twenty-year-old was one of the youngest drivers on the circuit. He was already cementing his status.

After congratulating James, I ran to my team, throwing myself over the barrier and into their arms. The cheers and shouts took over my senses, a few were chanting my name, and I was on cloud fucking nine. Someone came over, pleading with me to get down, to finish my weigh-in before celebrating. But I took the moment to soak it in. I needed this, needed this win. These winning points would get me within arm’s reach of Theo Bauer, who was sitting in first for the Drivers’ Championship.

Over by weigh-in, Matteo was grinning like an idiot. “Proud of you, mate,” he said, knocking me with his shoulder.

“Did you expect anything else?” I shrugged, stepping off the scale.

“Was waiting for you to get your head out of your ass.” He laughed. It was a true Matteo laugh, a deep belly laugh. He was like his sister, sunshine incarnate. Lucia filtered into my mind and I couldn’t stop myself from looking around, hoping to see a familiar blonde and a mini version in her arms. I knew they were out of the way, out of the center of attention, but I still found myself looking forward to seeing Lucia, getting an excuse to have her in my arms. Fuck, snap out of it, Wright. The thought sent me into a state of shock as I walked to the cooldown room. I had always enjoyed spending time with the DeLucas. I loved Gia like she was my own family and would do anything for that girl, but the whole wanting to have Lucia in my arms thing? What the fuck was that.

My mind was occupied during the post-race interviews. I smiled and answered the questions, PR training was no joke, and we were all threatened with bodily harm from the Belen PR team. Anna had cleaned up my reputation for sure, but it was also a big push from Belen Racing. They were over me getting into messes. I had been with Belen for five years now, won the championship in all five of them. Year one and two were an actual blur. I remembered little of it. Parties and high-end lifestyle, I was the first to admit that the money alone went straight to my head. It was life changing; for the first time in my life, I was in control. I could do what I wanted when I wanted. But it caught up to me fast—the drinking, partying, and the high-adrenaline lifestyle. But when Matteo was brought up as a reserve driver for his rookie year, I accidentally became somewhat of a mentor to him, which helped slow me down. We had known each other in F2 and karting back in the day. Once he was pulled up, he just kind of appeared like a lost puppy and began following me around. It was annoying as hell in the beginning, but Anna had liked him, and while she wouldn’t admit it, she definitely had a hand in me unceremoniously becoming his mentor. Mentorship turned to friends, after he invited me to the DeLuca Vineyards, the whole brother-for-life thing kind of cemented itself. I was damn lucky to have him and his incessantly positive attitude. It had been a long time since anyone felt like family, until Matteo came around.

I finished getting my things and went to find the DeLucas.