The Full Velocity Series Box Set

by Tracie Delaney

  I went through my morning routine on autopilot, my heart jolting every time the door opened, then plummeting when the visitor wasn’t Tate. At lunchtime, I locked the door and called home. At times like these, a girl needed her parents. I really wanted a hug, but I’d have to make do with FaceTime.

  Mum answered my call.

  “Madison,” she said, her smile broad and welcoming. Then she frowned as she looked at me properly. “What’s wrong, darling?”

  “Oh, Mum.” My voice broke. “It’s Tate.”

  She paled. “Is he all right? Has he had an accident?”

  I shook my head. “No, he’s fine.” I laughed bitterly. “He’s more than fine. It’s me who’s a mess.”

  “I don’t understand, darling. Wait one second, let me get your father.”

  The screen went blank. A few seconds later, Mum’s face reappeared, Dad only half in view.

  “We’re here,” Mum said unnecessarily. “Now why don’t you start at the beginning.”

  I blurted out the whole sorry mess. Mum and Dad listened without interrupting as I explained Tate’s awful betrayal, how standing in that press conference listening to him give his public support to such a heinous product had splintered my heart into a million pieces.

  When I finished, Dad spoke first.

  “And what did Tate have to say about this?”

  I snorted. “What could he say? He’s signed the contract, Dad. He’s committed. Even if I managed to change his mind, he has a legal obligation now.”

  “What you’re really saying is you didn’t give him a chance to explain,” Dad calmly said. “Is that a fair assumption?”

  I opened my mouth to deny Dad’s accusation, but the words wouldn’t come. I replayed the conversation—or rather argument—with Tate outside my hotel room. Dad knew me so well. Tate had tried to explain, and I’d told him I didn’t want to hear it. But in my defense, I struggled to think of a single thing he could say that would justify his actions.

  “Not really,” I said.

  “Don’t you think you owe him the opportunity?”

  “No.” I sounded petulant, even to my own ears.

  “Oh, Madison,” Mum chided. “You’ve always been the same, even as a little girl. Stubborn to the last. It was your way or the highway, but sometimes, darling, you really do need to take a breath and listen to the other side of the argument before you make up your mind.”

  “Thanks for the support,” I said sarcastically.

  Dad chuckled. “We’re on your side, sweetheart, but that doesn’t mean we always have to agree with you. If Tate signed this deal when he already earns more money than he can ever hope to spend, don’t you think he might have a reason? Something you’re not aware of? Especially as he must have known how you’d feel about it, yet he did it anyway. And this company he’s gone into business with, what they’re doing isn’t really groundbreaking. There are numerous products on the market today that can make cars go faster, accelerate quicker. And let’s face it, whether you crash at seventy miles an hour, or at a hundred miles an hour, the chances are you won’t survive.” He gave me an understanding head tilt. “I know what happened to Dean messed you up. Hell, it messed us all up, but, honey, you’re never going to stop young men in particular from seeking thrills and taking stupid risks. It’s in their DNA. Whatever Tate does or doesn’t do won’t make a jot of difference. Boys chased the adrenaline rush long before cars were even invented.” He winked. “I know this because I was a boy. Once upon a time.”

  “Still are on occasion,” Mum muttered.

  Dad slipped his arm around her and gave her a hug. “Aww, Claire, you know you love me.”

  “Get off me, you big oaf,” Mum said, shoving at Dad, but I could see the love in her eyes as she said it.

  See, this was my problem. This was what I wanted from a relationship: mutual respect, love, and a good dose of humor on the side. My parents set the bar so high, I wasn’t sure if I was even capable of meeting it, let alone any partner I might choose. But one thing I did know was that Mum and Dad were, and always had been, honest with each other. If Tate couldn’t be honest with me, then we didn’t have a future anyway.

  “Why don’t you give Kaz a call?” Mum suggested. “I’m sure she’ll be able to help you put things in perspective.”

  I blew her a kiss, already feeling tons better. “You know, Mum, I think I will.”

  “You are such a dick,” Kaz stated after I’d given her the same explanation I’d made to my parents.

