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CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

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Geoff Askew: And spotted in the stands today at qualifying was Vance Lennon, the racing legend, multi-time world champion, and of course, Vanessa Lennon’s grandfather.

Charlie Amor: He’s here in spite of his battle with cancer, supporting her. And from what I can tell, he’s still the same character we’ve always known.

Geoff: It’s no wonder that Vanessa is the driver she is when she was taught by a legend. If we’re lucky, we’ll get a chance to speak to him.

The newspaper smacked on the coffee table in Grandpa’s hotel room where he tossed it. “I’m old, Nessa. I could have lived without seeing my granddaughter’s ass.”

“That is not my ass,” I said, rolling my eyes. The paper he’d thrown had a dark, blurry photo of Gray and me from the club the other night when I’d been on top of him. Scandalous? A little. But Grayson’s hands were blocking my ass. Mostly.

“It’s something.”

“Oh, like you and Grandma never got up to some stuff when you were my age?”

He snorted. “Of course we did. That’s not the point.”

“And the point is?”

All he did was raise an eyebrow. We both started to laugh. “Where are your men?”

“They’re on their way. Figured we’d have a few minutes to ourselves.”

“They taking care of you? In more ways than that ?” He pointed at the paper.

That made me blush. “Yeah. They’re great.”

“I’ll be the judge of that,” he grumbled. “I won’t lie and say I’m thrilled about it. Kind of hoped you’d find someone outside racing.”

“You mean someone who’d want to settle down and not understand the demands of my schedule? Who’d eventually get so frustrated by it that we’d have to break up?”

He shrugged. “Fine. Point taken.”

I moved to sit next to him and took his hand. It took conscious effort to cover my gasp. He looked different, but he felt frail. His hand was so light that my stomach dropped. “They are taking care of me,” I said. “I promise. Hell, they practically think of everything I need before I even think about it.”

“Good.”

“But how are things with you?” I asked. He’d been suspiciously cagey on our last few phone calls. “ You’re being taken care of?”

“Well enough,” he said. I glared at him hard enough to make him chuckle. “I’m fine, Vanessa. You know me. I don’t like being stuck in one place, let alone in a bed.”

“You are allowed out of the bed.”

“With supervision . Like I need a damn babysitter.”

His kind of cancer made his bones brittle. He was a fall risk, and if he fell and broke a bone, it could very well be deadly.

“But enough about an old man. How are you going to take out that shitstain in front of you?”

A laugh burst out of me. “You mean Lars?”

“I refuse to say his name. But yes.”

Someone knocked on the door to the hotel room. Probably my pack.

My pack .

Just saying it like that gave me tingly butterflies.

“I don’t know,” I said. “But I think that’s them.”

“Get them in here so I can make sure they understand how thoroughly I’ll kick?—”

Standing, I made a face. “Can it until they’re actually in front of you.”

I left him laughing. Grayson was at the front, the rest of them behind. River was out of his racing suit, freshly showered. Part of me was sad, because showers had become a fairly regular thing for us after we left the track. Not even necessarily fucking in the shower, though there was that too. Just being with each other. Grounding. He saw my pout. “Tomorrow, baby. Promise.”

“Okay. You ready for this?”

“Guess we’ll see.” Elias dropped a kiss on my lips as he passed.

Gray shut the door carefully behind him and kissed my temple. “You’re likely going to hear about it soon, so I need to tell you. The FIA have done what they can as far as the investigation into your tyres, but there’s not enough there. There’s barely any evidence at all, and they can’t start pointing fingers at nothing. I’m sorry.”

“Kind of figured. You don’t do that if you think you’ll get caught.”

He took my hand as we went, the five of us coming into the living room of the suite together. “Grandpa, this is the De Clare pack.”

“You.” He pointed at Elias. “You’re the one I talked to.”

“I am, sir.”

“Did you pass on my warning to the others?”

“Ah… no. I didn’t.”

Without hesitation, my grandfather pinned the rest of them with a stare. “If you hurt my granddaughter, I will pummel you into the dirt.”

“Now that the violence is over.” I laid the sarcasm on thick. “Introductions.”

“Fuck that. I know who they are.” When I looked at him, he looked right back. “Remember that whole ‘can’t leave the bed’ thing? I can do research.”

River stepped forward to shake his hand. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir. If I ever hurt her, I’ll stand still and volunteer for the pummeling myself.”

“Good.”

