Rush: Part One & Two (The Pitstop Series Book 3)

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Jean, Gabriel, and Kira are on their way. I’ve been dreading this dinner for more than a day, but at least I get to cook. I made all kinds of dishes: salad and fish for Kira since she’s a pescatarian, and I made some steaks for Jean, Gabriel, Adrian, and myself. I also made some potato wedges and a broccoli salad for Jean; he loves those. Mrs. Beaumont finishes her work, and I hand her a bag with some of the food and a piece of the marble cake I made for dessert.

Adrian comes downstairs in a dress shirt and jeans, and I look at myself in the reflection of the coffee machine. I flinch at the horrendous state of my appearance: hair messy and flour over my cleavage and face from the explosion I created earlier. My brother hides his laughter when he sees me. I squirm upstairs and quickly take a shower before putting on the dress I bought yesterday, some makeup, and even some eyeliner.

The doorbell rings, and I rush downstairs. Jean is the first to walk through the door. My arms wrap around his neck, and I realize how much I missed this boy. He looks a lot like Gabriel, except his hair is black instead of brown, Jean is much taller, and he doesn’t have the stubble Gabriel always has.

“How are you? How have you been? What has been going on?” I know most of the answers to those questions, but I ask them nonetheless.

“Can I come in first?” he asks, and I smile. His voice is higher than Gabriel’s but still very similar.

“Of course. I’m sorry,” I laugh, but my happy expression soon fades when I see Kira and Gabriel walk through the door, holding hands. Bleh. The smiles on their faces are genuine. Double bleh.

“Hello, handsome,” Kira sweetly greets Adrian and ignores me completely. She does this a lot. I’m annoyed at how breathtaking she looks. Her brown hair falls straight down her back, her blue eyes are highlighted by the smokey eye she put on, and a skin-tight pink dress covers her slim body.

“Hi, chérie,” Gabriel says, pulling me out of my thought-trance and pressing a swift kiss to my cheek. His eyes scan my body, and his mouth falls open ever so slightly. “You look gorgeous.” Panic flashes over his face, and he moves back to his girlfriend. Kira presses a kiss to Gabriel’s lips, and I turn away before feeling Adrian’s hands on my shoulders. He leads me toward the living room and bends down to whisper something into my ear.

“If it gets too much for you, let me know.” I nod and smile at him, thanking him with my eyes. Jean follows closely and starts talking to me about his grades. He recently finished high school and is applying to the International University of Monaco to get his business degree. Kira and Gabriel converse with Adrian, and I’m glad I don’t have to talk to them. She is so genuine and friendly to Adrian…

“You’re so lucky you get to travel with them this season,” he says with a jealous expression on his face. “You’re going to leave for Australia soon, aren’t you?”

“Yes, on Monday.” Excitement washes through me at the thought. The qualifyings, races, free practices; I love watching them more than anything else. My mind drifts to Grandpa, and I think about how happy he would be to see Adrian and I travel the world together.

“Val, Valentina.” Jean pulls me out of my thoughts, and I glance at him. We are sitting at the table, eating the food I made. When I look at him, he smiles brightly. “I just wanted to say thank you for making this dinner. Everything tastes incredible.”

“Yes, it really does. Thank you,” Gabriel chimes in, and I grin at him. Kira notices our exchange and places her hand over his possessively. Adrian thanks me for dinner, too, and the only person who doesn’t comment is the one for whom I made a completely different meal. I ignore it until she does comment.

“The fish is a little dry, I have to say.” She pushes her plate away, ninety percent of the food still on it. My eyes go wide, and anger settles in my stomach. In the corner of my eyes, I notice Adrian tense as his eyes go wide as well.

“Excuse me?” My voice is calmer than I expected it to be, but everyone’s eyes follow mine and widen. I don’t know if it is my reaction or her words.

“The fish is dry. It does not taste good.” She emphasizes every word like I’m an idiot who didn’t hear her the first time. My blood is boiling in my veins, and I try to control myself, but I can’t. I ball my hands into fists and watch as Gabriel takes a bite from the fish.

“Kira, it tastes amazing. What are you talking about?” That is when she gets angry, too, but I don’t care. They can fight later. Right now, I’m not having her insult a dish I spent hours making for her. It is petty, but I really can’t help myself.

“I spent hours making this for you, specially for you because you’re a pescatarian. Most of us don’t like fish, but I made it for you anyway. I tasted it seven times, ensuring it is neither dry nor salty and has just the proper amount of spices. Just. For. You.” Again, my voice is calmer than I intend it to be.

“Well, clearly, you don’t know how to cook then.” I jump up from my seat and am about to lunge forward and rip out her hair extensions, but Adrian holds me back. I calm down quickly and take a deep breath while Adrian’s arms still detain me.

Turning to Jean, I say, “I’m sorry, I think I’ve lost my appetite.” Then, I turn to my brother, who is worried and also angry. I know he isn’t mad at me; he is mad at Kira for insulting me in my home. “Excuse me.” He nods, and I walk upstairs into my room.

My feet bring me toward my bed, and as soon as I sit down, I start to cry tears of anger. It takes me a couple of minutes to settle, and when I do, I go to the bathroom and wipe my face. I pull off the dress and am about to put on shorts but groan loudly instead. Great, now I’m on my period too! I realize why I snapped.

