Raging Bulls || Max Verstappen MV

10. Hell's Comin' With Me

"I am the righteous hand of god, 

and I am the devil that you forgot."

⁂

"She didn't have a witty little comeback for me?" Max Verstappen said as I pull my phone from its pocket. As the garage disappeared down the hallway, my heart began to pound.

It had been surprisingly easy to get Christian to agree to me bringing in a new race engineer. Fear had flashed through the team principal's eyes after I blew up on my crew after the race, admittedly...I regretted that. Luckily there hadn't been any press, and after I took a moment, I'd made sure each of the team members got an apology.

The fear I saw on Christian's face when he processed my idea had been different though. It held a certain underlying excitement. He assured me that if I could get them to agree, then it was a done deal. The line hadn't even rung twice before they answered,

"Hello?" My eyes began to sting at the voice. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Okay, I need you to let me get this all out or else I'm not gonna be able to." My voice shook with emotion and silence filled my ear. "So, I know you saw the race today. My strategist almost fucked it all over and I can't let that happen. I talked with Christian and I know we've discussed...the possibility before...but now I'm asking you. Please come to the team and be my race engineer?" The silence that stretched became suffocating.

"When would I start?" My heart began to flutter with the tiniest bit of hope.

"I mean Christian already fired my last guy–"

"Nicholas?"

"Yeah him...I kinda yelled at the whole garage today." The voice chuckled and a small smile began on my lips.

"You definitely are your Father's daughter...let me think about it?" I knew better than to press.

"Okay fine...so I'll see you in Australia?" Maybe I pressed...just a bit.

"I'll let you know Schatzi...I promise." With that, the call ended.

⁂

Max Verstappen and I had been "parent trapped" again. His eyes shot daggers my way as I emerged from the hotel room right next door. My teammate was dressed in workout clothes and a light flush colored his cheeks. Holding Max's gaze, I affixed my headphones in place and headed for the stairs. On my run, I decided to listen to a podcast talking about speculations regarding my new race engineer. The host had caught my attention when she grilled my teammate at the race in Jeddah. I didn't know much about Lissie Mackintosh...but one thing was for sure, she was a woman I wanted to be friends with.

Arriving at the paddock, it was hard not to smile hearing the whispers. Reporters called, other teams and even drivers had been curious about who I'd selected to replace my old race engineer. Oscar and Logan had been the first to know outside of the team. Their eyes went wide with shock and Logan smiled while Oscar just shook his head. My best friends had been worried about the backlash and if the person I wanted would even say yes. The hardest part though had been telling Mick. My brother was excited at first but that smile never really reached his eyes.

"So has anyone actually seen him show up? I mean what if she's lying." A reporter whispered as I strutted into the paddock.

"I can't believe it if the rumor is actually true." Three Mercedes team members passed me as well.

"Do you think he came back for her or for Christian?"

"What about Mick?"

By the afternoon, the paddock was buzzing in anticipation. My mood soared knowing that all these people were hanging on for my reveal. And, as a black SUV pulled up and I received the message saying "get your ass over here and give me a hug Schatzi", not even Max Verstappen's cold glare could dampen my mood.