It became way harder to hide our relationship. Flew to the last race of the season together, tried to be as sneaky as possible.
Don't take pictures together, make sure we weren't in the background of each other stories, only if it was only for one second.
Because the fans saw me in Lando's story. He apologized many times for it.
In ways I don't need to explain.
So when we arrived in Abu Dhabi, we agreed not to flirt on the radio, no holding hands, no winks or smirks.
Way harder than you might think it is, especially when all you want is to kiss that handsome face.
It was finally time for the last race of the season and to be honest, I was happy about it.
I was so tired.
Too damn tired to function properly.
So instead of pressing Will's radio button, I pressed Lando's. "He's doing a good job, let's keep at it"
I said it before I noticed I wasn't talking to Will, I was talking directly to Lando.
"There she is, my favorite voice in the world" Lando answered. "Who is doing a good job?"
Will looked at me and rolled his eyes with a smile. I think he was the only one who knew for sure that we were something.
Something more than friends.
"Go ahead" he nodded, even though Zak wasn't gonna like this at all, we didn't care.
We weren't gonna win this race, Max was too far ahead and Lando was driving very comfortably in second place.
"You are doing a good job, Norris" I said as I pressed his button again. "But keep thinking about your tires though"
"Been thinking about other things, Knoxy" he answered almost immediately.
"About w-" I wanted to answer before Zak cleared his throat behind me.
"This is not why I hired you, Knox" he said, anger was all over his face and in his eyes. "But this is why I am gonna fire you"
Will frowned, raised his eyebrow immediately after. "Zak c'mon, it's only three laps lef-"
"You're fired Knox" Zak interrupted him.
I chuckled as I got up from the pitwall. "Why? Because we are in love?"
"No, because you're being immature"
Fair enough, it wasn't professional at all, but Mclaren got more popular than ever since we started the little banter on the radio.
Lando became less stubborn, always listened and was driving in second place.
Oscar didn't mind that we flirted. He didn't mind that we were together.
Okay, so Will wasn't the only one who knew, Oscar knew too.
Caught us kissing in Lando's driver's room after the practices.
But he claimed he knew way before that.
"I might be immature, but so is Lando, no? You're gonna fire him too?"
He chuckled sarcastically. "No, because people love Lando and he is talented"
A slap in the face, but definitely the slap I needed.
I shook my head, walked away from the pitwall. Grabbed all my stuff in seconds.
And I left, I couldn't stay in the hospitality, or paddock. So I went to Lando's room.
Watched the podium ceremony on the tv, the interviews as well. Lando looked cute, happy but also a little bit worried.
An hour later, or two hours later, I didn't even know at this point, Lando walked in the room.
"Oh fuck, you're here" he dropped his stuff, walked straight to me and crawled on the bed. "I was so worried"
"Zak fired me" I said, no emotion, nothing.
"What?" He frowned. Zak clearly didn't tell him. Interesting. "I will tell him to hire you again"
He wanted to get up again but I stopped him. Wrapped my arms around him, cuddled up to him. I needed him, but not to convince Zak to take me back.
I would never go back. Never.
"Just hold me please" I mumbled.
And he did, cuddled me for hours. We talked about everything, except for one thing.
The thing he only dared to ask after a few kisses.
"What are you gonna do then?"
The right thing to do was just forget about it and support Lando next season.
Unfortunately, there's a difference between the right thing to do and the right thing for yourself.
And they were almost never the same thing.
I shrugged my shoulders, but I already had a pretty good idea what I was gonna do.
Destroy him.
