Declare (Declan Reede: The Untold Story #4)

by Michelle Irwin

  As I pushed the car around the track, I thought about Alyssa watching from the sidelines. It gave me a little boost. I finished in second and decided that even if I hadn’t won the right to return to London, it wasn’t that bad a result for the meeting, and overall my season had been pretty decent. I was first in the championship after all, and that was something worth celebrating.

  I pulled up into scrutineering, ready to meet Alyssa like we’d agreed, but she wasn’t there. A niggle built in the pit of my stomach, but I tried to push it aside. No doubt she was just caught up on the phone with Ruby or in the trailer with Eden. It was nothing to worry about, I was sure of it, but that didn’t stop me from stressing.

  After the officials were finished, I took my car back to the sheds, but Alyssa wasn’t there either. I tried her mobile, but there was no answer. With each failed attempt to find her, the suffocating fear I felt gained more traction. I’d completed at least three laps of the pits, but she wasn’t anywhere.

  I raced to the Sinclair Racing truck, thinking that maybe she was in the office there with Eden. When I saw she wasn’t there either, full-blown panic set in.

  For the first time in a long time, my chest swelled and my breath shortened. I struggled to get enough oxygen into my system. Something was wrong. I just knew it.

  There was no way Alyssa wouldn’t be waiting for me. Not without trying to contact me in some way.

  Every inch of my body was on edge. Alyssa was in trouble, and I had no idea where she was, or how to find her. The weight of it was staggering. I fell to my knees as a strangled sob ripped from my lips.

  I tried to think logically, but I couldn’t. All I could think of was my desperate need to find Alyssa and my hopelessness over not knowing where to start. I buried my head in my hands and leant back onto my heels. I knew I had to get up and start searching, but the task seemed insurmountable.

  Knowing that if I let the panic overwhelm me, I would never find Alyssa, I staggered to my feet and did one more lap of the pits. I couldn’t see or hear clearly through the mist that had invaded my head, but I made my way around as best as I could, certain that seeing Alyssa would clear my mind instantly.

  After a moment, I grew aware of someone walking over and talking to me, but I couldn’t make out the words or the face. Hands pulled me aside and pushed me against a wall.

  “Are you all right, man?”

  I blinked, trying to clear the fog in my head.

  “Sparky?” a different voice added.

  I swung my head back and forth between the two voices who kept talking to each other and to me. Then I was jostled inside a trailer. I was aware of being shaken slightly. I wanted to be sick. My stomach twisted and my chest heaved with each breath I tried to take.

  “Alyssa,” I croaked. I didn’t care what happened to me, which seemed to be what the two boys were concerned about. I didn’t care about exposure, or photos, or fans, or any of the other shit they were saying. I just cared about Alyssa. “Where is she?”

  “I haven’t seen her,” one of the voices—which I finally realised belonged to Calem—said.

  “Me either, but Hunter was asking about her earlier. He was over near the carrier trucks.”

  “Hunter!” His name burst out of me like a curse and suddenly, I could see clearly. I took a deep breath, needing every ounce of strength I could muster. If he’d laid even one finger on Alyssa . . .

  I yelled a “thanks” behind me as I scrambled from the trailer and ran toward the freight area. If Hunter was talking to Alyssa, I knew what he wanted. He’d been trying to find a way to get to me for the longest time. I growled at the memory of his taunts at work. I knew exactly where he would have led her, if given the opportunity. The one place at the track that was always deserted once everything was set up.

  The trucks that brought all the support equipment were lined up in a car park on the far outskirts of the track. I raced there as quickly as my legs, and the hot race suit I was wearing, would allow. I’d barely reached the gate when Alyssa slammed into me. She was running as fast as she could, looking behind her anxiously.

  Relief flooded through me. She was safe and back with me, where she belonged. I wrapped my arms tightly around her. She screamed at first as I held her, but then she realised who I was and relaxed into me.

  “What happened?” I asked. “Where were you?”

  She pressed herself hard against me. “Hunter.”

