LOGINShare
Chapter 20: New Rule
publish date:
2026-10-30 16:10:33
Latest chapter
The Racer I Pretend To Hate Chapter 22: Her Ambition
The careful distance held through the next morning.I left for the circuit before Rex finished in the kitchen. Separate cars. Separate arrivals. At the track I threw myself into the work with more intensity than usual, partly because the schedule demanded it and partly because focusing on frames and light was easier than focusing on the rule sitting between us like a third presence in the house.A message from a major racing publication landed in my inbox mid-morning.I stepped away from the pit wall to read it twice. They had seen some of my recent independent work. They wanted a portfolio submission for a possible feature assignment covering the next round of the championship. Not a guarantee. An opening. The kind of opening I had been building toward for years while taking every freelance scrap that kept me near the sport.My hands were not entirely steady when I put the phone away.For the rest of the morning the camera felt lighter. I shot with a sharper sense of purpose, hunting
The Racer I Pretend To Hate Chapter 21: Morning War
I woke up alone.For a disorienting second I thought I was back in the guest room. Then the darker sheets and the faint scent of Rex’s cologne pulled the night into place. His side of the bed was empty but still warm. From downstairs came the sound of cabinets and the low hiss of the coffee machine.The rule floated up before anything else.No getting attached.I sat on the edge of the mattress and pressed my fingers against my eyes. Two nights. That was all it had taken for the careful structure we had built to start looking decorative. The deal. The house rules. The new rule spoken over coffee like it could hold against the weight of what we were doing in the dark. None of it felt solid in daylight.I dressed in yesterday’s clothes, ran water over my face, and went downstairs prepared for distance.Rex was at the island with two cups already poured. He looked freshly showered, hair still damp, expression unreadable.“Morning,” he said.“Morning.”I took the cup he pushed toward me a
The Racer I Pretend To Hate Chapter 20: New Rule
Morning light cut through the blinds in thin stripes.For a few seconds I didn’t move. The bed was not the guest room bed. The sheets smelled like Rex. My body ached in places that made the night before impossible to dismiss as a dream. When I finally turned my head, he was already awake, lying on his side watching me with an expression that was calmer than it had any right to be.“Don’t say it was a mistake,” he said.My voice came out rough. “I wasn’t going to.”“You were thinking it.”I sat up, pulling the sheet with me. The air in the room felt heavier in daylight. Everything we had done was still written on my skin. Everything we still had to face sat between us like unfinished business.“I need to shower,” I said.Rex didn’t stop me. He just watched as I gathered enough clothes to make it down the hall without putting on a full performance of dignity. In the bathroom I stood under hot water until my pulse slowed, replaying the way he had pinned me, the way he had made me say I w
The Racer I Pretend To Hate Chapter 19: Almost
The house was too quiet after midnight.I had gone upstairs early, telling myself I needed sleep. Instead I lay in the dark replaying the day: Daniel Callahan’s voice through the office door, the weight on Rex’s shoulders, the way my old version of him no longer fit as cleanly as it used to. The truce between us had held through dinner. It felt fragile, like something that could snap with one wrong word.I heard him come home later than usual. Footsteps moved through the kitchen, then stopped. For a long time there was nothing. Curiosity and restlessness eventually pulled me out of bed. I pulled on a sweater over my sleep shorts and went downstairs.Rex was in the living room, sitting on the edge of the couch with his elbows on his knees, staring at the dark windows. He had changed out of circuit clothes into black sweatpants and a white T-shirt. He looked up when I appeared on the stairs.“You’re still awake,” he said.“So are you.”I stopped at the bottom of the steps, suddenly awar
The Racer I Pretend To Hate Chapter 18: Pressure
The truce held through the next morning.We moved around the kitchen with less sharp edges. Rex poured coffee. I accepted it. Neither of us mentioned batteries or thermostats. The quiet felt temporary, like a held breath, but I didn’t break it.At the circuit the mood was different.I felt it the moment I walked into the garage. Conversations were tighter. Engineers clustered longer around data screens. Marcus looked like he had slept less than usual. When Rex arrived, the usual casual greetings were shorter. Something was sitting on the team, and everyone was trying not to name it too loudly.I found out what it was during the mid-morning break.I had stepped into one of the smaller meeting rooms to review shots when I heard voices through the partially open door of the adjacent office. I should have walked away. Instead I stayed still when I recognized Daniel Callahan’s voice.Rex’s father.“You cannot keep treating practice like a personal laboratory,” Daniel was saying. The tone w
The Racer I Pretend To Hate Chapter 17: Midnight Training
The war quieted after midnight.I couldn’t sleep. The guest room felt too still, and every time I closed my eyes I replayed the small, pointed exchanges of the last few days. The remote. The thermostat. The way Rex looked at me when he said he didn’t mind playing until one of us broke. Eventually I gave up, pulled on a sweater over my sleep clothes, and went downstairs for water.The kitchen was dark except for the under-cabinet lights. I filled a glass and stood at the sink, drinking slowly, when I heard it.A low, steady sound from the direction of the garage.At first I thought it was the house settling. Then it came again, rhythmic, like someone moving with purpose. I set the glass down and walked toward the connecting door. It was slightly open. Light spilled through the gap.Rex was inside.He had turned the garage bay into a makeshift training space. A heavy bag hung from a reinforced beam. He was working it with focused, controlled strikes, shirtless, barefoot, dark shorts han
You May Also Like
Two Can Play
Rosa Kane3.0M viewsSir Ares, Goodnight!
Yan An1.1M viewsChasing My Pregnant Wife
Night Revelations982.2K viewsMr. Ford Is Jealous
Boat of Peaches779.7K viewsToo Late, Mr. Whitlock: The Heiress He Divorced
Erena Jabrial46 viewsBefore The Boardwalk Closes(A NOVEL)
Holly Whitmore80 viewsMy Forbidden Stepbrother
Denny Ink29 viewsREBORN 7 DAYS BEFORE MY BILLIONAIRE HUSBAND LEFT ME TO DIE
Ava Sinclair 139 views
