Chameleon Soul (Chequered Flag #1) (5 page)

* * *

The drive back to Dustin’s flat was silent. The atmosphere was hostile, and as soon as he parked I leapt out of the car. I had convinced myself to sort things out with Raine along the journey, and I needed to do it immediately before I had a chance to talk myself out of it. As soon as I thought about what the conversation entailed and how many wounds she would slice open, I’d lose all confidence.

“Where are you going?” Dustin called from behind me, jogging to fall into line beside me.

“To talk to Raine. That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?”

“Call her tomorrow, she—”

We were outside their door when a high-pitched scream cut off Dustin’s words. All of the blood drained from his face. Fumbling with his keys, he hurried with the lock.

The scream came again, followed by some indecipherable shouting.

“Dustin, what’s going on?” My heart thundered in my chest and a surge of protective desire had me wanting to break down the door to get to Raine. Fear for her pumped the blood faster in my veins until I could hear it in my ears. If she was in trouble I wanted to help.

“You need to go home, Teo.”

“Like hell am I going home. Tell me what’s happening.”

Dustin had his hand on the door, and when I lunged forward to try and push past him, he shut it again. Standing in front of it, he kept a hand on the knob and glared at me. “Go. Home. Teo. I’ve got this.”

Wide with panic, my eyes darted around the hall. I didn’t know what I was expecting to find and finally they locked on Dustin’s gaze once more. “What’s going on?”

“No. Let me go!
Please
!” Raine screamed and my blood boiled.

“Is someone in there with her?” I fumed, my heart rate increasing even more.

“No. Remember what I said? It’s been a rough year. Now go home and let me deal with this.”

Stunned by the thoughts careening in my mind, I wasn’t quick enough. Dustin slipped into the flat and I’d only started to lift my foot when the door slammed in my face.

“Dustin!” I shouted, banging on the wood, but I got no answer. When fifteen minutes had passed and I’d not heard a single sound, I headed down to my car.

I could see the lights on in Raine’s room, but there was no movement. I hated that Dustin was the one in there with her and always had been. No matter how much time had passed, and all the shit that had gone down, I wanted it to be me. Yet I hadn’t been enough. She’d always chosen Dustin over me, and I had no idea why.

Even if I wanted to comfort her I couldn’t. I didn’t know the first thing about what was going on, and I swore I was going to find out. She wasn’t going to push me away this time because I wasn’t leaving until I got my answers.

This time I’d fight for her.

Chapter Seven

Raine

I didn’t mention the nightmare Dustin had woken me from the next morning and neither did he. We’d gone about our usual routines, granted with much less eye contact, and I avoided the conversation because I was disheartened, not because I was embarrassed. It was hard to be embarrassed around Dustin. He’d already seen it all, numerous times. Finding him in my bed the next morning had stopped becoming awkward long ago. What had me dipping my gaze was shame. I’d thought I’d been improving. When I’d awoken the previous day after having slept the whole night through, I believed it to be the start of the next phase of my recovery. I guessed everything with Teo had just been too much.

Walking through the university hallways on my way to class, the constant stares didn’t escape my notice. Typically, I could make it from one end of campus to the other without one person taking note of my presence. Today, every so often someone would stare and whisper.

At first I told myself I was being paranoid and that people weren’t interested in me. It was a ridiculous notion to think they’d be watching me, and I wasn’t self-centred enough to believe it. Nevertheless, when it happened repeatedly on my way to class it became too much to ignore. Self-consciously I ran my hand over my face and hair, figuring something had to be out of place or stuck to me. When I came across nothing, I looked down at my clothes. They were my regular, plain, nondescript items; nothing that should have drawn attention to me. Quickening my steps I lowered my head and kept my gaze on the floor. If I couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see me, right? Well, maybe not, but at least if I didn’t see them I didn’t have a panic attack in the middle of the hallway. The familiar burn was already rising in my chest as a fist closed around my lungs to make each breath shallower.

I entered my class and found a seat by Nadine. Rather than grin at me like usual, when she looked up the expression she wore was grim.

“What’s going on? Why do you look like that?”

“You haven’t seen it?”

Before I could question her further, David—a pain in my ass, entitled rich boy—shouted from the back of the class. “Hey, Raine! Is it true you slept with Teo Coates and are now stalking him?”

