She bluntly exposed his blatant misogyny and his pathetic refusal to accept defeat
at the hands of her best friend, which led to this rematch.
Now, a mysterious heroine had stepped in to teach him a lesson.
She was dropping a cool million dollars just to force a public apology out of him.
In reality, though, everyone present understood the stakes went far beyond sorry. If Buzz actually lost, he'd be effectively excommunicated from the racing community.
If he wanted to make a living off racing in the future, his reputation would be permanently torched, killing any chance of turning pro.
Buzz lacked the foresight to see his impending doom. By the time reality set in, the damage would be irreversible.
Besides, did anyone really think Owen Churchill was a saint?
You bullied his cousin, and you expected him to play nice?
Even if Buzz won tonight, Owen would ensure he'd never race in this city again.
A sore loser with filthy thoughts who constantly looked down on women deserved to be wiped from the public eye.
Owen wouldn't resort to completely destroying the guy's family business, but he'd guarantee Buzz never saw a podium again.
"Girls, this absolute queen is standing up for my bestie Mina, so we need to flood the chat with support..." Cami chattered animatedly to her viewers.
She completely forgot the panicked phone call she'd made earlier.
At that very moment, her cousin had already tracked her location and was speeding toward Ridgeview Pass with her fiancé.
Buzz was itching to smash Cami's phone. The girl's tongue was lethal-what kind of monster was she painting him as?
Still, he brushed it off. To his warped mind, it was all just pathetic slander.
While the two racers treated the upcoming sprint like a casual cruise, the spectators were wired with anxiety.
Manager Miller stepped up to fire the starting pistol.
The second the gunshot cracked through the night air, both bikes tore down the asphalt.
Mina leaned over to a visibly tense Owen and whispered, "Mr. Churchill, how good is your girlfriend on a bike?"
"She's my cousin, not my girlfriend, Owen corrected absently. "And honestly, I don't know her exact skill lever but there's no way she loses to a scrub like him."
Buzz had entirely lost the right to be called by his real name.
"Oh, she's your cousin?" Cami chimed in, leaning closer. "I think she's incredible. You can just tell she's a pro."
Owen thought Cami looked vaguely familiar, but couldn't quite place her.
Shrugging it off, he smiled. "Yeah. My cousin never takes a bet she can't win."
Mina remained glued to the massive screen broadcasting the race.
She was sick with worry over Claire's safety.
But seconds later, she realized her anxiety was completely unwarranted.
Claire was playing with him.
She wasn't pushing her limits she was deliberately hovering just a few feet ahead of Buzz's front tire.
The gap was agonizingly small, but no matter how hard Buzz throttled, he couldn't close the distance.
Every time he accelerated, she matched his speed flawlessly!
Buzz wasn't a genius, but even he realized she was doing it on purpose.
His expression morphed into a mask
of pure frustration. He was pushin
his engine to the redline, and she was treating it like a Sunday drive
It was a humiliating game of cat and mouse.
And he was nothing more than an insignificant rodent.
The realization dealt a lethal blow to his fragile ego!
He had
bet
beloys firmly believed that
racing was a man's domain-women
I on the back of the bie, 1.1
looking pretty.
And now?
Women were systematically humiliating him, one after another.