Drifting Deception

Chapter Nine

SYDNEY

"If all it took was for you to date someone in my team, I would've been a wingman way earlier," Theo said as I walked into the circuit with him. "I mean, you've never attended a race in your entire life, and this is your second one in a month."

I laughed. "Yeah. I don't know why it's taken me so long to show an interest in the sport." Aside from the fact that it unleashed memories of my father that I'd buried deep down.

Theo frowned. "I wish it was under better circumstances though."

I shrugged. "Are you going to say something every time you think about me and Henry?"

"Yeah. I mean, I love the guy, but I'm always going to protect my little sister first. If he does something stupid, that friendship is over."

Yikes. I'd never thought about it like that. Theo and Henry had been friends for years. To think that I could be the cause of their brotherhood ending was frightening. It was a good thing Theo had nothing to worry about. In fact, I could already picture the relief on his face when he found out the truth.

"Thanks for looking out for me, but I'm not that innocent fifteen-year-old anymore," I sighed. When our mum left us to go travelling, Theo was freshly eighteen and never planned to have an extra person to care for. I was so relieved when he received the contract to join Formula One as I knew he was only staying at home to make sure I was okay. Even once I turned eighteen myself, he still felt like it was his responsibility to care for me. Without that contract, he still would've been by my side.

Theo was about to intrigue me with another seminar about why this was a bad idea when Francesca and Lily approached us.

"Hey, Sydney," Lily said grinning. Her smile faded as she looked at my brother. "Theodore."

"Lily," my brother said dryly. I made a mental note to ask him what the hell was going on there later on.

"We just passed the Santoro motorhome," Francesca beamed. "Your boyfriend was looking for you."

Theo shook his head, while I adjusted to hearing those words come out of someone's mouth. It felt so weird, even though I'd just had a boyfriend recently. But picturing Henry when people said that word was just...odd.

"Oh, cool. I'll uh, go say hi," I said, closing my eyes with embarrassment the second I was out of their sight. "I'll go say hi. Who even says that?" I cringed.

Henry was juggling some exercise balls the moment I walked in. His performance coach vigorously watched him like a hawk.

"And time," his coach said as he clicked his stopwatch. The two men drew their gaze to me, while Henry placed the exercise balls on the table.

"Ma chérie," Henry said as he walked my way. "I'm so glad you could make it." He placed a gentle kiss on my cheek which sparked some weird feeling in my head. I attempted to tell myself it was just jet lag. 

"I don't think we've met," Henry's performance coach said as he walked over and held out his hand. "Sam."

I placed my hand in his. "Sydney. Lovely to meet you." Sam was a handsome man. While Henry was a pretty type of handsome, Sam was rugged and protective. He had long blonde hair, soft eyes and smile lines that were permanent on his cheeks. 

Henry must have sensed the odd tension between me and the hot blonde, as he placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "I've booked us a reservation at a restaurant tonight. It has a cocktail dress code, but I figured it's been a while since I've spoiled you."

If his words had any truth behind them I would've melted. But I'd take a dinner at a fancy restaurant any day, even if there was no romance involved.

"That sounds lovely. Thanks for that," I said.