  I set my jaw, furious. I couldn’t believe she would wander off with him. I’d warned her—repeatedly—how much of an arse he was. How fucking dangerous he could be. I’d even told her about the girls I’d rescued, even though it was a reminder of how things used to be for me. The things he’d whispered to me at work came racing back into my mind and my hands clenched into fists. I lifted Alyssa and turned around, leaving me positioned between her and the direction she had been running from. The direction where Hunter, the snake, was slithering in hiding.

  I’d begun to head in that very direction when Alyssa grabbed my arm.

  “Don’t!” she cried, as tears pricked her eyes.

  “Why not, Alyssa?” I asked.

  “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  I scoffed. “You don’t think it hurts that you would go off with him, knowing everything he’s done to me?”

  She looked up at me. I could see rage and sorrow battling behind her eyes, and the mix stole my voice. I wanted to apologise, immediately knowing that I was out of line.

  “You . . . you mean the world to me,” she forced out finally between sobs. “I went with him, because I thought it was you! He . . . he has your helmet . . .”

  I stared at her, my mouth dry and my heart between my teeth. I heard the sound of a muffled cry and whipped my head toward it. I guessed it was coming from near where Alyssa had appeared from.

  I took a step in that direction, but again Alyssa reached out to stop me. It was hard to understand why, when I was so much stronger than her, a light touch of her hand was enough to paralyse me.

  “Please don’t,” she cried. “I couldn’t stand it if you got hurt.”

  “You think I’m going to get hurt?” I asked. “That fucker, he’s the one who’s going to get hurt. I am going to make him pay for ever laying his eyes on you.”

  She flinched.

  “Wait, that was all he laid on you, wasn’t it?”

  She dropped her eyes to the floor, and I thought I saw her shake her head slightly. I didn’t wait to find out what else the fucking bastard had done. I was off and running in the direction that I’d heard the sound come from. As I drew closer, the sounds of muffled fighting grew louder. I rounded the corner and saw Hunter and Morgan locked in a tight embrace. Both of them were throwing punches wildly.

  “You prick!” I screamed. “You rat-bastard fucking prick. How dare you go anywhere near my girl!”

  Hunter and Morgan both paused at the sound of my voice. Morgan was quick to use the momentary break to his advantage. He wrapped his hands around Hunter’s shoulders, pulling his arms back and exposing his stomach to me. I cracked my knuckles and sneered at Hunter.

  “Now, you pay. Fucker.”

  I drew my fist back and slammed it hard into Hunter’s side, listening to his pained holler with sick satisfaction. I went to strike again, aiming for his face this time, but before I could connect, I heard the absolute last voice I’d wanted to hear at that moment.

  “What the hell is going on here?” Danny asked, low and venomously.

  “They dragged me out here and attacked me,” Hunter said, his voice pathetic and pitiful.

  “Tell him the truth!” I demanded. “Tell him what you did!”

  Hunter shook his head. “I didn’t do anything,” he pleaded to Danny. “I swear.”

  “Morgan?” Danny’s eyes shot straight to the third party in the situation.

  “Hunter was out here alone with Alyssa—” Morgan started before Danny cut him off.

  “And that’s justification for this?�
� Danny asked, his tone indicating that the correct answer was not yes. “Let him go!”

  Danny’s calm authority was clearly not to be messed with, and with a firm shove, Morgan released Hunter.

  “Get back to the pits. I’ll deal with this later. Declan, I’ll see you in my office as soon as the next race is over. Alone.”

  Hunter turned back to me and smirked. He knew as well as I did that I was going to bear the brunt of this. I was the fuck-up. I was the one with the history of fighting. I was the one who’d complained bitterly about Hunter. I was the one Danny had overheard saying that I would do whatever it took to get rid of him. I was the one who was supposed to be racing with Morgan in the enduros after the break, but now that dream was drifting away into the fucking distance, despite the contract. All I could hope was between Alyssa, Morgan, and I, we would be able to convince Danny that Hunter wasn’t as innocent as he claimed.

