destined (max verstappen)

seventeen

Waking up the next morning, Max was in pure bliss, it was the first night that they were intimate and it changed him. Usually, when he slept with other women, he would regret it in the morning and try to slip out before she woke up, but this was different. Seeing her naked body under the hotel duvet made him blush and he was even more infatuated with her than the day before. It was as if she woke something in him that he'd been struggling to get out, like he was finally free of his demons. He was wasn't free of anything. In fact, the next few days, he had become more and more dependent on Olivia, more vulnerable, like she left his heart open for anyone to peer into.

As Max became more attached to her, he started to get more and more jealous. He would make sure that no other man looked at her the same way he did. He'd only had one jealous while they were in Las Vegas, and it happened the day after their night together.

Max and Liv we're at a lounge-type restaurant having a few horderves and martinis, they laughed and talked as the room filled with chatter and soft piano music. In the middle of their outing, Max had a phone call from Christian and went to go answer it, he was only gone for a moment, and when he came back, a man was sat where he was, talking to her. Max watched as Liv tried to ignore his advances, but it wasn't until he placed a hand on hers that Max went ballistic.

"What the fuck are you doing with my girl?"
Max spat as he got closer to the man.

"Listen man, I didn't know-"

"No you listen man, get the fuck outta here before I kick you the fuck out." Max said through gritted teeth, standing between Liv and the other man.

"Whatever, man, this bitch isn't worth the trouble anyway." The man waved his hand and drank Max's martini on the table, then he stood up and Max couldn't hold in his rage.

Max pushed the man, making him smack his head on the wall next to him and fall to the ground, stunned. Max got on top of his torso, grabbed his collar and began punching his in the face, breaking the man's nose in the process.

Olivia tried to get max off of the stranger, tugging at his shoulders, pleading. It wasn't until a security guard physically pulled Max off of the man that he actually realized what he was doing.

"I'm going to have to ask the two of you to leave." The manager of the lounge said to the couple after asking if the man was okay. Max nodded and went to take her hand, but she pulled her hand away when he made contact with her, holding onto her purse tightly. On the walk back to their hotel, Max looked at his knuckles and he winced when he opened and closed his fists, much like he did in his apartment after beating Adam that night.

Once inside the hotel room, Olivia didn't talk to him for over an hour and Max felt as if he was going to burst. While she brushed her teeth, he came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and placed a kiss to her neck.

"I'm sorry, liv." He said looking up at her through the mirror, she returned his gaze and gave him a soft smile as she spit out her toothpaste. They went to bed that night without another word.

She didn't notice anything off about Max until the third night he snuck out of bed in the middle of the night. The first two nights she felt him leave and then come back to bed a few moments later, thinking that he got up to get a glass of water, she thought nothing of it. The thing was, max wasn't leaving for a few moments at a time, he would be gone for hours at a time before returning to bed, and Olivia would fall right back asleep when he left, her sense of time skewed. This time however, was different.

Quickly getting dressed, she searched for clues as to where he might have gone, that's when she saw his training bag was missing from it's usual place by the door. She slipped on Max's hoodie-the same hoodie he wore the night they met-and a pair of flip-flops before leaving the room. She took the elevator down to the floor below the lobby, just above the garage, only certain rooms had access to the private pool and gym, the villas and the high roller suites, which made it perfect for Max to get in some last minute training.

She watched him from the doorway, he was using some sort of gym equipment, she knew how strenuous the driver training was.

"Couldn't sleep?" She asked when he took a short break from his training, he turned to her, sweat all over his forehead and his eyes were red.

"S-Something like that." Maxs' voice faltered as he took his gloves off and wiped his face and eyes.

"Baby, what's wrong?" She asked, walking toward him, placing her hands on his shoulders. She guided him to sit on the bench with her and rested a head on her shoulder.
"Come on, tell me what's going on." She cooed, rubbing his back.

"It's stupid, it's really stupid." He chuckled to himself, tears still falling from his eyes.

"Hey, don't say that, nothing that you feel is stupid, Max."

"I just, I miss my family so damn much."

"Why don't you go visit them when we get back to Monaco?"

"You don't understand, Olivia, they want nothing to do with me. My sister, Victoria, is the only one that talks to me, and even she barely speaks to me." He looked up at her for the first time in what felt like forever.

"What happened?"

"My dad, Jos, he used to race in formula one back in the day and he was determined I would to. So from a young age he used to make me train, my dad never said I was going to be a champion always the opposite like a truck driver or a bus driver. My mother thought it was harsh and they divorced, she gave us the option of who we wanted to live with and I decided to stay with my dad, biggest regret of my life," He paused "My dad is crazy, stabbed one of my mechanics with a fork once. Left me at a gas station once. My mum did everything to have me live with her but I refused her every time, I was more career focused than family. I left my mum alone with my sister and stayed with my fucking dad. People don't want me to win, but that's fine, I mean my whole life so far has never been easy so that's okay. Nothing can be worse than what I've experienced at ten."

"Max."

"I was so mad at my mum, trying to take me from my dad because I thought she was taking me away from racing, we had this huge fight and I regret it a lot. Everyone picked their sides and then nobody was on mine." He closed his eyes and let out a breath, trying to control himself, he shook his head to try and rid himself of the emotions, but there was no use, she'd hadn't seen this side of Max, and now he was certain that she would leave him.

She grabbed his chin and moved his head so that his eyes met hers, then she took the sleeve of the sweater she was wearing and wiped under his eyes.

"I'm sorry, nobody deserves anything like that. I'm here for you, always, Max, don't be afraid to come to me." She gave him a sympathetic smile and and Max felt his shoulders relax. He smiled at her and pressed a kiss to her lips, this kiss was different though. This kiss said everything that Max was feeling but couldn't bring himself to say, Olivia knew that, but couldn't bring herself to decipher it.

"Have you seen the stuff with Vettel?" He asked quietly, as if he was scared at what she might say in response.

"Yeah." She murmured, Sebastian Vettel had been making comments about max all season long, saying he doesn't deserve the championship and it's all the car he has no skill. Commenting on how he was when he first started F1, his negative attitude, all of that stuff and has publicly challenged him to a one on one race in the same car, with fifty laps.

"What should I do?" He asked hoping for some advice which Olivia was more than happy to give him, "You ignore it Max, he speaks badly of you and he plays dirty we have all seen that in the past. It would be dangerous and you know it."

He nodded, then laughed "You always know what to say huh? Maybe you should be my PR manager."

"That would be a nightmare." She joked in response as they then walked back into their hotel room with smiles on their faces.