My body is shaking, my heart racing.
Oh God. I think I just made a huge mistake.
My stomach bottoms out. I clutch a hand to it as a sob rises in my throat, but I catch it in time, covering my mouth with my hand. But I can’t stop the tears from falling. I swipe at them with the back of my hand.
I can’t believe I said those things to him. I need to fix this, but I know, there’s no way he’ll listen to me at the moment. He’s too angry, and I’d probably end up saying even more dumb stuff.
Blinking rapidly and taking calming breaths, I shove my emotions down under a steel trap door for me to deal with later.
I’ll let Carrick calm down, and then I’ll talk to him after the race. It’ll be fine. We’ll be fine.
Right now, I have a job to do, and I can be a better friend to him by making sure his car is running perfectly for the race. That’s what’s important right now.
Taking a deep breath, I square my shoulders and make my way back downstairs to the garage.
When it comes to race time, Carrick comes down to the garage, but he doesn’t look my way, and I don’t try to talk to him. Now is not the time, not before his race.
He exits the garage and heads to the track to talk to the press.
When his interviews are done, a gaggle of stunning models and grid girls are fawning all over him, and he’s lapping up the attention. They’re all beautiful girls wearing next-to-nothing hot pants and T-shirts with advertisements splashed across their ample chests.
Seeing him with those girls stings. One particularly beautiful blonde girl sidles in close to him, claiming his space from the others. She presses her body against his side and puts her hand on his chest, getting his undivided attention.
I feel a flash of jealousy so strong that it shocks me to the core.
It takes me a while to realize that my hands are actually flexing restlessly at my sides.
I try to breathe through the hurt, to look away from them, but I can’t. I can’t take my eyes from the scene unfolding before me.
He’s flirting with her, placing his hand on her shoulder and twisting her hair around his finger, while she talks to him.
I close my eyes on a long blink. When I open them, Carrick is staring straight at me.
The look he gives me is empty, almost as if he’s seeing straight through me. It’s like I no longer exist to him.
It hurts, more than I could have ever anticipated. My heart feels like it’s actually being crushed.
Then, dismissing me with his eyes, he stares down at the girl, giving her that flirty grin of his, as she speaks to him. Brushing her hair aside, he leans in and says something in her ear.
I can only imagine what he’s saying—actually, I take that back. I don’t want to imagine.
She gives him a coy smile, and the hand that was on his chest slides lower.
My stomach knots painfully. I press a hand to it, trying to hold myself together.
And when I catch the movement of his hand going down to cup her behind, I know I’ve seen enough.
Tearing my eyes from the scene, I mumble to Uncle John that I’m heading to the restroom, and then I all but run there, holding my breath and the tears that want to spill.
Locking myself in a stall, I put the lid down and sit on the toilet, and I let the stupid tears run down my cheeks.
I know I’m being ridiculous. This is how it has to be.
It hurts to see him with other women, and that’s normal, of course. I just…I didn’t expect to see him with another woman so soon.
Then again, this is Carrick Ryan I’m talking about. He doesn’t stay down for long.
And this is good. Seeing him with her, how he was all over her—it’s the reminder I needed of who he is.
A player.
A driver.
Not the man for me.
But still, I sit in there, hiding out in that toilet stall until I feel sure that I won’t burst out into tears if I go out there and see Carrick pawing another woman.
By the time I get back to the garage, the race has already started. I didn’t realize I’d been gone so long.
“Where the hell have you been?” Ben hisses, coming up next to me.
“I’m sorry. I was feeling a bit unwell.” I press my hand to my stomach, feigning sickness. It’s not a total lie. I was feeling sick after seeing Carrick mauling that girl.
Ben eyes my face for a moment. “You do look a bit peaky. Do you need to go back to the hotel?”
“No, I’m fine now.” I force a smile, and then I turn my attention to the screen to watch the race.
Carrick finishes fourth.
It’s a disappointing finish and surprising, seeing as though he qualified first yesterday. It’s just not like him to finish off-podium. It never happens.
And for a sickening moment, I wonder if I’m to blame. Maybe our fight before his race affected his concentration.
Thinking that, I start to hate myself even more for what I said to him.
When Carrick pulls into the garage, I’m determined to talk to him, but he climbs out of his car without a word or look to anyone. He walks straight out of there, heading upstairs to the driver’s room.
I’m just about to follow him when I see Owen going up after him.
Then, I’m pulled back into work, and I don’t see Carrick again for the rest of the day.
Later, when I arrive back to the hotel, after having to prep the car for shipping, the first thing I do before going to my room to clean up is go straight to his room. We need to sort this mess out and get our friendship back on track because I can’t lose him. He’s become too important for me to lose.
When I arrive at his room, I find his door open, and a housekeeper is inside.