Crystals (11 page)

Even having seen
her in the arms of another man, he had still been prepared to throw aside his
pride. But no more. He was done. He could continue to torment himself, or he
could move forward. Although he realized that not having her in his life would
be hard, he finally accepted it was time to move on.

Sifting through
his pocket, Shane took out his phone and dialed.

“Hello?”

“It’s me. When do
we leave?”

“Splendid! You
will not regret this, Shane,” Ollie laughed.

Chapter 9

Team Sinclair - Year One

“Since resuming Formula 1 racing, this is the first
time, Team Sinclair looks as though they may have a car that stacks up against
the more established teams. It appears that under the mechanical leadership of
Shane Tierney, good things are happening over there.”

“You’re right
there, Tom. I’ve also heard through the grapevine that, come next year, Tierney
will be number two driver for Team Sinclair.”

“I’ve heard that
too, Neil. There’s no doubt Oliver Sinclair is a good driver, but he’s got
stiff competition from all the other major teams. In the drivers ranking, I’d
put him at number seven at best. Factor in the car and he jumps around three
places. That still keeps him off the winner’s podium. In my opinion, Team
Sinclair still needs to find something extra. And if reports are
correct—Tierney may be it.”

~~~

Emily Carothers
was Shane’s personal assistant. They had known each other since Detective
Bilston had brought him to her father’s garage as a surly fifteen year old.
Emmie was three years older than Shane and had taken an instant liking to him,
so had her father.

The only person
who hadn’t liked him was her brother. But Alan was a waste of space so he
didn’t matter. Her brother had run the business into the ground soon after
their father had retired.

Shane had only
been out of the country for a short while when her father died. Hearing the
news, he flew back to show his respects at the funeral. Shortly afterwards, he
had offered her the job as his personal assistant. It was an offer she couldn’t
and didn’t want to refuse.

Rushing into
Shane’s office, Emmie hesitated surprised to see Ollie standing by Shane’s desk
casually leafing through documents.

“Where’s Shane?”

“Why?”

“For God’s sake,
what’s your problem, I need to speak to Shane!” The long-limbed brunette saw
that her tone angered him, but she didn’t work for him, so she shrugged off his
reaction.

“He’s busy, so why
don’t you tell me what you need.”

“It’ll keep. I’ll
speak to him later,” she said over her shoulder as she walked away.

“Emmie,” Ollie
called before she could leave. “I am not a man to toy with. Do not ever think
to dismiss me. Should you do something that is not to my liking… you will deal
with me.”

Emmie wanted to
tell him to piss off, but his words carried so much malice, she hesitated. With
her back still to him, she took one more step before his voice halted her
departure.

“Quite the little
matchmaker, aren’t you?”

Stunned by his
reference, she spun around. About to brazen out his remark, she forgot to
school her features and her expression gave her away.

“Nothing to say
for yourself, Emily?”

“I don’t know what
you’re talking about.”

“That’s right. You
know nothing and it’s going to stay that way. If I hear, and make no mistake, I
will hear, that you have been speaking to Shane about anyone from his past—I
will be very displeased.”

“Are you threatening
me?”

“Please, not that
overused term. Why don’t you try again, this time with something a little more
original.
”

“I’m not scared of
you.”

“Well, you should
be. I’ve invested too much time and money in this venture to not have it
succeed, and get what I want. And I want Shane’s undivided attention.
Therefore, I suggest you forget all about Crystal Buchanan.”

“But they love
each other. Surely–”

“There you go
again, meddling in matters that have nothing to do with you.”

Emmie knew she was
pushing her luck, but she wouldn’t allow Ollie to get away with manipulating
Shane’s life. She knew Shane was unhappy, and in one of his less guarded
moments, and a bottle of tequila, she had connected all the dots.

Six weeks later,
to her surprise, she received a message that a Crystal Buchanan was attempting
to contact Shane. All her romantic instincts kicked in. That Crystal was
reaching out, to Emmie’s mind, could only mean one thing—she still had feelings
for him. For that reason she was prepared to put up a fight on their behalf.

“Well, what if I
tell you, I don’t give a flying fig about what you want. I don’t see how Shane
and Crystal being together could hurt this business…” Emmie trailed off as
Ollie narrowed his eyes and realization dawned. “My God, you’re jealous of her.
You need Crystal out of the way because you want Shane for yourself!”

Moving quickly,
Ollie seized her upper arms, his fingers biting into her flesh. His grip
tightened even more as he slowly raised her onto her toes. Then he shook her so
hard she had to clamp her teeth together to avoid biting her tongue.

“Mess with my
plans and I will hurt you… or maybe I’ll turn my attention on someone close to
you,” Ollie taunted with a smile that never reached his cold, expressionless
blue eyes. “Ah, I see you finally begin to understand just what I’m capable
of.” Releasing her, he shoved her away. “Oh, and Emmie, that look of defiance
you tried so desperately to hide, it didn’t work. And because of it, I’m going
to have to teach you a lesson. Well two lessons actually, but the second one
can wait.”

“You’re crazy!”

“No, I’m
determined,” Ollie corrected as he returned to the desk, sat down and hit a few
buttons on the computer. “When external influences attempt to derail my plans,
I always have a countermeasure. You really must come and see what that is.”

Emmie hesitated,
sure she was about to see something horrible. She was right. As he repeatedly
clicked a button on the keyboard, image after image of her mother flashed
before her.

With her attention
fixed on the last picture of her mother, she stiffened as Ollie pulled her down
on his lap.

“I can feel you
trembling. Don’t tell me those little images was all it took for me to frighten
the lioness?”

“Let go of me!”

“Frightened, but
not yet tamed. I think I’d like to tame you, my little lioness,” he taunted as
he ran a finger between her breasts. Without warning, he fisted a handful of
her blouse and pulled her against him. He then plastered his lips against hers
with a punishing pressure that imprinted her teeth against the inside of her
lips.

Revulsion washed
over her at his touch, and Emmie realized that he hid his true self well. He
was a monster—and he scared her. And in that moment she even doubted his
sanity.

“Looks like I
should come back later.”

“Shane!” Emmie
cried, seizing the opportunity to pull out of the disgusting kiss.

“Ah, Shane,
impeccable timing as always. Emmie has just agreed to have dinner with me.
Haven’t you, Emily?”

When she remained
quiet, he constricted his muscles. The pressure of the arm that still
surrounded her waist was a stark reminder of the images she had just seen.
Unwilling to give voice to her lie—Emmie nodded her agreement.

Team Sinclair - Year Two

“Well, Tom this is it. This is what we’ve been waiting
for. From all accounts, Shane Tierney has done all he can with the car. It’s
taken a year. But Team Sinclair says he’s finally trained and built the right
team of mechanics. Now he’s turning his hand to racing. This transition from
engineer to driver is definitely a first for me.”

“Me too. But we
can’t lose sight of the fact that this is the big time, and all eyes will be on
Team Sinclair and especially, Shane Tierney. I suppose, all that’s left to be
seen, is whether the car makes the driver or if it’s the other way around.”

