I study him carefully, and by study, I mean stare into his piercing blue eyes.
And I see nothing but sincerity shining back at me.
“Are you staying for practice?” he asks.
I shake my head. “No, I’ve got to do some more homework on pit-stop practices and Vipera before my shoot with them tomorrow.”
A corner of his mouth curves up in a knowing smile, and I begin to smile, too. “What’s that look for?” I ask.
“If you pay attention tomorrow in that garage, you’ll see a million reasons why they suck and are at the bottom of the table for the Constructors’ Championship.”
I don’t reply, but Caleb’s not saying anything that’s shocking to me. In watching theLights Outshow, I’ve learned that Vipera has a lot of drama behind the scenes. I mean, all teams do, but Vipera is downright dysfunctional.
“Well, I might see it, but I’m not reporting on it,” I say. “I’m there to do a positive piece.”
“So you’re not going to ask them why they pitted both drivers at the same time in Saudi Arabia?” Caleb asks, quirking a brow.
“Oh my God, the team radio on that was delicious.” I listened to both drivers and the implosion that resulted from the mistake and talk about DRAMA! Then I shake my head. “But that’s not a question I’ll ask tomorrow. This is a positive, feel-good piece for them. I want them to be comfortable.”
“I believe you,” Caleb says. “And if you have any questions about pit stops before your shoot, you can text me. I have a sponsor dinner tonight, but with any luck, I’ll be able to escape that early.”
“You really hate anything outside of driving your car, don’t you?”
He flashes me a brilliant smile. “Yes.”
We both laugh, but then his expression grows serious. “You’ve never deep dived into Collings Motors, have you?”
“Like past history?” I ask, crinkling my nose.
“Yeah,” Caleb says, his eyes focused intensely on mine.
“I’ll be honest with you, I know how many titles your team has won, some of the drivers, but not the whole history, no.”
“Right.” Caleb clears his throat. “Well, if you do a deep dive into the scandals of Collings Motors, you’ll see why I hate themedia so much. It might help you understand me a bit better. If you want to understand me, that is.”
Then he excuses himself and walks away.
As I watch him leave, I know the first thing I’m going to do when I get home from the track.
It won’t be researching pit-lane practice or Vipera.
It will be researching Collings Motors.
And finding the scandal that made Caleb Collings despise the media.
* * *
I made a deal with myself. I had to edit my feature for my channels first before I could look up anything related to Collings Motors. I sit at my desk, layering in music to the piece, but I’m so antsy, I can barely sit straight in my chair.
What could the scandal be? And how is Caleb involved?
I rewind my video again, checking the captions I have written, making sure the edits are smooth, and when I’m happy, I put it in my save folder. I’ll post it this evening, before I meet Hadleigh for dinner.
Now I can do what I’ve been dying to do.A deep dive into Collings Motors.
I glance at my laptop. I have practice for the Miami Grand Prix on, with the channel set so I can listen to Caleb speak to his race engineer, Jackson Porter—or JP, as Caleb calls him. It’s mostly the sound of the car, and the view is from Caleb’s cockpit. I see his familiar helmet bobbing around as he drives.
“The car feels harder to turn left,” he says, his voice interrupting my thoughts.