  Hunter snickered and licked his lips as he passed me. “Mmmm, tastes good,” he murmured, just loud enough for me to hear.

  “You fucking bastard!” I cried and leapt at him again. Before I could do any serious damage, Morgan and Danny dragged me off him as I fought against them to try to finish the arsehole off. I noticed with satisfaction that Morgan used the opportunity to get another kick or two in.

  “Hunter! With me!” Danny snapped. “Now!” He led Hunter off without a second glance.

  “What the fuck happened, man?” I asked Morgan, scooping down to pick up my helmet that Hunter had obviously stolen and worn to lure Alyssa away from the crowds.

  “I don’t know exactly. I just saw some kid talking to Alyssa earlier. Then she walked off in this direction, or skipped off might be more appropriate. A little while later, someone said you were looking for her. I couldn’t find you, so I went in search of her.”

  I closed my eyes, almost afraid to ask what he found.

  “It wasn’t good,” he said, confirming my worst fears. “He had her pinned tightly against the trailer. She was trying to fight him off, but he wasn’t listening to her.”

  I growled. “I’m going to kill him. I am going to fucking kill him.”

  “Man, I get it. I really do. But you need to back off for a bit. You’re already in enough hot water with Old Man Sinclair as it is. Just leave it to me. I’ll set Danny straight.”

  He smiled, and I felt like agreeing, but I knew I wouldn’t be satisfied unless Hunter suffered because of me. Only when I heard the crunch of his bones under my fists would I feel vindicated. I wrung my hands together in anticipation at the thought of inflicting pain and suffering on him.

  “Go to Alyssa,” Morgan said, resting one hand on the custom-designed helmet she’d given me for my birthday.

  Of course, he would remind me of the one thing more important than revenge.

  With that thought in mind, I rang Alyssa’s mobile. Eden answered it and let me know that they were back at the trailer. I ran the whole way there and straight into Alyssa’s arms. I let her sob against me until I finally had to leave. It was time for me to do my proper job. It had been drilled into me thoroughly that my pit job was my first and foremost responsibility at these events.

  When I arrived in the pits, Ryan sidled up to me. “I hope you don’t mind that I got Danny before. I’d hoped he’d see the truth about Hunter.”

  I waved him off. “Of course not.”

  “What happened?” Calem asked.

  Even though I was certain he was asking what I’d found, I answered the alternative interpretation of his question. “I’ll find out after the race.”

  I couldn’t help but smile at the knowledge that Hunter had committed the cardinal sin in racing—never fuck with anyone who has your safety in their hands. I wondered whether anyone would notice if I didn’t completely tighten the nut on his wheel when he came into the pit. Although maybe it was safer for me to convince one of the other boys to do it, considering any fuck-up on my part would be assumed to be intentional.

  The cars had one final check-over then rolled out onto the grid. Morgan and Hunter waited by their cars, with Eden and Liam darting between them, while the official proceedings started at the start/finish line.

  Despite my prime position in pit lane, I couldn’t hear anything that was said over the blood pumping loudly through my ears as I watched the slimy bastard posing for photos with the grid girls. I could see his hands wandering all over their bodies, and I couldn’t help picturing his hands roaming over Alyssa while she struggled to fight him off. I snapped the pen I had been holding in half, drawing my attention back to the sheet in front of me. I tossed the broken pen and the clipboard to one side.

  Pull yourself together.

  Danny already wanted my arse because of what happened by the trailers. At least, I could only assume he was going to take it out on me. Regardless, I couldn’t make it worse for myself. No matter what anyone told him, he would likely assume that I was at fault. Despite the progress we’d made, I had no doubt this would put us back to square one. I would be the baddy and there was jack shit I could do about it. I wondered if that would ever change. I even began to wonder whether it was even worth it.

  I looked up in time to see Eden come running into pit lane.

  “Look sharp, guys,” she called. “It’s time.”

  She nodded to me briefly. The look in her eyes confirmed that she knew precisely what had happened with Hunter. I tried to put it out of my mind and took my position with the rest of my crew, waiting for the first pit window to open.

