Marry. Ride. Love.

But I'm sure he doesn't want to find out any other way, either

*Pecco*

Bella settled down at the breakfast table with us, then looked around in confusion.

"Where's Tino?" she asked, looking at the empty chair in front of her head with her head tilted slightly.

The rest of us looked back in confusion "Didn't he tell you?" asked Franky, she turned her head towards him.

"No, what?"

"He left really early this morning for his race this weekend," he said as compassionately but directly as he could.

"Oh.", I could see her features slip. She hadn't expected that. So he obviously hadn't told her that he had a race and was going away for it.

"I... Excuse me.", she pushed herself up from the chair and disappeared from the kitchen.

Bez raised his eyebrows "Do either of you understand what's going on between these two?" he asked.

Maro waved it off "I've given up trying to understand. The two of them can't make up their own minds, can they? One moment they hate each other and don't speak to each other, the next moment they're almost doing it. It's so confusing, I'm not doing this to myself."

"So if they don't sleep together soon, I'll have to sleep with someone soon. No one can stand the tension anymore," Franky laughed.

"Terrible, isn't it?" now Bez was nudging me.

I just nodded absently.

Yes. I had already noticed the tension, too, and I didn't like it. Because whenever the two of them got closer, it meant I was....

I tried to push that thought aside. I had no right to think about it that way. Actually, I should have been happy that the two of them were finally on a path that might lead them to each other after all. But I didn't. I didn't rejoice.

I hated the thought, because I saw how much it tortured her. I would have done so much more for her. I would never have left her here alone.

Only now did it pop into my head that we would also be leaving for our race later. Since I had assumed until now that Vale would not possibly leave her here alone, I had not thought about taking her with me. But I could just take her with me. Nobody would think anything of it.

She could accompany me, could be in my box. And I could show her, completely apart from all others, how much she meant to me.

The others would be in their stalls, maybe meet her in the paddock now and then, but she would be mine. The whole weekend.

Only mine.

Vale wouldn't even be close.

Shit, I knew how wrong it was. I knew I shouldn't do it, but before I could really finish that thought, I had already pushed myself up from the table. I hadn't been following the guys' conversation for a while.

"I'm going to go check on her," I muttered.

I noticed their glances, but preferred to ignore them. I didn't want to think about it now, that maybe they already suspected that I felt more for Vale's wife than just friendship.

I went upstairs and knocked on her door. It took a moment, then I heard a hum and carefully pushed the door open. She was lying there with her face in the pillow.

"Hey, you okay?", I threw myself down on the bed next to her and gently patted her back.

"No.", she growled and then raised her head "Sorry. It's not your fault.".

"It's okay.", I waved it off with a smile "But what do you think about coming to our race this weekend. We're leaving this afternoon, you could come with me."