Hollow River

35.

"Hey hey what's wrong?" Lando immediately got up when he saw me. He was eating with his trainer and I felt bad to disturb him like that.

I ran into his arms and put my head against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

"I am just so done with these people. They used me. Christian used me" I mumbled, fighting back the tears.

Lando didn't say anything, he just comforted me and that was exactly what I needed.

"You wanna join our lunch?" He smiled, pointing at Jon. I nodded, it would probably cheer me up.

"This is River" Lando introduced me to Jon. He got up and shook my hand with a smile on his face. "Red Bulls strategist" he nodded.

"For now" I finished his sentence.

I was seriously debating if I should stay at Red Bull, Christian just wanted me to get close to Max and Max, he just wanted to fuck me.

Even though I fitted in that team perfectly, it's not how I wanted to be treated.

Lando and Jon on the other hand treated me with respect and love. We talked about everything. I really felt comfortable around them.

"I should go back to Red Bull, qualifying is about to start" I announced as I got up. "Thanks for the lunch, I had a good time"

"It was nice meeting you River" Jon said as he walked back in the hospitality, giving Lando and I some alone time.

I looked at Lando. "And thank you for cheering me up" I wanted to grab his face and kiss him, hug him, feel him close against my body.

But we were in the middle of the paddock, so we couldn't do that.

"I believe in you, until you start believing in yourself" he said, using the exact same words as I used yesterday evening.

I didn't care if people saw us, I wanted to hug this perfect man. "I will come to your room after qualifying" I whispered and wrapped my arms around him, pulling him in a hug we both needed.

————————

I walked straight through the garage, to the pitwall. It was the most awkward moment of my life.

I sat down next to Christian, not giving him a look, not saying a word.

"River, I-" he started. "I wanna concentrate on my job right now" I interrupted him.
I didn't want to be distracted right now.

Unfortunately, I had to try to put Max on pole.

"What is this idiot doing?" Max asked on the radio. Lando was driving in front of him, they were both on their fast lap, so Lando didn't need to get out of the way but he was way slower.

He was right, their car had no pace whatsoever.

"The Mclaren is on a fast lap Max, calm yourself down" GP answered.
He was always so calm and collected, I admired him for that. He was definitely one of the best engineers.

"He fucked my lap, I need new tires" Max answered, not even waiting for an answer because he was already driving into the pits.

I turned my head to GP, completely ignoring Christian. "If we change tires now, then we don't have softs for Q3"

"So what are you suggesting?" Christian asked. "That we don't put him on new tires, he will get through Q2 with these tires, trust me, he's just frustrated right now"

"We have to decide now" GP looked at the both of us. Max was already waiting in his car for his new tires.

Christian had a choice to make, trust me or give Max what he wants.
The logical decision would be to listen to his strategist, that's literally my job, that's why he hired me.

"Give him new softs" Christian said. GP shook his head, obviously not agreeing with his decision.

I couldn't say I was surprised, he didn't trust me as their strategist. He didn't trust my decisions.
He didn't hire me to make important decisions because he always had the last word, he hired me to get closer to Max.

Just as I expected.

Max easily got through to Q3, but as suspected, couldn't put it on pole.
His tires were too old to put a fast time. He ended on P3, while Checo would start from pole.

"Great decision guys, I'm really happy you trusted your strategist" I said sarcastically and jumped off the pitwall.

Lando and I were both gonna need each other tonight. He only qualified P10 so I knew he would be frustrated and so was I.

Toto's offer definitely sounded very interesting right now.