Chapter 3

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Friday evening
Germany/Nürburgring

Lando

I waited for Oscar at the entrance of the garage wondering where Elina had gone. She acted weird after the last call she got. I knew she hid something but I didn't know what it was.
"Hey mate. Where's Elina?" Oscar finally came and looked around to find our lost girl. I shrug my shoulders "I don't know." I went through everything what had happened today "She thought about going back home." "You mean to her father?" I nodded. "We need to get her, before it's too late" Oscar said and we went into direction of the parking area.
I was nervous. I didn't want her to get into trouble again. Even if I just met her today. I liked her. And she didn't deserve to get hurt.

Suddenly I heard a girl screaming for help. I looked at Oscar and his face was just as worried as mine. We started running. The scream came from the exit of the paddock so we were on the right way. Another cry for help shot through my ears as we arrived at the parking area. From afar I saw a man trying to push a girl into his car. "Fuck." It was Elina.
"Hey, you!" I ran to the man "What the fuck are you doing?!" He let go of Elina and turned to me. "None of your business." "It's more of my business as you expect" I tuned to Elina "Are you alright?" She still looked shocked and nodded slowly. Her eyes were filled with tears and she was about to cry.
I saw the man watching over to Oscar, who had followed me. His gaze turned into something I couldn't follow but I felt like this person knew Oscar.

"Do you come with us now, Elina?" I asked her. She looked at me and wanted to answer but her father was faster "She's going nowhere than home." "Dad, I'm 20 and old enough!" she defended herself. "Das ist mir egal! (I don't care!)" he turned to her and slapped her cheek. Without thinking I grabbed the guy and pushed him back, away from Elina. "Are you clear thinking?! This is your daughter! Have some respect!" I shouted at him. Elina took my Hand and pulled me back "Lando please. It's alright."  I looked at her. Her eyes were read. Just like her cheek. My gaze changed to Oscar. He shook his head telling me not to do, what I was about to do.

I gave the man a last warning look before I grabbed Elina's hand and pulled her with me. "Oscar, come on" I called my teammate who was still with this guy. He followed me short after.
Returning to the paddock I stopped walking and turned to Elina "Did he do anything to you, are you hurt?" She softly shook her head "No, he didn't. I'm alright." Comparing to her eyes she wasn't alright. Small tears rolled down her cheeks and she avoided eye contact.

"I somehow know this guy" Oscar said when he arrived us. Elina looked at him "What do you mean, you know him?" "I don't know. His face looks pretty familiar. What's his name?" he asked her. "Benjamin Stark. But a lot of people just call him Benny." "Stark. Gosh I know this name" Oscar spoke his thoughts out loud.

"I'm sorry" Elina whispered. I looked at her confused "For what?" "Everything. I almost brought you into trouble" she apologised. Her beautiful blue eyes were sparkling through the water of her tears. I felt pity for her. "Don't say that Elina. You had no chance to know." She had no chance to expect his father to hurt her. Right?
"It's better if I go now" she sniffed and whipped away some tears "Thanks for taking care of me." She gave me a small smile and wanted to leave. I stopped her "Don't go, Elina. Please." I didn't let her go. Not with the thought that she might get hurt again. She didn't deserve anything of what happened and I wanted to give her something better. Something she really deserves.
"Lando please. If I stay he's gonna be even more mad at me." Her eyes showed fear. She feared getting back home. "You don't need to go home. Like I already said, you can come with us" I offered her. She didn't looked comfortable with the situation. I understood that she couldn't trust us completely yet. But she needed to. Otherwise her father would be doing go knows what with her.

She nodded on my offer and a small smile covered her exhausted face. Poor girl.
"I'm just gonna get my stuff and than we can leave, alright?" I said and she nodded again.
Together with Oscar we went to the garage and into our driver suits. Elina came with me.

"Lando you really don't need to do all this for me" she said while I packed my backpack. "I know" I answered "But I want to."

***

Later when we arrived at the hotel I went to reception to get Elina a room.
"What does it mean she has to be a member?" "She has to be a member of your team to get an own room. Otherwise she has to stay with you in your room" the women at the desk explained. What? That's total shit. Since when do they have this rule? "Sorry, but this can't be right. I talk to our principal a few hours ago and he said it was alright" I said strict. The women didn't really give me much attention "I'm sorry Mr Norris but that's what we know. Whether your friend is a member of the team or she needs to sleep in your room." "That's total shit! Zak said she is getting her own room!" I was getting louder. Zak Brown, the team principal, told me before he would organise a room for Elina. Sadly I couldn't just tell she's a part of McLaren because we have member cards to log in at the hotels.
"Can't you just give her a room despite from McLaren?" I asked then. "The hotel is booked for this race weekend just for the three teams of F1. There's no chance to get a room without a membership." "Fuck it!" I swore and left the reception. Who the fuck organised this? Whoever it was I'm gonna say him my thoughts when we met.

I went back to the lobby, where Elina was waiting for me. She sat at a table playing with her phone. Her sleeves of her hoodie were rolled up so you could see her bandage at her arms. Her hair was messy and she still didn't look well.
I said down face to face of her. She laid down her phone and looked up at me. "They couldn't get a room for you. Whether you stay at my room or you can't stay" I said softly waiting for her reaction. "What? I thought you handled it?" she asked a bit shocked. "I talked to Zak about it and he said he would get you a room. I'm sorry Elina." I didn't know what to do next. I didn't want to let her go back to her father but otherwise I didn't know if she wanted to stay with me, since we just met today and we barely knew each other. "Do you have someone else to stay tonight?" I asked her "What about you mother?" Another shock filled her gaze when I mentioned her mother. Fuck. What did I do wrong now.
"My mother was killed when I was 16."

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