Page 8 of Ride

Something about his words caused me to clench my fists, ready to ride out to Atlanta to kick his ass for touching what’s mine. “Did he hit her?”

“From what she says, he never hit her, but I put nothing past Virgil.”

Displaying my badge, I walked through the doors of Pierce Motors racing stadium, throwing a hand up at a few employees. Being a high-profile athlete came with perks, but everybody treated me like a normal guy. I appreciated it because the world put out too many lies.

Virgil and Amena’s relationship surprised everybody. When I was younger, I know I played games, but when we decided to be together, I committed to our relationship. Somehow, she got it in her head that I was dating around—or maybe the friends she had talked her into wanting to break up. After we ended, she sprinted off to be with Virgil, and suddenly she was a wife at twenty.

Putting work in the forefront, I decided to no longer fall in love and focused on my career to get to where I am now as one of the highest paid racing drivers in the world. Both our parents still hung out from time to time, but I stayed away until a birthday celebration came up.

“Virgil’s still putting on a show like he’s a happily married man, lying through his teeth right now.”

I came off the elevator with security in front of me. “What’s he saying?” I approached Malik’s office door, thanked the security guard, and winked at his secretary. She smirked and pushed the button on her desk to let me enter. I left my bag on the side of the door and slouched down in the chair. Malik stopped typing, glared at me and shook his head.

“Same as usual, He’s working for the people to deflect from talking about his family.”

“Let me call you later. I made it to the track. I’m about to get some runs in before Malik loses his mind.”

“Tell Malik thanks for the tickets.”

“For sure.” I smiled at Malik, put my cell in my pocket, and leaned back against the chair, having a stare-off.

A grim expression marred his face. “Three different blogs want to run a story about you dating some model who was caught leaving your hotel room with no shoes, her hair all over her head, and in a Pierce Motor shirt.”

I held a spark of delight in my eyes because Malik acted like he wasn't out here fucking around before he got married. Hell, a few times, we swapped women. Malik’s been a great friend, and I hated to stress him out. Becoming the CEO of a billion-dollar business was a lot of pressure in general, but when you're a Black family-owned business, your expectations to succeed are higher.

“I hear you, Malik.” The groupie mentality from women in the racing industry is big, in all sports really, but something made it extra crazy when it came to driver.

“Do you? Only so much Sarai can clean up. We’ve learned from Kash how it turned out.” The tense lines on his face relaxed.

I scratched the side of my head and sighed. “Promise, I will get a better handle on my personal outings.”

“Glad to hear we're on the same page. Now, before you go to practice, we want to have you do a commercial.”

“Who is it for and how much?”

Malik passed a stack of papers to me. “A jewelry company is interested in you.”

“Jewelry?”

“The board thinks it would be a good look to bring in more female viewers. Women love jewelry and since you’re single, it gives the illusion to that demographic that you’re?—”

“Attainable.”

“Exactly.”

A devilish look crossed my face. “Basically, you want me to lie.”

“Never say never.”

“Shit. I will leave marriage for you, Kash, and Jackson.” I named off his older brother who started the company and signed me to the franchise as I flipped through the documents. I got to the amount of money they’re offering and whistled.

I stroked my cheek, ran both hands to the back of my neck and clasped them together. “Five million.”

Malik’s free hand moved to grab his cup of coffee. “One day’s work.” He clapped his hands together in amusement.

With a surprise in my voice, I blew my lips together. “A national campaign.”

“Come through after practice. We're going to a birthday party.” Malik and Kash kept a small circle of friends. Not too many people get the chance to say they’re friends with multiple billionaires on paper, but who act like normal people in front of you with the same problems.