Fifty Shades Of Red | Charles Leclerc

14. Playing The Part

                              Hailey's pov

Air has left my lungs from the moment his lips collided with mine. A pair of strong arms wrap around my waist as I'm pulled closer to him, my hands landing on his chest, his lips soft and foreign.

For a moment it feels like I'm not standing in front of thousands of people, like I haven't just won a race. As I'm moving my lips in the same rhythm, as a tongue slightly makes contact with mine, everything else seems unimportant.

My lungs burn from the little air that's left in there but for some reason I can't stop. The way he's kissing me....it's the type of kiss that makes oxygen feel overrated.

It's the camera shuttering sounds that bring me back to reality. I use my hands to create some distance and finally the grip around me loosens. I pull away, slowly opening my eyes and breathing in. I'm grateful for the hands still holding me in place since I would have collapsed on the floor because of the man standing in front of me.

"Charles?"

His lips are slightly swollen and his hair is messy as he's standing there, his signature smirk painted on his face.

"Congratulations beautiful." Charles whispers and my heart skips a beat.

I've frozen in place from shock, my body heating up in all of the places where Charles is still touching me. My eyes connect with his as I'm searching for some kind of unspoken explanation from him but those beautiful green eyes offer me nothing but some comfort as more people start gathering around us.

"What are you doing?" I ask him lowly when he starts leaning in again.

"Playing the part."

My eyes drift away from him and as I'm looking around, I'm able to spot more than dozens of cameras that are taking pictures of us now. Christian is standing further, on the side and points up his thumb at me but just long enough for me to see and for the cameras and reporters not to spot anything.

This is what this all is. We've been put up on stage to perform for people who are enjoying our act, our little show.

I put my hands on each side of Charles' face, cupping him and pulling him to me. I'm the one who kisses him this time and I can see that he's a little surprised at first but then immediately joins my performance. The same feelings from the kiss we shared just seconds ago reignite inside of me.

I can't help but question if he's feeling this too. Did he kiss me just for show or did some part of him actually enjoy it, want it? It would be pathetic if he did.

I'm pathetic.

His arms wrap around me one more time as I'm getting lost in his touch and I'm having an entire conflict inside of me. A part of me wants to scream at him and tell him to let go off me and the other part wants to tell him to not stop, to kiss me harder, to hold me tighter.

Suddenly, Charles pulls away from me and inhales slowly, as if he's trying to pull himself together. I almost flinch at the lost contact.

"Don't ever kiss me like that again." Charles says slowly and lowly while offering me a fake smile.

To the people around us, it might seem like such a sweet and wholesome moment but the sound of his voice isn't sweet, it's everything but that.

I thought that kissing him again would be more convincing since the first time we did, I was still processing everything but now I realise that it was a mistake.

I try to make up something to say to him, how to apologise for it, not like it would really matter, when he interrupts me....

"I won't be able to control myself."

And with that, he walks away towards where the rest of his team is while I'm still trying to figure out what just happened.

               
                            --————-

Once we head towards the podiums, I start feeling a lot more relaxed. I thought I was going to explode from the close proximity in the cool down room.

I was seated between Charles and Lewis, my face flushed every time I made eye contact with the ferrari driver. Lewis would constantly give us confused looks but we couldn't really talk about anything other than the race because of all the cameras.

As I was seated on my seat, I tried not freaking out on live television in front of millions of people, which was hard but then Charles slightly brushed his hand against mine. It was brief and he probably didn't even realise what he had done but for some reason, this small, unimportant gesture managed to calm me down.

How does he even do that?

The roars of the crowd could be heard from the back of the podiums as the two drivers walked out. For some reason I wasn't nervous at all, I was excited. This is what I had worked for, dreamt of.

A part of me is still in disbelief, but there's also a feeling of pride, gratitude and adrenaline all mixed inside of me.

Once my name is called, I walk out, the crowd cheering even more than before if that is even possible. I wave at everyone as I step on the podium and receive my medal and trophy. I take a look at the trophy and as I'm holding it, I wish there was someone out there in the crowd who I could share my victory with, except for my team.

I look at the crowd, trying to spot Max out there but he's nowhere to be seen. I gulp down the bitterness in my mouth as I raise the trophy high above my head, the cheers of the crowd echoing in my ears, the cameras flashing.

If I wasn't smiling so hard right now, I would definitely be crying.

I look at Charles who is standing on my right, a cold look on his face. I can't help but feel a bit disappointed that he's not happy for me, for my win but then again, winning is all that matters to him and I took it away from him. At the end of the day, we're still rivals, competing for the same prize.

Once the national anthem ends, the three of us take our champagnes, popping them open and spraying at each other. I aim down, getting my team all wet with the drink when the pressure of it starts hitting the side of my face.

Charles is aiming at me as he's laughing out loud and I try to cover myself with my hands to prevent getting it in my eyes.

"Some champagne for the winner!" Lewis starts doing the same and now my hair is all wet and sticky.

As I'm getting soaked with champagne, I can't help but feel not only joy because I'm back on the podium but also a little bit of anxiety.

On this day I didn't only win a race but my pr relationship with Charles was launched out onto the world. What is the media going to think about it? How is everyone else going to take it?

I pray to God that they won't ask any questions about it on my interview after....

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WASN'T PLANNING ON WRITING AND PUBLISHING TODAY BUT I DON'T WANT TO KEEP YOU GUYS WAITING FOR NEW CHAPTERS FOR TOO LONG.🫣

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