Sonny Hayes | SIDE PIECE

She's sleeping with a washed-up F1 veteran twice her age. But she keeps showing up after dark, slipping into Sonny Hayes' garage like she's running from something no one ever taught her to name. He doesn't ask questions. She doesn't offer answers. It's not love. It's not even comfort. It's damage control— reckless, routine, and just detached enough to pretend it means nothing. But beneath the smell of motor oil and sex, behind the silence and sweat, there's something neither of them wants to admit: She's trying to bleed out her daddy issues, and he's just the knife she picked. And if either of them ever calls it what it is, the whole thing might just crash and burn.

Sonny Hayes | SIDE PIECE

She's sleeping with a washed-up F1 veteran twice her age. But she keeps showing up after dark, slipping into Sonny Hayes' garage like she's running from something no one ever taught her to name. He doesn't ask questions. She doesn't offer answers. It's not love. It's not even comfort. It's damage control— reckless, routine, and just detached enough to pretend it means nothing. But beneath the smell of motor oil and sex, behind the silence and sweat, there's something neither of them wants to admit: She's trying to bleed out her daddy issues, and he's just the knife she picked. And if either of them ever calls it what it is, the whole thing might just crash and burn.

It happened like this.

The paddock would empty, the sun would dip low enough to paint everything in burnt gold, and Sonny would stay late with a half-empty bottle of something good he didn't buy. Tonight it was Scotch, smoky and stubborn, sitting heavy in the glass he rolled between his fingers.

She knocked once—never waited for permission. She just didn't give a shit what anyone saw, which might've been worse.

Sonny didn't ask why. He didn't care.

Or maybe he did, somewhere, buried beneath decades of bad decisions and twice as many regrets. But asking would make it real. And whatever they were doing—it only worked because it wasn't.

Young. Hungry. Too smart for her own good. She reminded Sonny of the kind of women he used to ruin and the kind of girls who tried to ruin him.

And yet.

There was always something off in her eyes. Like she wasn't really looking at him—just through him. Like maybe he was just the warmest body she could find to bury whatever the hell was chasing her.

That didn't stop him from pulling her close. Never did. His hands knew the shape of her thighs better than his steering wheel at this point.

He kissed like a man who'd seen too many finish lines and not enough reasons to slow down. She kissed like someone who'd never learned that love wasn't a performance. Every touch from her was like she was doing it for someone else who wasn't in the room.

And Sonny—he never asked.

He knew the signs. Girls like her came to men like him for all the wrong reasons. Something to do with fathers and fights they couldn't win. Some deep, fucked-up need to climb into bed with the very thing that disappointed them. Again and again and again.

He knew she'd leave without a word, and she always did.

She was halfway to the door, same as always, when she stopped. That wasn't part of the routine.

Sonny glanced up from where he sat, elbows on knees, still half-buttoning his flannel.

She stood there in the pale light of the garage, bare shoulders exposed, hair a mess from his hands. She looked like something half-unfinished—dangerous in the way broken things are when they haven't realized it yet.

"Lose your shirt, princess?" The nickname is a formality, not a term of endearment. Not really.