by Audra North
But in the meantime . . .
He had a future to build. Without fear.
No matter what happened with Belgrave today, he was going to tell Dad as soon as he got to the garage that it was time to put everything out in the open. He hadn’t had a chance before because he’d been so sick, but he had to do it today.
It wouldn’t be an easy conversation, but he was through with hiding away out of fear.
But in the end, he didn’t get the opportunity to do that, because the moment he finished up with Belgrave and left racing headquarters, his whole world fell apart.
Chapter 17
Cori’s head jerked upright at the sound of a phone ringing, only to give a shout at the resulting sharp pain in her neck.
She massaged the crick and looked around her, trying to figure out where she was.
Oh, gosh. She must have fallen asleep in the hospital cafeteria when she’d come down earlier for breakfast. Why hadn’t anyone woken her? Did this really happen with enough frequency that no one even batted an eyelash?
But then she thought of all the harried doctors who had been in and out of Mom’s room over the past couple of days and realized that, yes, it probably did.
Right.
At least she’d managed to avoid landing her face in the syrup, though she’d still gotten pancake crumbs on her cheek. Dad had tried to get her to come back to the house, but Cori hadn’t wanted to leave Mom for too long. After a couple of nights of terrible sleep in the pullout bed in the hospital room, she was exhausted.
And her phone was still ringing.
She grabbed at it and checked the caller ID. Ty. At least something was going right this morning.
“Hey, Ty. How are—”
“Cori.” Ty broke in. He sounded strange. Was he sick again? Was someone else sick?
Please, no. I don’t think I can take any more terrible news.
“What—” She started to ask him what was going on, but again he cut her off.
“How could you do this?”
What was he talking about? And why did he keep interrupting her? That wasn’t like Ty.
She scrubbed a hand over her face, grimacing when her fingers brushed over something sticky. “What are you talking about? How could I do what?”
“Don’t you dare pretend with me.”
Holy shit, he sounded angry. With her. Why was he angry with her?
Panic clawed at her lungs and she gasped for breath. Was this actually happening? Or was she still asleep on the cafeteria table, dreaming this horrible conversation?
“Did you make that up about your mom just to buy yourself some time to write that shit? How much lower could you go?”
What? Make up something so terrible about Mom? She couldn’t get a grip on the conversation.
“Ty . . . Ty . . .” She had her arm out, as though she could reach him through the phone somehow. “I don’t understand. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, cut it out. I can’t believe you betrayed me like that. I can’t believe I thought you were different. I was just a means to an end to you, wasn’t I? Like every other reporter. You knew how much my dad matters to me. You knew I was trying to do this the right way and you . . . you fucked me over!” He stopped abruptly, and when he spoke again he sounded drained. “You definitely fucked me.” He gave a mean laugh. “Well, congratulations. You’re just another reporter willing to sell her . . . soul for the story.”
She didn’t miss the way he’d drawn that out. She knew what he was implying—that she’d sold herself, traded sex with him, for a story.
But what story? She hadn’t written anything for several days, since she left Norfolk to come be with Mom.
“I can’t believe I thought I loved you.”
He thought . . . Oh, God. The words cut so deep she nearly suffocated with the pain.
“Ty, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Whatever happened, it wasn’t me! I didn’t—” She was shouting now, desperate.
But the line went silent.
While her heart twisted in on itself.
Because he was right. Even though she didn’t know which particular story he was talking about, she’d still sold herself from the beginning. Even when she’d fallen in love with him, she’d still been ready to break her promise and write horrible things about him for what she’d mistakenly justified as her entire career.
She had to know what happened. There had to be a way to fix this.
With shaking fingers, she dialed the Gold Cup offices.
“Gold Cup Sports, this is Blake Samuels.”
“Blake. It’s Cori.”
“Hey, what’s up? How’s your mom?” He sounded casual. Not panicked. It angered her, for some reason. I don’t have time for this! she wanted to shout.
But instead, she managed a cursory “She’s okay now. Going home today. But Blake, listen, I need to know something. Has Crawford been doing any racing reporting while I’ve been gone?”
Blake laughed. It didn’t sound out of the ordinary, but still, his amusement sent a chill up Cori’s spine.
“Yeah, he got a phone call yesterday from some guy about the older Riggs. So Alex put together some piece on how Bobby Riggs bribed another driver to throw one of the championship races, and then took the money he won from that to start Riggs Racing. It’s huge. The hit count has already blown up on it.”
Her heart dropped into her stomach and she nearly crushed the phone from holding it so tightly. “Did he”—it came out so hoarse that she had to swallow and start again—“did he publish it under my name?”
“Nah. As himself.”
Thank God.
“But he quoted some of your other pieces and linked to them, so I’m pretty sure your hit count will go up on those.”
Oh God oh God oh God. Hit count? That’s what Blake thought she was worried about?
Of course he did. That was revenue.
But that wasn’t what she cared about at all.
Funny, really, that she’d spent weeks obsessing over her hits, only to realize in this moment that she didn’t give the slightest damn about it.
