Risk: A Driven World Novel (The Driven World)

by Harlow Layne

  Risk

  A Driven World Novel

  Harlow Layne

  Contents

  Introduction

  1. Callum

  2. Callum

  3. Aspen

  4. Aspen

  5. Callum

  6. Aspen

  7. Callum

  8. Aspen

  9. Callum

  10. Aspen

  11. Callum

  12. Aspen

  13. Callum

  14. Aspen

  Epilogue

  KEEP UP WITH THE KB WORLD

  ALSO WRITTEN BY K. BROMBERG

  Enjoy This Book?

  Also by Harlow Layne

  Acknowledgments

  About Harlow

  COPYRIGHT PAGE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons living or dead are entirely coincidental.

  © 2021 KB WORLDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people.

  Published by KB Worlds LLC.

  Cover Design by: Harlow Layne

  Cover Image by: Shutterstock

  Editing by: Your Editing Lounge - Kristen

  Proofreading by: The Polished Author - Bex

  Formatting by: Harlow Layne

  Published in the United States of America

  Created with Vellum

  Introduction

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome to the Driven World!

  I’m so excited you’ve picked up this book! Risk is a book based on the world I created in my New York Times bestselling Driven Series. While I may be finished writing this series (for now), various authors have signed on to keep them going. They will be bringing you all-new stories in the world you know while allowing you to revisit the characters you love.

  This book is entirely the work of the author who wrote it. While I allowed them to use the world I created and may have assisted in some of the plotting, I took no part in the writing or editing of the story. All praise can be directed their way.

  I truly hope you enjoy Risk. If you’re interested in finding more authors who have written in the KB Worlds, you can visit www.kbworlds.com.

  Thank you for supporting the writers in this project and me.

  Happy Reading,

  K. Bromberg

  Dedication

  Thank you Kristy for letting me be a part of your world and writing characters that haven’t left my heart and won’t for years to come.

  Callum

  Australia

  Gripping my steering wheel until it felt like my knuckles might break, I could only pray that the scene in front of me would clear out before I passed through.

  “Steady, Callum. You’ve got this. The cars are clearing…oh fuck,” Kaspar said through my headphones. The fear in his voice put my already stressed body on edge.

  Unfortunately, God wasn’t with me that day. When the smoke cleared, there was only more carnage in front of me. I braced for impact. It wasn’t my first wreck, but I wasn’t sure if it would be my last.

  Would today be the last day I ever drove, or would it be my last day on Earth?

  Even though I was prepared for my car to hit what was in front of me, I wasn’t…not really. The sound of metal ripping and the way my car flipped through the air had me praying to a God I didn’t believe in, closing my eyes, and wishing for the best.

  Not believing was probably what had me in this mess to begin with, but if He let me live, then I would spend the rest of my days believing. I’d be a good man. I’d give my time to charities and maybe even reach out to my mother who’d left me to fend for myself at the ripe ol’ age of fifteen.

  But I couldn’t die in the opening race of the season.

  “We’re on our way. Just hang in there, buddy,” Kaspar said before I even hit the ground.

  That was the last thing I heard before I felt a searing pain in my leg. My head slammed around inside my helmet one last time before there was only black.

  I floated in a sea of nothingness, and no matter how hard I tried to swim up to the surface, I stayed immobile in the blackness that surrounded me. I fought with everything I had to open my eyes to no avail. It felt like years before my eyes finally cracked open.

  My surroundings were white and smelled of antiseptic, making me want to crawl out of my skin to get the hell out of there. There was nothing worse for a racer than being in the hospital, except for not being able to drive.

  Lying there, I assessed my body. I was in pain, but that was to be expected. I assumed I’d been in a wreck because that was the only way anyone could drag me to a hospital. The only problem was I didn’t remember being in a wreck. I remembered landing in Australia and meeting my team at the hotel and then…nothing.

  Did I wreck during qualifying?

  No, that couldn’t be.

  But again, I didn’t remember.

  I went back to assess each body part from my toes to my head. I could move everything; it just hurt like a bitch. My head pounded, and my vision swam as I tried to look around the room.

  At least a nurse or a doctor hadn’t come in yet. I knew once they came in, I’d learn what was wrong with me. I was a little surprised no one from the team was here, even if they were all superstitious. Had I been in a coma? Had they moved on to the next destination without me?

  “Mr. Crew, it’s so good to see you finally with us,” a cheery nurse with an Aussie accent said as she came around my bed. When she saw me eying her, she gave me a warm smile and patted my hand. “I’m going to take your vitals, and then I’ll get the doctor to come check you out.”

  “Sure. Thanks,” I mumbled. My voice was hoarse and dry.

