River's POV
I decided to forget Lando's remarks. He was probably just pissed off about qualifying.
I had to admit that I did mess up. I didn't really think about the possibilities of a red flag.
One mistake and he blamed me, he made a fool out of me in front of everyone.
The old Lando never would've done that. He would pull me in his arms, kiss the top of my head and tell me that everything will be fine.
But I saw him change over the past few months. With every win, his ego got bigger.
With every trophy, he got more arrogant.
We were doing this together and at first it was incredible. He praised me, I motivated him.
The press described us as the power couple.
But they noticed the cracks as well. The noticed the change in his behavior.
I was already laying in bed when Lando walked in the bedroom.
I wasn't gonna run away after one fight, I wasn't like that. He had to deal with me even if he probably didn't want to see me now.
He raised his eyebrow and looked at me. He was surprised to see me, he definitely thought I would run.
"Surprised?" I chuckled.
He shook his head and took his shirt off before laying down next to me. "Not really, you were always the mature one in our relationship"
It made me laugh even harder. "Hardly"
He sighed and for one second I thought he was actually gonna apologize. "Christian offered me a contract"
Okay not what I was expecting.
"That's... great?" I said even though I wasn't particularly happy about it. But if he was happy or excited, then I was gonna pretend to be happy too.
"But I want you to come with me" he pressed his body closer to mine. "We're the power couple remember?"
It was as if nothing happened between us only a few hours before. He was acting so bipolar right now.
"I remember but I don't know" I muttered. I knew Christian wanted me back too. Red Bull was changing their strategist like underwear lately.
Max was getting more and more frustrated by the poor decisions, so he was making more mistakes himself too.
But why would Lando want to go to Red Bull when Mclaren was giving him everything he needed?
"Why do you wanna go to Red Bull? You're winning with Mclaren" I just asked the question instead of wondering about it.
He chuckled as he pressed his lips against mine. "Pure cash" he said as he laid back down and wrapped his arms around me.
He joked about it many times but for some reason, I didn't think he was joking about it now.
——————————
"What's wrong with Lando lately?" Athena asked as we were walking in the paddock together.
It was a question I had to answer at least ten times a day lately.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. Was he mean or something?"
"Not to me, but his interviews were pretty unusual"
Unusual that was definitely the word to describe him lately.
I didn't go with him to his interviews and I wasn't talking to Georgia so I didn't know what he was saying in them.
But I did read some articles and they weren't very nice.
"I will talk to him" I sighed, I don't know if he would listen to me, but I could at least try.
We said our goodbyes to each other and walked to our garages.
I grabbed my gloves off the table as I walked to the pitwall. It was time for the race and I had to make sure Lando and Oscar would finish on the podium.
At least.
Lando was flying, he was already in P5 and we were only a couple of laps in the race.
I pressed Will's radio button "Tires are overheating"
He nodded and pressed Lando's button. "Think about the tires"
"Leave me to it" Lando snapped. I could hear Will sigh, he was getting tired of him as well.
I was looking at the weather radar, fortunately there was no rain coming so maybe Lando could actually get a podium.
But then I noticed red exclamation marks all around Lando's car on our screens. It could only mean one thing.
"Fuck" Will pushed the radio button. "Lando are you okay?"
And then they showed the broadcast. He crashed with someone else in the tunnel. His car was destroyed, one wheel even flew off.
They obviously red flagged the race and I couldn't even be concerned about Lando because I had to figure out another strategy for Oscar.
But please, please be fine.
"I ca-I can't move my leg"
