Racer

“Yeah,” Adrian says.

“Yeah.” Clay.

Drake finally nods. “Yeah.”

“Well then, now that we know we’re a team … Family, Racer is—”

“I’m bipolar.”

There’s a moment as the words spoken in Racer’s deep voice sink in.

Racer looks at my brothers in the eye, and then fixes his gaze on my dad. “I’m learning to handle my triggers. I’m also not kidding myself thinking this will never happen again—but I hope to god I can spot it in time and take care of it. I’m not perfect but you’ll never find a driver as hungry as me. Or someone more devoted to this team.”

My eyes wide, I think my heart just imploded. “What he said,” I say as I watch my brothers and dad digest this. “I want you all to be there for him when he needs us.”

Drake is the first to move.

“Hey, you’re like family. We got you.” He puts his hand out, and we pry our hands loose so that he can take it.

“Thanks. I’m okay,” Racer growls, shaking everyone’s hands and then letting my father silently pull him into an embrace.

“A man is made up of more than what he battles with,” I hear my dad whisper privately to him.

“I’m sorry I disappeared for a while. It won’t happen again, sir,” he tells my father, and I know it takes a lot for proud Racer to ask for or accept help.

“Now let’s get on that track and kick some ass,” Clay says, handing Racer his duffel from the ground.

I look back at Racer. Pure vivid anticipation glimmers in his blue eyes, and I feel like I’ve never seen his jaw look that square or determined.

Can you love someone so hard that every part of your being feels it?

Yes, my heart whispers.

Racer

I slide into the seat and strap down, glancing around the car. “You’re back too, Kelsey.” I smirk and rap the dashboard. “Hell so am I. I hope you’re ready.”

I fire up the engine and pull out of pits, ready for qualifying.

Her taste is still in my mouth.

The taste of her soft tears, and her loving eyes.

My veins are chock-full of fucking meds, and I should feel slower.

I don’t.

I feel more powerful than I ever have.

Because I let her see me—and she responded like I always prayed she would.

She fucking gets me.

And I’ve fucking got her.

“Okay girl,” I say once I’m in the clear for qualifying. “Let’s show the world who we are.”

Lana

“FUCKING SHIT, HE QUALIFIED FIRST!!”

“Un-fucking-believable—fresh out of the hospital, and he qualified first!”

I’m about to burst from the excitement, and while my brothers are yelling at each other in disbelief, Racer leaps out of the car.

Racer.

My Racer.

All mine, I think greedily. I want everything that he is, all for me.

There’s euphoria bubbling up inside me as he reaches out for me and gives me a huge kiss and carries me, kissing me as I kiss him back.

When he sets me down, my brothers leap on him. My brothers’ eyes are glistening, and their smiles are miles and miles wide as they lift him up from the ground.

My dad’s eyes are misty.

Anybody who saw us would think we just won the championship.

They don’t know that we had a moment there where we thought we’d lost him, our #1 driver, and that this is another kind of victory not in any books but ours.

The ride up the elevator to his floor feels like an eternity. It’s just Racer and I riding upstairs. My dad and my brothers stayed with the rest of the team, making sure Kelsey remains in top-notch condition for the race and downloading the race data to review. I’ve never, ever, been the kind of girl to be obsessed with a guy. Guys had always been a second thing in my life, after David. Definitely not something I couldn’t stop thinking about.

But this guy?

I never knew that one guy could melt me with a look or send me flying with a smile.

His body warmth seeping through my clothes. He’s holding me by the waist and pinning me to his side as we ride upstairs.

I shift a little to get closer, and he tightens his hold on me, murmuring in my ear, “Are you happy with qualifying?”

I lift my eyes to his with a grin. “You tell me.”

He smiles because he knows.

I shake my head in something beyond happiness, beyond any word. “I knew you could do it, but you were up against more than anyone out there,” I say.

His eyes gleam mischievously as he looks into mine, sliding a hand down my side as if savoring this happiness of mine. “You’re good medicine,” he says with a husky smirk, pressing his mouth to the top of my head.

I groan as my whole body tightens for him.

He shifts me closer, and I hear the music playing in the elevator. The song, Maps by Maroon 5, before the elevator tings.

He presses his fingers to the small of my back when we reach his floor, and I step out, following him into his room.

“You were incredible,” I breathe.

He smiles enough that his dimple shows, his eyes twinkling.

“I swear you were driving with everything you had. It’s like you pulled out all your stored energy from the past few days,” I continue.

Racer’s eyes gleam devilishly as he opens his door and leads me inside.

“You didn’t know if you could do this with your meds, and look what you did!” I say as he shuts the door behind us, leaning up and wrapping my arms around his hard shoulders. “You beat this, Racer Tate, and we can beat it again. As many times as we need to.”