Something Gained

Chapter Thirteen

I walked down the hallway towards Daniel and Lando's rooms, they were a little further away this time than usual. I walked down the silent corridor until I was tapped on the shoulder. I screamed and jumped so hard I nearly hit the roof. It was Michael and he was in stitches with laughter at my reaction.

"That's really not funny" I said scowling at him. Doors flung open and I saw Lando, Jon and Daniel come running out. Michael was nearly on the floor laughing at this point
"What happened? Are you okay?" Daniel came running up to me
"No. You're friend here likes to come out of nowhere" I replied pointing at Michael
"Oh is that it?"
"Is that it? Is that-" I stopped talking and walked past Daniel
"You're not really mad are you?" Michael said between laughs
"I will be if you don't stop laughing at me. I'll get you back for this" I warned
"Oh you really don't wanna mess with her" Lando laughed
"Game on Alex" Michael laughed. I shook my head and walked to Lando. He slung his arm round my shoulders and we walked down the corridor to the stairs and the boys followed. I could still hear Michael's chuckles the whole way, I just continued to scowl at him

Over dinner we went though the schedule for tomorrow, the media we had planned and then all the training and testing we had to do. I knew I needed to talk to Lando as well so I was going to get him on his own in his room or mine to speak. But then I also needed to probably speak to Daniel about it, and then potentially Zak, but I also had to plan my revenge on Michael, there was no way he would get away with that. I excused myself and went to the toilet towards the end of dinner and text Lando;

"I need to speak to you later" I sent the text and then waited for a response while I was in the bathroom
"Yeah of course, come back to my room after dinner"

As we all got out of the lift and said our goodbyes until the morning, I linked arms with Lando and walked back to his room with him. Daniel's room was right opposite and he gave me a shady look before disappearing into his own room, I walked into Lando's room and went and slumped on the bed.

"Lands, I've done something" I stated. He laid down on his bed next to me but his feet were by my head and I just stared at the ceiling.
"Does this have something to do with Dan" I sat bolt upright and looked at him
"Why? What do you know?" I quizzed
"I'm not an idiot, you were just in LA, I know where he lives and where you do, you took the same flight there and back here, and he keeps looking at you and I can't quite put my finger on it" I sighed
"Right Im gonna tell you everything as I don't want to keep anything from you and it's killing me that I have and i think it's fair if you know, but I don't want it to change anything" he nodded and I took a deep breath. "We went on a walk back in Bahrain and had this weird moment where we nearly kissed, and I felt like he was getting under my skin, in such a weird way. And then on the night after the race I went to see him in his room and we were talking for ages and then one thing led to another and.." Lando raised his eyebrows but motioned for me to continue, "and yeah, so we kinda slept together, and that was when you said you came knocking for me, that's where I was and it was awkward because I ducked out before he woke up which made it worse and then we talked and we kissed and then it was awkward again and he obviously took the same flight as me to LA, and he took me home on his way home, and I was feeling down so messaged him and he came to my place and laid with me and watched a movie and then stayed in my bed and we spent the week chilling out or going out, he took me out as well to the beach and then we kissed again on the beach and then on the flight home we were kind of cuddled up together the whole time and I'm just so lost because I think I really like him but I don't know if he likes me or what it means, but he's your teammate and I'm your PR manager, like I keep you guys on track.. well not the track, you guys do that but you know what I mean and I'm just so worried and I don't want to lose my job and he's said I won't but he can't promise that and I don't want you to be mad at me and-"
"Alex stop. You ramble when you're anxious" he said, I laid back down with a thump on the bed and sighed, "let me process this"

I laid on his bed for ages staring at the ceiling, I huffed and got up and walked to his balcony door. The sun was setting and I just sat and watched it go down over the country. He'd been silent for a full 10 minutes. Okay it wasn't 10 minutes, it felt like was like an hour!

"Listen, whatever you did, or will do is none of my business. I don't care what happens. I just know that as long as it doesn't affect us or the job you already do, which obviously it's not if you're still doing the same things with all this going on, then we're good. He's right, you're not going to lose your job, I won't let it and by the sounds of it neither will he. However, you need to be straight up and not mess about here, the smallest of things can mess with his head and if he's getting into a car racing 200mph every other week, he doesn't need the worry or distraction" I nodded as Lando continued, "we've been friends since the day you first started, you've been there for every practise, test, race, every appearance, and I only want you to be happy and continue this journey with you. I haven't worked with Daniel this closely before, but I've seen him race and I've spoken with him enough round the paddock while he was at Renault. He's a funny guy, he is talented and a great teammate, I think you need to speak to him and stop worrying about what may or may not happen"
"I just don't want you to think I'm leaning more to one side here"
"I don't and I won't. You're a professional at this job, I've seen it, and you will continue to be and we will continue to be friends. Just breathe and live in the moment. You always say how grateful you are for this job and for what you have now, so enjoy it"

He was so totally right, and I think I really liked Daniel and I knew I could still do my job, it was important to me, and I knew I had to talk with him and lay everything out on the table. Lando and I chatted for a bit longer about light hearted things until the sun completely disappeared and it started to get dark. I got up and hugged Lando, said goodnight and left him to it. I walked straight to Daniels room and knocked on the door, no answer.. I knocked again, no answer.
Fine, I'll wait and so I did. I sat outside his door leaning against the wall waiting for him to come back.

Daniel

After dinner, Michael and I went for a walk/run to clear our heads, travelling always made me feel tense. We walked up the stairs of our hotel and down the hallway, Michael went into his room and I said goodnight and walked round the corner to my room. There she was. Sitting outside my room. She looked up and saw me and smiled, that smile. The one that made me feel weak, and I never felt weak.

"Hi" she whispered. She held out her hand and I took it to pull her up, before I had time to react she kissed me. Fireworks went off in my head. This never got old with her. She was really kissing me. I got my key card out of my pocket and swiped it at the door, still kissing her, this was getting a bit fast and heated. We walked in still kissing as the door shut behind me, I threw my phone and my key card on the side and chucked my hat somewhere I couldn't tell you. This was a little out of the blue and the first proper intense session we'd had since the first time, but I was just too caught up and involved in the moment and all I wanted was her. My hands explored her whole body, hers did the same. My skin tingled everywhere she touched, like electric shocks, I gently pushed her against the wall next to the bed and kissed down her neck and along her collarbone, I knew exactly where to kiss her or bite her. Her hands fumbled with the bottom of my T shirt as she pulled it off over my head. This girl drove me crazy I couldn't put it into words.

I pulled of her clothes and she pulled of the remainder of mine, it all happened so fast it was a surprise we had made it into the room. She had her hands in my hair pulling me in closer to her, I loved it when she did that. She bit my bottom lip which made me groan, both are mouths open we explored each other, neither of us able to get enough it seemed. This girl was just something else, I thought about her day and night, and when she was near I couldn't ever seem to have enough.