  I rolled my eyes. “Gee, thanks. Remind me to be so supportive when you get your heart broken.”

  “I can’t help speaking the truth. Really, Mads, it didn’t occur to you to sit down with the guy and hear him out?”

  “You’re as bad as Dad,” I muttered, wishing I hadn’t listened to Mum about calling Kaz. I should have known she wouldn’t stroke my ego. She never had before. Straight as a die, our Kaz, and blunt with it to boot.

  “Your dad has always been a clever old sod,” Kaz said with a grin. “I should have been his daughter instead of you.”

  A smile tugged at my lips, despite my determination to continue with my aggrieved attitude.

  “He’d have you in a heartbeat.”

  “And Tate hasn’t been sniffing around with his eight-inch dick between his legs?”

  Despite the ache in my chest, I broke a smile. “Not this morning, no.”

  “Hmm. Still, it’s Friday. He’ll be busy with free practice.”

  Too busy to try and patch up our broken relationship.

  “Seriously, though, Mads, I don’t know Tate as well as you do, obviously.” She waggled her eyebrows in direct contrast to the way she’d started her sentence. There was nothing serious about her expression. “But in all my years on the circuit, he’s one of the few who’s never seemed to care about material things. Sure, he’s got all the trappings of wealth: helicopter, private jet, nice home in a good part of town. But to be fair to the guy, a lot of that stuff makes his life easier for traveling around the world. He doesn’t strike me as the type who craves money for the sake of it. He’s not a greedy individual. Fine, take this weekend to lick your wounds and call him all manner of bastards, but do yourself a favor and go see him. Talk it out, and if he tells you that he just likes to spend his weekends rolling fifty-pound notes around his enormous cock, well then you’ll know you made the right decision.”

  “Christ, more cock,” I muttered.

  She laughed. “You know me so well, hon. A girl can never have enough cock.”

  I laughed, my mind turning over her comments, thinking about our holiday in Majorca. The way he’d spoken that night on the hillside, how he’d said it was all for Cam. I didn’t understand, but if I’d listened to him, if I’d let him explain when he’d turned up at my hotel room yesterday, maybe I’d have the answers I currently found myself missing.

  “I hate it when you go all logical on me.”

  Kaz threw back her head and laughed. “Now you’ve finally accepted I’m right, as always, let me tell you about this date I went on last night.”

  We chatted for another few minutes, but by the time I hung up, I still hadn’t come to a decision. I couldn’t face Tate yet, though. I needed space to ponder on my parents’ comments and Kaz’s helpful summary. Only then would I be ready to sit down and discuss his betrayal rationally.

  Tate

  Race day arrived. Cool, overcast, with a risk of rain, the weather was a perfect match for my mood. I must have checked my phone a hundred times or more in the last few days, waiting for Madison to call or text, to tell me she’d been wrong to kick me out the other night without allowing me the courtesy to explain.

  I’d been disappointed every single time.

  I’d even walked past the medical center yesterday after qualifying. I’d had my hand on the door, ready to march inside and demand she listen to me, but at the last second, I’d changed my mind. I’d told myself it wasn’t appropriate to confront her while she
was working, but the truth was that I didn’t want her to confirm my fears that we had, indeed, broken up.

  I’d get the Belgian Grand Prix out of the way and then go and see her, refuse to leave until she allowed me to say my piece. Then I’d explain all about the facility, how much funding it took just to keep it going each year, let alone the expansion plans Joanie and I hoped would happen now that I’d signed the deal with Frank. Maybe then she’d understand, and possibly, even forgive me.

  Whenever my conscience nudged at me that it had been the wrong deal, and I should have waited for a more appropriate opportunity which wouldn’t drive a fucking huge wedge right down the center of the most important relationship in my life, my mind turned to Cam and all the others I’d watched go through the toughest battle of their lives, only to end up losing the war. And that strengthened my resolve. After all, industries like Frank’s had regulators, and if they weren’t happy with his products, they wouldn’t have approved the license necessary to produce and sell them.

