Chameleon Soul (Chequered Flag #1) (14 page)

Chapter

Twenty-One

Raine

It had been nearly a week since the embarrassing night I puked my guts out in front of Teo after I’d become drunker than I’d ever been. I’d woken up with a pounding headache, the taste of vomit lining my mouth, and all light stung like someone had been stabbing my eyeballs with thousands of needles. When I’d seen Teo curled up beside me the next morning I’d nearly died of mortification and resolved to never drink in excess again.

Dustin, however, had it worse. Even now he still had a giant bruise on his ass that remained a mystery until Teo explained what had happened. It seemed that our plan to erase our memories had worked, at least in Dustin’s case. I, on the other hand, remembered every painstaking moment.

Much to my relief, that was the end of our humiliation, and we’d all agreed to never bring it up again.

Life went on as usual. Teo and I were back on track with our relationship, and we were doing everything we could to avoid the reporters. We kept to a random schedule of whose house we slept at, hoping it would make us harder to pin down. So far it had been effective. We’d had no more run-ins like the one that caused my previous freak out—only a few people here and there.

What wasn’t usual was the fact nothing had surfaced in any gossip magazines or online about that first encounter. Every morning before class I spent an hour trawling through the websites. I’d even set up a Google alert to notify me if my name was mentioned, but so far nothing.

Every morning had become a struggle. I assumed every day would be the day where I had to face a shitstorm in class. If it wasn’t for Teo staying with me and forcing me to class, I think I would have given up entirely.

“You should stop checking that,” Teo said as he walked into my room with a bowl of cereal. I was hunched over my desk, scrolling through websites.

“Why haven’t they posted it yet? Surely that means it’s going to be thousands of times worse because they’re trying to find another angle.”

“Raine, you need to stop this. There’s nothing you can do to control it, so you’re stressing yourself out for no reason.” Placing his bowl on the nightstand, he draped his arms over my shoulders so they hung over my chest, lowering his head to kiss my neck. I tilted my head to the side to allow him better access until I realised what he was doing.

I pushed him away. “No. You’re not going to distract me. This may be normal for you, Teo, but it’s not for me and I need to be prepared. The last time it felt like I’d walked into class naked. Everyone stared, laughed, and questioned me. I don’t like being the centre of attention and this is how I need to deal with it. It’s this or I say screw it and give up on us.”

“I understand that, Raine. There’s nothing you can do until they print it. Worrying yourself like this isn’t healthy.”

“I can’t be surprised like last time!” I cried stubbornly. I thought if I saw the story first it wouldn’t be such a big deal.

“I know…” he said distractedly, his gaze fixed on the screen over my shoulder.

“What?” I moved to spin on my chair and Teo stopped me. Holding me in place, he leaned over me and clicked around on something.

“Teo, what is it? Let me see.” I struggled against his grip, yet all I could see was his chest. “It’s there, isn’t it? They’ve posted it.”

He looked down at me with a pained expression. “You don’t need to see it, Raine.”

“Yes I do.”

“Please, baby. Trust me and don’t torture yourself by looking at it. You study the media; you know how they spin things.”

“Well now I
have
to look! That’s like telling someone on a cliff not to look down. The first thing they do is look!”

“If I let you look, will you promise me one thing?” He didn’t look like he’d move unless I agreed, so I did. “Promise me you won’t take it to heart. Read it and then push it to one side. Don’t give Aston or the reporter the satisfaction of hurting you or making you rethink our relationship.”

“Just let me look, Teo.”

With a sigh, he released me and I whipped round on my chair. I had expected Teo to close it, but the headline remained there, big and bold for me to read.

Teo Coates Trades In The High Life

For Charity Case.

Below it was a series of pictures of us outside his house and our outings throughout the week. The main one had been snapped at the precise moment I almost fell over. My eyes were wide with fear, my mouth open in a shriek, and my face ghostly pale. Considering the amount they had taken, it seemed like they’d deliberately chosen the worst photo. And that was without mentioning the messy bun, yesterday’s clothes, and lack of make-up. I scrolled down to read the article.

Renowned playboy and tipped to be the next Formula One World Champion, Teo Coates, was pictured outside his Milton Keynes home in the late hours of the morning with ex-girlfriend Raine Wilkins. Earlier in the month, they were also photographed in the Braxton F1 factory during a heated exchange where our sources told us Wilkins had been stalking Coates for weeks before showing up during a conference to speak to him. A witness described Wilkins’ reaction to Coates’ rejection as “a hysterical breakdown” until a friend pulled her away.

The couple is known to have split last year after two years of dating due to Wilkins’ unstable state over Coates’ rising success in the lucrative position of championship contender.

At the moment the couple have not commented on their relationship, Wilkins’ condition, or health, leaving us to speculate whether Teo Coates is swapping his high life of partying and glamorous grid girls for a more mundane lifestyle, or whether he is simply being charitable to an ex who doesn’t know the meaning of the word no.

I reached the end of the article and snapped my mouth shut, only just realising it hung wide open. How could someone who’d never met me write such a slanderous piece? What had I ever done to deserve it?

“Raine, say something,” Teo said cautiously from behind me.

“What the actual fuck!” I cried.

“I know it sounds bad, but you can’t let it get to you. We know the truth and so does everyone who knows us.”

“Not everyone knows
me
. They’re all going to think I’m a crazy person! This is the last thing I need before my exam.”

