Chapter 9: The Woman

I told myself I wouldn’t react.

Whatever Rex did, whoever he talked to, it had nothing to do with me. The deal was about access and public behavior. Not about tracking every person who stood too close to him.

I lasted until mid-afternoon.

Practice had just ended. The cars were rolling back into the garage under the usual swarm of engineers and tire blankets. I was reviewing shots near the pit wall when a flash of pale fabric caught my eye.

She stood near the entrance to the hospitality area like she belonged there. Tall. Sleek blonde hair pulled into a low twist. A cream-colored dress that looked expensive even from a distance. She smiled at someone on the team, then her attention locked onto Rex as he climbed out of the car.

I knew that smile. It was the kind women used when they already had history with a man and wanted to remind him of it.

Rex pulled his helmet off, ran a hand through his damp hair, and saw her. He didn’t look surprised. He didn’t look especially pleased either. But he didn’t walk away.

He crossed the space toward her.

Something sharp and ugly twisted under my ribs.

I lifted the camera like it could protect me and forced my attention back to the screen. The images blurred. I was too aware of the distance between them shrinking. Too aware of the way she reached out and touched his forearm in greeting, casual and familiar. Too aware of how easily he let it happen.

Marcus appeared beside me with a tablet.

“You getting what you need?” he asked.

“Yeah.” My voice sounded distant even to me. “Plenty.”

Marcus followed my line of sight for half a second, then made a quiet sound of recognition.

“Victoria,” he said. “Haven’t seen her around in a while.”

The name landed like a stone.

Victoria. The one from the outline of his past. The one people still mentioned in careful tones when they talked about Rex’s reputation.

I kept my expression neutral. “She part of the team now?”

“Not officially. She shows up when she wants something. Or when she wants him to remember she exists.” Marcus shrugged and walked off to deal with something else.

I stayed where I was, camera raised, pretending to work while every nerve tracked the conversation happening twenty meters away. Victoria laughed at something Rex said. The sound carried. She stepped closer. He didn’t step back.

The jealousy was immediate and humiliating.

I had no right to it. I had spent years publicly claiming I couldn’t stand him. I had no claim. No agreement beyond the twisted deal we were still navigating. None of that stopped the heat crawling up my neck or the way my fingers tightened around the camera body until they ached.

When Rex finally glanced in my direction, I was still watching.

Our eyes met across the busy garage.

I looked away first.

The rest of the session dragged. I shot mechanically, capturing the same angles I already had, anything to keep my hands busy and my face turned away from the hospitality entrance. Victoria stayed. She moved with the confidence of someone who had never been told she didn’t belong. At one point she rested her hand on Rex’s shoulder while he spoke to an engineer. The contact was light. Possessive in its ease.

I hated her for it.

I hated myself more for caring.

By the time the final checks wrapped, my jaw hurt from clenching. I packed my gear faster than usual, eager to put distance between myself and the entire scene. I had almost made it to the corridor leading out of the garage when a familiar voice stopped me.

“Running already?”

Rex stood a few feet behind me, still in his race suit, the top half tied around his waist. Sweat darkened the neckline of his undershirt. His expression was unreadable.

“I’m done for the day,” I said.

“Are you.”

It wasn’t a question.

He nodded toward a side hallway that led to the quieter storage areas. I followed because the alternative was having this conversation in the open where anyone could hear. The second we turned the corner he stopped and faced me.

“You were staring,” he said.

“I was working.”

“You were jealous.”

The word hit too accurately. I felt my face heat.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’ve seen you annoyed. I’ve seen you furious. That wasn’t either of those.” His eyes moved over my face slowly. “That was something else.”

“You’re imagining things.”

“Am I?” He stepped closer. The hallway suddenly felt narrower. “Because from where I was standing, you looked like you wanted to set her on fire with your mind.”

“Maybe I just don’t like interruptions while I’m trying to do my job.”

Rex’s mouth curved, but there was no real humor in it. “Victoria isn’t an interruption. She’s a reminder. And you didn’t like being reminded.”

I crossed my arms tightly. “What she is to you is none of my business.”

“It is now.” His voice dropped. “The deal put you in my space. That means you get to see the parts of my life that used to stay separate. Including the people who think they still have a claim.”

“Does she?”

The question slipped out before I could stop it.

Rex went still. For a second the only sound was the distant noise of the garage filtering down the hallway.

“No,” he said finally. “Not the way she wants.”

Something in my chest loosened and tightened at the same time. I hated the relief. I hated that he could see it on my face.

“Then why let her touch you like that?”

“Because I wanted to see what you would do.”

The honesty was brutal. I stared at him.

“You used her to test me.”

“I used the situation,” he corrected. “She showed up. I didn’t send her away. And you reacted exactly the way I thought you might.”

Anger flared hot and clean. “You’re manipulative.”

“I’m thorough.” He took another step, closing most of the remaining distance. “You’ve spent years pretending I don’t affect you. I’m done accepting the performance at face value. Every reaction you try to hide tells me more than your words ever did.”

My pulse hammered in my throat. Standing this close, I could smell the heat still clinging to his skin, the faint trace of the track. It dragged me straight back to the lounge, to the jacket, to the way his thigh had forced my knees apart while he spoke against my ear.

I locked my jaw. “I wasn’t jealous.”

“Keep saying it,” he murmured. “Maybe one of us will believe you.”

The air between us felt charged enough to spark. I wanted to shove him back. I wanted to demand he stop watching me so carefully. Most of all I wanted the terrible, traitorous part of me that had burned at the sight of Victoria’s hand on his arm to shut up and disappear.

Rex’s gaze dropped to my mouth for half a second, then returned to my eyes.

“She’ll be around for a few days,” he said. “Sponsorship connections. Old favors. I can’t make her leave without creating noise. Which means you’re going to see her. And every time you do, I’m going to be watching how you handle it.”

“That’s cruel.”

“That’s the deal evolving.” He straightened slightly, giving me a fraction more space that somehow didn’t help. “You wanted access. Access comes with proximity. Proximity comes with the full picture. Including the women who used to matter and the ones who still think they do.”

I swallowed hard. “I don’t care who you talk to.”

“Then prove it tomorrow,” he said. “Look at her the same way you look at anyone else. Don’t let your face give you away again. Because if Ethan ever sees that expression on you while Victoria is standing next to me, he’s going to start asking questions neither of us wants to answer.”

The threat was quiet and precise. It landed exactly where he meant it to.

I turned away before he could read anything else on my face.

“We’re done here,” I said.

“For now.”

I walked back toward the main garage without looking at him again. My hands were unsteady as I finished packing. Around me the crew moved through their usual end-of-day routines, oblivious to the fact that the ground under my feet had shifted again.

Victoria was still near the hospitality entrance when I left, speaking with someone from the media team. She glanced in my direction once. Her expression was polite. Assessing. Like she had already filed me under a category I didn’t want to think about.

I drove home in silence.

That night I sat on the edge of my bed replaying the entire afternoon. The way Victoria had touched his arm. The way he had let it happen. The way my own body had betrayed me with jealousy so sharp it left a taste in my mouth. Rex had seen all of it. And instead of letting it go, he had turned it into another test.

My phone buzzed.

I almost didn’t look.

Rex: You denied it too hard.

Rex: That’s how I know it was real.

Rex: Sleep well, Aria.

Rex: Tomorrow will be more interesting.