  “Earth to Tate.” Jared punched me in the arm, jerking me from my painful thoughts. “Actually, strike that. Stay distracted, then I’ll have a better chance of kicking your ass.”

  “In your dreams,” I said. “Even when I’m operating at fifty percent, I’m still better than you.”

  Jared grinned. “You wish.” When I didn’t join in with his teasing, he frowned. “What’s going on, Tate?”

  I hadn’t known Jared long, but despite our rocky beginning, he’d become a good friend. Unusually for Formula One teammates, we actually liked each other. He’d been one of the main reasons I’d joined Nash Racing. I knew he’d push me hard, and I’d needed a new challenge. Hell, we even spent time together outside of racing on occasion, a rare occurrence in our sport. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I wasn’t particularly in the mood to share either.

  “Madison and I broke up,” I said, snapping my hand in the air to silence him when he opened his mouth. “And before you say a word, don’t. I just want to get today done, beat you, and then try to fix my relationship.”

  A glimmer of a smile touched his lips at the ‘beat you’ throwaway comment in the middle of the bombshell I’d just dropped.

  “Listen, man,” he said. “I’m here if you need anything.”

  “What I need is to get behind the wheel and take another step toward World Championship number five. Okay, dude?”

  I expected him to make some sort of wisecrack about my cocky attitude. Instead, he nodded, clapped me on the back, and walked away.

  I went through my usual routine to prepare for the race, but my mind kept drifting to Madison. I didn’t know what I’d do if she refused to listen, if, even after I’d explained my reasoning, she still hated me.

  When the time came for me to climb in the car, Jack put his hand on my arm, stopping me.

  “A quick word please, Tate,” he said, his tone stern and uncompromising.

  I suppressed a groan. I knew from Jack’s expression a lecture was heading in my direction. Jack was a great team principal: supportive, smart, demanding. The kind of guy who pushed you to the limits because he recognized your ability for greatness. I had a huge amount of respect for him, so I steeled my spine, prepared to fight my corner, although I didn’t have a clue what he might be pissed about.

  I followed him to the back of the garage. “What’s up?”

  He arched an eyebrow at me. “Are you fit to race?”

  That jerked me into action. If Jack asked such a question, he must be worried. Shit, he could replace me with our test driver if he’d a mind to. “What the hell are you talking about?” I asked, feigning confusion. “Of course I’m fit to race. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Because your mind isn’t on the job, and you know as well as I do that racing takes every ounce of concentration and then some.” He patted me on the back in a fatherly fashion. “Jared mentioned things aren’t so good with Madison.”

  I’m going to rip off his ball sac and shove it down his fucking throat. Judas.

  I went into complete defense mode. “My relationship or otherwise with Madison has absolutely no bearing on my ability to race, and I’m offended you’d even bring it up. I’m a professional, Jack. That’s why you pay me an extortionate amount of money to race for you. I may have been a little distracted today, but I’m perfectly capable of compartmentalizing. The second I get behind the wheel, it’s game on, and you know that.”

  Jack’s lips pressed together in a slight grimace, and he softly shook his head. A jolt of fear zipped through me.

  He’s going to force me to bail. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  And then he said, “Okay, I’ll allow you to race, but you’d better win.”

  I let out the breath I’d been holding and clapped him on the upper arm. “Be sure to tell Jared fucking Kane he’ll have to try harder than that to bench me.”

  I faked a confident swagger over to my car. Ant strapped me in, and thirty seconds later, I pulled into the pit lane.

  Once I parked on my grid spot in pole position, the mechanics swarmed around the car. I got out, removed my helmet, and walked over to where Rob stood by the pit wall. We discussed a few things, how I planned to attack the start, my feelings about the first corner, and we revisited our A/B strategies which depended on how the race progressed. Rain was in the forecast, which changed things significantly. Being the rain-master, I prayed for a wet race, compared with Jared who preferred a dry surface. It’d make the necessary win easier to achieve, although I’d take whatever Mother Nature threw at me. Whatever happened, this race was mine.

