Under the Microscope (Book One of Three)

Chapter 8

"JC is right, you're never allowed to drive me ever again," Olivia says as she stumbles out of the car.

"Wow, I think that's the fastest I've ever seen you move!" I joke, as I follow her lead and get out of the car, giving the keys to the valet, and thanking them as I take the ticket.

"You're so dangerous!" She says loudly. I glare at her.

"Not dangerous, just fast!" I say insistently, her look of disbelief back at me lets me know that she doesn't agree. "Most people would be boasting about being driven home by a formula one driver" I mutter loud enough for her to hear, and she laughs in response as we walk up the steps to the hotel. It's way too lavish for my taste, but Saudi Arabia doesn't really do anything half-assed, especially not formula one in Saudi Arabia. "I'm just gonna go straight to JC," I say to Olivia when we're in the elevator up to our rooms.

"Oh, I forgot to say, I did as you asked earlier and asked the team doctor to check in on her. She's full on got the flu, tested negative for covid though." She informs me. I sigh.

"Well fuck." I can't go see her now. I can't risk getting ill. I pick up my phone and send her a quick message telling her to get better soon and letting her know that I promise I will stick to my routine perfectly. It's only like three seconds later when I get a message back from her apologising. I responded by letting her know it was okay and asking if there was anything I can get for her before switching off my phone and stepping out the elevator with Olivia still at my side. "Any chance you fancy being my gym buddy?" I ask her, trying my best puppy dog eyes.

"I'll be your dinner buddy?" she offers me instead and I sigh and nod. "8?" I nod again, sending her one last hopeful glance and she smiles apologetically as she walks into her hotel room.

The good thing about JC, I think to myself as I open the door to my room, is that she's obsessed with putting everything on the cloud. So, I have every single detail I could ever want to know about my fitness on an app on my phone. I quickly change out of my clothes and into some workout gear, throwing my hair up in a ponytail and grabbing my beats headphones, team water bottle and key card. Whistling to myself as I leave the room and headed into the elevator to get to the hotel gym.

A lot of the teams were staying in the hotel, but I was hoping that I was one of the first back to the hotel today so no one else would really be around. The elevator doors opened directly into the gym, and I saw that my wish was confirmed. There was only one other person in the modern and rather well-equipped hotel gym, and they weren't a driver or a member of my crew, so I didn't need to go and say hello. I shot the man a smile when he looked up, which he returned before I went over to the other side of the gym and sat down on the mats.

It wasn't long until I began my mobility stretches and ab routine, easing myself into the workout but training hard because I knew that my stupid fitness watch was going to snitch on me to JC if I didn't. Either I was too engrossed in what I was doing, or my music was too loud because I didn't notice that the gym was a lot busier by the time, I finished that and headed to one of the squat racks. I looked around in confusion before recognising that some of them were the DTS filming crew. I groaned but then quickly realised that they weren't filming me. They were filming the guy that had been in the room when I first walked in, or more specifically, the Dutch driver he was training. I swore under my breath, what were the chances? I could not escape this guy. As I tried to get my head focused again, Max's trainer caught my eye and motioned for me to come over. I shook my head smiling politely and looked back at the barbell I was loading for my squats. When I next looked up, he stood right in front of me on the other side of the barbell, gesturing with his hands for me to take my headphones off.