Page 4 of Full Throttle
The checkered flag waved.
The crowd let out an ear-splitting roar. Doughy faces melted together, half-obscured in rain. Standing. Cheering. Pain shot through his left wrist, but it was masked by the crushing, all-consuming joy.
“Did we win?” Dominic demanded.
Static filled his earpiece. His car hobbled toward the grandstands.
“Jeremiah?”
“You won,” Jeremiah said flatly.
Dominic closed his eyes. Something swelled in his chest, expanding into an aching balloon of happiness. “So we did it. We have the championship.”
A pause. “No.”
“What?”
“We don’t have it,” Jeremiah said.
Dominic’s mouth was dry. “But I thought…”
“The stewards,” Jeremiah said tonelessly, “are giving you a five-second time penalty. For unsafe driving.”
His chest tightened. “Where does that put us?”
A pause. “Fifth.”
It wasn’t hard to do the math. He’d been agonizing over them for days. Even if Cap placed second, that would mean…
“Sinclair took the championship,” Dominic said, and the words were bitter as coffee grounds.
Jeremiah didn’t respond.
He parked the car. A hubcap came loose, skittering across the track like a nervous animal. He felt light-headed from the force of the race.
They’d lost.
Hydra Auto had taken the Constructors’ Championship.
“Sinclair hit me,” Dominic said. “That’s why I retaliated. He hit me first.”
Sweat trickled down his jaw. There was a long pause.
“We’ll discuss it later,” Jeremiah said.
Dominic removed his helmet. Rain stung his hot cheeks. His wrist throbbed from yanking on the wheel. He’d lost the Drivers’ Championship, and he’d cost his team everything. No trophies. No glory. He stared down at his broken mirror; it was lolling drunkenly to the side, like a flower wilting in the rain.
Anthony Sinclair sprang onto the hood of his car. The crowd bellowed as he pumped his fist, his grin slicing through the rain. Slowly, Dominic clambered out of the car, chancing a look toward his team garage. His father was half-obscured by a large green umbrella, holding a glass of undrunk champagne. Their eyes met.
Vance held his gaze for one heartbeat.
Two.
Dominic looked away. His chest tightened.
No words were necessary. The disappointment was written all over his father’s face.
Chapter 2