Sometime after I have gone upstairs, a knock on my door startles me. I sit down on the bed, but the person doesn’t bother waiting for me to say ‘come in’. When I see it’s Gabriel, my heart skips a beat, and I want to start crying again. Fucking hormones…

“Can we talk?” he asks, and I nod. He walks over and sits down in front of me.

“Why aren’t you with Kira?” I ask, pulling on a loose thread hanging from my shorts and avoiding his gaze. His hand covers mine, and his other lifts my chin, forcing my eyes to meet his.

“Because you are more important.” I swallow hard, and my stomach twists. The tingles and sparks leave my skin when he removes his hands. “I’m sorry about Kira. I don’t know what came over her. It is not okay for her to treat you this way. I’m so sorry,” he tells me, and I nod before sucking in a sharp breath when I feel a cramp in my lower abdomen. I try to hide the pain with a neutral expression, but he notices anyway. “What? What’s wrong?” His hand covers mine again, and I am incredibly irritated by his actions. I take my hand back and wince when I get a worse cramp. “Val.”

“Nothing. Please, just leave me alone.” The pain gets worse and worse by the minute, and I have to get up and move around, which is precisely what I do. Every month, the pain is overwhelming, and I don’t know how to handle it.

“Let me help you,” he says and follows me around the room. His arms reach toward my body, and tears leave my eyes.

“No, just go away. You and your girlfriend have done enough! You’ve ruined my evening, and you- you-” I stop talking before I let my words get the better of me; before I say something I will regret, like admitting my feelings or even the fact that I was jealous of Kira.

“What did I do? I even defended your fucking fish,” he replies, his voice firm.

“Stop talking to me like that!” The tears stream down my cheeks, and I am hopeless and defeated.

“Like what, chérie?” He is gentle then. I have to sit down on my bed when the cramps become too much. “Okay, tell me what to do! Please, chérie, please tell me what to do.” His entire attitude changes, showing how worried and confused he is. I lean back on my bed and crumble into a fetal position. Everything is amplified, mainly because we are fighting, and I can’t take the pain. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fight with you. Just tell me how I can help.” His hand rests on my thigh, and everything inside of me lights on fire.

“It hurts,” I whine, and he nods.

“Okay, okay. Wait here, don’t go anywhere.” I frown at him, and he gives me an apologetic smile. “You know what I mean.”

When he returns minutes later, he pulls me into an upright position and wipes the sweat off my forehead with a small towel. He hands me a glass of water and two painkillers. I take them gladly, and he removes the glass from my hand once again. Gabriel holds out a hot water bottle he has made for me, and, for the first time in half an hour, I smile. It soon fades when another cramp shoots pain through my whole body. I lie on my side.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” I mumble, and his hand lifts to touch my cheek.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry, too. I’m so sorry, chérie.” Gabriel lies down next to me until we are facing each other. My eyes close, and crinkles appear on my forehead as I furrow my brows and breathe loudly. Gabriel’s hand lifts to smooth them out before dropping to my arm, where he starts running his fingers up and down.

“It hurts,” I complain again, and his thumb wipes away the tears which continue to stream from the corners of my eyes. The way his skin feels on mine is heavenly. His hand moves to my arm again, and he rubs along there. “Make it stop.” Pain flashes in his eyes, and I know it hurts him to see me like this.

“I would give anything to make it stop, chérie, anything.” His voice is so soft as he talks to me. “You’re the only girl who has ever been this vulnerable with me. I can’t begin to describe how much it pains me to see you like this. Maybe it’s because you mean so much to me, or maybe it’s because there is nothing I can do to help you. Either way- I guess what I’m trying to say is-” He cuts off before he finishes his sentence, but I sense he is not done speaking. “You’re so very strong,” he informs me, and my head spins. The mahogany scent coming off him, his smooth accent, his handsome face, all of it clouds my senses, and if I gave in, I would ask him to kiss me. “Stronger and more beautiful than anyone I have ever met.” I must be imagining his words because they don’t make any sense to me. He is drunk, I tell myself. He must be intoxicated somehow because Gabriel wouldn’t say this to me, not while he is still dating Kira. Would he?

“I don’t understand.” He smiles at me, and his dimples are deep and sexy, making my head spin even more.

“Neither do I. You’ve turned everything upside down for me.” Okay, now I know he’s making all of this up to distract me. It is working too. After all, it’s been minutes since I’ve last felt a cramp. “How are you feeling?” he asks when I don’t respond.

“Better. Your distraction helped.” Gabriel’s eyes go wide momentarily before he plays it off and smiles.

“Yeah, there you go. I knew it would.” He sits up, and I follow him, still clinging to the hot water bottle.

“I’m sorry you had to see me like this, and I’m sorry about our fight and just, in general, the way I behaved,” I apologize, and he puts his hand on my cheek, his thumb caressing the soft skin slightly. Kiss me. Just kiss me. He doesn’t.

“Don’t apologize. None of this was your fault. I’m sorry for it all.” He shakes his head. I don’t know what to think anymore, but my eyelids get heavy, and my eyes close. “I have to go,” he whispers, and I nod. I thank him for bringing all the things I needed. He leaves my room with a swift kiss on the cheek, and I fall asleep shortly after.