Hardest Love

13.

"Okay Netflix girl, where are your cameras?" Max laughed as soon as he saw me.
"Oh, I thought you wanted to hang out with me but I guess you only wanted my cameras?" I tried to act offended. I knew he was just joking around, he would kill me if I actually brought my crew with me. "I am just joking, I am glad you agreed to do something with me" he looked at the bar I told him to meet me.
He looked confused. "Are we gonna drink? You know it's raceday tomorrow" I rolled my eyes as I pulled him with me.
"We're gonna ride a bull" I said enthusiastically as I pointed at the bull.
No one would be better to do this with than the bull himself.

We actually had a lot of fun together. We rode the bull a couple of times and needless to say, he was brilliant at it.
"You can ride a bull pretty well" I said as we both sat down at the bar. "You were actually pretty good too, do you have some experience?" He laughed. I shook my head. "First time but probably not the last time. I like the bulls" I nudged him but I noticed how wrong that sounded.
I don't think he really noticed it because he didn't really reply.

"How is Kelly? I haven't seen her around this weekend" I quickly changed the subject. I met Kelly during another race weekend and I actually liked her a lot. "No, she's not here. We decided we needed a little break" he said as he looked at the glass in his hand. Fuck, I didn't know that. "I am sorry Max. I didn't know. I hope it will be all fine" I put my hand on his arm. I liked them together, they're cute together.
"What's going on between Lando and you?" He asked all of a sudden. I was caught off guard. I didn't expect him to ask that at all. "What do you mean?" I tried to buy some time. Maybe Lando told him something but if he didn't then I could just lie.
"You're hanging out together all the time, people saw him leaving your room" he started explaining. Okay I guess we weren't really sneaky. "People talk a lot you know" he continued. I bit my lip, should I lie?
There was no reason to lie, he was honest with me too. "Fine, we are messing around but we're just friends" I explained and he nodded. "Friends with benefits" he summarized. "Be careful with that" he said. What did he mean by that? Maybe he was right, it wasn't really smart to mess around. It was literally in my contract that I wasn't allowed romantic relationships with drivers, teambosses or anyone involved with the teams.
But this wasn't romantically at all. This was just for fun.

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I made sure to be on time today. I couldn't be late or Scott would actually kill me.
Lando walked in the paddock, he had his paddock pass in one hand and his phone in the other.
He was on the phone with someone, someone he liked. I could see that because he had that smile on his face.
He waved quickly at me before walking in his hospitality.

I just walked to the room where we did the interviews. Charles wasn't here yet so I was still on time. I quickly set everything up as I saw him walking in with his PR manager.
"Good morning Charles, I'm so happy you made time for us" I said with a smile on my face. He just shrugged it off as if it wasn't a big deal.
"So Charles, congratulations on your first win back in Bahrain. How are you feeling for today?" I tried to ignore how handsome he was looking right now. Red definitely was his color.
"The car is quick and I definitely think we can be competitive in this race" his French accent was strong and it was the cutest thing ever.
He talked some more about Ferrari and how he trusted them, his long contract with them and his teammate Carlos. I could see that they have a great relationship.

I walked to him at the end of the interview. "Thank you so much Charles. You definitely saved my life here" I don't know how many times I actually thanked him but it was the truth.
I didn't want to explain to my bosses why we didn't interview him. "It's totally fine. You owe me one" he said with a smile. I looked at the ground. Why was I being so awkward around him? I actually felt my cheeks turn red.
"Good luck today" I said quickly. He winked at me as he walked out.

Scott was looking at me with a smirk on his face. I frowned as I looked at him. "What?" I asked and he pointed at me. "Can you get even more red?" He laughed as he helped me to put everything away.
I probably couldn't get more red by now, he was just so charming. I couldn't explain.

But I still couldn't stop thinking about Lando. What did he do last night? He said he needed me but why?
For sex? Or was something actually bothering him?
And who was he on the phone with? It was definitely someone he liked and that person actually put a smile on his face.
Fuck, why was I so bothered about this?