Track Limits

Monaco- Floodgates

I opened my eyes to Mia's squished face close to mine and the warm light of the sun starting to flood into the room. It was early on the boat and I personally liked I didn't have the ability to sleep in when on the water. It gave me the final few hours to enjoy the peace and quiet before the final race weekend. Mia and I needed the time off the grid after the Vegas fall out.

My body stretched out, I leaned over brushing my lips against Mia's forehead without waking her, and slipped out of bed as quietly as possible. Throwing on my swimsuit, I was ready to start my day with a chilly swim. Follow it with tea and some breakfast before prepping the boat to be docked for a week. We were about 10 minutes from the docks today after driving closer to the marina last night.

It seemed I had good energy while I ran up the stairs and went straight to the water diving in. The water was becoming far chillier at this time of year but it woke me up and I felt all of my senses coming to life. After 100 meters, I turned and swam back to the boat. There was a small boat looking like it was getting closer when I turned my head to breathe. I'm sure this morning there would be many boats coming and going because the day was already looking to be incredible.

Pulling myself up on the back deck, I turned the hot water on the shower head and was rinsing off. Looking out over the water, I realized the small boat was now too close to mine. Squinting made me realize it was Pierre pulling up already looking subdued which was immediately how I felt too.

I grabbed the towel wrapping it around me and went up to the top deck immediately. Pierre would get the message and it would give me a second to mentally prep seeing him unexpectedly. The plan was to talk at the race and I would know what to say by then, but we might as well knock it out now if he's forcing the issue. The top deck would allow us not to wake Mia up too. My hands went to my hair naturally to tousle the water out and make it look unruly like I felt at the moment.

"Charles," Pierre's voice emerged followed by his physical presence.

Pierre took a hesitant seat across from me. "What are you doing here?" My question was flat, I needed to keep emotion out of this.

"Is Mia here?"

My jaw clenched. "Why does that mattet?"

"I just. There's so much." Pierre let out some frustration then took a deep breath to reset. "I just wanted to see you both before the race weekend. Clear what we could."

I shook my head. "She's here but I don't think she's ready to see you. Especially unexpected. You just have me I guess," I threw out.

"That's fine," Pierre said quietly. "Can I ask you something?"

All I could give was a nod to this question. Having Pierre here took a lot of energy out of the space and giving him the floor felt risky. The only thing I could depend on was our friendship and him coming here seemed like a peace offering.

"How," Pierre asked sadly.

I wasn't convinced I heard the word correctly. How. How did we get here, how were the last few months, how could I do this to him. "What do you mean how?"

"How did you two happen?"

I held my eye roll wishing that word would have belonged to another question. "Well Pierre, I promise it had nothing to do with going after you nor did we cheat our way together. Believe it or not, we formed genuine feelings for each other and somewhere along the way chose to give into them after we had both left our previous relationships. Yes I had feelings for your sister before we were together and we both fought them until it was okay that we couldn't."

"When," Pierre sent back.

This time I did roll my eyes. Pierre, a man of many words. "Somewhere between Monza and then officially in Singapore. You gonna ask why too," I said sarcastically.

"Charles," Pierre said as a warning clearly frustrated by that response.

I shook my head. "No you don't get to be annoyed with me if you're coming here. After what you did too. We can chat but I'm not gonna sit here and answer every one word question you throw at me.

Pierre leaned back in his seat. "I'm sorry I told, I don't know what I was thinking. I'm just hurt."

"Hurt," I repeated the word back. It was at least an angle that seemed to be an honest approach.

"Why wouldn't you two just tell me in the first place? I feel like I could have avoided all of this."

The question took me back with that point. It felt like it was the first time I saw Pierre's side until he continued. He probably would have gotten a nicer response if he would have let me respond in that moment.

"Think about it. If I had known I could have..."

"You could have what," Mia's voice came butting in, my head snapping to the stairs. Neither Pierre or I realized she was present. There Mia was in her pajamas, arms crossed, and stoic at the top of the stairs. I had no idea how long she had been there.

"Sis, this isn't how I wanted the conversation," Pierre said readjusting his approach.

"No no, please continue. What if you knew. Indulge me I beg you," Mia sent back eerily composed.

Pierre looked from her to me. "I could have reminded Charles that you are my sister and what could happen to all of us when things go wrong."

This irked a response out of me. "So you're writing our ending off before even letting it start. That's messed up mate and if that's the case I'm glad we kept you away from our business."

Mia seemed satisfied nodding. "Our point proven."

A frustrated breath escaped Pierre. "That's not what I meant. Fuck I don't know how I got myself here."

"Well here we are," Mia responded.

"Regardless of how we are all feeling, I overreacted Mia. There's still things to air but I came over to tell you that you don't need to leave, move out, or however I phrased it. There was no need to leave it on that note and I'm stupid for that. That at least needed to be shared before the race weekend."

Hearing Pierre say that made me curious to Mia's response. We hadn't really returned to the chat about her living situation with it being such a short layover before traveling again. Our previous conversations flashing to me while waiting for Mia's response.

"You don't need to worry about me," Mia replied back.

Pierre looked to me now with his jaw tense. "You're not moving in with Charles are you?"

I looked right back at Pierre. "I'm there if she wants to."

Mia scoffed. "Please Pierre. Before you say anything more that you'll regret. You can lay off because I'm moving to Nice."

Nice.

A smart decision, close, a drives away, independence, but...

"Why didn't you tell me," my voice came out hurt changing the course of the conversation entirely.