~~~

Ollie was riding
high on his first win of the year, for him, nothing mattered as long as he took
the company to the top. And with Shane’s help, it was already happening.

He would have
liked to have played with Emmie but decided against it. If he pushed too much
she might go running to Shane and derail all his plans.

He still had no
regrets that Crystal was out of the way. From the day she had come into Shane’s
life, she had been nothing but a distraction. The way he had allowed her to
lead him around by the balls disgusted him. As far as he was concerned, the end
had justified the means.

Now he had the
other man’s undivided attention, he was well on his way to showing his father
that he no longer needed his money. His days of begging for financial help to
keep the team going were a thing of the past.

The only part of
the equation he hadn’t banked on was relinquishing such a large portion of his
company. But he had done it, if for no other reason than to show his father
that he could succeed where he had failed.

Showered and
changed, Ollie made his way through well-wishers who slapped him on the back as
they shouted their congratulations. Camera
’s flashed
all around him and he smiled and waved. He loved this life. This was where he was
born to be—on top. A young man and woman caught his eye and he whispered
something to his aide without breaking stride.

Later that night,
the couple arrived at his hotel door to help him celebrate his win. Ollie
turned to the young dark haired man as soon as the door closed behind them and
smiled. He could have been Shane’s twin. Deciding to wait to enjoy his company,
he transferred his attention to the blonde woman. Blondes were his preferred
choice when it came to women.

Taking them both
by the hand, he led them into his hotel bedroom. That they
were
in his room meant
that his aide had explained what he wanted and
expected of them. He didn’t fear trusting the man with his secrets. He paid him
too well for that.

Everything was
exactly as he wanted it. For them, there was drugs and a promise of payment for
their silence. For him, there was the prospect of looking forward to making
love to someone who reminded him of Shane. But most of all, he would again be
able to reenact, but just stopping short, how he had felt when his mother died
by his own hands.

Team Sinclair - Year Three

“Shane Tierney equipped himself well last year by
finishing second on the drivers table. But this is a whole new year and the
other team’s cars are catching up more quickly than Team Sinclair would like.”

“That’s true, but
at the end of last season, Tierney pulled out all the stops. I think he was
using his first year as a steep learning curve. This year everyone’s waiting to
see what he’s really got.”

“Let’s take a look
at what we know so far. There’s no doubt he can drive–”

“But is he too
ruthless?”

“Come on, Tom, we
both know that all the best drivers have a healthy dose of ruthlessness
inprinted
into their character. Without it, they wouldn’t
last a minute out there.”

“Is that what we
want to see in the sport?”

“From where I’m
sitting, yes. On second thoughts, I’m not going to call it ruthlessness. When
his family background
was plastered
all over the
press, as you know, he agreed to my interview request. That man isn’t
ruthless—he’s determined!”

“If you’ll excuse
the pun, what’s driving him?”

“In my opinion, he
has a point to make. Let me qualify that. Until recently, this sport, for want
of a better phrase,
could be described
as elitist.

I’ve spoken to
Shane, and while I can’t say I know the man, I got an insight into his
character. He doesn’t care what the media says about him. He intends to stop
the chatter with his performance on the track. And I believe he’ll do just
that.”

~~~

“This has been one
of the most exciting Formula 1 seasons I’ve ever had the privilege to watch.
Felipe Santiago needs to finish two places ahead of Tierney to take the
championship. From the information coming in from Team Sinclair, it sounds as
though we have a classic battle on our hands.”

“I don’t know,
Tom, Ollie Sinclair has been especially vocal about his car. He seems to think
there’s a chance of him taking this last race.”

“I don’t
understand his rationale. Between them, he and Tierney are majority
shareholders of the team. Surely he should want what’s best for the team. But
from some of his interviews of late, it sounds as though his priority is one of
personal glory at any cost.”

“I have to agree.”

“Do you think
that’s going to happen, Sinclair winning the race I mean?”

“It all comes down
to who’s the better driver. And in my opinion, both Tierney and Santiago are
just that—better drivers.”

~~~

“There goes the
checkered flag. He’s done it. Shane Tierney has done it. He’s won the final
race here in Abu Dhabi, and has taken the championship!”

Team Sinclair - Year Four

“Shane Tierney wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and he’s
world champion for the second time.”