Something Gained

Chapter Thirty-Eight

We sat quietly in the corner until I was ready to go back inside, Liam pulled me in for a cuddle again. He then pulled away and put his hands on my face and wiped my tears.
"What's going on?" I heard that all too familiar Australian accent, the one that made my heart race. Liams hands dropped from my face
"Nothing I'm okay"
"You've been crying, why are you out here with Liam?" He gave Liam such a dodgy look
"Nothing it's okay, Liam was just helping me out" I said. Daniel was still looking between Liam and I. Why?
"I'll just go" Liam said, he gave me a hug and whispered in me ear, "tell him"

Liam left and I held out my hand to Daniel to sit down. He ignored me hand and sat opposite me on the other side of the table. My hand dropped and I looked down at my lap.
"Getting a bit cosy with Liam?" He said, his voice was low and cold. Something I've never heard from him before and it scared me. My head snapped up to look at him and he was staring at me, those beautiful brown eyes were staring at me, and not in a nice way
"What?" I asked
"He had his hands on your face, you were hugging him" he said, sharply
"No no no" I said shaking me head. I got up and went and sat next to him, our backs to the crowds of people. "Absolutely not" I took his hand, he tried to pull away so I put my hand in his hair, like I knew how he liked it, I turned his face to his. "There is not a single person on this earth that I will ever want more than you, no one I would rather be with, no one I would feel safer with, no one I would love more than you" his eyes softened for a second before he turned his head away from me again, he took my hand from his head and put it on my lap
"God damn it Ricciardo, you want to be stubborn fine" I stood up quickly before pulling me dress up a little and sitting on his lap facing him, my knees either side of him kneeling on the sofa, I put my hands on his face and titled his chin up to me, I connected our lips and kissed him so passionately, I slipped my tongue over his bottom lip and he opened his mouth for me to explore more. It was like I could literally feel him melt, the tension and annoyance, any anger or sadness, just left. I pulled away
"Something happened. Liam knows about it and helped, he sat with me to calm me down. His hands were on my face to wipe away the tears so I could look like I hadn't been crying, so I could come and see you and not ruin one of the best days of your life. I swear" I spoke softly, his arms snaking around my waist, pulling me close.
"I don't want you to find someone else. It would break me" he said looking down, I tilted his head back up to mine
"There's no one else that would ever come close" I said, he kissed me. But he didn't forget, he then asked me what happened. So I told him, what had just unfolded in the bar, what happened in LA, which is why Liam was out here with me.
"Where is this guy?" He said, I could hear the anger
"He's gone, don't. I need you here with me. I feel safe when you're here" I said, his eyes locked with mine and once again, the anger left him
"Let's just go and enjoy ourselves and this amazing day" I said, he nodded
"I better go and give Liam a thanks, for protecting you" I nodded and got up off of his lap, he took my hand. "Do you like this dress by the way?" He asked
"Well yeah" I said
"Then I'll have to buy you a new one" he stated
"Why?" I quizzed
"Because I'm quite literally going to rip it off of you" he said calmly before leading me inside. I was in shock, the words and then the way he just said it as if he had just said hello to someone. My knees were weak.

We flew back to the UK the next morning to McLaren HQ to bring the trophies home, we also had to work but we weren't thinking about that. We were just basking in the glory.
The team lined up along the water outside the building, there was hundreds of us, as Daniel and Lando got into two McLaren cars and drove their trophies round in a mini lap of honour, we all cheered and clapped. I don't think this feeling will die down for a long long time.
We all made our way to the field where they had a proper presentation ready. Daniel come up beside me and took my hand.
"This is the second best thing I've ever won" he said
"Oh yeah, what's the first"
"You" he as he looked at me. I couldn't help but smile. He swung his hands between us while he kept hold of his trophy.

We did the presentation and then headed inside. They had some bits and pieces to do before they started training and speaking to engineers, so they filmed those bits and then I made my way back to the hotel on my own while they stayed at HQ.

I got in my room and laid on my bed and took out my phone. So much had happened that I had literally just been on my work phone and that was it. I was on Twitter which was filled with so much about the win which was great. And some minor comments, thankfully nothing horrible as that's what my main concern was.

I think this confirms it, Daniel Ricciardo celebrates Monza win with girlfriend and PR manager, Alex

I clicked on the news report and the picture was of me and Daniel where he had picked me up and kissing right after his win. It looked like a good picture, I chuckled to myself, I read the report and then gasped.

After the brilliant one two for McLaren in Monza, Daniel posted the picture to his Instagram, which is confirmation enough that Alex and Daniel are together.

I went onto his Instagram and sure enough there it was, he had posted his race win on a few different posts and then next was that picture. Us kissing, my arms around his neck, my legs around his waist and his arms around me. Caption; 🧡🧡🧡