Double Fault

Chapter 19

FLORENCE'S POV:

After the week we just had, the scene in front of us felt like we we were committing a crime. Charles and I's last day on this trip included a Skype call between my team, his personal management staff, and Ferrari's media specialist. We had our video sharing off, I didn't want my dad to see any reaction that he could make an assumption on, regardless of if it was positive or negative. Both our phones and another computer were out to manage our calendars and contacting different media sources to mostly deny comments.

We had managed to have the meeting back at Charles home, but we hadn't made it out of the main living room. While I wanted to look around, the opportunity didn't even present itself because the meeting started immediately.

Nothing had shocked me yet until my dad spoke up, his face pulling up onto the screen. "So you two need to get ahead of this story and make your own statements is what is sounds like," my dad said summarizing the last 30 minutes. Then he spoke directly to me, the first time Charles and I had been addressed as individuals. "Florence, are you sure you want this?"

The question was blunt, carried a heavy punch, and I felt myself tense. I knew my dad was genuinely worried about me, but asking in front of everyone didn't feel fair. My finger was clicking on a pen non-stop before I felt Charles hand rest over mine stopping the movement. I looked up into his green eyes, his gaze was caring. He took my hand and intertwined our fingers, and I glanced down at our connected hands, took a deep breath, and spoke up, "at this point I'm willing to deal with any challenge, I just want to be with him." When the words came, I felt vulnerable having to make a public statement to our teams and not privately with Charles. My words rang out alone, and I felt everything in my body trying to close myself back off. I leaned back against the couch and closed my eyes, trying to focus on the pressure from his hand.

"If anyone important enough asks, tell them the truth, we're together. We will handle making the announcement today, whatever bullshit way social media will make it most obvious. I need you to know Florence is too important to me to let anything get in the way," Charles words rang out. My eyes shot open, Charles was looking at me and not the computer, calendar, or phone. I felt a smile form on my face and he grinned back at me. Thank you, I mouthed as the meeting continued.
~
Charles and I managed to at least move from the floor to the couch after the meeting ended. He had my feet in his lap and had my phone in his hand reviewing my personal post created for social media. I was leaned back while chewing on my fingers nails nervous if we were making the right decision to go public. He patted my feet while handing me the phone. "It's perfect, simple, and to the point. Something that confirms the information but doesn't give them anything to chew on," Charles said looking down at his phone. "You wanna look over mine?" He asked showing me his screen.

I chuckled and shook my head, "I trust you, you have to deal with this more than me." Without saying another word I nodded at Charles, my hovering finger finally clicked post while Charles did the same. I closed my phone and threw it into another chair and Charles tossed his on the table.

"So girlfriend, which one do you prefer. Baby, boo, love, aimer?" My nose scrunched up to the whole sentence, Charles couldn't hide his amusement while he tried to pull me over to him. "I'm also sorry this is the way we made it official, I'm usually much smoother than being forced to make it public due to our managements advice. I would have asked with just the two of us regardless of the situation."

"Don't you dare apologize! It's just the way it works with our lives unfortunately, and Bonsee still works," I giggled trying to shove him away with my feet. My attempts failed quickly, and he pulled me onto his lap. I pushed the hair out of his face looking into his eyes. "Nothing has changed really, my honey," the pet name failing before it even was forced out of my mouth.