Chapter 15.

1.9K 37 7
                                    

In this part is a small appearance of Marcus-that's Ally's ex-boyfriend....just to clarify.

Charles POV
My head has been pretty busy the last few hours. And it's all because of Mia.
After the race and all the media duties, I packed up and ran straight to the airport. I didn't care what anyone thought, but I was going straight to Paris.
I texted her that I'd go for her. I have to explain everything to her.
I still haven't figured out how I'm gonna work things out with Madie, but I don't care. I know it has to end because I know I can't be without Mia.
I know she feels the same way, she wants me as much as I want her, I can tell by the night we spent together. I felt so very much alive after so long.

She's afraid I'll hurt her again, but I never will. And I have to convince her of that. I have to convince her that I'm the one for her. 

"I'm sorry, but what are you doing?" Madie stood in the doorway and folded her arms across her chest.
"I'm going away..." I said with no emotion whatsoever.
"What, where?" she was curious.
"It's none of your business..." I was a little irritated by her questions.
"It's a lot of my business...we had some events together Charles, I don't need to remind you what's in our agreement." Madie was getting annoyed.
"I've been trying to explain to you for days that this has to end...I believe we could work something out... "I tried to keep calm.
"End what? our deal?" she grinned.
"I'm not just doing this for me, this whole thing was mostly for you. I guess you forgot how much I helped you..." She rolled her eyes.
"I haven't forgotten..." I ground out between my teeth..."-and I'd appreciate if you didn't use it against me." She was starting to piss me off.
"You know what, go after her, but there's going to be a follow up to this conversation." She turned and slammed the door. She's going to be harder to deal with than I thought. I need to talk to Lina, my assistant, about this.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I thought it was Mia texting me.
But it was just a notification.
Madie posted another picture of us together. The Internet loved us....It's gonna be hard to end this nonsense.

I quickly read the comments

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

I quickly read the comments...

Unknown: thanks to you I believe in love
Unknown: king and queen of the paddock
Unknown: I want what you two have one day
.......
........
........


If only people knew how much I drag them around. If it were up to me I wouldn't post any pictures of us and I would try to have a private relationship but Madie didn't agree to that. She said if we're gonna do this, we have to go all the way. 

MIA POV
What does he mean we need to talk. He can't give me some space. He's torturing me. I don't want to see him again. I want us to be over, and for good.

Ally eventually extended her time off and stayed with Carlos for a while. I was still surprised at how much the two of them got along.

The next day, I wasn't feeling well, so I arranged with my boss to take work from home.

I liked my job in the beginning, but as time goes on, it's getting really annoying.
Ally has her own business and makes all her own decisions, she wanted to bring me on board but I didn't want work to interfere with our friendship. Looking back on it, I regret it a lot.
Maybe I'd take that decision back.

I was getting hungry, so I decided to pop into town for something.

I love Paris, I love the city, the atmosphere, the people, it's one of my favorite cities right after Monaco. How much I miss it...I still have my aunt there who I grew up with, but I haven't visited her for ages. I sighed as I remembered my days back then in Monaco.

I went to get takeout at my favorite place not far from my apartment. I'm a regular, so Helen behind the counter knows exactly what I'm getting.

"Hello, beautiful..." I heard behind me...
"Oh my God, not you..." I was frustrated. What is he doing here?
"What do you want here Marcus?" I turned back the other way from him.
"What do you think? I went out for lunch." He grinned.
"Great. We don't have to talk though..." I opened my phone and started pretending I was doing something.
"Why are you so closed off to me...I thought we were friends.." He leaned towards me.
"Your order sweetheart.." Helen saved me.
"Merci Helen..." I smiled thankfully at her and quickly headed for the door.

"Hey not so fast..." he ran after me..."-what are you doing later?"
"Nothing related to you..." I replied, trying not to pay any attention to him.
"Ouch, why are you pretending to be so unapproachable? Is it because of your new boyfriend?" A smirk appeared on his face.
"Who? I don't have a boyfriend." I shook my head.
"Okay, so I don't understand why you don't want to hang out with me..." He got in my way so I couldn't keep going.
"I'm not going out with you because you're an asshole, Marcus. " jesus his ego is really unbearable.

"You're adorable when you swear." he chuckled and ran his thumb over my cheek...."-and I thought you didn't have a boyfriend....so what's he doing here? "his voice was deeper than before as his gaze trailed behind me.
I quickly turned around to see who he was talking about....Charles.
He really came... just like he said he would. He was standing at the front door of my apartment, just a few steps from us. He looked like he'd gone straight from the track to the plane. The exhaustion was clear on him, but the expression on his face was unreadable.

