Page 183 of Revv

“Can you idiots gossip after the race?”

Sayshen catches it. “Easy for you to say. You already know everything.”

Echo’s smile turns suspicious.

My head snaps toward her. “Everything?”

“Relax.”

“That is never a reassuring thing to hear from you.”

Cece’s eyes narrow at Echo now.

Interesting.

Before either woman can betray me, Andre walks into the middle of the paddock carrying his tablet and the expression of a man who regrets every life choice that led him to managing professional racers with the emotional maturity of unsupervised teenagers.

“Enough.”

Thorne gestures toward me. “Important team business.”

“You can conduct it from the grandstand if you don’t shut the fuck up.”

That mostly works.

The paddock settles into something closer to professional while Andre starts running through the schedule. Around us, mechanics finish the last checks, tire warmers still wrapped around the bikes while generators hum beneath the constant clatter of tools and voices.

Engines bark to life farther down pit lane, sharp enough to cut through everything else, and the air smells like fuel, hot rubber and the coffee somebody left sitting too close to a toolbox.

I missed this.

The noise. The routine. The way race day feels like the whole world has been boiled down to a strip of asphalt and whoever is willing to push hardest across it.

Still, part of me misses waking up in that shitty Miami motel with Cece already sitting at the desk in my shirt, pretending she wasn’t going to steal half my breakfast later.

That realization is probably more dangerous than anything I’m doing on the track today.

“Revel.”

I look up.

Andre is staring directly at me.

“Sorry, Coach.”

The entire group goes silent for half a second.

Thorne actually turns his head.

“Did this prick just apologize?”

“Fuck off.”

Andre pinches the bridge of his nose. “Track’s hotter today and grip through the back section isn’t where it was yesterday. Use your heads. I don’t want anybody manufacturing passes that don’t fucking exist this time.”

His eyes settle on me.

I grin. “Feels targeted.”