Page 56 of Green Flag (StormSprint #2)

Everly

We spent the night in the hotel room that had been booked for us. MotoBike qualified and raced on the same day, so Saturday started off early, picking up a pastry and running for the coach.

Try as we might, it was hard to avoid Nix and Livie.

She looked like she had hardly slept, stirring her cocktail with a straw as she stared straight ahead with tired eyes.

Maybe she didn’t know.

But I couldn’t see him keeping this from her.

The good part in me, the aspiration to be like Luca, encouraged me to speak to her.

Fear and anger at mentioning Pedro’s name like a curse stopped me.

I had tours to give.

Across MotoBike, the championship was a lot more casual — only the races were televised, unlike StormSprint where the whole weekend was on multiple channels.

The documentary crew had joined us again, so cameras were never far away.

As filming had developed and Luca and my relationship had flourished, it had become a point of interest to the producers.

We were lucky they hadn’t been about much during the first few races of the season, while we weren’t communicating too well.

When I walked with the other grid girls to the tour booth, my forehead prickled with confusion. Dad stood there alone, holding a weekend programme and wearing a Stratos purple cap.

I startled so hard I nearly snapped my neck clean off.

My father had never worn any team’s merch other than Ciclati.

To wear purple? To wear Stratos? That was treason.

But the smile that strengthened the wrinkles around his eyes was what confused me most.

Because it was aimed at me… and unmistakably genuine.

“I pulled a few strings to get the best grid girl to give me a tour. And booked her out all morning,” he said, lightly slapping my shoulder. “I heard you’re an expert in your field.”

My stammer couldn’t produce words. Luca’s confession was all I could think about. I’d spent months, years, hating my father. Assuming he’d tried to ruin my life, not save it.

I threw myself into his arms, sniffing and widening my eyes to fight the tears.

He hadn’t risked his jobs for drugs or some life of crime — he’d risked his job for me.

He caught me with a shocked, abrupt breath in my ear. “Everly, you okay?”

I nodded into his chest before pulling apart and brushing out the creases of my Stratos top, trying to gather myself.

“Are you sure?”

I smiled at him and nodded again.

“Where to first?”

My feet guided us on the route I’d planned, but my mouth was anything but professional. “What are you doing here?”

“I know nothing about MotoBike,” he lied, looking around at the large trailers for equipment. “And you know everything, I’m sure, so I thought I’d learn from the best. And I wanted to spend some time with you.”

We did just that. I transformed into work mode, showing him the facilities and the different rules compared to StormSprint, which Nix had told me.

He nodded along as if he didn’t know it all, never interrupted and even bickered with me about tyre pressure during the races.

We’d been working together for nearly ten months, and I couldn’t recall one conversation about the sport we both loved.

But I could remember how I’d learned to ride an electric motorbike before a bicycle, how the adrenaline pumping in my veins at the races had started before I joined school. The need to be on the track was inherited.

Pedro hadn’t made me love the sport. My dad did.

When we got to the VIP bar, Dad held me as tightly as I had hugged him. “I heard the finished version of your song. For the documentary. I wanted to tell you to go back to university.”

“Past tense?”

He nodded and kissed my forehead with a soft smile that lifted his face and made him the father of my childhood.

“I can’t now. You are so knowledgeable, Everly.

Everything you do makes me so proud of you.

That tour… You are excellent. You work so hard.

It would be a great loss to Ciclati for you to leave.

To StormSprint .” He breathed in deeply.

“Without Livie, we need someone to train the grid girls. And there is no one more qualified for the job than you. But you need to do what is best for you. Whether that’s your music or staying here, that’s your decision.

I can’t make it for you and…” He looked away, blinking rapidly.

“I should have been there more. I should have guided you instead of coming down with an iron fist when it was too late.”

I nodded, a lump growing in my throat.

And I hugged him, throwing my arms into his solid chest, uncaring for the whole of VIP watching.

“It’s okay,” I croaked as he rubbed my back. “But could I… could I get back to you on staying?”

Training the grid girls was a role absolutely made for me. Now that I was more of a people person anyway.

But, he was right, I needed to decide for me .

What Luca and I had would last whatever choice I made. He would support me throughout everything. He already had.

“Of course,” Dad said and cleared his throat before turning to Livie, who sat at the bar, pretending to ignore our interaction. “Would you like to join us for the race?”

Livie looked up, sucking on her straw with a smile in her eyes. “It’s so weird not to be working,” she said and patted the stool beside her. “Like… I’m a bit tipsy. On a Saturday.”

“And we get to celebrate on a Saturday too,” I laughed, taking the seat she’d offered. “It’s weird to have a night out planned on a weekend and not a Sunday.”

Dad tsked. “It’s more structured here. No karaoke for you. It’s an event at the hotel.”

“No karaoke?” I scoffed. “I will find a booth and a microphone, Father. Don’t you worry.”

While Dad and Livie got another round, I vanished to say good luck to Luca, who picked me up and spun me around the pit box, kissing me deeply before spanking me on my way.

It was probably the only chance he’d get of acting however he wanted in our relationship in a pit box without my father present.

Livie declined to join me, and when I asked if she and Nix were okay, she shrugged, telling me he’d pissed her off, but it wasn’t anything to worry about.

They were meant to be together. I didn’t doubt they’d bounce right back.

The race was one big cheer. There were fewer laps than the races at StormSprint, but slower bikes, though it whizzed by too fast. Watching a race for nothing but pure enjoyment was weird with my dad. He winced, booed and cheered when Nix came second and beamed with pride at Luca coming fifth.

It was like he was my dad again.

“You enjoyed that,” I said. “Maybe you should come and watch MotoBike more often.”

Livie looked up, as curious as me.

But he screwed up his nose. “Definitely not. Though…”

“Though?” Livie asked.

“I’ve been thinking of taking early retirement,” he said, looking at me. “My family are growing up and…”

“What?” Livie and I both asked so loudly that the group beside us looked over.

“I’m tired,” he said. “I made a mistake last year. Don refused to let me leave, thinking it would back up the media storm that we were negligent and… he wouldn’t let me. But how can he deny me at the end of this year?”

I blinked. That meant… if he couldn’t get out of his contract, of course Luca wouldn’t have been able to. It would have backed up everything the media were pushing.

“Shit,” I said, still in disbelief. “You really would quit?”

“Then I can enjoy the race for the race again,” he said. “I’ll always love the sport, but… There are a few more important things.” He hugged me tight before finishing his third beer and sighed. “Best find Zsófia.”

“Fia?”

He nodded. “Her dad invited her, but she was scared to see him after so long, so it’s a good thing I was already coming. One of her friends happens to be here too, and she didn’t want me to cramp her style.”

Her biological dad was a mechanic for one of the MotoBike teams, which is how her mum started working for my dad. Their connection was through the bike world.

But Fia hadn’t seen her dad in years. I reached for my phone.

Livie snorted. “That you would.”

He gave her a jesting glare.

“She’s here?” I asked, texting Fia because why wouldn’t she have mentioned this last night?

He nodded. “She’s already complaining about wanting to go,” he said and placed his glass on the bar. “Best get going. Want a lift?”

Livie jumped at the chance, but I stayed.

To try and find Pedro. And warn him that if I saw him in the same room as my sister, I would set Luca on him.