Meet you in Monaco [F1 - Pierre Gasly / Charles Leclerc / George Russell]

Chapter 21

Isla was shocked to see Charles standing in front of her. She nodded and asked him to follow her to her apartment. Isla opened the door and dropped her suitcase in the living room and led Charles out onto the balcony and sat in one of two of the patio chairs.

Isla cleared her throat and took a deep breath. She looked at his bandaged hand. "Want to start there?" She asked as she pointed to his hand.

"I'd rather not," He said as he sat perched at the edge of his seat. He looked at Isla "I want to clear the air"

"I thought we already did that?" Isla said confused

"I didn't like the way it ended" He said

"You didn't like the fact that I said I needed space?" She clarified

"I tried giving you space, but honestly Isla, I can't stop thinking about you" Charles admitted looking intently at Isla.

"Charles, I appreciate what you said, it is very sweet of you, I just can't get past the fact that I'm technically your rebound from Charlotte. I don't know if this will last" She said

"How can I prove that I really care about you? That I really care about us?" He asked, sounding a bit desperate.

Isla sat back in her chair and thought about what Charles asked. She inhaled and looked in his eyes and saw that he was being quite genuine. "Can we take things slow as friends first, not pretending to hate each other, being civil at the paddock. Just keeping any romance private from the other drivers. I would like to see you outside of the paddock and not have to worry about being seen together, without people wondering why the two drivers who hate each other are out in public together." She said wanting nothing more than to kiss him, but she knew if she really wanted something with Charles she would need to slow it down.

Charles listened intently and a smile slowly spread across his face "I can agree to that under one condition" He stood up and took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply then pulled away. "The starting slowly starts now" He winked and smiled.

Isla returned his smile and caught her breath. "I like the sound of that," She said.

They both sat down in their seats again, "So how do we do this?" Charles asked.

Isla thought for a moment "I think we just need to start spending time together at the paddock with other drivers. That may be the best plan of action" She suggested

"That's a good idea,"  He said. "We can start slow next weekend in Bahrain for the final weekend of testing"

Isla nodded. "But feel free to keep in contact with me." she smiled.

"I should get going" He said standing up

"Not quite yet" She said "You haven't explained that" She motioned towards his hand

Oh, he stepped back and looked at his hand "I may have had a conversation with George last night" he said looking down at his feet

"A conversation?" Isla said skeptically

"Well in his state, it wasn't much of a conversation. He got more of a talking to" Charles clarified

"With your fist?" She half laughed

"Maybe, It may have found its way to Georges face or nose" He chuckled

"Why?" She asked

"Pierre and I overheard everything, my blood was boiling when I kept hearing you say no, Pierre was getting angry too, he told me to intercept George and He would get you" He explained further

"Oh, wow" Isla said shocked.

"I probably shouldn't have punched him, I was just very angry to hear all of that going on" he said