and we chased

Chapter 31

ARIA

"You look nice", Levi says as we're entering the disco. For some reason, I agreed to go with him to a disco tonight. Although that might not be my scene, I trust him enough to walk me to the hotel if something happens.

"Call it the woman-grieving-from-a-breakup syndrome", I hiss. I know I look nice. I mean, the dress is perfect. It's the one I got from Dior after that photoshoot. That white cocktail dress that I loved. My hair is straightened falling down my shoulders, I'm wearing some nice white heels and my necklaces.

I look nice.

I feel miserable.

He chuckles once and takes my hand, leading me to the dance floor. A song starts playing in the background, and he has to laugh once. "I think they know the F1 are here for the weekend", he adds.

I look at him surprised.

He makes me a sign to pay attention to the song. What I understand is something that sounds like Italian, and then something like fragole and champagne.

"The song is called Fragole", he explains. "And it's Fabio's theme song."

"Do all the drivers have a theme song?"

He shakes his head. "I don't. Neither does Gruff. Lewis used to have Starboy, but then again, he doesn't have it anymore." He winks at me once for the next part: "But then there's Chris, for whom people just use London Boy when making edits of him."

I have to blush at that, knowing I thought the same thing. I keep swinging my hips to the music, Levi dancing next to me, and I could swear I can see half the girls here looking at him from across the room, piercing me with their gazes, thinking I took away their shiny toy. Levi tried to be in hiding with his sunglasses on, yet it didn't quite work as planned.

"You thought of that too, didn't you?", he asks me grinning.

I shrug feeling a bit guilty. "I mean, he does look like one."

"I bet he got you on his knees just from his accent", he continues teasing me.

I can't help but counter: "I like other voices better."

I can't believe I just said that. Levi looks at me smiling. "I bet you do."

We keep dancing for a bit, the music changing to more disco songs. At some point I make myself the courage to come closer to his ear and say: "Hey Levi, can I ask you something?"

"Sure", he responds, looking at me concerned.

"What did John mean with what he said at that interview?"

Levi's face turns to stone in an instant. I start feeling bad for asking him, yet as I want to open my mouth and tell him he doesn't have to answer, he gives me a reply. "First of all, I'd really appreciate it if you'd call him Gruff from now, and not John. No one calls him like that." Noted. "And second of all, the daddy issues or the daddy part?"

"I don't know", I whisper, my voice broken.

"My Dad is a famous basketball player. Nick Dyer. He wanted me to follow his footsteps. Only little Levi loved cars more than a basketball, so I took up karting. At first, he thought it was a mere hobby. Of course, he didn't give a shit to look better and see it was my passion. So as soon as I'm old enough, I want to sign up for Driver's Academy. They take me in. Daddy gets pissed, cuts off all my fonds and takes me out of his inheritance, tells me to never come back home ever again."

"Oh my Gosh", I let out, covering my mouth to stop the gasp. I wrap my arms around him in a hug then and say: "I am so sorry, Levi. I had no idea."

As soon as we let go, his expression is back to a cool one, yet he still seems a bit tense as he says: "Don't worry. I have more money now than Papa could even dream of."

Revenge is best served cold. Got it.

I want to say something else, yet I'm interrupted by a new song playing in the background and Levi's grin as he tells me: "I think that's your cue, blondie."

It sure is. Anti-Hero is playing, and half of the crowds started singing to it. I start singing to it too, then I also force Levi to sing, til we're both singing. The music changes at some point, yet we remain dancing on the ring. I can see some couples around us, dancing with each other, looking so happy. Hands on waists, kisses, sweet nothings whispered in the ear between the lyrics...

"Oh fuck", I can hear Levi let out.

That immediately has my whole attention. "What happened? Is something wrong?"

He points with his look at someone in the crowd to me, but there are so many people I don't even know who he means. "That's my Baku girl."

"I'm sorry, what?!"

"She's my Singapore girl. You know, the girl I..."

New Prix, new girl.

Got it.

"Gross", I cut him short. "And?"

"I can't have her here. I'm meeting my Baku girl later tonight."

"Have you even considered how mental that is?!"

"Kiss me."

I freeze at that. "I'm sorry, what?!"

"Please", he insists, and throws glances at that one place where the woman must be the entire time. "I'll owe you one."

"Dude, I am in love with your best friend" I throw it at him. That stops him. Me too. I haven't told it out loud so far. I...

Levi's reply shocks me. He takes grip of my face and crashes his lips on mine, kissing me. The kiss doesn't last long, but enough to probably make that girl see us and go away.

As we let go, he is smirking at me with a cocky grin. "I am so so sorry for this."

"You're not", I reply. He's not.

"That's right. I'm not." We continue dancing like nothing happened, since that's how I'd rather have it. I did not kiss Levi Dyer. He did not kiss me. End of story. "By the way, Lewis is for sure a hell of a lucky guy. You're a good kisser."

"You fucking forced me", I counter.

"Is that strawberries? You taste like strawberries."

"Fuck you", I let out.

His grin gets more devilish. "Oh no, blondie. I guess kissing will be enough."

I show him the middle finger. Yet after a few seconds, I start to laugh. He laughs too and we continue like nothing happened.

Little did I know how wrong I was.