"Hey Max." Lando greeted his friend as he picked up the phone.
"What's all this about you wanting to talk to Christian?" Max asked. "Do I need to warn Checo you're after his seat?" He joked.
Lando let out an empty laugh. "It's important, Max."
"Does this have something to do with you hitting one of the mechanics in the club by any chance?" Max asked. "Because what even was that?"
"It does." Lando agreed. "Please, Max? It's important."
"What's going on?"
Lando searched for the words, he didn't want to tell Max the whole story. It wasn't fair on Aimee to keep telling people, not when she'd been so clear she didn't want everyone to know. "He deserved it, Max. That's all I'm going to say. Now, can you please help me get hold of Christian?"
"I'll give him a call and let him know." Max agreed, deciding not to push it any further. "You're okay, though?"
"Carlos kidnapped me and took me to Scotland to play golf with him." Lando complained. "So apart from the fact I'm fucking freezing and Carlos is beating me by a mile, yeah, I'm okay."
"Alright then, I'll give Christian a call and let you know." Max said. "Enjoy your golf."
"Cheers, Max."
****
It took another three days to convince Carlos that he wasn't going to go completely off the rails if he let Lando out of his sights.
A couple more rounds of golf had been made, Lando complaining about the weather bitterly, while slowly telling Carlos the story of what had happened between him and Aimee as they played.
Carlos had mostly just listened, but in the end concluded that Lando shouldn't blame himself for any of what had gone on. Perhaps, he'd said, if Lando was patient and gave Aimee some time to clear her head she'd come back.
The statement that he needed to give her some space hadn't been enough to stop Lando from trying to call her every night though. Nothing changed though, his number still blocked, if the way the call cut off before it could even ring was anything to go by.
As he said goodbye to Carlos and headed back down south to finally talk to Christian a wave of nerves washed over him. He wasn't entirely sure how this was going to go, he had no evidence to offer Christian for what Tom had done, he just had to hope he'd take his word for it. Or maybe he'd take Zak's word for it if not.
He'd called Zak on the drive to Christian's house to explain what he was doing. The last thing he needed was a rumour getting out that he was jumping ship if someone saw him meeting with the Red Bull team principle.
Zak had been understanding when Lando explained, also uneasy at the thought of Tom being around the paddock. Lando had left out the part where he'd got in a fight in the club with him, wanting to spare himself the lecture. Mercifully, there didn't seem to be any pictures of it online and Zak seemed completely unaware so maybe he'd got away with it.
He still wasn't entirely sure what he was going to say to Christian as he pulled up in front of his house.
"Come on in, Lando." Christian waved him in. "Sorry about the mess, the kids have been all over the place."
"I uh... I'm sorry to interrupt your summer break." Lando mumbled. Maybe he should've told Max and let him relay the message.
"No worries, what can I do for you? Max was pretty secretive on the phone."
Lando sat at the stool in the kitchen that Christian waved to, willing his brain to form some words. "It's uh... it's about one of your team members."
Christian raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, waiting for Lando to continue.
"He used to work for you, then he worked for us up until Monaco. I ran into him last weekend and he said he's back working for you again now. Tom?" Lando started slowly.
"The name rings a bell I think." Christian nodded. "If you've come here because you want him back I don't think there's much I can help you with."
Lando couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped him. "He's not welcome back at McLaren. Ask Zak."
This caught Christian's attention, he sat up a bit straighter. "What's going on, Lando?"
"He was in a relationship with one of the girls on the social media team." Lando started slowly. "I still don't really know how long it had been going on for, but he was drinking and getting violent with her. She tried to quit her job to get away from him, but he found out. Just before the race in Monaco he attacked her in their hotel room. He ran off before Zak could fire him, I figured we'd never see him again but now he's back in your garage and she's quit her job because she can't face seeing him there every weekend."
There was a stunned silence as Lando finished speaking. "We obviously didn't know, we wouldn't have hired him if we did." Christian shook his head. "I'll have to speak to HR and see where we stand, but you can be assured I don't want someone like that on our team."
"Full disclosure, I did punch him in the face in a club last week." Lando admitted. "Because I feel like that's going to come up at some point."
"Sounds like he deserves it." Christian shrugged. "How did he not end up getting arrested? Surely he shouldn't be wandering around a free man after all that?"
"I don't know." Lando admitted. "I'd have to ask Aimee, but I don't know where she went."
"Well, that part I can't help you with I'm afraid. But you leave Tom to me."
Lando let out a sigh of relief. Phase one of trying to put this right was in progress at least.
YOU ARE READING
Stay With Me- Lando Norris
Fanfiction*Completed* After discovering that one of his coworkers is in a desperate situation, Lando makes it his mission to try and help her. Except she doesn't want his help, and does everything she can to push him away.
