A twist of Wheels and Fate

5.

*Pierre*

"Gia?", I hated the fact that she was once again in the arms of her best friend.

He had always been the one I had been most worried about, because even though she had always insisted that he was just her best friend, there had been an unlikely familiarity between the two of them. Always.

I didn't know them any other way. Bez had always been close to her. He had always had an eye on her and even if she was sure that he only did that because he felt like a brother towards her, I had always noticed the difference in his look compared to the looks of the others.

There was more in his look than just the concern of a brother. No matter what she had always said. He felt more for her than just friendship and it had always filled me with a certain jealousy, because between the two of them everything always looked so insanely familiar. So easy. So naturally.

Every look, every touch. It all seemed completely natural. As if it had happened a thousand times before, and it certainly had.

He always got to see a part of her that I had been deprived of. With him she was more relaxed and every time she was tense she sought, also seemingly naturally, his closeness. He could bring her down. I had never been able to do that. At least not in the ways he could.

And now she was in his arms once again, after we had had a few close moments this morning.

I was making her nervous. That's what she had said, and he was bringing her back down.

When she heard my voice, she slowly broke away from him and gave him a warm smile. When he had just barged in on us, she had literally jumped away from me.

He meant more to her than she let on, even though she may not have known it.

I could see it in the look on her face.

"Paola and I should get going slowly," I said quietly, and she nodded and immediately reached for the backpack that was still sitting next to the laundry room.

"I'll just unpack her clothes. Then you can take the backpack already. It's got her stuffed animals and doll in it." she said, disappearing briefly into the next room.

Bez turned around and leaned against the kitchen counter. His gaze slid to me.

We had never really liked each other. Not that either of us ever said so, but we did. We respected each other, treated each other fairly in front of Gia and Paola, but I was sure if we ever met alone we would ignore each other, or else it would end in disaster.

Because no matter if he was aware of his feelings or if he really believed Gia was just a best friend, he would defend her to the blood and I knew it. But I could be just as stubborn as the Italian, I was sure of that too.

"Take good care of Gia when she goes to the race with you," I grumbled, crossing my arms in front of my chest.

I had said something just to say something. But it immediately felt like the temperature in the room rose 20 degrees. I had hit exactly the point I wanted to hit with that, and I could see it in his face.

"You don't have to tell me that." he growled and leaned back a little "You better watch out for my little princess.".

He knew exactly what he had just said and I had to hand it to him, he had countered well.

"Your little princess?", I raised an eyebrow.

"My accent isn't so extreme that you didn't understand me, Gasly," he growled.

"She's my daughter," I growled back just as quietly.

"And yet I'm the one who's always there for her. For her and Gia.".