  I gave a couple of brief press interviews then headed back to my car. I crossed paths with Jared.

  He clapped me on the shoulder in a friendly fashion.

  I replied with, “You’ve got a fucking big mouth.”

  “Listen, bud, just looking out for you,” he said, a faint smile tugging at his lips.

  “Looking out for yourself more like it. After all, if Jack benched me, that’d be good for your championship hopes, wouldn’t it?”

  I wasn’t being fair, and the speed at which Jared’s eyebrows shot up confirmed it.

  “Christ, you have got your panties in a twist today.”

  “Fuck off,” I snarled.

  Luckily for me, Jared was a relaxed kind of guy, most of the time. He blew me a kiss and said, “Anytime, pretty boy.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re a dick.”

  “Yet you still love me. Good luck. Be safe out there.”

  I nodded, my irritation with him receding. “You, too.”

  I climbed into my car. Five minutes until the start of the race. Time to center myself, screw my head on, go over the launch off the grid, the first corner, the first lap, play it all out in my mind like a video game. But as I closed my eyes, instead of seeing the track, I saw Madison’s beautiful face. Her hurt at what she perceived as my betrayal, how she’d looked at me with such disdain, but behind the mask her pain had been evident.

  “Tate!”

  Rob’s voice barked in my ear. I snapped my eyes open. The grid had cleared. Shit, we were about to head off on the parade lap. I forced the image of Madison from my mind, pushing away the notion that Jack might have been right, and my mind wasn’t on the job in hand.

  I can do this.

  As soon the race got underway, I’d be fine.

  I led the pack around the twisty racetrack of Spa and then lined up my car in grid spot number one. I angled the front end marginally toward the first corner. Jared would get a fast start, and I intended to cut him off if he tried to dart in front.

  The five red lights appeared, one by one, and the engines roared in preparation. The crowds cheered and waved their flags. Fixing my attention on the road ahead of me, I watched the lights extinguish, and I dropped the hammer. The car lurched forward, pushing me back into the seat.

  Spotting Jared’s car in my peripheral vision, I moved to block him. Wheel to wheel, we raced into the first corner where I
narrowly beat him into second place. There were still a few tricky corners coming up, but I felt confident I could keep him behind, and then we’d settle into the race. It’d be nip and tuck until the first round of pit stops, or the rain, whichever came first.

  As it turned out, the weather forced a change in strategy. I came in for wet tires, and once all the cars had stopped, I found myself still in the lead by one second. The rain, though, was short-lived, and as the track began to dry, I made the call to come in for slicks. Sure, there were still a few wet patches on the track, but there was enough dry tarmac out there that if I timed it right, changing for slick tires would give me a competitive edge. Slicks were much faster than the deeply treaded wet tires.

  In the end, changing tires was the right call. I extended my lead over Jared to seven seconds. He came in for his tire change a lap after me because there was only space for one car per team in the pit lane, and as championship leader, I called first dibs. I had this race in the bag.

  Coming up on some back markers, I caught the marshals waving blue flags in my peripheral vision, basically an instruction to those at the back of the race that the leader was coming through. The rules were that they must get out of the way, off the racing line, but because the track was still wet, they didn’t move as quickly as I’d have liked. Conscious of Jared closing in behind me, I pulled out to overtake—and that was when I felt something snap on the chassis. The nose of my car touched the rear of the one in front, and the next thing I knew, I was airborne, a solid wall hurtling toward me.

  “Oh fuck, I’m a goner.”

  Madison

  I broke my cardinal rule.

  Desperate for any glimpse of Tate after he’d studiously ignored me the entire weekend—not that I blamed him after I’d made it perfectly clear we were over—I switched on the TV in the medical center, my gaze automatically searching for Tate’s car. Lap thirty-one, and he was in the lead by a considerable margin. Good, he’d be happy. I knew how desperate he was to achieve that fifth world championship. It’d catapult him into the elite. Maybe that would make his parents proud, although I doubted it. Cold, miserable bastards. They didn’t deserve a wonderful son like Tate.