What Is Love? ∞ Max Verstappen

𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓽𝓮𝓻 16

♫ 'Cause you are the reason why I'm still hanging on
'Cause you are the reason why my head is still above water ♫

Max Verstappen POV

Being with Claire involved feelings I have kept hidden for my sake, and for Olivia's sake. She is my priority, and so is my career. But Claire understands it. She understands it all. She is good with Olivia, she is good with me and she knows what my career implies. I knew we had to keep it hidden so Olivia wouldn't get over-attached. She would see Claire as something more than a friend and I don't want that for now. 

We made out like teenagers for an hour and it was heaven, we stopped a few times but I couldn't keep my hands away from her. Kissing her was almost sinful of how good it felt to me. Her smell brought me close, she always smelled dangerously sweet and her skin was always so damn soft, I felt tempted to know her routine because it had to be good.

"We should go or someone will find us" She says when we finally stop.

"That I can agree with" I say giving her a kiss on her hair and she gets up.

"I will see you tomorrow then" She says while we headed inside.

"It's not like you have a choice" I say shrugging and letting out a laugh.

"I do" She simply says before getting to her room and closing the door. Does she? What is the other choice? I'm curious now.

I woke up early the next day to work out and went for a run before I called it a day. I got home and find them all eating breakfast, everyone cheerfully greets me and I wave going upstairs. I took a quick shower and headed back down.

"Good morning" I say happily.

"Someone is in a good mood" My sister says playfully and I shrug.

"It could've been better if I didn't have to work out" I say rolling my eyes and everyone laughs.

"Daddy is so lazy" Olivia complains quietly to Claire who shakes her head.

"Daddy is really good, he doesn't want to do stuff but still does. That takes dedication" She says convincing a surprised Olivia.

"Is it true dad?" She asks curiously and I nod.

"It takes a lot of dedication, believe me" I say laughing and she nods convinced.

"We are going to buy the stuff for the party. Can you and Tom handle the kids? I don't want to take two babies to the shopping and I definitely will not take the birthday girl because it's a surprise" My mom whispers and I nod.

"Don't worry, we will be just fine. You go and have some fun, you deserve it" I say nonchalantly.

When everyone ended their breakfast, each person took their plate and silverware to the dishwasher. I stopped Claire before they left.

"Take it, I will text you the PIN when you need or you will forget it" I say giving her my black card and she nods smiling.

"Don't worry about it. See you soon" She says touching my arm with her hand and giving me a smile. If it wasn't for the eyes I felt on me I would've kissed her by now, I know it.

"Be careful, call me if you need anything" I say as we walked to the front door where my mom and sister waited for her.

"You will have your girl back in a few hours, learn how to share" My sister says teasing me and I give her the finger while she laughed. My mom coughs and we both stop.

"You two will never grow out of it will you?" She asks while shaking her head and we laugh.

"They are siblings being siblings, I have three brothers, I can tell you this is not that bad" Claire says winking at my mom who just smiles.

"Poor girl, if Max breaks your heart he will have three Leclerc brothers to whoop his ass" My mom says strangely happy with the sentence she just said.

"We should go" Claire says clearly avoiding the subject for the second time. I watch as they left and enter the living room.

Olivia was playing with Tom since my nephews had fallen asleep right before breakfast. I sat on the couch and Olivia decided to play with one of her toys so Tom came to the couch too.

"So, you and Claire?" He asks clearly implying something and I shrug.

"What?" I ask curiously about what he might know.

"Sophie told Victoria that Claire was your neighbor and she got convinced that you two would be way more than neighbors soon. Because, you know, she was your first crush and she helped you with Olivia and Olivia quickly adored her"

"Well, we are also friends so I can say that she was somewhat right but my crush on Claire was almost 15 years ago, I had a child, and I changed a lot since then. Plus, nothing on that mentions Claire's feelings" I say trying not to sound interested but I know my sister and Claire talked a lot during races and I know they are friends.

"But Claire liked you too back then. She never made a move because she was a bit threatened by you and Victoria knew you would never forgive her if she told Claire you liked her back" He says and now I am surprised. She liked me too back then.

"That's in the past, Olivia is my priority and so is my job. She is a great friend and maybe even co-worker, I don't know" I say turning on the television and he nods.

"I just think she is the missing piece for you and Olivia. She is everything you are not" He says calmly while I searched for something to see.

"Claire is great but I think she deserves better than this, better than me"

I was honest for the first time. I don't think I could give Claire everything she deserved. I have a lot of time taken by my job and then by Olivia. What if she wants a family too? Olivia is my kid, but Claire will surely want her own. Do I have time for another kid? Probably not. Why am I thinking that far out? Am I going crazy? Jesus Christ. I am going crazy.