Page 29 of Green Flag (StormSprint #2)

“She’s—” Bella stopped abruptly and narrowed her eyes, cocking her head to the side in question. “…Taken?”

“She is,” I said and stepped forward, out of the man’s grip. I didn’t even turn.

He could be Jensen Ackles and I would still retreat.

Because the image of Luca in a threesome had soured all of the alcohol.

But I was still so angry. It bubbled under my skin, pulsed at my temple and quickened my heart rate.

And I needed comfort in the only way I knew how.

I grabbed Bella’s arm. “My phone. It’s in your clutch.”

She nodded, the guy still pressing into her.

When she handed it over, she wiggled her brows. “You texting Luca?”

“Nope.” I pulled up my texts and punched in the numbers of the contact I’d deleted years ago. Of course I still remembered it. That made me down another drink. That wasn’t mine. Just on the table.

EVERLY: Hope your fake Insta account enjoyed the view. Next time you wanna get off to me, at least let me charge you with intel.

Wow, my thumbs just did not stop, did they?

Over my shoulder, Bella let out a noise like a dying bird and tried to swat my phone out of my hand. “No no no. Tell me that’s not who I think it is.”

I held the phone to my chest. “It’s not.”

She spun me around and I looked up at her in her heels with the most innocent smile I could manage. I was sure it would work on Luca.

Bella was not Luca.

“You ever just…” I swallowed. If I could tell anyone, it was her. “You ever just need someone to want you? No strings, no feelings, just… to be desired.”

Her top lip curled. “Yeah. But not by Pedro Bloody Velazco.” She sighed and took my hand. “Know what I desire?”

I raised my brows.

“Another damn shot. Come on, Bacque, we’ve got some men to forget.”

* * *

He’d spent all night in Livie’s hotel room.

I’d seen him leaving in the morning and jerked the door back so fast that I’d stubbed my toe.

Through the peephole, I saw him hesitate at my door, fist ready to knock, then he shook his head and walked away from me. Again.

Bella tried to make me feel better about it as we gave tours and signed photos for the team. Whenever anyone was out of earshot, she’d run through scenarios that would make it ‘better’ or suggest he wasn’t cheating.

We’d been busier than usual and I’d avoided the pit box for as long as I could, but having been without our phones for so long, we decided to head back before qualifying.

The pit box had been odd for weeks, but it was even odder today.

Quiet. Like grief had restruck them all at the same time.

Walking in sucked all of the excited atmosphere from outside.

Whereas, in the grid girl trailer, people had glanced at me and giggled.

Luca’s name had been mentioned in hushed tones and I’d scurried back to the pit box.

Only for it to be suffocatingly depressing.

“She’s not very well,” Luca was saying to Saliha, who was standing beside him, hip cocked to the side. “I’m not sure if she’ll be at the race tomorrow either.”

“What?” Saliha asked, her frown deepening. “She didn’t say. Are you sure she’s okay?”

Nix looked up from his phone and Abbé shuffled in the seat next to him. He swallowed and asked, “It’s got nothing to do with that article about him , does it?”

I didn’t know what that meant — but if Livie was suddenly out of action when it looked like she was my number one suspect… that made me even more suspicious.

And Bella’s drunken comments had me questioning Luca’s loyalty. He cared for Livie and… if she confessed to him last night, I didn’t know where his loyalty lied.

Luca left without offering me a glance and Nix was up in a shot, storming after him.

I sneaked out through the door, ready to confront him because something awful must have happened for him to need to spend all night in her damn room, when the conversation between Luca and Nix heated.

Nix stood straight, face reddening with anger and then he stormed past me and back into the pit box. A bike roared to life inside, bringing Luca’s attention back my way.

He went to speak as if he would call down the tunnel to me, but he shook his head. He’d been so adamant that nothing was going on between Nix and Livie. Was that because he knew there couldn’t be? Because there was something between him and Livie?

No, that made no sense.

But then why do that to me? Why fob me off and stay in another woman’s room all damn night?

I wasn’t thinking, just marching towards him, wanting to use the hip-swaying, thumb-popping, arm-swinging motion he’d taught me to break his nose.

“Did you sleep with her?”

He choked on air, eyes bulging out of his head. “What?”

I repeated my question.

“No!” he cried. “Fucking hell, Everly. No. She’s my friend.”

“Everyone is talking about it,” I said, embarrassed and suddenly fighting back tears. “About how you’ve cheated on me.”

“Fuck sake,” he grunted, turning away from me. “People need to keep their damn mouths shut.”

“I mean, I don’t blame them,” I snapped. “I would think the same thing.”

