Page 84 of Until The Lights Go Out

“Serena,” Maisey hissed.

“What? He should know.”

I huffed out a quiet laugh despite myself, shaking my head once. Then my eyes drifted back to Maisey again. She was watching me carefully. Any anger from before when she had chased me down the hallway was long since extinguished. She just waited, such a gentle and trusting expression on her face. Even after everything, she just waited, like she was trying to figure out whether this moment was about to disappear too—whether I was.

The thought twisted painfully in my chest.

Slowly, I stepped back toward her, close enough that only she would notice the way my hand found her hip again briefly, thumb brushing once against the fabric there, gentle this time and intentional. Her breath caught softly as I held her gaze.

“I’ll come find you after,” I said quietly. Not an excuse or avoidance, but a promise that we would talk about this and not pretend that it didn’t happen. Because Maisey Andrews deserved the world, and I would bottle it all up for her if she asked me to.

She searched my face for a second like she was testing whether she believed me. Then finally, slowly, she nodded. “Okay,” she whispered.

Something inside me settled at that, almost like she was trying to take some of the weight off my shoulders, like I wasn’t carrying all of it alone anymore. Reluctantly, I stepped away from her fully before I lost the ability to do it at all.

Sebastian looked deeply amused. Serena still looked homicidal.

And Maisey—Maisey looked at me like she could still see every version of me that had ever existed all at once.

The boy on the hill.

The driver.

The disaster.

The man standing in front of her now.

And somehow…she looked like she would stay anyway.

“Theo, how are you feeling after that unfortunate DNF today?” a man asked, holding the mic in front of me. I had been threatened within an inch of my life that they would bench me and replace me with the reserve driver next week if I didn’t do all the requested interviews today. I honestly didn’t fully believe the principal when he had said it, but when I glanced at Angel, she shook her head slowly as if to say “Keep your damn mouth shut.” And I did, because as much as I wanted to shove it off and go disappear and find Maisey, if I was working on the whole “being a better person” thing, I should stop putting Angel and Sebastian in hot water over me being an idiot. “A selfish idiot,” Sebastian had corrected when I apologized for causing him extra stress the last few weeks.

“A little frustrated, but just means we get to put our heads down till next week and focus on what we can improve,” I replied, the media training coming in handy, because what I really wanted to say was, “How do you think I feel? DNFing a race is a massive issue to the points of a championship title.”

“Theo Bauer, putting his head down? Sounds like no celebration then?” the interviewer prodded.

“Nothing much to celebrate,” I said back, grinding my teeth.

“Well, you heard it here first, folks. Theo Bauer is setting aside his dancing shoes!”

I tried so hard not to roll my eyes at the comment, and instead, I smiled politely as if we were all in on the same joke and shook his hand before wandering back to Sebastian, who walked me to the next God-forsaken interview. After this one, I was about ready to rip my hair out. This was my own version of slow torture.

“This one won’t be bad,” Sebastian told me as we passed through a set of doors to the rooftop paddock club.

“You said that last time,” I grumbled. My brother only shrugged and waved me forward, pointing toward another set of cameras. I walked up, staring at my phone and the lack of notifications from one particular redhead before I heard her.

“Waiting on someone?” Maisey’s voice interrupted my inner thoughts, my head snapping up.

“Please tell me you’re doing the next interview,” I said, letting out a deep sigh.

“Careful Bauer, people will start to think you actually like me.” A sweet laugh bubbled out of her, making my insides twist.

“Want me to shout it from the rooftops?” I asked, leaning over the edge and cupping my hands around my mouth.

“Oh my God!” She was giggling now, making the remains of my heart beat back to life. “Stop that.” She pulled me off the edge, her cheeks a deep blush.

“Oh good, you broke Theo; he’s actually making a joke!” Sebastian announced, walking over.

“Fuck off.” I glared at him.