A few of the others in the class sniggered, and Nadine’s face soured even more. My heart started to race, banging against my rib cage in an attempt to break free. I sank lower into my seat, hunching over my desk. Instinctively I reached for the hood on my jumper to cover myself, only to remember I had worn a t-shirt today. My relationship with Teo before he became the country’s favourite driver had never been a big deal in the past.

“Nadine, what is he talking about?”

She dipped her hand into her bag and came back with a stack of gossip magazines. “It’s all over the front pages.”

I snatched them from her. Staring up at me in the first one was a photo depicting my breakdown in the Braxton F1 factory. Teo was standing in front of me, his face menacing as I cowered against the wall and stared up at him with wild eyes. I flipped through the pile; they all had the same image with the generic headlines asking who I was, who I was to Teo, and some insinuated I was a crazy stalker who couldn’t understand the word no. It didn’t take a genius to figure out which magazines David had seen, not that it was a surprise considering his family owned them.

Dammit to hell. The one course where reading the gossip magazines was actually encouraged had to be the one I studied.

“Is it true, Raine?” David shouted out again, drawing another round of laughs.

I was too stunned to say anything. Nadine yelled back at him, although the words didn’t register. I was too busy trying to draw air in through my mouth; my nose was not enough. It felt like an elephant had landed on my chest. The unbearable pressure made each breath a luxury since my body had decided breathing wasn’t a necessary function.

I began trembling, shaking my head in denial.

“This isn’t happening. It can’t be,” I muttered, and Nadine’s hands were rapidly on my shoulders. Pinning me to my seat, she stilled my movements. She dipped her head until her eyes met mine and held them.

“Deep breaths, Raine. Nothing’s going to hurt you.”

I attempted to inhale. It was unsteady and the tremors were becoming worse. The slippery grip I had on my emotions faltered.

None of this was blending in. All of the hard work I’d put into becoming a chameleon, a nobody, had been destroyed. People were noticing me.

I was a target.

Those who didn’t know how to hide and conceal themselves were easy prey. That’s how nature worked.

I didn’t want to be the victim again.

“I’m calling Dustin,” Nadine said, her words no longer sounding calm.

“No. He’s got free practice today. I can’t interrupt a race weekend for this.” I reached out and took hold of her hand to prevent her dialling his number. Compared to hers, my palms were slick with sweat.

“I don’t know what I’m
doing
,” she hissed, trying not to draw even more attention to us.

“You don’t have to do anything. Let me go back to the flat and I’ll be fine.”

“Come on, Raine. We’re all friends here. Why not give us the exclusive?” David jeered. “Was Coates really that good in bed you can’t let him go?”

We’d never been friends.

“Shut the hell up, David,” Nadine spat.

I stood, keeping my gaze on the floor and away from the prying eyes. Picking up the magazines and my belongings with frantic, rigid movements, I hugged them to my chest.

“Email me the work, yeah?”

“I’ll drop it by later,” Nadine agreed.

I opened my mouth to argue that she didn’t need to check up on me, but she silenced me with her hand. “I’m bringing it by later and I’m bringing fudge too.”

“Fine, but it better be—”

“I know, I know, mint chocolate swirl.” Nadine shooed me away.

Power walking from the room, I silently counted the tiles on the floor. I didn’t look up until I was back at my flat. I unlocked the door, and as soon as I was in my living room I dropped to the sofa, shut my eyes, and let out a deep breath. Throwing my arms above my head I allowed my body a few minutes to recover.

When I felt calm enough, I sat up and placed my class material on the floor, keeping the magazines on my lap.

I flicked through them rapidly. Some included pictures of Teo rushing from the conference, as well as the one that had been on the cover. Key phrases in the text jumped out at me.

Who is this girl and what does she have over Teo Coates?

Is the infamous player finally ready to settle down?

The girl broke down in front of Teo. It is not known what either of the pair said, but she was distraught and visibly shaking.

Has Teo’s past finally come back to haunt him?

You can’t play the field as much as this guy and not pick up some crazies along the way.

Does Teo Coates have a stalker?

I threw the magazines across the room, where they landed on the wooden floor with a snap. I knew better than anyone after studying the press how well journalists could spin a story from nothing, though that didn’t stop it from hurting. The one thing I hated above all else was being noticed, and these magazines had pushed me in everyone’s faces.

If I became somebody people cared about again, it stood to reason I would be a target again. If that happened I was certain I wouldn’t recover a second time.

