barely legal | max verstappen ✓

chapter 4 | better sorry than safe

«Are you pulling her from a burning building or throwing her to the sharks? Can only hope that the ending is as pleasurable as the start.»

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Vivianne went through a few documents, occasionally scrolling on her iPad or pushing her glasses up with a pen. Sloane just looked at her with attention from across the table. When she started taking the whole modelling thing seriously, Vivianne had been hired to manage and help her with everything. At this point, they could call themselves friends, although she knew she was the one giving Vivianne a few headaches here and there. The woman was nice, she cared for her and tried to make sure Sloane didn't end up doing everything wrong, and most of the time her efforts were fruitful. Keywords: most of the time. Vivianne knew the circumstances with her were a little different compared to other girls. Perhaps due to her family name, and her own personal connections, she was a bit more involved than maybe some girls who just wanted to get their pictures taken and do some fashion shows.

Sloane did feel for making Vivianne's life more complicated sometimes. Like she was about to do at that exact moment.

"So," She started, fiddling with her hands over the table. Vivianne stopped going through her papers and looked at her over the rim of her glasses. Expectant. "I need to tell you something."

The woman straightened in her seat and took her glasses off. Her face twisted into something similar to mistrust. "What did you do this time?" Her voice sounded tired, and there was a sigh being deprived somewhere there.

She dared to look offended at the reaction. Or pretend to. "I haven't done anything!" No 'I didn't do anything' because she was yet to increase the impact of the stress. Vivianne motioned with her hand for her to continue. "So...I will be attending the next Formula 1 race. Just a heads up." Sloane smiled sweetly. Vivianne's face fell.

No words came from her before she returned to impatiently check her iPad as if searching for something that indicated Sloane had to be at the next race, and clearly, there was nothing there. Vivianne looked at Sloane again, she was still smiling, this time more apologetically than anything else. Sighing deeply, her manager turned her expression into a glare. Sloane started playing with the rings on her fingers.

"There's nothing scheduled for you to be at the next race. I'm confused and quite unsure of what this means, to be honest." She did like Vivianne a lot. The woman was just doing her job, which didn't include babysitting her.

"Yeah, it's not any sponsor thing or something like that." Sloane bit the inside of her cheek. "I'm going to see my boyfriend." The words were out and it seemed like Vivianne was processing whether she heard that correctly or not.

Like if she'd said boyfriend or boy-friend. "I don't—you broke up with Charles last year, no? He's dating Aurora—"

"It's not Charles." Sloane cut her off before she continued recalling the whole story. She didn't need to have the retell every time someone mentioned the Ferrari driver. Really.

Vivianned massaged her temples for a second or two, then looked at her with stealthy eyes. "Sloane." That was the warning tone. The one that indicated she was not up for another scandal. Or to give her emotional support after a breakup. "Since when do you have a boyfriend? You didn't tell me anything! And who even is it? Is it another driver? Why would you—" Then she sighed again. "Sloane."

She gestured with her hands for Vivianne to calm down. "It's been a private thing for a couple of months now. We didn't want anyone to know because of different circumstances." Her manager knew her enough and it had to make sense, somehow. It wasn't like her past relationships had been plastered everywhere. People knew, but she wasn't posting pictures of her and her boyfriends with each other's tongues down their throats to make it obvious. Especially with Charles.