  We were all on tenterhooks as we waited for the call that our driver was hitting the pits. Every one of us knew that pit stops were where the races were really won or lost. I may have hated Hunter, I may have wanted him gone from the team, but I was still a Sinclair man through and through and wanted us up on the podium. The V8s roared past us at regular intervals and, although it was still early, everything looked on track for a Sinclair Racing one/two.

  Finally, the call came in to ready the pits. Morgan was due to come in for his first pit stop in four laps. Two laps passed quickly and Morgan’s crew got ready to meet him, rolling his wheels and tyres into the pit area.

  The lap before he was due to come in, Hunter’s voice squawked through the radio. “I’m coming in.”

  “Hunter, no, we’re ready for Morgan—not you,” Eden said.

  “Well, get ready for me,” Hunter snapped. “I’m coming in.”

  “Fuck!” Eden exclaimed. She pulled her mic away from her mouth. “Everyone scramble!” she shouted before spending the next precious few seconds arranging with Morgan to stay away from the pits for another few laps.

  “My tyres are wearing out,” Morgan growled. “I need to come in.”

  “Hunter’s coming in this lap—give us two laps,” Eden said, exasperated. “Please?”

  “Fine!” Morgan snapped. “What the hell is his game?”

  I was wondering the same thing myself as I joined the rest of my crew getting everything we needed for Hunter’s car out onto pit lane, sidelining all of Morgan’s equipment. Hunter was already in the pits and waiting long before we were ready. Precious seconds had already slipped away before we even started.

  I finished changing his front wheel and raised my hand to let everyone know I was finished and clear. I looked down through the netting and saw Hunter was giving me the finger. With a surge of anger rushing through me, I leaned forward to slap the car. At the same time, Hunter got the all-clear to go. He took off, almost taking my arm with him.

  “Fucker!” I screamed.

  “Reede!”

  I snarled at the back of the car before turning around to look at Liam.

  “What have I told you?” he snapped. “A thousand times. When you raise your hand, it means you’re clear. Once you’re clear, stay away from the damned car!”

  “Yes, sir,” I said. I knew there was no point arguing, because I knew the safety rules well enough. No matter what happened once you’d given the all-clear, you stayed back. It wa
s far too easy to lean back into the car and have your foot run over or your arm broken.

  Or worse.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: RECKLESS

  I WAS FUMING by the time I walked back into the pit garage.

  “Take it easy,” Eden said, slapping me on the back. “Try to stay calm.”

  “Fucker tries to hurt Alyssa and then has the nerve—”

  Eden cut me off with a motion of her hand. It wasn’t the time or the place.

  I cleared out of the way so she could direct Morgan in. Glancing past the pits, I watched as Hunter circled again. I didn’t know what the fucker’s plan was, but I knew he’d deliberately fucked Morgan over with the pit stop.

  Morgan had ended up having to run at least three laps on old tyres, which would definitely have caused him some delays. Not to mention that it fucked with the whole race strategy Danny, Liam, and Eden would have worked out with Morgan before sending him out.

  Thankfully, the race wore on without any further complication. Lap after lap the cars raced past, and just as I had every other race meet, I felt my fingers twitching with need and desire to be out there with them. I loved being in the pits and, through my experience, I understood how things worked better than I ever had before. But that didn’t mean I didn’t want to be out there.

  The inner workings of the cars were no longer the mystery to me that they’d once been. I’d always known the theory of course, and I’d been more than able to service my own cars, but actually stripping an engine down and rebuilding it was a priceless experience. Still, nothing could ever compare to the thrill of chasing down a competitor or the ecstasy of being out there with six hundred horses at the mercy of my right foot.

  Another pit stop for tyres and fuel came and went.

  Once the dust had settled on the second pit window, Hunter and Morgan were first and second on the track, with Will Reid right behind them. Hunter was defending his position aggressively against Morgan, throwing his car around the track and driving hard into the corners.