Something Gained

Chapter Sixty-Five

We landed in Qatar and I was so tired. But we had to get to the hotel and then I had to go back out with Lando to do his Netflix interviews. I had slept the rest of the plane journey but it was now evening and it was confusing me, I was the same last year when we came here, it's one race that knocks me out. I yawned as we got in the car, Lando sitting next to me. He smiled at me and tapped his shoulder, I laid my head on it and that was enough, I was out for the count.

"Alex" I heard my name being called, I sat up and opened my eyes, my neck stiff. Lando was trying to wake me up "we're here" he said, I got out the car grabbing my bags on the way and walked into the hotel.
"Hello, I've got 4 rooms for Alex Walker" I said to the receptionist at the front desk, she smiled and tapped into her computer
"Yes, you're on the 14th floor, rooms 1412 to 1415. Elevator is at the end of the hall to the right, restaurant is to the left, breakfast served 6am to 10:30am, dinner 6pm to 10:30pm. Your keys are in the envelope, have you got any cars that will require the valet service?" She asked
"No cars, thank you very much" I said as I took the keys from her
"Have a nice stay with us at the Hilton" she said smiling. I turned and walked towards the guys who were congregating. I held out the cards to them and they all grabbed one
"Dinner tonight?" Michael asked
"Lando and I will be going out soon, we can join you when we're back?" I asked, facing Lando. He nodded
"We can just eat here?" Jon said, we all nodded and I pressed the button for the lift.

I walked into mine and Daniels room and put my suitcase on the bed, pulling out my work stuff and hanging it up, apart from one of my McLaren tops which I would be wearing. I switched my tracksuit bottoms for my jeans and put the vans Daniel got me on. Daniel was laying on the bed.
"For the first time ever, I do not want to go back out and work" I said flopping down on the bed
"I wish you didn't have to go either" he said pulling me up to him and cuddling me. I smiled and snuggled into him. "When do you have to go?" He asked. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket
"5 minutes" I said to him, he groaned
"But then when it's done it's dinner! And tomorrow is not a big day really, a few bits and pieces so more chilled out" I said to him. I looked up and he nodded.

I got into the car with Lando as our driver started the journey. Lando was chatting away, apparently tiredness was not a thing for him. I perked up little because I had a job to do, it wouldn't take too long hopefully.
"How's Luisinha?" I asked him, he talked about her all the time
"She's good! Can't wait to get back and see her, she's coming to England while we're working"
"Oh that's lovely, I hope she's equipped for the potential cold and horrible weather" I said to him making him laugh
"Hopefully. What's the agenda for this week then?" He asked
"You've got some lots of signing, some bits for YouTube and general media duties. Not a whole bunch. Michael and Jon have planned in quite a bit of training with you guys" he nodded and we arrived at the hotel to do his Netflix interviews.

A little while later we arrived back at our hotel. Daniel had already text to say they're sitting down for dinner so Lando and I walked straight into the restaurant to find them. Daniel, Michael and Jon had a table in the far corner, they waved us over and we sat at the round booth table. They already had drinks waiting for us. My phone buzzed on the table and I picked it up and saw Hannah's name on the screen.

"We're free in the morning, want to go and get brunch or something?"

I typed out my response which was yes, and put my phone back down. Daniel put his hand on my leg and gave it a squeeze. I looked up and smiled at him.
"So did you hear the news Alex?" Michael asked, I looked towards him
"What news?" I asked
"Daniels on the cover for The Times Magazine" Michael said. I didn't know about this. I only covered Daniel and Lando's media and commitments when it was related to McLaren. Anything outside of work someone else looked after so any shoots, magazines, talk shows that were unrelated I didn't know about unless they told me.
"Oh wow, well done" I said to him. There was a saltiness to my words that I didn't meant to add
"We've just found out" Daniel said, as if picking up on my tone
"Congratulations mate" Lando said, they high-fived each other behind me
"Yeah, definitely. It'll be so good" I said to him smiling, I was only salty because I didn't know, but if it's he's just found out then I can't really complain so I let it go. He squeezed my leg again and we got on with dinner before all heading to bed to get some sleep. I walked into mine and Daniels room with him in front of me. I closed the door and dropped my bag to the floor.

"You're not mad are you?" Daniel asked walking towards me
"Mad? No no, not at all. I just didn't know that's all, I thought it would be something you would share"
"I literally got the email before you walked in with Lando" he said
"So it's fine. I'm not mad at all, I meant it, well done" I said to him, he smiled and kissed my forehead.
"I'm going to go for a shower and then go to bed I think" I said to him, he nodded and went to make a drink. I pulled off my McLaren top and dropped it to the floor as I locked eyes with him. "Feel free to join" I said messing about. He smirked and came back over to me and picked me up which made me giggle. I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him gently as he walked towards the bathroom.