Jealousy is a powerful emotion, it can destroy even good
people.
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Rivals
Skid #2
by Doug Solter
by Doug Solter
Publication date: September 23rd 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
Synopsis: Eighteen-year-old Samantha Sutton is back for a new racing season in Formula One. The hot new racing star of Wolert Porsche has everything she wants. An awesome team. An awesome car. And the perfect boy. But her optimism sinks when her boss steals arch-rival Emilio Ronaldo away from Ferrari and makes the sexist jerk her team’s premier driver.
Stressing
about Emilio, Samantha struggles with her new public life as a teen sports
star. Finding time to be the best girlfriend to Manny proves more and more
difficult. It also doesn’t help that Manny’s ex-girlfriend Hanna shows up. The
girl who was just released from a mental hospital.
The
pressure on Samantha becomes unbearable. Paranoia, mistrust, and jealousy take
over. She lashes out at everyone as the world seems determined to bring her
down.
Can
Samantha rise above it all and win the world championship? Or will this be the
end of everything?
This
novel is the sequel to Skid which
is available for free download in either eBook or Audiobook form when you sign up to the author's
free email list.
About the Author: Growing up in Oklahoma, Doug Solter began writing screenplays in 1998 and became a 2001
semi-finalist in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' Nicholl
Fellowships in Screenwriting. His script Father Figure was
one of 129 scripts left from 5,489 entries. Doug made the switch to writing
young adult novels in 2008. Doug is also a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers
and Illustrators. Doug respects cats, loves the mountains, and one time
walked the streets of Barcelona with a smile on his face.
Connect with Doug:
Excerpt from Rivals
by Doug Solter
Copyright 2014 All rights reserved.
“Are you ready to meet your new teammate?”
Benito asks.
Not really.
Outside the main garage, the three of us
take the little sidewalk that leads to the scenic overlook near the back of the
office building. The overlook is this cozy spot with chairs and benches. Lots
of Wolert Porsche employees walk over here to have lunch or to take a break
from work to stare at the pretty view of the deep valley and the pointy tops of
the Alps surrounding it.
A slight breeze runs up the valley and
smacks the side of the mountain we’re on. The sun spreads Emilio Ronaldo’s
shadow over the molded-stone pavement as he leans against the wood safety rails
that prevent people from falling over the steep drop.
I join him along the rail.
Emilio takes a long drag from a cigar,
blowing out a large plume of smoke. He tucks his hand inside his sport coat and
pulls out another cigar. “Do you smoke?”
“Seriously? You’re offering me a cigar?” I
ask.
“They’re very good. Very strong. Grow hair
on your chest.” Emilio grins.
Yeah, right. Smoking a cigar is a
macho-guy thing. They need it to feel like men. Hmm. I wonder if little-old me
is intimidating him again. The same girl who made him flinch during that race
at Spa. That would be awesome if I’m getting under his skin.
Emilio slips the cigar back into his coat.
“But if you don’t feel adventurous I understand.”
Wait a second. Is he saying I’m too timid?
That I can’t handle a cigar just because I’m a girl?
“I’d love a cigar,” I say, acting like
it’s no big deal.
Emilio pulls out the cigar. I snatch it
and place it in my mouth. The foreign object lays heavy on my tongue and feels
like I have a wad of paper stuffed in my mouth.
“You need to cut off the end first.”
“I know that.” I pull the cigar out and
notice the round end that isn’t cut off. I bite into that and rip it off with
my teeth. I taste flakes of pure tobacco on my tongue and it’s like ash and
it’s disgusting and I spit it all over the stones at my feet.
Emilio smiles and holds up some
rectangular-looking tool with a round hole in it. “I have a cutter. You don’t
have to bite the end off.”
Now I feel like an idiot. Emilio must be
enjoying this. Another genius plan to embarrass and humiliate me. Too late to
stop now. I hold out the cigar and he cuts off the end. I put the cigar back in
my mouth.
Emilio takes out a lighter and flicks. The
flame licks the end of my cigar. “You must inhale to draw the flame in and
light the tobacco.”
I breathe in and smoke fills my lungs.
Oh My God! I cough hard and bend over,
belching smoke from my mouth like a dragon. I feel my eyes watering. A definite
sign my body is yelling. What the hell are you doing to me, Samantha?
Enjoying my discomfort, Emilio inhales his
cigar, the end of which glows bright red. Like a demon.
I take another drag on the cigar and my
lungs belch out the foul smoke again. But I try to stand casual. Like the smoke
doesn’t bother me.
“I would like to begin,” Emilio says. “By
mentioning that our past grievances should be left in the past. We are both
competitors. We both fight to win. But starting today, we will be teammates. Do
you understand? When both of us do well, the team does well. The team will
always matter more than one driver. I look forward to working with you. Not
against you.” Emilio takes a moment for a puff on his cigar. “What is your
opinion on that?”
My opinion? Someone actually wants to hear
my opinion? It’s a mountain of cow puke. That’s my opinion. This is still my
team and Emilio is not going to come in here and take it away. All this crap
about team this and team that. It’s only to put a pacifier in my mouth so I
won’t complain. Be the good little girl, Samantha. Play nice and get along
with the boy who stole your place on the team.
I puff on the cigar and cough. Jeez.
That’s what this cigar is. It’s a pacifier. Make baby Samantha shut up.
I take the cigar out of my mouth.
“Is it too strong?” Emilio asks.
This guy can read people crazy-well. He
read me like a book right before our final race at Spa. Emilio detects weakness
in others like a hawk drifting over a limping sheep, patiently waiting for it
to fall over before attacking.
I won’t let him read me ever again.
“I agree. We so got into it last year and
it was insane.” I use my sweet girlie voice that fools most guys. “And there
were times I actually wanted to kill you. Like that time at your home in
Brazil?”
“I remember,” he says. “I mentioned
something about how you could never win the world championship.”
“Because I was a woman and didn’t have the
killer instinct or something like that.”
Whoa. Easy, Samantha. Don’t lose it. Stay
in control. Do not let Emilio beat you.
“Yes. Something like that,” Emilio says,
his voice quieter. “You proved me wrong. The way you hunted me those last few
laps at Spa. You were ruthless. Unyielding. You chased me down like a cunning
animal that had learned patience and the art of intimidation. My observations
please you?”
Crap. He caught me smiling.
“It was impressive. We are teammates now
so I can mention this. You are not some female racer who shows off her body
more than her racing skills. You are quite different.”
If that’s his version of a compliment, I
guess I’ll take it.
This novel is the sequel to Skid which
is available for free download in either eBook or Audiobook form when you sign up to the
author's free email list.
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