Page 99 of Drive Me Wild
“During post-coital pillow ta?—”
“What team?” my dad, thankfully, interrupts my mum.
“AlphaVite,” Theo announces. I give his thigh a quick, supportive squeeze under the table. His new contract won’t be announced until next week, but telling my dad he signed to his favorite team will definitely earn him some brownie points.
“They’re a great team.” My dad nods in approval. “What do you think about their engine change?”
“So far, it seems fantastic. The wing design seems to have really helped with porpoising as well, which was always their biggest issue in previous cars. Have you ever played the Formula 1 video game?”
My dad shakes his head. “I haven’t played a video game since Pac-Man first came out.”
Before I can beg Theo not to go into a twenty-minute, in-depth review on it like he’s a video game reviewer with a YouTube channel, he does just that. My parents look at him in equal parts confusion and amusement. Their one and only child preferred dolls over driving games.
“We can play together sometime,” Theo offers excitedly, his smile wider than a cartoon chipmunk. “If you want, I mean.”
I hold my breath as I wait for my dad to respond, only releasing it when he gives Theo a simple, but firm, “Okay.”
Theo grins like he won today’s Grand Prix rather than simply made progress with my dad. He grabs my hand under the table before talking about his other favorite video games… all nine hundred of them.
As a server delivers our food, he turns to me and murmurs, “Have I told you how much I love you?”
I lean into his feather-light touch. “Not in the past ten minutes.”
“Well, I love you. More than anything, angel.”
“I love you, too,” I say softly. “And thank you for being here. I know this isn’t a usual Grand Prix Sunday for either of us, and it won’t be the new norm, but it means a lot to me.”
Theo responds by singing the chorus of Frankie Vallie’s “Can’t Keep Me Eyes Off of You.” A smile stretches across my lips and doesn’t leave for the rest of brunch. Hell, I never think it’ll leave. Not with Theo by my side. He’s my favorite person, my best friend, and my lover all rolled into one ridiculously loud, dangerously handsome man. And he’s mine, forever.
THIRTY-EIGHT
THEO
Blake never playsvideo games with me before a race.Ever. He claims it takes him out of the “zone.” I don’t know what that means, but in the five years we’ve driven together, he hasn’t once picked up the extra controller in my suite to play a round of anything with me.
Today is different.
It’s the last race of the season, and my last race as a McAllister driver.
Blake’s thumbs rapidly click the X button, trying to maneuver his player away from mine. If he’d been playing with me regularly, he’d know he should be hitting Y instead. In two swift moves, I annihilate him like I will at the race later. Hopefully.
I’m going into the last Grand Prix in pole position, but in all honesty, I think Blake purposefully held back in order to let me secure it. He’s already won the Drivers’ Championship, so winning this race won’t mean as much for him as it would for me. I told him he better go full fucking throttle because if I do win, I want it to be because I earned it, not because he has a soft spot for me.
“How do you feel?” Blake asks me. His leg bounces at an insanely fast speed, shaking the couch with his nerves.
“Like a bag of M&Ms,” I admit. “Mixed emotions.”
“M&Ms are technically all the same flavor,” he says with a sheepish look. “And I only know that because Ella has told me about ten times.”
I snort. Classic Goldy knowing random snack facts. “Mixed feelings nonetheless.”
“Mm-hmm.” Blake clenches his jaw. “I’m sure.”
“Are you going to cry?” I ask with wide eyes. I’m not one to talk, considering I recently cried post-sex, but he doesn’t know that. “It’s totally fine if you are, but I just want to know so I’m prepared to?—”
Blake punches me in the arm. “Nah, but I am going to miss you.”
“I’ll be just a few motorhomes away,” I remind him. “And you’ll like Cooper. He’s a stand-up bloke.”
