Throttled: Dirty Air (Book 1)(70)

Everything about his face screams how it isn’t. His eyebrows raise, he rubs his chin, his eyes have an evil spark. A montage of every villain from every movie.

“I better get ready for another practice round. I’ll see you later?” I don’t want to leave him alone here with Maya, but I have to.

I sneak up next to her before hopping into my car.

“Stay away from my dad. He’s a sneaky piece of shit.”

Her eyes widen. “Good luck out there!” She gets my message, her retreating form comforting me as I get in the cockpit of my car.



Maya’s hand strokes my chest. We decided to stay in tonight and not attend any sponsor events. No loss here. She texts Santi about not feeling well while I tell the guys I have a headache.

“I don’t think it’s going to end well. I always thought he was a bad guy…but he’s not. And now they killed him.”

By him, she’s referring to Bob on Stranger Things. Her tears dampen my shirt.

Wow, she really gets into shows.

“Do you always cry during sad scenes?” I pull her into a hug. It’s cute, endearing even. But I don’t want her to cry over something not real.

“I have a lot of feelings. Okay?” Her eyes glisten as she looks up at me. I give her a soft kiss on her forehead, her sigh making me smirk.

And the action continues on the TV. Maya snaps her head back, eagerly watching the next part.

I have learned my lesson. When they say, “Netflix and Chill,” they mean to pick the most boring show because any other choice means no sex, no hooking up.

I fall into the Stranger Things trap. Maya swats my hand away whenever I put a move on her.

“You need to stop sighing every time Steve is on the screen. This crush has gotten out of hand.”

My heart surges at the sound of her laugh. A weird feeling I’ve grown accustomed to whenever I hang around Maya, similar to how my dick gets rock-hard whenever she gets near me.

“I can’t help it. That hair, his babysitting skills. Even his personality. Sigh.”

How the mighty have fallen, becoming jealous over a TV character. “I can babysit. And my hair is definitely better. Personality? I sure as fuck hope mine’s nicer seeing as I’m a real person. And I am older, wiser. I can fucking kick ass with a baseball bat.” I flex my arms around her for emphasis.

“What does older and wiser have to do with the appeal?” Her chest shakes against mine.

She’s totally teasing me. So I do what any logical man would do in my position. I shut off the TV and show her exactly how more experience comes with age. She stops complaining about the show the moment my lips find her clit.



I creep around, listening in on Santi and Maya’s conversation. It’s not my fault they’re so loud and we share the same walls. Right?

I’m jealous of Santi. There. I put it out there.

Maya spends the whole morning before the race with him, hanging out while I spend the day by myself. She hides who we are from him because she doesn’t want to upset him or inconvenience him before the final Prix.

Unfortunately for the Alatorre siblings, I’m not above eavesdropping.

“What are you going to do once the season’s over?” Santi’s voice carries through the thin walls.

“Mm, I don’t know. I’ve started to fall into my own thing with my vlog. I have over 900,000 followers. That’s, like, amazing growth in a YouTube vlog career that started only eight months ago. The travel vlogging is nice, but YouTube F1 videos are what make me trendy and different.”

Pride in her voice brings a smile to my face. I watch her videos when I miss her or boredom strikes, or when Santi steals her away because Maya feels too guilty to say no.

We’ve already traveled with F1 for eight months, with Maya and I dating exclusively for the last four weeks.

“But is that really a job? Following me around?”

What an idiot.

“Uh. I don’t follow you around.” Maya’s voice hesitates, unsure how to handle Santi’s obliviousness.

“I don’t mean to put you down. But don’t you want a nice, stable job? One closer to home with less traveling? I can’t have you here forever.”

You can’t. But I can.

Or at least until Maya doesn’t want to be around anymore, if she doesn’t. We still need to find our footing together.

I think up opinions like I’m part of the conversation.

She lets out a deep sigh loud enough for me to hear. Never a good sign.

“I’m living in the moment. I’m young. I have time to figure my life out. You don’t know much about social media, but it’s growing—vlogging is a huge industry with good pay by views. And sponsorships.”

“That’s always your problem though. You may live in the moment, but you gotta grow up sometime. Are videos a career?”

“Wow…okay. I don’t know what made you so pissed off today, but you’re being a crappy brother right now. I’m going to take a walk.”

An idea hits me. I open the door to my suite the moment Maya walks past it, hurling her inside.

“What are you—”

My hand covers her mouth before she can get out another word. I bring my index finger up to my lips. Her eyes change from dull to gleaming because I can now change her mood for the positive. Fan-fucking-tastic.