I had to give them credit for their timing. They couldn’t have picked a worse day than the one with my final exam for my course, yet that didn’t surprise me with Aston pulling the strings.

“How am I meant to face everyone in my class after this? And why aren’t you more angry? I know you’re used to all of this crap, but aren’t you furious about what they said about me?”

Though it was unfair to turn on him, he was the only one there to take the brunt of my anger.

Teo spun me around on the chair. Taking my face in his hand once again, he held me in place so I could only look at him. I hadn’t seen his reaction up until now, but his eyes were swirling with a dangerous level of anger and his lips were pressed together in a firm line.

“I am beyond mad, Raine. If you could feel the anger inside me right now, then you wouldn’t be asking me that. However, I didn’t think me ranting would help you.”

I swallowed hard, trying to dispel the ball of emotions lodged at the back of my throat. It felt like I’d swallowed a handful of needles.

Taking a deep, calming breath, I focused on Teo’s touch and the soothing warmth radiating from his fingers on my shoulders.

This time I wasn’t going to let fear control me.

I didn’t want to be in the spotlight, but I could do nothing about it. As long as Teo stuck by me, I wanted to believe it would all be okay.

I stood and made my way over to the window in the living room that overlooked the street below. Just like for the past few days, the paparazzi were camped outside and waiting for their daily photo opportunity.

“This is going to be a fun morning,” I said dryly. I moved to take a step back and ran into Teo’s hard chest. “What are they even expecting to get a picture of? We do the same thing every morning.”

I pushed Teo away and stormed from the room. They were beyond pissing me off. Always there, watching and waiting for me to slip up.

Angrily, I rummaged through the cupboard I stored my fudge in, hunting for the rum and raisin flavour I felt today called for. All that remained was plain vanilla.

“Dustin!” I shouted, stopping the faint murmurs I could hear from the living room where he was discussing something with Teo.

“Yeah?”

“Where’s my rum and raisin fudge?”

The whispers were back, only hurried this time. When I poked my head through the doorframe and regarded them with suspicion, they both shut up.

“You really shouldn’t be eating fudge at this time in the morning, Raine,” Dustin said. He had deep, dark bags beneath his eyes.

I narrowed my eyes and spoke slowly, taking a step in his direction. “What did you do with it?”

Dustin’s hands flew up in surrender. “Teo took it.”

“Some brother you are,” Teo griped. “Thanks a lot.”

“Hey, she’s
your
girlfriend, you should know better than to mess with her fudge. The last thing I need is to get another black eye because she’s missed her fudge fix. I have enough problems of my own.”

Teo shook his head at Dustin then flashed me a smile. It showed his whitened teeth and creased his eyes at the corners. “Sorry, Raindrop. I got hungry. I’ll buy you some more later.”

“Like
that’s
going to help you,” Dustin muttered under his breath.

“If I fail my exam it’s on your head.”

“Your exam’s not for another hour. I’m sure we can buy some more on the way.”

“I’ll have time?” I screeched in disbelief. “I’m going in so early because I’m going to have a ton of crap to deal with because of you. I need it cleared up before I walk into that exam room, and now I have to do it without a sugar rush.”

“It’s not going to be that bad, baby.”

“When was the last time you were on a university campus, Teo?”

His silence said it all. Teo had worked his way up through the tiered racing system until he reached the position he was in now. He’d never set foot in a university.

“
Exactly
. You’d think they’d be bored of me, but they’re not. If they aren’t trying to find out the latest gossip then someone has it out for me. I put so much effort into blending in and now all of that is ruined.” My voice turned into a whine towards the end without me meaning it to.

Teo opened his arms. “Come here.”

I went to him and he folded me into his embrace. Holding my head against his chest, he squeezed me tightly so his warmth and scent had all of my frustration draining away. “Do you want me to come with you?”

I pulled back to frown at him. “How would that help? You’ll draw more attention to us.”

“You won’t have to deal with it alone. You can walk in there with your head held high rather than cautiously slinking in. Everyone will know you’re mine and I can deal with anyone who says anything.”

I grumbled, “Why did
you
have to be the most loved British driver? Why couldn’t it be Zeke? Or couldn’t Aston play nice and win the crowd over?”

Both Teo and Dustin threw their heads back and laughed.

“It’s not funny. The other guys don’t get the attention you do, so why should our private life be invaded?”

Teo sobered instantly. His eyes darkened and his mouth drew into a grim line. “I don’t normally get this attention, Raine. This is Hattersey’s doing. He’s trying to mess with us and fuck up my season again.”

“What’s that got to do with me?”

I knew exactly what it had to do with me, yet Teo didn’t know that.

Teo pulled me back against him. “You’re special to me, and he thinks by messing with you it will make me lose it. I have to fight every instinct to lash out at him because that’s what he wants, and I need you to do the same. We need to stand together in this and appear like it doesn’t affect us. Hopefully, when he sees that, he’ll back off.”

Or find another, more dramatic, way to get to you,
I thought.

I hummed in agreement, but Dustin gave me a knowing look.

“I’m taking you to campus and I’ll be by your side every step of the way, Raine.”

My phone rang, and I knew Nadine would only ring back repeatedly until I picked up.

“Yes, I’ve seen it,” I answered, assuming she was calling about the article. I tried to sound bored, though my words came out with a sharp bite.

“Are you okay?”

I bit down on my lip, keeping my emotions in check. “I’ll talk to you when I get there.”

“You’re coming in today?” Her voice rose in surprise.