Elias sat down on the loveseat across from where Grandpa sat, and I curled up with him, my legs across his lap.

“What I was asking Vanessa before you knocked was how she’s going to get in front of that shitstain of a teammate.”

I sighed and put my head on Elias’s shoulder. “I’m going to race him, Grandpa. Like I always do. That’s all.”

“You’d better. You could drive this track blindfolded.”

“No pressure,” I muttered.

Beck locked eyes with me, and his mouth quirked when he saw my desperation. “Mr. Lennon, would you indulge me with something?”

“Depends.”

“You have to have some stories from your time on the grid. I’d love to hear some of them.”

Grandpa looked over and laughed. “Nice. But despite the blatant subject change, I’ll let you get away with it. This time.”

Thank you , I mouthed.

Beck just winked, setting off all kinds of butterflies.

Sinking further into the couch, I couldn’t stop smiling as we all listened to Grandpa tell his stories. Beck was right. He had plenty. And no matter how he protested, he loved to tell them.

“ Fuck ,” I heaved out a breath as I pulled in front of Lars on the track. Barely, but I’d taken the line of the inside corner, and because I was going faster, he had to let me through.

Grandpa was right about one thing. I did know this track. I knew exactly what to do and when to do it. And in this car? It felt like a dream.

“Hell yes,” Beck said. “Amazing job. Your pace is incredible. You can catch Phillips.”

I laughed. “Nothing I haven’t done before.”

There were plenty of times when Ronan and I battled in Formula 2. He had a faster car than me now, but I could pass him. I felt it.

A low chuckle purred through the radio. “Your grandfather is cheering like mad, love.”

“Good.”

Clouds were on the horizon, but I’d raced here enough to know they wouldn’t make it here before the end of the race, even if they were clouds that held rain. Nothing was in front of me and I had the speed. I could practically taste the podium.

“Gap?”

“Five seconds.”

I held my brakes until the last possible second, nearly sliding off the track around the corner, but I didn’t. It was the kind of braking I needed to be doing every single race. And now that they’d all seen me do it, I knew no one—especially my grandfather—would let me get away with anything else.

Ronan’s car just slipped past my field of vision around the next corner. But three more corners and I had him firmly in my sights.

“How does the car look?” I asked. “Any concerns?”

“Your brakes are a little warm, but you’re not in the red. Tyres are good on our end. And,” I heard him smile though I couldn’t see him. “You’ve got DRS. This lap you’re point-two-five faster than Phillips.”

“How far is the gap to Bachman?”

“He’s falling back. Not a concern at the moment.”

I didn’t say anything else on the radio. Not that could be repeated when everyone was listening. But fuck it felt good to have that asshole behind me and not breathing down my neck.

In front of me, Ronan locked up for a second on the turn. He recovered, but it had made him slip just enough for me to catch his slipstream. I grinned at the burst of speed that threw me forward.

That right there? That was why every person on the track right now raced. The thrill of going faster than anyone had any right to. It felt like flying. It felt like freedom .

The straight was right there as I pressed up close to the back of Ronan’s car.

“Overtake is available.”

Damn right it was.

I pulled out from behind Ronan and pressed the DRS button, savoring the second burst of speed as I flew past him.

Into third place.

Beck blew out a breath. “Let’s go, Nes.”

All I had to do was hold on for five more laps, and I’d have my first podium. The car was fine. The tyres were fine. And as much as he tried, the gap between Ronan and I kept growing.

Three laps. Then two. Then one.

The crew hung over the pit wall as I came down the straight and through the checkered flag, and I couldn’t stop fucking smiling. The roar of the crowd reached me.

“P-3, Vanessa. That’s your first podium.”

Emotion choked me but I held it back. “Thank you guys. Everything was perfect.”

Formula 1 was a team sport, no matter what anyone said. So while the drivers had the last task of getting over the finish line, we could never get there without the team. I owed them everything.

Gray’s voice spoke in my ear. “Congratulations, Vanessa. That was an incredible drive, and you deserve this podium.”

“Thanks, Gray.”

I wanted to hear him call me little one, and at the same time I was glad he didn’t do it over the radio.

Every nerve buzzed with adrenaline as I pulled into the pit lane and up to the P-3 marker. I did it. I fucking did it .

The whole crew was gathered behind the barriers in front of the cars, and following tradition, I ran and jumped, allowing them to embrace me over the awkward little wall. Elias was at the front of them, locking his arms around me.

