"What gives?"
"What!?" She snapped at him as she tore the leather gloves away from her hands. She felt relieved when her fingers were free from the sticky and hot material.
She unsnapped the helmet and pulled it away from her head, her damp hair stuck at her cheeks.
"You seem distracted."
"Did I not hit my speed record?" She asked, knowing she didn't just hit her record but beat it by a minute and ten seconds
They were mere minutes and ten seconds but those times were a deal breaker when she's on the racetrack. Where every second counts.
She handed Trez her helmet and zipped down her jumper up to her waist, rolling her neck to ease the tension build up on her shoulders. She then pulled the sleeves of her jumper and tied into her waist, enjoying the balmy air, slapping her damp face.
When Trez did not answer her question, she grabbed her helmet from him and carried it in her right hip.
They strode in silence for a few beats. She knew Trez had a lot of things to say and he was holding them back so as not to scream at her like how he deals with the male members of the team.
She got the special treatment of not being yelled at by being the only female in the team.
She had no problem being yelled at. She's not some sensitive girl that would cry and pout over a raised voice but she appreciated the fact that it didn't stop Trez from treating her gentler.
"You beat your records. You did a good lap but your distraction was unsettling. It could affect your game and you could easily lose those few seconds that would put you in the highest step of the podium. And I don't have to remind you that distracted driving causes accidents."
She lowered her head in silent apology. She acknowledged the sharpness of Trez' last statement as his concern for her.
"I'm sorry. It won't happen again," she said, biting her lower lip and running her tongue over it.
The image of her father lying in his hospital bed and her last conversation with the Baby Shark flashed in front of her eyes.
She fling her head side to side to chase the image away.
"What is it? You know you can tell me about it."
She scoffed and smirked at him.
"Shut up! I'm not one of your baby dolls…you're not going to make me happy by taking me to an all out shopping spree to those stores I never dream of entering in my life."
Trez chuckled dryly.
"You think that's all I do with my baby dolls to make them happy?"
She looked at him and knitted her brows with the boastful smirk playing on his tempting lips.
She curled the corner of her mouth with a feigned sneer.
She did not dare reply to his taunting. She might play too close to the fire.
Trez is a tempting man. The dimple at the right corner of his lower lip is more than enough to give her butterflies in her stomach and do something more down below her stomach.
He's someone you would trip over when you see him in the street. More so when he's on the racetrack, behind a steering wheel.
That is why she kept an invisible fence around herself because she cannot afford to be tempted.
She should make her invisible fence electric one, she thought to herself as she stole a glance at him. He had his perpetual furrowed brows, gracing his handsome face.
To some who do not know him, it would appear that he's scowling but he was just deep in thought.
"I can assure you that I can separate myself from what is distracting me from the race. You don't have to worry about me too much. I'm not going to let the annoying guy look down on me the next time we meet."
She clicked her tongue when the image of Seven's grinning face floated in front of her eyes.
His grinning face pulled out anger in her that she didn't know she had in her.
"It's my job to worry for you…and for the team."
Era's breath was caught in her throat with what she heard. She was dumbfounded and was not able to reply because Trez already walked away from her.
He went to Zan, their team head mechanic.
She stood there with no idea what she would do next. She was expecting Trez to give her a lengthy talk like he used to, that the sudden change in him made her furrow her brows and wondered if it had something to do with what happened last time.
She did not expect him to know about her father's situation and she hadn't gotten the courage to ask him how he knew because he acted like it was nothing.
A part of her wanted to explain to him why she hid the information from him but since he didn't ask about it the next time they met, she assumed that he did not want her to talk about it, most probably respected her choice of keeping it from him.
Standing there with nothing to do, her last conversation with her father came to mind.
Trez is going to be a wonderful boyfriend. He is caring and sweet under his rough interior.
However, the longer she thought about it, she found herself, grimacing with the image of other girls running after him.
Trez happens to love girls too much, he accepts everyone with open arms.
"Earth to Era!"
She jolted away from her daydreaming with a robust laughter erupted from the circle of men that were staring at her.
She stuck her tongue at them as she strode towards the group. Her eyes were searching for Trez but he was not in there.
Joining the men, she half-listened to the talk about the car they were fixing around, while looking around for any indication of Trez' whereabouts.
It annoys her that he disappears like smoke.
— — —
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