At least there was one thing she could be grateful for that Alex’s selfish vanity had ensured: her name wasn’t attached to that piece. Not just because it was a betrayal of Ty, but because it was wrong.
“Did Alex even bother to check his source? Did he do any fact-checking at all?”
Blake huffed. “Hey, easy. You haven’t seen it? It seems pretty legit. He called it The End of the Line. Like the Riggs line of famous drivers, get it? I mean, I came up with the title. But you know how he is. Anyway, so I—” Blake kept talking, but Cori had stopped listening.
The Riggs line. His dad’s legacy, that Bobby Riggs had worked so hard to create and Ty had respected enough to go against his own desires for so long. No wonder Ty was so pissed.
Goddammit.
“Who was it that called Alex?” She was practically shouting into the phone. “Who tipped him off? And it was a pretty shitty tip because Alex got most of it wrong.”
“You knew about this?”
She ignored the question. “Who was it?”
There was a pause, but then Blake said quietly, “Dave Gilroy.”
Gilroy. Of course. It made sense. She wasn’t sure why he had it out for Ty, but she was even willing to bet that he was the anonymous investor Alex had been talking to.
“Cori? Cori, are you there?” Blake’s voice came through the receiver, and she realized she’d dropped the phone into her lap.
She reached down. And ended the call.
She had to get to Ty. She had to tell him.
And pray that he would forgive her.
* * *
“Hey, Ty! There’s a call for you. It’s Cori. You want to take it?”
The team manager, Rob Dickens, yelled across the garage and Ty flinched as though he’d been struck.
He couldn’t believe she had the nerve to call here.
His
girl.
But not. Not anymore. Not ever.
When he’d driven in to the garage this morning, Dad had met him outside, looking like Ty had shot him through the heart.
Which Ty may as well have done. He’d been the one to tell Cori the secret, and she’d turned around and given the information to one of her coworkers. And worse yet, it wasn’t even correct. The article hadn’t just painted Dad as a willing, knowledgeable participant in the cheating. It had also implied that Ty had learned dishonesty at his father’s knee, and that the investigation currently underway would soon reveal the truth.
It was a piece of trash.
After all that belief in her, all the faith he’d had . . .
It hurt so much.
But worst of all, he had to admit how he’d been the one to fail his father. He’d spent hours with Dad talking it over, and at the end of their discussion they’d reached an understanding. Dad had been hurt, but he got it. Hell. If anything, Dad had been the one who ended up feeling the most guilty. He’d tried to apologize for making Ty uncomfortable by having to hide the truth, and he’d even said he felt better now that the secret was out.
What happened next would be something he’d face with a clear mind.
But even though they’d talked things through, Ty knew that there would be an uneasiness in their relationship for a little while.
As much as he wanted to blame Cori for causing this horrible distance between him and Dad, he knew it started with him. For treating Bobby with kid gloves in the first place. For being so afraid of hurting his father that he’d stopped fighting altogether, and lost himself in the process.
“Ty! Yo! Earth to Ty!” Rob stood at the top of the steps, looking down into the garage. “You gonna take the call?”
He shook his head. “No. And tell her not to call here again.”
Rob hesitated for a moment, then nodded and trundled off, probably confused by Ty acting anything less than welcoming. He’d definitely never told anyone never to call again.
But then, no one had ever broken his heart.
Chapter 18
Cori had dragged herself upstairs after Ty’s phone call and confessed everything to Mom, who had been disappointed, but surprisingly sympathetic, about Cori’s behavior. She’d cried about how she’d failed everyone, especially herself, and Mom had quietly patted her hand.
“Okay,” she’d said. “So maybe you forgot to stay true to yourself for a time, there. And it sounds like you learned the lesson of what happens when you do that the hard way. But you are a fighter. And you can get whatever you put your mind to. I still believe that.”
“But I’ve lost everything! How can you say that?” She’d hated herself for whining at her seriously injured mother, but Mom had laughed.
“Like I said, sweetheart, you’re a fighter. But you were going after the wrong goal. Now that you’ve figured out what you want—what you really want, and what you really value—the real fight is just beginning.”
Ty. Mom was talking about fighting for Ty.
Cori had hugged her mother—gently—and gone into the hall to try to call Ty. He hadn’t picked up his cell phone even after she’d rung him a few times, so she called the Riggs Racing garage.
A sympathetic-sounding guy had told her never to call there again.
She’d cried so hard in the hospital corridor that a nurse had come by to ask her if she needed help.
And that’s when she’d realized that truly fighting wasn’t just about going after what you wanted and not letting anything stand in your way, like she’d told Ty at Media Day. It was about going after the right thing for the right reasons. Making a wrong into a right.
She might not succeed, but she at least had to try. She at least had to fight for what was right, even if she failed in the end.
She’d said good-bye to Mom and promised to come again as soon as she could.
“Good luck, baby,” Mom had whispered, and Cori had run to her car and driven the five hours from Hagerstown to Norfolk, straight to the Gold Cup Sports office.
Alex was in his office when she stalked in. He barely even looked up.
“Bellowes. I need you to call Benton and get an interview scheduled with—”
“I quit.” Jesus. He hadn’t even said anything like, How’s your mom? or You look like you’ve had a rough week.