I turned back to Marcus.. "he's not my boyfriend....and you should go." I gave him a serious look.
"Hey man...good to see you again.." he yelled at Charles, he smiled and winked at me and walked away.
Charles of course didn't answer just gave him a sarcastic smile. I sighed and walked out to meet him.
"Hi..." I waited for some sort of response from him but he didn't say anything so I continued..."-why are you here?"

"What are you doing here with him?" he answered my question with a question of his own.
"I was just getting lunch..." I held up my order in the air and waved it in front of his face.
"I don't like this guy..." He was wearing sunglasses, but you could still see his eyes scowl underneath them.
"Don't worry, that makes two of us..." I tried to lighten the mood.
"Congratulations again.... you and Carlos were unstoppable.." I smiled kindly at him.
"We had a good weekend, after all.." finally I could see that he had relaxed a little.
"Why are you here Charles?" I repeated my question again.
"I don't even know myself, all I knew was I had to see you..." He gently took my hand and looked into my eyes.
"What about Madie, does she know you're here with me now...?" his smile and especially those eyes can easily charm me. But I have to think about the fact that he has a girlfriend for God's sake and it's not me.
"Can we go upstairs and talk?" He asked, again avoiding my question.

I took him upstairs...I split my lunch with him, he must have been starving, he had finished it very quickly.
We relaxed quite a bit and it was actually nice afternoon. We got talking and talking...he told me about how he actually got into Ferrari after being turned down five years ago. I told him all about school and what I'd done over the last few years. Not everything, of course. It was the first time we'd exchanged more words and it was surprisingly nice.
He's changed, he's grown up.

"I'm glad we can talk with one another and not yell at each other." He uttered with a smile. 
"What actually happened before the race?"...."- I met Lando after you left and he looked like he wanted to punch me....and it wouldn't be the first time" he spoke as he helped me clear the dishes.
"What?" I was confused...
"We've had a few disagreements with each other before...mostly because of you, so I know he can throw a hell of a punch."
"What kind of disagreement?" I was suddenly more than curious.
"You must know he cares about you....you know...a little more?" He was careful with his use of words.
"Yeah, I know that now..." I said quietly.
"Wait...but how do you know?" I raised an eyebrow and turned to him.
"M... and who didn't know?" He giggled. "- it was so obvious...I always knew.." He sighed.
"I've been waiting for the moment when he dared to tell you.."
"So he did...." I said, staring into space.
"It didn't end well, I guess." He looked at me with sympathy in his eyes.
I shook my head. "He doesn't want to talk to me, I try to text him every day but he doesn't answer. I'm trying to give him space, but...." my eyes began to burn as tears filled them.
"We've been through a lot together, he was there for me when I was at my lowest, when I lost the b...." I remembered who I was with and quickly stopped mid-word.
"I hope he gets over it and we can go back to the way things were..." I pushed all the tears back and tried to smile.
"I don't think so..." Charles spoke up and I was glad he didn't catch everything that I was saying.
"Why?"
"Because it took me 5 years and I found out that even after 5 years, I still haven't gotten over you." I could tell he was being honest.

"Let's not get into this... "I moved to the other side of the kitchen to put as much space between us as possible.
"We agreed that this shouldn't have happened..." I tried to remind him.
"No, you agreed...I didn't."
"I won't be the other one, ever. I have been and I won't be again." His closeness was starting to make me nervous.
"I didn't cheat on Madie, she and I...we have a complicated relationship...but us...we didn't do anything wrong. So you shouldn't feel bad."

"Why are you here, Charles? We can't keep going like this..." I started to feel the frustration.
"I'm simply here because...I can't keep my distance. From the moment I saw you at that fashion show I can't stop thinking about you..." he reached for my hand and I didn't move.

"I do too...you know I do think about you...but I just can't bring myself to trust you again...I like being around you, but I can't and I don't give you any hope for something more..." I released my hand from his.

"I just want to be in your life Mia, I don't want to pressure you or force you, just promise me that you won't run away from me anymore..."
"Yeah...maybe I can try" what I've gotten myself into again...
­­­­­­~~~~~~~~~~~~
A FEW MONTHS LATER
A few months have passed and I don't even know where to begin. It's been a crazy couple of months...

****************
Hi readers ❤️ I finally managed to upload another part. Thank you for the reads...for me it's incredible....22k wow!  🙌🏼✨
Hope you still enjoy it and like it.... I'm trying to do my best, but sometimes it's just not it, so I apologise for the parts that aren't that good.

Love again? |Charles Leclerc| Where stories live. Discover now