  “I’ll also see about getting you some water or ice chips to help with your throat.”

  “Thanks again.”

  She smiled down at me warmly as she took my blood pressure. “You’re an American?”

  “Yeah, I’m here for the—”

  “The race,” she supplied.

  “Yeah.” My brows wrinkled, trying to remember where in the process my wreck had occurred. “Did it already happen? I don’t…”

  A flash of smoke and the smell of burnt rubber filled my senses. I could almost taste it. Then, as if in slow motion, the entire wreck played out before me until I was staring up into the kind brown eyes of my nurse.

  I was lucky to be alive.

  “It was the race. From what I hear, you were in the lead,” she smiled, and then it quickly faded. “You were catching up to the boy in the back and would have passed him when there was a wreck.” She shook her head, and her gray hair fell over her forehead.

  “Was it bad?” I croaked out.

  “I’m not supposed to say,” she whispered. Straightening up, she wrapped her stethoscope around her neck. “Is there anyone you want me to call? I can do that.”

  There was no one.

  “No, that’s okay.”

  “Okay, the doctor will be right in to check on you and can answer all the questions you might have.”

  A feeling started to form deep in the pit of my stomach, making its way slowly up inside of me. I couldn’t identify what it was. All I knew was it was bad.

  My team knew where
I was, and they obviously hadn’t felt the need to be here when I woke up. I knew if the owner and his wife were at the race, they’d likely be here, but with them in the States, I was alone.

  “Mr. Crew, I’m Dr. Howard. How are you feeling?” A big burly man said from beside my bed.

  I must have fallen asleep.

  “I’ve had better days,” I replied, blinking to make him come into focus.

  “I’m sure you have. I’m going to look you over, and then I’ll tell you what’s going on and try to answer any questions you have.”

  My questions were simple.

  Could I drive again? And if that was a go, then when could I get back to training and racing?

  I let him do his thing, but when his light hit my eyes, I nearly sunk through the bed, trying to get away from it.

  “I know it hurts, but I’ve got to look.”

  “I know, Doc, just get it over with,” I grumbled.

  “Well, you gave us a bit of a scare, Mr. Crew. We had to put you into a medically induced coma to help with your brain swelling. Besides that, you’re all bruised up with a few scratches. One laceration to your leg was deep, and we had to give you stitches. You’re very lucky that you only have a concussion.”

  “How long was I out for?”

  “Twenty-three hours. We wanted to give your body time to heal.” He scribbled something on my chart.

  Since I didn’t sound too bad, I asked. “When can I drive again?”

  “Preferably never, but I know that won’t be the case, so I’d say a minimum of a month. When you get home, you need to make an appointment with your doctor in a couple of weeks and get checked out.”

  “That’s it?” It seemed too easy.

  “If everything checks out, you’ll be released tomorrow. Do you have a place to stay here in Melbourne?”

  “I think I still have my hotel room,” I answered. I was planning on staying here for a week and then traveling to Bahrain for the next race, but now I guess I would be heading back to California until I was cleared.

  LA

  “Are you sure the doctor cleared you?” Colton Donavan asked from his seat behind his desk. His fingers were steepled in front of him as his eyes assessed me. “And you didn’t pay him off to say you could race?”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. I was sure there were plenty of athletes out there that had tried and succeeded in paying their doctors to clear them for their sport. Don’t get me wrong, I had thought about it as I sat in my house day after day staring out at the ocean. I wasn’t used to being idle. In fact, I was always on the go. At each location of our races, I went out and played the tourist. Formula One racing had taken me across the globe for the last five years, and I appreciated every moment of it. There weren’t many professions where you could do what you love, travel the world, and get paid millions of dollars while doing it. The only con was it was lonely at times.

  Crossing my arms over my chest, I answered his question. “I wouldn’t think of it.”

  The pain in my head when the light was bright and my swimming vision may have also been contenders as to why I’d stayed home to rest my brain and why I didn’t try to get back onto the track before I was ready. The only problem was with each passing day, the feeling that had started to bubble up in the hospital had risen higher and higher until it was nearly choking me.

  “If you’re not ready, your replacement can drive for you. You’re not going to lose your place on the team because you miss a few races.”

  A few? I’d already missed four, and while Colton said he wouldn’t replace me, he was losing money with my replacement. He was an okay driver, but he wasn’t coming in the top four spots, and I knew it was hurting the team in points. If I didn’t get back soon, the team would never be able to make up the points to be one of the top teams at the end of the season.

  “I’m ready.” I tightened my arms over my chest. My lips turned down at the thought. “If I have to stay home and look at nothing for a moment longer, I’m going to go crazy.”