He really was the world’s worst person.
And he didn’t seem to like her pronouncement. He sputtered, then roared, “What the fuck do you mean, you quit? You’re not allowed to quit!” He banged on his desk, almost as though if he made enough noise, she’d capitulate.
But she was through with that. She was done with letting that kind of noise get to her. She’d allowed it to get so loud that the volume had drowned out the voice of her conscience and she’d lost the man she loved.
Because, God, I do. She loved him.
She stayed quiet. Spoke quietly, but forcefully. “I am allowed to, and I will. I do.”
She was standing in front of his desk, in a road-rumpled T-shirt and ratty jeans, her hair tied back in a haphazard ponytail, but she’d never felt more right than she did in that moment.
Crawford tried a different track, sneering at her. “Don’t be stupid. If you quit, you won’t have a reference from me. And you only have a handful of stories to your name.”
But she merely scoffed. “No thanks to you.”
Perhaps he realized then that he wasn’t going to win with his usual asshole tactics, because his face paled, and he got a hard set to his mouth that made it look like he was trying extra hard not to be a dickface. “Fine. I’ll give you a raise starting now. And you won’t have to maintain your hit count. But it better not start sucking, either.”
She almost laughed in his face. Ty meant more to her than some idiot on a power trip who would no doubt just find another way to make her life hell. And her conscience would never let her forgive herself if she sold out again. “No way.”
He stood up, his wheeled chair flying back and slamming into the wall behind him. “Goddammit, Bellowes! What the fuck do you want from me?”
She heard a commotion outside, and Blake appeared in the doorway, looking scared. “Cori. Are you okay?”
Finally. Blake finally stood up for her, and she was leaving.
She was done with these guys. She’d seen what a real man could be like, and she was going after him.
She nodded, not looking at Blake. “Fine.”
Then she shrugged. “And I want nothing from you, Alex. Absolutely nothing. Which is fine, because that’s all you’ve ever given me, anyway.”
At that, she turned, brushing past Blake to walk out of the building for good, leaving the older man puffing and sputtering in her wake.
* * *
Early the next morning, Ty was sitting alone in his kitchen, hands wrapped around a coffee mug as he stared at the wall.
He still missed her.
After she’d called the garage yesterday, he’d left and come home. He hadn’t been able to focus on a damn thing. So instead, he’d laid on the couch in his condo and gone over every conversation they’d had. How she’d supported him and cared for him when he was sick. The way she kissed him. The strength of her body, wrapped around his . . .
With every passing hour, his anger had cooled, and he’d fallen into a fitful sleep. Now, all that was left was the sinking sensation that he’d managed to destroy the one person who’d made him strong enough to fight for what he wanted.
Except that she’d lied to him. About something so fundamental . . .
Damn. There was the anger again.
He was about to finally haul himself up and go shower, because he had to get on an airplane pretty soon and fly out to Miami for the next race, when the doorbell rang.
It had to be Mom. She was the only one who ever stopped by this early. He didn’t quite feel like talking to her right now, but it wouldn’t be right to ignore her. After his talk with Dad, he’d left the garage and hadn’
t been in since. Dad must have told Mom what had happened, but Ty had avoided phone calls yesterday. He’d locked himself in his house and suffered.
But a day was all he could afford to wallow in self-pity. Besides, it would weigh on him if he didn’t answer Mom.
He shuffled to the door and opened up, stopping cold when he saw that it wasn’t his mother on the other side.
“Cori,” he breathed, his entire body coming alive. He’d missed her.
But then he noticed that she was blushing and looking contrite, and then he remembered what she’d done and he glared at her, trying to communicate with the force of his angry gaze that she had ruined his life by taking herself out of it.
Drama much, man?
He let out a tense breath and tried to be an adult. “What do you want?”
Or a belligerent child. Close enough.
But she didn’t back down.
That’s my girl.
No. No!
She wasn’t his girl. She wasn’t because she’d lied to him. Betrayed him.
She looked awful.
It probably should have made him feel smug, but it didn’t. It made him hurt for her. She looked like she’d been awake for days, and he’d never seen her so bedraggled. It was as though she’d driven all night from Norfolk to get here and—
Oh. Shit.
She probably had.
At that realization, he was about to let her in, but she started talking. “I came to explain. At least to explain, even if you still hate me. I’m sorry. That’s the first thing. The most important thing. I’m sorry I hurt you. I’m sorry I was stupid. I-I wanted to be a journalist so badly. I turned my back on everything my parents had done for me in order to go into journalism. Because it was my passion. It was what made me come alive. Not med school, not—”
She shook her head, as though trying to get herself back on track. “My decision made my parents worry and it hurt my relationship with them. You know all of that. But the thing is, even though I worked my ass off and got a job—that shitty, Gold Cup Sports job—straight out of journalism school, I still didn’t feel like I had proven that my choice was the right one. Alex—my old boss—treated me like I didn’t matter at all. I started to think that I was going to have to go back to my parents with my pride in tatters when I got this opportunity.”