apocalypse | charles leclerc ✓

chapter 4 | another monaco

«My fate is at the hand of my mistakes and that's alright. My fate is in your hand without you even trying.»

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Her just once with Charles, unsurprisingly and very predictably, turned into more than just once. Sloane found herself waking up in Monaco more times than she'd initially planned because it was supposed to be simply a hook-up, but she was definitely not complaining about it. Not when she had his arm draped around her waist, his face nestled in the crook of her neck while they slept peacefully. The more nights they spent together and mornings waking up with each other, the more Sloane realised he held onto her like she would be gone, which she was not planning on doing any time soon.

He'd managed to wedge into her life and it was a pleasant surprise for her. Sadly, her momentary bliss with Charles came hand in hand with the beginning of her manager's worst nightmare because Sloane was getting distracted.

And what better example of that than Monaco?

She complained with a quiet groan when the constant buzzing of a phone resounded somewhere in the room. Trying not to disturb Charles, she extended her arm to confirm whether the noise belonged to her side or his. Sloane patted the bedside table several times until a vibrant sensation brushed her palm. There it is. It was indeed her phone.

Reluctantly, she opened her eyes, just to close one a second later to avoid the light from burning her corneas. It took a lot of strength to force herself into taking a proper look at the screen, but when she did, she wished she hadn't.

Vivianne is calling.

Oh, fuck. Her manager hadn't called just once, but several times and when she managed to fully snap her eyes open, she got why it'd been that way. Her focus went from the missing call notification to the date displayed above the current time on the screen, realising why all the insistency.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

With as much care as she could, she attempted to remove Charles' arm from her. He heavily sighed when her hand made contact with his arm, but instead of waking up, his eyes remained closed, even cuddling her pillow when she accomplished to free herself and get out of bed. Her lips curved into a smile and her heart felt swollen from the image before her.

Happiness did not last forever though and when another round of buzzing went off into her hand, Sloane jolted, the panic rising up her throat. She tiptoed her way out of the room and silently closed the door behind her, then she took a very deep breath before sliding her finger across the screen to answer the call. Think fast. And smart.

"Sloane, where are you?" No hello or how are you. Vivianne's voice sounded more stern than concerned. There were different voices coming from the background as well, which only meant she was still at the studio.

Fuck. "Vivianne," She forced a cough out, pretending to be sick. Her throat was dry and it did not receive that well. "I'm sorry, I woke up feeling very sick. I don't think I can make it today." Alright, not very smart of her. She'd lied better before.

Growing up with her mother had served to train her in being a somewhat good liar...not that she was putting that into practice at the moment, it seemed.

The silence on the other side prolonged for a bit too long. Not a good sign. "Out of curiosity..." Her manager left the words in the air for a second. Suspense, she loved that. "Did you wake up feeling sick in Monaco again?" She started peeling the skin off her lips, the metallic taste of blood rolling on her tongue. Shit. "Have you even bothered to check the time?" No, because she'd been too busy snoozing next to Charles all morning. Sweet dreams and cuddles included. "You're lucky Eleonora was around and could replace you, otherwise, they would've had to call the off shoot. You know the rule: with no model, there's no shoot. Sloane," Vivianne sighed. "What happened? This is your second slip this week, and I'm getting worried. You've never been like this."