He pressed his face to my helmet, smiling almost as wide as I was. “You did it, beautiful. You got a podium .”

Suddenly River was there too, lifting me up from behind and spinning me around. He lifted my helmet off, and stared down at me. “I’m so fucking proud of you.”

“You too, since you won and everything.”

I wanted him to kiss me, even though we’d agreed to keep the PDA more subtle in public. There were cameras everywhere, and I couldn’t stop staring at him.

“Damn, V,” Ronan clapped me on the shoulder. “That was some great driving. I couldn’t catch you.”

“Should be familiar by now.” I grinned at him.

He threw his head back and laughed. “She’s back, everyone.”

“What are you talking about? I never went anywhere.”

River turned me toward the stands and pointed. Up with the crowd, surrounded by other cheering people, was Grandpa. I pointed at him and he pointed at me. My cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

“Let’s get to the podium.”

New adrenaline surged through me. My hands shook even though it was happy energy. I’d had tons of podiums. Tons of wins . But this was different.

We rushed through everything we had to do before going straight to the stage. Music played and the crews had gathered. The crowd still cheered, watching, and I couldn’t fully believe this was happening.

Ossi Ivanov came second, splitting River and I. His team, Revas, had made huge leaps this year, and they were doing amazing. We shook hands behind the podium where he stood with his husband. I didn’t know him well. He was quiet, but we respected each other.

River squeezed my hand before stepping away since I was the first one out onto the stage. They handed me the third place hat, and I just managed to thread my ponytail through it before they called my name. Here we go. “In third place, with her first Formula 1 podium, we have Vanessa Lennon!”

I was all smiles stepping out into view, waving, before stepping onto the third place platform.

Looking out over the crowd, here, at the race track I’d basically grown up at… I’d never forget this moment. I couldn’t even focus on them announcing Ossi or River, just basking in the joy that I felt.

The Americ Union national anthem played for River, but it felt like it was for me too. Hell, it would be for me too. When he looked down from my left and smiled, the whole word felt like it glowed.

There—

I gasped, tears flooding my vision. My grandfather was there with the third place trophy, handing it to me. He was frail and shouldn’t have been walking, but the fact that he had meant everything. “How?”

“You know these guys. They’ll do anything for Vance Lennon.” He pulled me into a hug. “I knew you could do it, Nessa. You’ll have your first win before you know it.”

“You’re my good luck charm. I need you at all the races now.”

“Don’t need luck when you have skill.”

I smiled. He was the source of the phrase I loved so much. “Enjoy your moment,” he said. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

There was barely a second to check whether he had someone helping him—he did—before I was absolutely covered in flying champagne. Where was mine? The trophy was out of my hands and the absolutely fucking giant bottle shoved into my hands for one of the longest standing traditions in Formula 1: spraying the shit out of everyone with sparkling wine.

River was basically dumping it on my head.

Well, two could play that game. I shook my bottle and aimed for the face, hitting him. Ossi joined in to help me soak him before they both turned on me. I couldn’t stop laughing or smiling.

River’s champagne ran out at the same time mine did. We stared at each other, totally soaked, and his eyes dropped to my lips. Everything was so loud I could barely hear him, but I did.

“Fuck it.”

He hauled me close and kissed me. The world turned to fire and the noise around us soared . But nothing mattered anymore because we were standing on the podium together and he was kissing me.

River wrapped his arms fully around me, and mine ended up around his neck. I didn’t give a fuck. Let them see how happy we were.

Pulling back far enough to see me, we both smiled, our faces and hats dripping with the sparkling wine. “I love you,” he murmured.

My heart stuttered and River’s arms tightened around me. Everyone around us disappeared, and we were entirely alone. “Maybe not the best time to say it, but it’s been on the tip of my tongue and I’m tired of holding it back. I love you and I’m so fucking proud of you. I love you.”

Words felt like too much, but I needed to say it back. I needed to, because it was true. “I love you.”

He kissed me again and didn’t stop didn’t stop didn’t?—

Champagne splashed down over our heads in a wave, breaking us apart into sputtering and laughing. People were drifting away now that the ceremony was over. “Think Gray can get us out of media?” I asked. “So we can go celebrate?”

“I doubt it,” he laced our fingers. “But make no mistake, we are celebrating. Over, and over, and over. And maybe again after that.”

I shook my head and grabbed my trophy. “You’ll have had enough by then.”

“When it comes to you, baby? Never.”

Butterflies took flight in my stomach. I believed him.