Before you

19.

The article about her dad got published as we were sitting in the car to the track.

It was bad, maybe even worse than she expected. Her dad got completely slaughtered, which he deserved though.

I think Riley didn't know half of everything that happened. He didn't only have sex with those girls, but also threatened them if they told anyone.

Said they would never find a job again.

He was a first class asshole and I was afraid Riley would get a lot of backlash too.
Especially since everyone thought she was dating me now.

"You okay?" I said as I looked at her. She's been quiet since she read the article. Was looking through the window for most of the ride.

"Yes" she nodded with a smile as she turned her head to me. "I am excited to see you race"

"You don't have to do this, okay?" I said softly. "You can go home if you want, I would totally understand that"

"There's nothing I want less than to be home right now" she chuckled. "Besides, I want to support my boyfriend"

"You're probably gonna get a lot of questions" I said. It's not that I didn't want her here, quite the opposite actually, but I wanted her to be prepared.

Francesca always worried about what people were gonna say or write.
Didn't even want to hold hands most of the times.

"Oh definitely" she nodded. "I don't need to answer them though"

"No you don't" I chuckled.

"Today is all about you, so I don't care if they will ask questions or yell ugly things" she shrugged. "I wanna support you, so that's what I'm gonna do"

Damn.

I quickly looked at her and smiled. Turned the music up and winked at her.

It didn't even matter what song was playing, we both needed to get loose before going into the paddock.

Before going into the hell, for her atleast, but I was gonna hold her hand all the way through.

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We entered the paddock together, her hand in mine.

And for the first time ever, the cameras weren't on me, but on her.

I hated it, not because I wanted them to be on me, but because they were on her for the wrong reasons.

I didn't want to stop for fans today, wanted to go straight to the hospitality, but Riley stopped me. "Take some pictures with them, they're waiting all morning"

"You sure?" I whispered. She nodded instantly. "Yes very sure"

So I did take some pictures with fans, not as much as I normally would because I wanted to be with her as much as possible.

But fuck this girl was taking it like a champ. Even I could hear some people yell disgusting things about her dad.

And she didn't even flinch.

I immediately walked back to her, put my arm around her waist and walked with her to the hospitality.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" I asked again.

"Yes Lando, I'm fine" she chuckled. "Don't worry so much about me and concentrate on your race"

She was something else.

"It's gonna be fin-" I said as we walked in the hospitality and as we did, everyone snapped their heads to us.

Zak was standing in front of us, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Fine?" Riley asked as she looked at me.