  “That’s what I thought. I’ve got your plane ticket to Barcelona booked, so pack your bags and get the hell out of town. I’ll warn you that Rylee has insisted we be there. She’s going to mother hen you to death.”

  “If it’s the price I have to pay, then I’ll gladly pay it.”

  Colton chuckled as he stood and came around his desk to clasp me on the shoulder. “You have no idea how pissed off she was when she found out the team didn’t visit you in the hospital. I thought she was going to skin me alive.”

  “Don’t worry about it, and when I see her, I’ll let her know I was fine.” Even though it would have been nice to see a familiar face when I woke up.

  Callum

  Barcelona

  Running the tip of my gloved index finger over the words, Callum Crew, I continued with my ritual. I’d already had my pre-race breakfast sandwich, which consisted of an English muffin, a fried egg, and a thick slice of Canadian bacon, all topped with hot sauce.

  Squatting down, I kissed my fingertips and placed them on the ground before standing, placing my helmet over my balaclava, and fastening it underneath my chin.

  Colton, who’d been standing off to the side, came over and patted my shoulder and gave me a chin nod. Rylee had already been by to visit while I ate my ‘disgusting breakfast’ as she liked to call it.

  It had been too long since I’d felt the racetrack beneath my feet. I couldn’t wait to sit behind the wheel and feel the vibration of my car move through me.

  My teammate, Udo Kauppinen, was already in his car. I was happy I didn’t have to see him, and it was finally time for me to see where I’d start on the grid tomorrow. To most, it would seem strange, but in the world of Formula One racing, there was no bigger competition than your teammate. So far, Udo had the fastest laps of the day while I was gone, but I paid no mind to his times, knowing I would beat him today.

  Luckily, he was already out with the crew while I was getting ready, so I didn’t have to see his smug face. We’d both been at a sponsorship dinner last night. While I’d been gone, Udo had befriended my replacement driver, Eduardo Revere, and they’d snickered to themselves all night as they eyed me from the other end of the table.

  As if I gave one shit about them. It was a running joke that I was the only racer who didn’t have a friend amongst the teams. In the beginning, when I didn’t know any better, I had befriended one of my fellow racers. It was all good until I placed ahead of him in a race. By my fifth win over him, Ricardo wouldn’t speak to me. He’d started playing pranks at every destination, and the further they progressed, the angrier I got until one day I blew up and let him get in my head. He was no longer on our team, but since then, I’d vowed to keep to myself and not let anyone affect my driving ever again.

  Climbing inside my car, I breathed in the smell of fuel and rubber as Hank attached my steering wheel. I sat back while I was buckled into my six-point harness. Everything about me instantly calmed, from my breathing to the blood flowing through my veins, as I gripped the wheel and felt the leather of my gloves stretch over my fingers.

  It was good to be home.

  “Crew, do you read?” Kaspar asked through the headset.

  “Loud and clear.” I grinned from behind my visor.

  “You’ve got about five minutes until Q one starts,” I heard through my ear.

  “Roger that.”

  With my eyes closed, I waited until it was time to drive. I listened to the world around me and the crew as they did their last-minute touches to the car. Usually, I was out with the crew, but not today. I wanted to be seated in my car and getting a feel for her again.

  “Thirty seconds until engine start-up.”

  My fingers curled around the wheel as I waited for the engine to start. The roar filled my entire body and exhilarated me, and I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. This was where I was meant to be. If I didn’t have racing, I didn’t know what I’d do with my life.
<
br />   “Ten seconds,” Kaspar informed me.

  And then I was off. I kept to the right and fought my way through the pack of cars.

  “You’re making great time, Callum. Keep up the good work.”

  I knew I was. I could feel it in my bones. Today was my fastest time. Each time I was out on the track, I tried to do better than ever before.

  Five cars ahead of me, the lead car suddenly jerked to the side and hit the wall. Instantly, heavy gray smoke billowed out of the car.

  I couldn’t keep my eyes off the yellow car or the driver as I passed by.

  Once they were no longer in my vision, everything turned into some sort of tunnel vision. I shook my head as the voice in my ear sounded garbled, and my heart rate picked up. A sheen of sweat coated my body as I heated internally. My mouth became dry, and I tried to lick my lips to help alleviate even a fraction of the dryness. When that didn’t work, I hit the drink button on my steering wheel. I knew I was in trouble when I could barely do that one simple function.

  “Crew, Crew, can you hear me?”

  I could, but I couldn’t answer. I could barely breathe, and with each passing second, I thought my heart was going to explode in my chest.

  “Callum, talk to me, buddy. It’s all clear. You can speed back up now.” Kaspar’s voice was the only thing keeping me from slipping away entirely.