Deciding I couldn’t wait for Nadine and her fudge, I jumped up from the sofa. I grabbed Dustin’s baseball cap on the way out, pulling the brim low over my eyes, and headed to my favourite fudge shop.

It wasn’t until I returned and was a few hundred metres from home that the reporters found me. Cameras were suddenly going off in front of me and people were shouting unintelligible words at me. With a shriek I stumbled backwards and my hand reached up to pull my hat lower over my eyes. Keeping my arms up to shield my face, I edged my way through the crowd.

“Please, leave me alone!” I cried, tears stinging my eyes. They had found me and the one place I’d felt safe was no longer a comfort.

Chapter Eight

Teo

“What the fuck is this, Hattersey?”

I slammed the magazine down on the treadmill screen in front of him, not caring whether I broke the damned thing. I wasn’t usually one for gossip, and I never paid attention to what people wrote about me, but this one had me seething because of Raine.

“I don’t know. Why are you asking me?” he said, hardly sounding out of breath and not breaking his stride to even glance down at the magazine.

“Because it has your name written all over it. These images were taken on a mobile, not the high-quality cameras the press have. There weren’t even any reporters in the corridor.” I hit the emergency stop button, the safety mechanism kicking in and bringing his speed gently down to a walk, much to my disappointment. “Who’d you get to take them?”

Aston wiped his face with the towel that had been draped over the rails on the side. He appeared unaware of the single thread holding me in check because he took his sweet damn time.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Bullshit. You know exactly what this is. Why are you going after her?”

He sneered smugly. “It worked last time.”

My heart sank to my feet, leaving a chilling cold within me. When the fury rose it scorched my veins.

“What fucking worked last time?”

I lunged for him, but a sudden grip on my shoulder stopped me. Spinning, I rounded on the poor soul who'd tried to stop me only to be confronted by Mickey, my manager.

“Locker room now, Teo,” he barked, throwing his arm wide and pointing in the direction of the room.

I pulled myself together, quelling the fire within me enough to inhale deeply and control myself. I ground my teeth together hard enough I was surprised they hadn’t turned to dust, and my rigid arms were locked against my side. I wanted nothing more than to beat the twisted grin off Aston’s face.

Shrugging Mickey off, I paced away with long, aggravated strides. As soon as I entered the room I slammed my fist into the metal wall of lockers. I rested my head on my clenched fist, screwing my eyes shut tightly to try and calm my ragged breathing. I sensed rather than heard Mickey enter behind me.

“He did this,” I ground out, my jaw tight. “He’s trying to get inside my head. Hattersey knows he can’t beat me fairly so he’s playing dirty again.”

“You can’t let him get to you like this, Teo. Unless you can prove everything’s related to him—and the FIA won’t care about a press release—you can’t do anything.”

I punched the locker again then spun and paced to the opposite side of the room. Going after me was one thing, going after the people I cared about was another matter entirely, especially Raine.

“It was her, wasn’t it?”

“Who was who?” I knew exactly what he was talking about, but I wanted to make sure before I admitted to anything.

“The girl in the photos, it was Raine, right?”

I nodded and sank down on the bench.

“Are you two back together?”

“No.”

“Are you getting back together?”

I scowled at him sceptically, wondering how much to tell him. Mickey acted like a second father to me, and I wasn’t sure where he stood on the whole Raine situation. Hell, even I struggled to figure that out. He’d been with me throughout my entire career, and he’d grown close to Raine when we were together. After she broke up with me, I went off the rails and almost got thrown out of Formula One. I didn’t know if that destroyed any feelings Mickey had towards her.

“I only want to know what I’m dealing with here. Your love life is your own business and as long as you get back to racing in four weeks with a clear head I’m not going to interfere.”

Subtle, Mickey. Really subtle.

Then again, Mickey was never known for subtlety. Not many managers were; they couldn’t afford it in their line of work. I received his threat loud and clear.

“I don’t know what’s going on. We ran into each other a couple of times and something’s not right with her. Dustin said she’s been through something that’s changed her, and I want to know what it was and why it made her leave me. The two are connected, I know it.”

“If you want to protect her, you need to cool it around Hattersey.”

“Why? I’m not going to allow him to walk all over me or her.”

“I’m not asking you to let him. I’m asking you not to react. Your rage is giving him all the clues he needs as to your weak spots. The best thing you can do is appear unaffected, because your little show a minute ago put an even bigger target on Raine’s back. He’s going to use her now, and you’re going to have to let it all go if you want to win the championship.”