Page 101 of Racing Heat

“What?” I say, looking behind him.

There stands August, and of course he’s looking right at us.

“Is August is the one who told you about this restaurant?” I ask him.

“Yeah, and he’s coming this way. Of course he couldn’t just leave it be. He had to ruin our night.”

“He doesn’t know what he’s ruining,” I remind him.

“This doesn’t look good.” Jase pinches the bridge of his nose.

“No, you’re right. This doesn’t look good,” August replies. “Jase, why don’t you scoot in a bit. I don’t want to have to stand here and draw even more attention to this situation.”

“No one would recognize me,” I say.

“Well, we need some discretion nonetheless,” he fires back.

Jase scoots over and August takes a seat on his side of the booth. “Dinner looked like it was good,” he comments.

I shake my head. I can’t believe this is happening. I place my hands in my lap, wringing them. I’m so scared and nervous right now and August is sitting there like he’s talking to old friends.

“Looks like you took me up on my dinner recommendation,” August says.

I’m not sure what to say. I decide it’s best not to show him my cards.

“Alright, August, what do you want to know?” Jase asks, cutting to the chase.

“I interrupted date night, didn’t I?”

“Yes,” we both say.

“How long?”

“He picked me up at seven,” I quip.

“Funny. But this isn’t a laughing matter.” August pins me to the spot with his gaze, but my comment made Jase smile, so there’s that. “What’s going on here? Is this a first date? A fiftieth? What’s happening between the two of you?”

I sigh. “We broke the fraternization policy. We’ve been hanging out and going to dinners for a few weeks now.”

Jase nods. “Yeah, but it wasn’t like she pursued me or anything. It just kind of happened. We have something special here, August.”

“You can’t have something special here, Jase. You’re not allowed to have something special. The policy is very clear, and you both broke it.” He shakes his head. “I knew there wassomething going on with you that night at the bar, but I thought it was just alcohol making me see things that weren’t there. I can’t believe you would do this, Jase.”

“August, I—” Jase begins, but August cuts me off.

“And you,” he says, turning his attention to me.

“Back off her,” Jase jumps to my defense.

August turns to him. “I will not. I’m trying to build a team here, Jase. You know how hard I’m working for this team to be respected. I don’t need it constantly rocked with scandal. This cannot happen.”

“So, me,” I say.

“Yeah, you.” August shakes his head. “I can’t believe you were this naive. You’re a fucking rookie, Cassie. A rookie. You don’t have the backing thathedoes. This was a colossal fuckup on both of your parts. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

August rises and looks at both of us. “Do not go home together, do not pass go, and do not fuck this up anymore. Do you hear me?” We both nod. “I’m going to need fucking verbal confirmation.”

“Yes,” we say in unison.