Page 17 of Drive Me Wild
I wouldn’t touch you with a five-meter pole, Walker.
Theo Walker
Yet you want to meet in your hotel room!? Don’t deny that you love me. Everyone does. :)
Martin the Manager
I want to meet in my hotel room so no one witnesses me yelling at you for failing to mention you have an issue with James Avery.
A cold tremor runs through my body. I can list on one hand the people who knowallthose details: Russell, Christina, James, Blake, me. Apparently now it’s more, although I don’t know what Martin is aware of.Fuck fuckity fuck fuck.
Theo Walker
Be there by two-thirty.
The moment my manager opens the door to his suite, I start asking more questions than a reporter during a press conference. “What did Avery say? Did he tell you I’m a horrible driver? Because it’s absolute bullshit. He’s just trying to ruin my career. Did he say something to you? Or did he say something to William? I don’t get why he’s talking about me at all. It’s rude to talk behind people’s backs.”
Martin’s eyes widen behind his tortoise-shell-framed glasses. “Um, hello to you, too, Walker.”
“Hi.” I push past him and walk into his suite, collapsing onto the couch. A knot of nerves sits in my stomach, and I pray my manager says something to unravel them. “How’d you find out?”
“Find out what?” Martin heads into the small kitchenette and turns on the Nespresso. “Right now, all I know is that James Avery doesn’t seem to like you very much. Care to tell me why?”
“He’s blowing things out of proportion.” I push my open palm into the cushion beneath me and the material makes a weird whoopee-cushion-like noise. “I dated his daughter. We broke up. End of story.”
Martin sighs dramatically as he waits for the machine to pour his coffee. “Please expand on the story, Theo. I need to know what I’m working with here. Now is not the time for you to suddenly get all shy and skimp out on the details.”
“Why do you assume it was me who did something?”
“Because I know you,” he says like this should be answer enough. “And you have a reputation for accidentally getting women to fall in love with you and then breaking their hearts. Have you never wondered why the tabloids switch between calling youWalker of ShameandWet ’n Wild Walker?”
I open my mouth to say something before deciding against it. I’m certainly not going to fill the silence by digging my own grave.
“Listen, I get it,” Martin says to soothe me. “You’re young and you want to have fun. But you have to know that, sometimes, fun may bite you in the ass.”
I rest my head against the back of the couch and groan. “It was a few years ago, Martin. I told her from the beginning that I didn’t want anything serious. She just?—”
“Thought she’d be the one to change you.”
I nod solemnly. More so now than ever, my career is my main focus. You don’t work your whole life toward something to not give it your all. I told Christina I wasn’t looking for a relationship, and that Formula 1 would always be my number one priority, but she—and pretty much every woman I’ve ever dated—never took it at face value. Instead, it was a challenge. What she heard was, “I’m not looking for a relationshipright now” and “My career is my number one prioritybehind you.” No matter how many times I repeated myself, she could never grasp that I was taking the whole “honesty is the best policy” thing very seriously.
“Was it just a bad breakup?” Martin presses. “Run of the mill, dad-hates-boy-who-broke-daughter’s-heart thing?”
“Yes,” I lie through my teeth. There’s no way I’m getting into the details of how things actually went down. There’s nothingnormalabout her faking a pregnancy and then me having to file a restraining order. “Regular breakup.”
“Okay.” He removes his now-steaming mug from the counter, pressing it to his lips. “I can work with that.”
I tap my fingers against my thigh. “What did Avery say?”
“Nothing,” he admits before taking a sip of his coffee. “I met with Andreas to see where McAllister’s head is at regarding contract negotiations.”
I draw in a deep, audible breath. Contract negotiations usually don’t happen until a bit later in the season, but I’m appreciative that Martin’s being proactive. Always good to get a quick pulse check, especially when the body may as well be a cadaver.
“Don’t act so surprised.” He shrugs. “You pay me well because I’m good at my job, Walker.”
Pay him well is the understatement of the year. I’m the reason he can send his kids to private school with enough left over to buy his and her Ferraris for him and his wife.
“Anyway, Andreas gave me the impression that Avery was going to pussy-foot around and draw things out longer than necessary because ofyou,”Martin continues. “I asked Russell if he knew anything, and he said I had to talk to you about it.”