“Would or do?” he retorted, spinning round to face me. “Because it sounds like you think I did something I shouldn’t.”

I was silent, unsure how to react to that.

“Maybe I don’t care what people think,” he said, but I knew he really meant me . “Because she needed me. And I would go back there and do it again if I had to.”

“Okay,” I said, looking around for anyone who might care. “What do you want? A medal for being a good friend?”

He blinked, brows lowering as if he was baffled by me. I hadn’t stuttered.

“I want you to realise where my priorities lie,” he said. “A date with you for the press isn’t as important to me as my friend going through the worst—” He stopped. “It’s not anyone’s business but hers.”

My eyes pinched at his frustrated voice.

But it softened. “I thought you’d want to be with someone who was there for their friends,” he said, shaking his head again.

“I would—”

“You wouldn’t,” he said. “That’s clear.”

I was cringing because I knew he was right. I had overreacted.

Because I hated, despised, abhorred the idea of him with anyone else.

“We need a time frame,” I said quickly. “Of when this will end.”

His head shot back an inch and then he breathed in deeply. “Give me a date for my diary, then.”

I refused to look away, even as my swallow was loud, even as tears burned in the back of my eyes.

This was the oddest rejection.

That I had initiated.

Fuck, why had I said that? What had I expected? For him to say no, let’s keep it going forever?

That way, if he did want to get with Livie, he could—

But, really, I knew he didn’t.

Surely, it was normal to react like this to him staying in another woman’s room? Right? If we were together…

I’d trust him.

Fuck, I trusted this man.

And he was right — I never normally cared what people thought of me. This had just hit an almost healed nerve.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted. The words were as much of a surprise to me as they were him.

“What?”

“I’m sorry,” I said again, slower, meaning every syllable.

“I’m under construction and I’m trying to be a better person and…

” You’re who I’m basing that person on because you are truly good.

“I know you were doing something to help your friend. I don’t understand, and I don’t need to, but…

” I took a deep breath. “I just wish you’d considered how this would look for the two of us. And I’m embarrassed.”

I refused to be like my father, unable to talk through his feelings.

With Luca I was safe to.

He wrapped me up in his arms, brushing my hair back. “Everly Bacque, I would never mean to hurt you. You know that, right?”

I nodded. “I think so.”

“I’m telling you,” he stressed and squeezed me harder. “It’s a fact. Not an opinion. I’m so sorry that this put us in an awkward situation. I’m sorry I worried you.”

I melted in his hold, reaching around his back, uncaring that his leathers were permanently cold.

And the texts I’d sent last night flashed in my mind. Pedro and I had ended up in a manipulative dance of words, which made Luca’s next words sting far more.

“Shall we just love each other really hard over the next race?” he asked. “Squash any rumours.”

A throat clearing pulled me from him, but he kept me in his arms.

“Sorry to interrupt you two,” said a tall woman, her dark brown skin nearly matching the deep hue of her headscarf. She smiled politely. “Luca, point me in the direction of our pit box?”

Our pit box?

“You got here fast,” Luca laughed and, still keeping me attached, walked us back down the tunnel. “I wasn’t expecting for you to get here until next week.”

She shook her head. “I’m going to need to be on the ground,” she said with a nod. “I wasn’t far and your dad requested one of the planes for the rest of the American races.”

Luca’s eyes snapped to mine.

Fuck. This could be… this could be it .

When Pedro had been caught in Spain, it had been on the return of a flight from Texas, where next week’s race was.

“What about our plane?” Luca asked. “Did Nix and Livie—”

“No, no, they took Nix’s plane. Ours is on some form of tech drop off.”

Luca and I shared a look of pure excitement.

She offered me her hand as we came to the Ciclati door. “My name is Nazmin. I’m head of Ciclati PR. It’s nice to meet you finally, Everly.”

I took her hand.

She was Livie’s boss.

Had Nazmin been copied in on the Dubai emails too? Had she helped reroute the paperwork?

She didn’t introduce herself when she walked into the pit box. She barely gave us enough time to walk in behind her before she started.

“Hello, everyone,” she said, calling the attention of every soul in the place.

“In Livie’s absence, I’m stepping in. If anyone asks where Livie is — press, members of StormSprint, even her family — tell them she is on a pre-planned holiday.

This conversation never happened. She’ll return soon.

Until then, we avoid any conversation about her.

If you are asked directly, you know nothing. ”

I did know nothing.

And looking at Luca, knowing whatever happened must have been serious, I no longer felt embarrassed about people thinking he cheated on me.

I felt ashamed that I’d cared about that.

That I didn’t trust him.

Because Luca really, truly was the best friend anyone could ask for. But I didn’t want to be just anyone.