As I sat down with him at the table, everything that I had been working for was glued into place. If Moretti didn't like my explanation, I was fucked, and if Drake didn't like what I did for the team, I was also fucked.

I was never any good at making people proud of me or happy to have me around.

"You look good," Drake said.

Good enough to replace Annie? Hell no.

"Thank you. You do too," I said.

Lie. He looked the same as always: cut-up hands from delicate work, teddy bear-like build, tired eyes, beat-down spirit.

The day we met, he seemed so different, so maybe it was my fault. Probably not, but still.

"So what was it that finally made up your mind? I know it wasn't me or Josiah," he asked.

I went back to racing for money for Team Sacrilege, and I was going back to Team Sacrilege for proof that I wasn't as sucky as Truscott made me out to be for racing. It was only fair.

I shrugged. "What else do I have, Drake? I have Griffin, and that's about it."

"You've got money. You'll be fine," he said.

"Money doesn't buy me a job or bring back the rest of the people I care or used to care about. All it does is buy me drinks when I can't get someone else to do it for me," I said.

He hesitated. "Well—"

"You know damn well there's more to life than that. And I'll tell you what, for someone who got pissed at me every single time I indulged in that part of my life, you should keep your mouth shut about it."

"Fine. I won't mention it again."

"I want to be friends again, so I'm gonna need you to stop pointing fingers at me and let us work together again without any judgment. I know you want the best for your team, and that's what I want too." I paused for a moment. "Speaking of which, where's Josiah?"

"He's minimizing all contact with you. He still blames you for what happened with Annie, but at least he's here. I knew he wouldn't be able to stomach missing out on this moment for the team. We've worked too hard to not get our chance."

I bit my lip. Of course, they were the recipients of a good old Katie Moore bailout that kept the team afloat, but who was keeping track?

Instead of reminding him of the All-Star money that made the moment possible, I changed the subject. "And how's Annie?"

He gave me a sad smile. "She told me that she cares about me, but she needs time to herself. And I can't help but feel like time is running out, you know?"

I shook my head. "Not really."

"Look, she wasted six years on that idiot. He's my best friend, but he's a nightmare sometimes—"

I cut him off. "Why? Why do you put up with so much from him?"

The funny thing was that there were plenty of less emotionally abusive things I did that were absolutely intolerable by his standards.

"It's what's best for the team, Katie."

Best for the team? It wasn't best for Annie, who was definitely a part of it.

What would my life be like if I could work like him? If I stuck with what was best for my career, I would be running qualifying laps in the ninety-five car. But no, I had to stick to my guns and fuck Truscott over for every time he tried to take advantage of me.

Drake let out a sigh. "I just thought that maybe I'd forget about Annie like that. When I got divorced, she was the one who always tried to make sure I was doing all right. And it kills me to know that I probably fucked up whatever little chance I had with her."

I shook my head. "You didn't fuck up your chance. She's the biggest romantic in the world. If you wait until she's ready, she'll love you forever. I mean, she's probably the most loyal person you know."

"You think?"

"She's, like, my best friend. I know."

With Griffin upgraded to not-quite-Insta-official boyfriend, that spot was hers, and she earned it.

The waiter came up to our table, and the conversation lulled as we ordered.

Annie always had nice things to say about Drake. After what she put up with from Josiah, Drake would be good for her, even though he wasn't right for me.

***

How the fuck did I get it into my head that a nerd tournament was my best chance to seal a deal with Team Moretti?

With the events set to take place over at least the next few days, I was tied up until Elizabeth made up her mind with what she wanted to do, and if she wanted the baby, there was no way in hell I would get to drive the ninety-five after I already said no. That car was never gonna be mine again, and it was final.

Around the garage of the racing world were people who were way smarter than me and were the ones that gave me a gas pedal to go. But in the pits of the robot fighting world were a different kind of nerd. And I still wasn't quite used to them.

There was one giant room split into smaller spaces dedicated to fixing, tinkering, and perfecting robots for everyone in the tournament, including some of the biggest names in the industry. The only one I knew was Megha Ratti and her team Amazon, and she kicked the shit out of me during our last meeting. It wasn't going to happen again, though. No fucking way.

Everybody had four fights to prove that they belonged in the top sixteen teams to compete for the championship, and from there, it was a fight to the death to the top. The same rules as I knew applied: three minutes of fighting, and if that didn't settle it, the judges would decide based on a variety of factors.

Outside, there was a closed-in space where the teams could test the robots without breaking any garage doors.

Sacrilege. Our station was labeled with a little name tag, and Drake and Josiah were already unloading Peanut onto a table for a little inspection.

