Page 2 of Too Fast To Fall
“I had pole position for all but three races last year. This is just...” He pinched the bridge of his nose and shook hishead. Thinking about how effortless his success had felt last year, and how impossible everything was this season, gave hima headache. “It’s a fall from grace.”
“It’s not,” Isabel insisted. “You’re a world-class driver. Xander struggled with the Mega car his first year. She can be afickle bitch.”
“I can’t make excuses.”
Isabel shrugged. “Maybe just exercise some patience?”
That was a word often spoken by the more supportive members of the team. The problem was that the media, the sponsors, theexecutives at Mega Racing and the fans expected him to be amazing again now.
He and Isabel arrived at the media pen, and Emilio took his place behind a metal barrier, just like a sheep, waiting for whatwould surely be some horrible fate.
“Emilio,” one reporter started, shoving a microphone in his face, “you’re struggling with the Mega car. How much are you regrettingyour departure from Vermillion?”
The only thing Emilio regretted was that his departure had been made necessary by forces outside his control. Namely, Vermillion’steam principal. Tristan Highbridge had charges of sexual harassment levied at him by three female employees at the end oflast season. Emilio had been shocked by how swiftly Vermillion closed ranks, refuting all allegations. The team said they’dconducted an internal investigation and found no evidence of wrongdoing. It was such a bad look. If Tristan was so innocent,why not allow an outside party to investigate? The press had the same questions and looked to Emilio for comment. So Emiliowas honest about it. He used his platform and spoke up. He asked for one simple thing—a real third-party investigation. Itwould not only clear the cloud of suspicion surrounding the team he loved so much, but it was also the right thing to do.
But team management turned on Emilio. One month after winning a world driver’s championship, he was out at Vermillion. Ifit had been any other year, it would’ve shut Emilio out of the sport, too. A seat in Formula One was unbelievably difficultto get. There were only twenty spots in the entire sport. The entire world. Luckily, Mega Racing still had a vacant seat atthe time, and they picked him up. Small blessings, he supposed.
“I don’t regret my departure from Vermillion. Things happen for a reason.” He stood a little straighter, tired to death ofanswering this question.
“But you were on top of the world last year. Now you’re nowhere.”
Please stop reminding me.“I’m not nowhere. I am a Formula One driver. That’s not an easy job to get.”
“Do you think the Vermillion car is the real reason you won the championship last year?”
Emilio grit his teeth and did his best to remain cool, calm and collected, but anger coursed through his veins. He workedso hard. Sacrificed so much. And too many people devoted so much energy to giving him shit about perceived missteps. “Someonehad to turn the steering wheel and hit the brakes at the right time. I’m pretty sure that was all me.”
The reporter rolled his eyes.
Emilio’s blood went straight on the boil. “Maybe you’d like to get behind the wheel? Take a crack at it?”
“Is that the time?” Isabel tugged on Emilio’s arm. “Sorry, everyone, Emilio has another interview to do.”
“Interview?” Emilio asked as they bustled through the paddock in the direction of Mega hospitality.
“I had to get you out of there. Before you dug yourself a hole.”
Emilio sighed. He worked so hard to keep his emotions in check. It was a crucial part of being a disciplined driver. But sometimes,he lost his cool. “Thanks for looking out for me.” Emilio didn’t want to ask Isabel for yet another thing, but there was apressing issue to attend to. “How’s Gus? Were you able to find someone to watch him tomorrow?” After the dog sitter quit afew hours ago, Emilio had gone to Isabel for help.
“Gus is fine. He’s asleep in your driver’s room. I took him for a pee break right before qualifying.” They walked inside theMega hospitality building and headed for his room. “As for tomorrow, I have a call in to a service called Fido & Friends.I haven’t heard anything yet.”
“Great. Thank you so much. I really do appreciate your help.”
“Also, you should know that your mom is in the paddock. She said she’s coming back here. Just a heads-up.”
Emilio choked back a grumble and opened the door to his room. “I’ve been warned.” He closed the door quietly when he noticedthat Gus was asleep, but of course, his dog had excellent hearing and immediately perked up. He bounded over, wagging histail. Emilio blew out a breath and felt his shoulders relax as he gave Gus a few pets. When Gus was okay, one half of Emilio’slife was okay. He only wished he could find Gus a permanent sitter. Maybe even a full-time dog nanny. Someone who could travelthe world with them, so Emilio could focus on racing.
The truth was that Emilio couldn’t stomach the thought of leaving Gus at his new home in England or boarding him in a kennel.Gus was the one creature on the planet who was always there for him. And the other drivers who had dogs always brought themto the track. They were a fixture in the paddock, and he hated the idea of seeing everyone else’s dogs and knowing Gus wasn’tthere. The only difference was that those drivers either had full-time dog handlers or they had wives or girlfriends to takecare of them. Emilio had struggled to find the former and had no interest in the latter. He and romance were done.
A knock came at the door and Emilio’s mother, Bianca, rushed inside, teetering on heels with an expensive designer handbagin the crook of her arm and a scowl on her face. “Why do I come to Miami? The humidity. It does terrible things to my hair.”
“Because I’m your son and you want to support me?”
“Of course.” She flattened her hand against Emilio’s cheek. “And it’s my weekend. If I don’t come, your father will. I can’tlet him win.”
Emilio’s parents were in the middle of a divorce—another stress he didn’t need in his life. When his parents first announcedthey were splitting, close to the end of last season, Emilio was shocked. He’d always thought they’d loved each other.Ask your mother, his father had said.Love fades, his mother had said. Emilio still hadn’t had time to figure out how those answers led to two people turning their backson more than thirty years of marriage. Regardless, it quickly became clear that they couldn’t be within a mile of each otherwithout screaming, so Emilio did the only sensible thing and split the year’s races between them. Like a custody agreement,but with Grand Prix weekends instead of kids. “I think your hair looks nice.”
His mother sat on the couch. “Tell me about the Dutch driver. Dirk Van Dijk. He’s very handsome. Is he single?”
