Chapter 226
CHARLOTTE-
It was Sunday. Race day.
My hands were shaking while I checked him.
His straps. Radio. Visor. The same pattern as
always, except yesterday there had been a wall at the end of it and a hospital gown after that, and my fingers would not remember how to be professional.
The harness looked the same. The car looked the same. Nothing in my chest was the same.
I was freaking out.
He noticed.
He took my wrist. Gentle. His glove was already on, warm through the fabric, and he held me there like the garage was not full of people who could see.
I looked up. My mouth would not stay still.
“I swear to you,” Luca said. “No crashes today. I’ll be focused. Nothing bad is going to happen. I’m going to kick ass like I usually do, even from the back. Don’t worry.”
I did not care about him winning today.
I just wanted him safe. To finish the race without any accidents.
I had woken last night from a nightmare of another crash and I had cried myself back to sleep. In the dream the radio had gone quiet. In the dream the medical car had not been fast enough. In the dream I had been standing in that corridor again and he had not been walking toward me.
I had not told him.
I had not needed to. He could read it on my face the way he always could when I was trying not to fall
apart.
“Charlotte,” he said quietly. For me only. “If I see you like this before the race, I won’t be able to
concentrate.”
My eyes went wide. “You have to concentrate. Are you crazy?”
“Then smile for me. Like you usually do.”
I forced one.
“Not like that. A real one.”
I tried again. Smaller. Real enough that his thumb moved over my pulse, a slow pass that felt like a promise he had no right to make and I had no strength to refuse.
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“There,” he murmured. “That’s my girl.”
is girl?
My heart skipped a beat. He had never spoken to me like that before. He was probably just trying to calm me down. That was what I told myself. That was what I had to tell myself, standing in jeans and a team shirt like he had asked, trying not to remember the last time his mouth had been that close.
“Don’t you dare scare me again,” I whispered.
“My heart won’t be able to handle another crash.”
He looked upset that he’d made me this worried. I didn’t want him upset. I was just scared.
“I won’t.”
“You said you were fine yesterday and then I watched your car go into the wall.”
“Different day. Different time.” His mouth tipped. “You’re in your usual outfit today. Nothing to worry
about.”
I still did not understand that part. What did my clothes have to do with anything? I did not ask. Not now. Not when the grid was forming and my hands were still shaking on a strap he did not need me to check
twice.
“Come back,” I said. “In one piece. No accidents.”
“I’m coming back. Without any accidents. I promise.”
“Luca-”
“I know.” He squeezed my wrist once more. “Watch me kick ass in the last lap. Last is mine.”
Someone reminded us of the time.
He had to let go.
I hated it. Watching him get into that car even though in the past it always made me excited.
He got in. The world shrinking around him.
Before they fitted the wheel he found me through the chaos and tapped two fingers to the side of his helmet. A small signal. I’m fine. Don’t worry.
I nodded like that could stop my racing heart.
The crowd was going wild in the stands. Flags. Noise. Phones up. I could not look at any of it properly. I looked at his number. At the timing screen. Trying to breathe through the fear.
It did not help. Nothing did.
I did not breathe properly at all.
The race was long when you loved someone at the back of it. When you had this constant fear that
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
something could go wrong and you could lose them in the blink of an eye.
There were so many cars ahead of him. One mistake and yesterday would happen again in front of a packed grandstand.
I flinched at every corner.
Why was he even racing today after yesterday’s accident?
Because he was Luca. Because this was the job. Because he had promised me he would come back and I had to stand here and let him try.
He was careful and vicious like nothing had happened.
How was he able to be so calm given the circumstances?
I watched him race like he always did. Today he was moving even faster and it scared me.
He was not reckless.
He was hungry. For the win.
There was a move on the inside that made half the garage inhale. Another on the exit that made an engineer swear under his breath. P18 became P16 and he kept moving, closer and closer to his target.
The radio crackled.
“Car’s good. I’m good.”
Short. Certain.
He did not say my name.
He did not have to.
I felt it in my chest anyway, like he had said that for my benefit.
P14. PII. P8.
My nails were in my own palm.
The team around me stopped pretending this was ordinary. Someone clapped when he cleared a stubborn midfield car.
Someone else said his name like a warning and a cheer at the same time. A mechanic who had looked sick yesterday after the crash had color back in his face.
“Easy through four,” the engineer said.
Luca’s reply came back almost lazy. “Copy. All good here.”
All good here.
I pressed my fist to my mouth.
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The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Marco and Nico were at the front, both fighting to be first.
cond to last lap and Luca was two cars behind them. He had done so well and I still could not focus on anything except his safety.
I made a sound when he came too close to a corner.
The entire garage went silent. They felt it too.
Another radio crackle.
“I’m fine. Tell them I’m fine.”
Them. But it wasn’t just for them.
Also for me.
Especially me.
He knew how worried I was. He was not going to say Charlotte, breathe on a team channel. He was going to say I’m fine like it was meant for everyone.
He went for Nico first.
I stopped breathing.
A gap that did not look like a gap until he made it one. Then he was through, and the stands on the main straight went into an uproar like they had been waiting all afternoon for this.
Then Marco.
His brother.
A fight that lasted a corner too long. Wheels extremely close. My soul leaving my body.
“Hold it. Hold it.”
That was the engineer.
Luca did not answer immediately.
Then: “I’ve got it.”
I’ve got it.
I let out a breath that shook.
And then, amazingly, Luca was past.
Last lap.
He had made it.
And he was first.
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The Mockey Captam’s Unwanted Wife
The crowd went wild. Flags. Noise. People on their feet who had not been on their feet when he started from the back.
In the garage it was just as loud. People colliding. Someone shouting his name. An engineer with both hands on his headset like he could kiss the radio.
I screamed.
Then I cried.
Relieved. Happy. Proud. So many different emotions in one.
Then shaking again for a different reason.
He had started from the back and taken the race anyway.
And he had kept his promise the entire time.
No crashes.
The radio came on one last time as he crossed the line, drowned in cheering, still somehow clear to me.
“Told you. Last was mine.”
That line was not for the engineer.
But for the girl who had asked him to come back in one piece.
The car crossed the line and everyone screamed his name. I could not hear my own voice. I did not care. Phones were up. Someone was already saying drive of the year. Someone else was laughing and wiping his face like he had not been pale yesterday.
“He did it,” a mechanic said, grabbing my shoulder. “He’s okay. He’s first. He’s okay.”
I nodded, tears on my face, smiling for real this time.
The smile he had asked for.
I had just been too scared to give it to him until the lights went out and he brought himself home. To me.
He got out of that cockpit in one piece.
Nothing was wrong.
He was safe.
That was the only trophy I wanted.
14:37 Mon, Sep 28 JM.
The Mockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.