Trackside Temptation

Chapter Five

FRANCESCA

"And we are back for another thrilling season, kicking off here in Bahrain for the first Grand Prix of twenty-twenty-three." The commentator's voice bled through my headphones as I made my way to the pits. "After a thrilling qualifying yesterday, we are seeing Andy Lambert on pole position, with Matthias van der Burg in P2 and Romain Torquato in P3. It will be an intense first race, and we are right here to give you all of the live-action. I'm Jordie Riccarton, and this is RaceSports TV."

I switched off the broadcast as I approached the garage, gently lifting off my headphones as I spotted a familiar face. Matthias was standing next to a short man, who had a frown on his face, crows' eyes and a beer belly that suggested he'd been drinking for fifty years. Judging by the way Matthias kept his head down as the old man spoke, my guess was this was his father.

The pair turned their heads as I entered their space. Matthias' dad gave me a warm smile—something that was unexpected from a van der Burg.

"Hello there," he said.

I grinned and held out my hand. "Hi. I'm Francesca, Matthias' performance coach."

His father welcomed my handshake and turned to his son. "Aren't you lucky, son. I'm John, Matt's father."

I cast my mind back to my conversation with Romain last week. He had a feeling there was some tension between Matthias and John, and now that I was standing between the two, I didn't doubt his theory. Matthias was struggling to regain any composure around his dad. He didn't have any snarky comebacks, even when I made a joke about his hair—which actually looked pretty good today.

"Shall we head off to warm up?" I asked.

Matthias nodded without hesitation, and together we walked to the gym.

"Are you okay?" I whispered as we entered the hallway.

Matthias sighed as he placed his hand on my back and guided me into the gym. "Just forget it."

"Okay," I said softly. "Start with your stretches."

***

I stood next to Lily as the race began. We were in the garage, watching the race on the screen to capture every angle. I didn't think I'd be nervous watching our team speed by, but after a crash at turn one involving two midfield teams, I suddenly felt my heart beating fast.

"If you tap your foot any faster you'll dig a hole into the ground," Lily laughed.

I looked down at my shoe and stopped my movements. "I can't believe I'm acting like this." I pinched the bridge of my nose. "It's pathetic."

"I'd love to say it gets easier, but unfortunately it gets worse. Especially when you build strong relationships with the boys."

Damn, so that little prick I had to deal with every day was going to invoke some concern in me. I shook my head, telling myself I'd deal with that when the time came.

Romain was currently leading the race and had just come in to change his tyres. I watched on as another car clipped the edge of Theo in the Santoro, sending him into the wall at a pace I couldn't quite bear.

"Shit," I said as I walked closer to the TV.

"That'll be a safety car," Lily sighed. "Fuck, they should bring in Matt."

I glanced over at the pit wall. The engineers looked stressed as they deliberated whether to keep Matthias out or bring him in for a tyre change. I watched on the TV as he passed the entrance to the pitlane. I wasn't as knowledgeable as the strategists, but I knew enough to understand that was not a good idea.