Broken ✞ Max Verstappen x OC x George Russell

Ⲥⲏⲇⲣⲧⲉⲅ 19

♫ These minefields keeping me from you
What I risk to be close to you ♫

Max Verstappen POV

I watched her throw herself at him, I saw how he scolded her, it was obvious she was being told no, she pouted and even ground on him for a bit. But her smile, it was there. She was happy. The way he looked at her, the way he touched her, he liked her. He probably loves her.

I saw his caution, the silly smiles, and the attention to her every detail. They are a thing, only a blind person wouldn't be able to see it. I wish I was blind right now. I drank too much, Daniel, Charles, and Lando had to take me to the hotel room.

The next stop is Austria, Red Bull's home race. I arrived at the paddock on Saturday, yesterday was full and today won't be different. My mom and Victoria are here and I see their face once they see George and Skylar in front of the Mercedes garage.

"Are the rumors true?" My mom asks as she sees George fixing her hair very carefully and I nod. I'm surprised at how unnoticeable they were yesterday.

"They are together, I've seen them together," I comment before entering the garage so they are out of my sight.

"That is odd. Is that okay with you? That must not be a good feeling," Victoria says worriedly and the surprise is still there.

"I have nothing to do with that, she is not my problem anymore," I say as I see my engineer arriving and we greet each other before he goes on his way.

"Don't lie to us, please. That is hard for me to see and I am not the one who dated her," my mom is concerned but I just laugh.

"I don't care about it, you shouldn't either. She is living her life and I am living mine, it's been a year and a half. This has to stop. I am happy he treats her well, that is all."

"What the fuck is this?" I hear Skylar's voice right behind us and I look to see her and Joseph talking, he has a carton box in his hands and she does not like it.

"Someone left it at our motorhome," he says and she was very suspicious of the package, there was no inscription so she shrugged and opened it.

Her face went pale a few seconds later but nobody else could see what it was. George quickly approached and closed the box before hugging her closely and I noticed she was crying. His hand was going up and down her back as he tried to calm her down. He was whispering some words in her ear.

"Hey!" I hear Ava saying and my mom shushes her.

"You fucking bitch!" Skylar yells as she pushes George out of her way and enters the garage, he could dare to enter the pit but never the garage.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Ava asks fearfully as she tries to hide behind me.

"You did this!" Skylar says before trying to launch herself at Ava, I stop her and take both of them to a room in the back that was gladly empty.

"Control yourself, do you want to appear on Netflix? They are fans of seeing you in front of the camera," I tell her as I want her to see some sense and she nods.

"Fucking lunatic, I am glad you got rid of her," Ava says angrily.

"I'm not doing this shit. Just take it," she says as she gives me the box and I see the engagement that had disappeared.

"Did you like it at least?" I ask curiously and she looks at the small box in my hand, I open it and look at it. It's as good as I remember it being.

I remember thinking how good it would look in her hand, how everyone would know she was mine before she even needed to tell them. I knew she liked it, I just wanted the confirmation.

"It's- uhm- gorgeous. It's very beautiful. But she was the one who took it, not me," she says as she points at Ava who just shakes her head.

"Ava? It's time to be honest," I demand she looks at the floor, she looks guilty but she shakes her head.

"I would never do that. She was the one who left, I'm still here."

"How are you still here? Did you tell everyone about the fake illness or did you just miraculously recover once I left?" Skylar asked with a confidence that I knew meant she knew more than me. Was Ava faking it?

"Don't you dare come here and accuse me of something you can't prove," Ava says as she goes in Sky's direction.

"Show me an exam, a doctor's paper, anything. It's easy to prove a terminal illness," Skylar asks as challenge fills her tone and Ava just laughs.

"I owe you nothing."

"Can you show me?" I ask curiously and I see how her smile disappeared.

"You- You never asked for any of that, you can't trust anything she says," Ava says as she gets closer to me but I step back.

"Max, can she leave?" Skylar asks and I nod, Ava quickly leaves and I look at her curiously.

"Why did she need to leave? What's up with all the accusations?" I was tired of being in the dark, I wanted answers.

"I need to make something clear. I left a letter on the nightstand when I left. I was confused with you all saying I left nothing behind. Ava made it clear she took the letter, she must've been the one who took the ring and money. I know for a fact that she was not sick. She looked way too good for someone with a terminal illness. If you ever loved me, you need to believe me."

She stopped her words because she broke eye contact, she was about to cry and I had my own will to hug her. This can't be true, right?

"I would never do that to you. I could never imagine leaving you like that. I know you have abandonment issues, but I needed to leave Max, I really needed to. I delayed it once I saw how close the points for you to win were. I couldn't leave in the middle of the season so I waited for the result. I couldn't have this be on me. I am happy you won but I needed out, desperately."

I always wanted a reason but now that I have it, I don't want it. I don't want to hear how she was planning to leave for potentially months.

"Was it that miserable? When did you lose feelings?" I asked seriously as I felt everything inside me crashing. Let me go back to being in the dark.

"Max- No! I didn't mean it like that. I was not okay, I was on the edge, and I was so close to just- disappearing overall. I couldn't stay Max, I loved you, I really did. But I couldn't stay. I was making it all bigger in my head until I realize now that nothing would change how miserable I was," she says as a tear rolls down her face and I take a step closer and hug her.

"I'm sorry for not noticing it. I should've known you were like that. I thought you were just avoiding me, I thought maybe the pressure was bringing you down. I should've been careful and more attentive," I say as I feel my voice breaking twice and her arms wrap around me.

"I'm sorry for leaving like that. I should've been braver, you deserved more respect from me."

I just nodded as I felt the tears filling my eyes. I'm crying for all we could've been, for all the plans we made, for all the dreams I had with her. I'm grieving it all over again. I don't regret loving her but losing her nearly killed me.