All Chapters of Crashing Into You : Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

The carbon-fiber cockpit of a Formula 1 car doesn’t grant you space to breathe. It traps you. It seals you inside a three-hundred-kilometer-per-hour coffin wrapped in Kevlar, high-octane race fuel, and heat so dense it turns the air inside your helmet into liquid fire.I gripped the custom-molded steering wheel, my gloved thumbs digging hard into the suede grips until the fabric stretched taut across my knuckles. My heart hammered against my ribs—a frantic, irregular rhythm reading loud and clear on the telemetry monitor mounted inside the Apex Racing pit garage.152 BPM."Tachometer reading stable, Maya," the voice of my chief engineer, Frank, crackled through my helmet radio. "Track temp is forty-two degrees. Sun’s coming out over the circuit. Bring the tires up to temperature on your out-lap. Don't push the rear end until turn four.""Copy, Frank," I said, my voice flat, masking the adrenaline roaring in my ears.Through the tinted visor of my helmet, I looked down at my left hand.

My heart hammered against my ribs long after Julian walked out of the strategy room. His scent, a mixture of cold rain, cedar, and raw adrenaline, hung heavy in the tight space, suffocating me far more than the carbon-fiber cockpit ever could.He had maneuvered the board into placing my entire career under his technical supervision. Two years ago, my world had shattered on the tarmac at Silverstone. Now, he was acting like he owned my seat.I threw my gear bag over my shoulder and marched out of the engineering suite, heading straight toward the private driver compound. Silverstone’s paddock was buzzing with pit mechanics, media crews, and VIP hospitality guests, but I blocked out the white noise. All I wanted was to lock myself inside my driver motorhome, ice my aching left wrist, and map out a strategy to survive the next ten races without losing my mind or my dignity to Julian.I pulled my keycard from my pocket and swiped it across the sensor of Driver Unit 01. The indicator flash

The high-voltage buzz of the simulator console hummed through the quiet room long after the alarm went silent.My wrist still burned where Julian’s mouth had pressed against my scar. The heat of his breath seemed to linger in the air—thick, heavy, and suffocating, wrapping around my chest until I could barely draw oxygen into my lungs.Because if you're not on this grid, Maya... I have no one left worth beating.The words echoed inside my mind like an unexploded shell. I stood frozen beside the motion rig, my gloved fingers still trembling slightly. For two long years, I had believed Julian viewed me as a liability—a tragic, frustrating reminder of the night Apex nearly lost a chassis to a concrete wall. But the raw, possessive intensity in his eyes just seconds ago hadn't been about telemetry or corporate sponsorship. It was dark, unyielding, and terrifyingly personal.Julian stepped back, his face instantly locking behind a mask of cold, unreadable steel. He picked up his digital cl