Sitting In Traffic | Formula 1

Chapter 74- Opening A Closed Case

Riley was sitting in her room at 3 in the morning freshly showered waiting for Max to come out of the bathroom. She had been thinking of every possibility, every different way she could tell him about Noah. Riley didn't know how to tell him that she really didn't want him to get sued and risk the public finding out about the incident. Max walked out of the bathroom drying off his hair with a towel knowing that Riley was about to explain the entire lore of her and Noah. He didn't know what to expect anymore. But he had been mentally preparing himself throughout his entire shower and ride home.

Riley had a book in her hands in attempts to distract herself from the replaying imagine of the teen getting taken away in an ambulance. The thought of Jonah was lingering in the back of her head, but Noah was dead center. And he would be for the next few days or so until everything all calmed down.

"Are you positive you don't need to see a doctor?" Riley asked Max. She would hate for him to turn up for the race next week and find out he did have an injury of some sorts.

"Riley I'm fine" Max walked around the room, tossing his towel into a basket Riley had in the corner. "We didn't get hit too bad,"

"Max we launched another car into the intersection" Riley sat up straight entirely, she was exhausted yet wide awake. "I think you hit your head on something too."

"It was just a little tap on the steering wheel."

"Just makes me nervous." She whispered, "I want to know you're okay."

"Maybe I'll go to a doctor in Spain, but if I don't feel any pain I don't see why I would" Max shrugged, he walked over to the bed and patted Riley's leg, signally for her to move over.

Max leaned against the wall and Riley moved in-front of him, facing him so she could see his face whilst she talked to him. Riley had been reminding herself the past 2 hours that she was fine. Everything was fine. Physically she was fine, and mentally she was okay. She needed to be okay.

Max held Riley's leg in the crease where her knee folded. Her leg was resting over his lap when he pulled it closer to her. His thumb was stroking her leg, watching how she was mentally preparing herself to share something with him that no one's heard before. People only knew if they were there.

"So was this the Noah?" Max asked her cautiously, listening to the deep breath Riley took in.

"It was"

"He was real charming" He said sarcastically, continuing his thumbs movements. It was distracting Riley, keeping her grounded. The last thing he wanted was for her to cry again that night.

They needed to sleep if they were going to watch Griffin. Which they were. Riley called Joshua after they got home to tell him what happened.

"He's the devil in disguise" She rolled her eyes, "He used to be friends with Josh, he grew up down the street from him"

"So that's how you knew each other"

"Yeah," Riley nodded, "He was a little older than Josh so we weren't close until college. I actually hated him for the longest time, there was always an odd vibe I got from him. Which makes sense, I mean, when you're like 20 or 21 keeping tabs on a 16 year old it's strange"

"Fuck" Max mumbled to himself, Riley chose to ignore it, she knew it was wrong then, and she ignored it because Noah said it was fine.

"Anyways.." Riley was trying to figure out where to start. "He met Jonah sometime late May; in Charleston actually. I didn't like it, Jonah said he reminded him of his friends back home in New York. I guess that makes sense now"

Max already had a feeling where this was going. But he thought it was bizarre and pushed that theory to the side.

"They had a conversation and exchanged numbers when I wasn't around," Riley made that very clear, she made it known that she had no idea they made that move. Riley wasn't there for that. "Fast forward a few weeks later, the night before my birthday I was running around town with Jonah and Tristen. He kept having to make a phone call, I didn't bother to ask who it was because Jonah was always secretive in that aspect. You never really knew when he'd disappear, and I just thought that's what was going to happen"