"Fucking bitch," Josiah said as I took a spot standing next to Drake.

"Don't talk to me," I said.

"Well, you need to know that you're a fucking bitch."

"I'm aware. Thanks." I smiled.

"Wow, Sacrilege, is that who I think it is?" A tall, skinny man walked up to our station. "It is. It's the alcoholic chick from the Goodyear commercials."

I blinked a couple times. "What did you just call me?"

For someone with a missing tooth in the front and had no ass whatsoever, he sure as hell had a lot of nerve calling me names.

"It's good to see you again, Larry. I bet you didn't think we'd meet again here," Drake said.

The guy laughed. "I knew I'd be here, but you? I thought you were fucked when I left."

"Kill yourself," Josiah said.

I smiled. "Who is this jackass?"

"That's Larry. He was our driver before you. He left to go to Clockwork because he's a piece of shit."

"Because you're a piece of shit," Larry said.

I could agree with both of them on those issues.

From what I could tell, this guy's team was named Clockwork, which took me right back to the Sacrilege house and Josiah's collection. All day, all night, just tick, tick, tick like the goddamn time bomb he was.

"Didn't you tell me this guy died in a boating accident?" I asked. Annie told me the truth about him and Josiah not getting along earlier, but it would be funny to watch Josiah weasel his way out of this mess.

"He's dead to us. I'll give you five dollars if you know who else is on Clockwork," he said.

"I'm hoping it's not that SpongeBob driver. I don't ever want to face that shame again," I said.

"Nope. It's Drake's ex-wife, Jennifer."

My eyes widened. "Oh my god. Is she hotter than me?"

"Much hotter than you."

"That bitch."

So if they both knew Josiah and his obsession with clocks, I hoped the name of their robot was poking fun at him.

Larry headed back to his pit after wrapping up his conversation with Drake.

I turned to Drake and Josiah. "So neither one of you felt like telling me any of that? What the hell?"

"It wasn't ever relevant. We've moved on as a team," Drake said.

"How is that not relevant? That's the kind of motivation I need to kick the shit out of people."

"Katie, they're not on the team anymore. They have their own thing now, and we're better off without them. There's no point in holding onto that grudge," Drake said.

"I still hate them," Josiah said.

For the second time that day, Josiah had something smart to say.

"Look, viewers and producers love drama. If you don't think they're gonna be one of our four fights, you're stupid," I said.

Drake got out the schedule of events from his pocket, with ours highlighted in yellow. "Sacrilege versus Clockwork, Dragon's Breath, Jingles, and Amazon."

I hesitated. "Someone named their robot Jingles?"

"And it will fucking destroy you, so don't be fooled," Josiah said.

I nodded. "Noted."

This was the biggest stage for combat robotics, so I was pretty sure just about everything could fucking destroy me.

"Well, we should probably get you back at the controls as soon as possible. Your name got us here, but it's not gonna win us anything," Drake said. "Here, let's go take Sacrilege for a short test run."

We lifted her onto a wagon to wheel her outside where the testing space was. The floor was made of some kind of tough rubber, and the entire area was enclosed with bulletproof glass. There was already someone in there, and as soon as I stepped outside, my hands flew up to my ears to cover them.

I drove seven hundred horsepower cars, but that was loud in its own right. Even with my hands over my ears, the noise rattled my teeth.

Drake froze in his tracks. "Oh my god, that's Polar Vortex."

"Who?" I asked.

Josiah's eyes widened. "Shit, it is."

Drake smiled. "We did it, huh? We really made it here."

"Is there a backstory here that I should know about?" I asked.

Drake shook his head, but the smile remained. "Nope. It's just a really cool bot, and I can't believe I'm seeing it in person."

Polar Vortex wasn't on our list of competition, but the disk in the middle swung upwards around and around and sounded like it was about to blast off at any given moment.

If everyone at this tournament was anywhere close to that, I didn't stand a chance to get into the top sixteen. There were a billion years of experience in the working stations, and I only had a half year. I didn't belong, and I was locked in. There was no way out this time.

Well, at least LA was fun.

But I couldn't let Drake and Josiah hear my heart beating out of my chest. Chin up, cold eyes, shoulders back, sleeves rolled. It was really all I had.

------------------------------------------------------

Hello everyone! How's it going? Thank you so much for reading!

Do you think Katie and Team Sacrilege are in over their heads here? 

And for a fun question, what is a bad habit you have?

For me, my bad habits are trying to live on coffee and worrying too much about things I can't control. And am I going to fix those any time soon? Nope. :)