Brute

16. Max

It was time for the drivers' parade, Max waited for Mick, he wanted to stand with him and discuss some things. Things that would definitely upset him, but it was better to rip the bandage off than to slowly peel it.

They got onto the procession vehicle together, smiling and waving at the crowd. There was red as far as the eye could see, and the Ferrari drivers were soaking in the glory, the biggest smiles on both their faces as the crowd chanted for them.

"You've been getting close to Burman  haven't you?" Max started.

"Burman? As in Kalki? Yeah, we have. She's quite interesting-"

"She's not like the others! She's different! Isn't that what you were going to say?" Max scoffed.

"I don't want to have this conversation right now." Mick turned back to the crowd.

"Listen to me for your own good Mick, she is different. Different for a bad reason."

"What do you even mean?"

"She's cruel, she's manipulative and selfish."

"How can you gauge so much about her?"

"I've known her since I was a kid, she's working for Raymond now and she's the same. In fact worse than what she was."

"I don't believe you." Mick laughed.

"You don't have to, but don't do something you'll regret." Max walked away.

He thought about what he had just said, had he been too harsh? Was he the one being evil and manipulative right now? It didn't matter. He was looking out for Mick, keeping Kalki's threat far far away.

Max couldn't understand why people couldn't look past her innocent looking Doe eyes, she was not what she looked like. Why did people not think she was capable of being a horrible person? How could they fall for this artificial persona she had created for herself?

He headed to his garage, ran some final checks with his engineers and mechanics, and it was time to buckle up. He drove to the exit of the pit lane, the team arrived with the things they'd need. It was time to take their places on the grid, start with the formation lap. Charles was on Pole and Carlos was right behind, it was going to be a difficult race if he wanted to win. Easy if he just wanted to keep his spot.

Only a fool would want to just keep their place, Max was going to go in, he was going to go in for the win. He told himself that, the lights went out and he accelerated, quick. A good start, going into turn one followed by turn two there was barely any space between him and Carlos, he was in attacking distance.

But Carlos was quick, he was ready to defend. "We'll get them soon Max, don't push too much." His engineer said over the radio.

"Okay." Max confirmed. He knew he had to be careful, calculate about what he was going to do. He didn't want to accept it but it had happen, the team had compromised this year's car to boost his chances last year.

He wanted to win, he wanted to humiliate Charles in front of the crowd that was rooting for him. Sure, Max did win the Grand Prix at Netherlands but Charles still having the upper hand didn't sit right. It wasn't a childish whim to him, Max needed to win.

"Please tell me when I can push. I am feeling very confident about getting the job done." Max said.

"Do the tyres feel good?" His engineer asked.

"They feel great, I can definitely go longer." Max replied positively.

"Go for it Max." He heard with static in the background.

"Copy." Max smirked, switching gears with a flick of his fingers.

There was no looking back, he was on the hunt. He just had to pressure Carlos into making mistakes, with that Charles's first line of defence would fall. Max was making progress, he had managed to close the gap, pushed Carlos wide at least twice. His tyres were blistering.

"Are we in the position to pull off an undercut?" He asked.

"Yes. I confirm Max, box this lap." The engineer replied. "Box, Box."

The crew made it possible, he was out of the pit lane, ahead of Carlos. One step closer to snatching glory away from Charles, one step closer to leading the championship again. But the problem with Charles was, as much as he didn't want to admit it to himself, was that they had a similar mindset.

When a win was up for grabs, just getting some points didn't matter- it was all or nothing. Max was getting frustrated, there were too many moments where the two cars would get close, he'd almost overtake him but Charles would regain the lead effortlessly.

And that's when things started going downhill, they made contact, it wasn't anything too major. But he ended up in the gravel, having to try and get back all the places he had just climbed up. He was mad, furious at Charles, furious at himself. Why was this proving to be harder than it was supposed to be?

Max had a one track mind, while it was his greatest strength it was also his worst enemy. He made a mistake, a mistake that costed him his race, spun his car into the barrier. He was shaken, the impact had destroyed his car but he was okay- that's what he told his engineer.

He took a minute to compose himself before hopping out of the car, picking up his legs to move but he felt like he was about to collapse. Marshall's rushed to his side and drove him to the medical centre.

"I'm fine! There's no need to make such a big fuss." He shrugged.

"You know the procedure, you have to be examined by a doctor first and then we decide the next steps." A Marshall answered him.

When they reached the medical centre, some members of the team were already here. But one face in particular stood out to him, her eyes were tear stained and she was trying very hard to play it off like she wasn't bothered at all.

"We'll need someone from the team here." The medic said.

"Right here." Kalki said.

They led Max into the structure, ran a few tests, everything seemed fine but the impact of it was what worried them, they decided to keep him under observation. Max lay on the bed of the clinic, watching what was unfolding at the track on TV.

Someone knocked at the door, he let them know they could come in. Kalki walked in, eyes still red from either crying or holding back tears.

"Were you crying?" He laughed.

"Of course I was!" She burst into tears, "Do you have any idea about how scary that was?"

"I was in the car, so I would say yes. I did know how scary that was."

She was showing no signs of stopping the tears, clearly, she didn't want to be crying but she couldn't put up a fight against them either.

"Why are you crying?" He looked at her.

"I'm- I" She blubbered.

"I'm fine! See look at me, I've even given you a smart mouth answer." He smiled, hoping it would calm her down.

"Are you feeling better?" She asked taking a seat on the chair by the bed.

"Apart from a sprained wrist I'm all good."

"Really?" She looked at him, wiping her tears away.

"Really! I don't know why they won't let me go." He shook his head.

"You're so strange." She said.

"I wasn't the one ugly crying in front of thirty people so... that's debatable." He joked.

"Stop making this about me! It's about you!" She frowned.

"Answer just one thing for me before you leave, why did you cry? It's not like I really matter to you." He said.

"We may not be friends, but I certainly wouldn't want to see you get hurt." She said. "I'll let you rest now." She left the room.

Max scoffed, she still couldn't bring herself to say it. She cared. He knew in his heart that he didn't want to hear that either, she was always cold and unreadable. Fear, sadness, all of that made her a little too human. It made her uncomfortable.