At the pinnacle of her career, orthopedic surgeon Ava King conquers the lucrative medical field of London.
A wild and intimate night with competitive Formula One driver James Ellis ends with Ava being stood up. The rejection leads her straight into...
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My alarm wakes me at 4:30. And it's generally a standard thing as I try to get a workout in early. But my stomach jolts when I realize that Dad has his operation this morning. I can already hear Sandy bustling about in the kitchen and after few minutes she's off, having arranged a car to collect her earlier.
Dad met Sandy about two years after Mum passed. It's crazy; he was the one who fell ill while I was finishing up school. He pulled through after intensive radiation therapy and has been in remission ever since.
Fuck Cancer.
Mom got sick soon after I turned pro; it was a really bad bout of pneumonia, rendering only one lung functional. She came home and we thought she'd recover, but mentally she wasn't there. She gave up and deteriorated. It broke my heart seeing her like that... it broke my heart even more seeing my dad's devotion to her. He was there until her very last breathe, not a word of contempt or complaint, only constant love and affection.
I was worried he wouldn't survive the heartbreak. And he was down and grey for a while, until he met Sandy. She was divorced, had a rough marriage, no kids. From the moment I saw her, I stopped worrying about Dad. They hung out for a while; she's like him and the complete opposite from mom... loud, sport fanatic, killer sense of humour. I thought they'd clash, but I could see it wasn't simply companionship, so I told him to quit being a pussy and ask her out. They've been together ever since. Dad said he'd never remarry and after her terrible marriage, I think Sandy is quite content with their arrangement.
Charlie and I hustle, and we're soon driving along the freeway, beating the morning traffic, wanting to catch Dad before he's prepped for surgery.
In my rear view mirror, I see a pair of luminous xenon lights growing closer and closer; this guy is in a hurry. So I push down on the throttle, accelerating, not one to be bullied out of the fast lane, but this guy doesn't relent, driving on my tail and flicking his brights at me to move aside.
"What a wanker!" Charlie swears, turning around. "It's 5am in the fucking morning, and there's plenty of room for him to overtake."
The Audi R8 revs loudly before I hear its gears shift down in preparation to overtake me; he's tailgating me at 200kmh and swerves out into the next lane.
"Fucking hell," Charlie says impressively. "That's the Decennium."
He's right, it is a beauty of a car. Nano grey. Copper finishes. It's sleek and sexy as fuck.
The car passes by Charlie's side, and I catch a glimpse of the driver. It was only an instant, but it's all I needed.
"No. Fucking. Way." My foot comes off the pedal momentarily, allowing the R8 to pass me effortlessly.
"What?" Charlie looks at my speedometer, clearly thinking something is wrong with my car.
"That's Ava!" I say in disbelief, as she cuts back into the fast lane, testing my reaction time and missing a collision only by inches. She deliberately slows down, forcing me into the next lane before she speeds up again.
