The Lion and The Bull - Max Verstappen

Chapter 19 - Deja Vu

Max's hand felt warm in hers as she sat by his hospital bed waiting for the nurse to come in. Max had been sleeping for the past 3 hours and Cecilia had been by his side since they got there 3 days ago. They hadn't spoken about what had happened prior to the race since they got there. Max's eyes began to flutter and he glanced around the room, smiling when he saw her face. "Good morning Maxi," Cecilia said and rubbed his hand with her thumb. "Good Morning," Max said with a raspy voice. "Has the nurse come in yet?" Max asked. "Not yet. It's been a while," Cecilia responded. Max tried to sit up in his bed and Cecilia had to hold him down from hurting himself. "I am okay C," Max said and continued to sit up, wincing as he bent at the waist. Cecilia gave him a look but before she could say anything, the nurse walked in. "Oh great you are awake," she said and began looking through all of his charts. "How do I look?" Max asked, trying to look as not injured as possible. "I think you are ready to leave. But you still have a few weeks of rest. No driving," the Nurse said. "When can I leave?" Max asked. "Once I get your release form, you are free to go," she said and grabbed some papers. "Thank you," Cecilia said and the nurse left the room. "We have a lot to talk about," Max said once the door closed. "Can we wait until you are home and safe?" Cecilia said, trying to stay together. She hadn't thought much of that as she had been caring for Max in the hospital. She didn't want to push that on him after his crash. "Ok," Max replied and they sat in silence until the nurse came back with the release form. Cecilia and the Nurse got Max into a wheelchair and Cecilia wheeled him outside to his car. "I guess I'm driving," Cecilia said and Max handed her his keys. His father had brought his car when he visited him in the hospital. Cecilia tried to lift Max into the car as gently as possible but ended up hitting his head on the roof of the car. "Oh I am so sorry my love," she said and pressed her hand where his head was hit. Max laughed and said, "It's okay." Cecilia got in the car and was in awe of how luxurious his car was. He drove a red F40 with black rims. She turned the car on and tried to drive as smoothly as possible back to their hotel. They would be flying out to Max's penthouse in Monaco in a few days. Max turned the radio on and looked out the window in silence as she drove them home. Cecilia knew he had a lot on his mind; the race, the crash, her.

They arrived at the hotel and called for valet to help with all of their bags as she would have to push Max up to their room. They followed the valet up to their room and Cecilia started setting up her suitcase. Max sat in the wheelchair and looked around their hotel room as she shuffled things around. When she finished she asked, "Do you want to get in the bed?" "Yes please," Max said and pushed himself to the bed. Cecilia lifted him with the help of Max's own strength to get onto the bed. His back and neck were still very sore so any movement pained him. "Do you want some food? I can order something," Cecilia asked and sat at the end of the bed. "Sure," Max said. Max really wanted to talk about what happened but was only going to initiate it if she did. The food came and they sat on the bed eating while they watched some dutch t.v. show on the hotel t.v.. "Do you want to talk about it?" Cecilia asked after a while of silence. "Yes please," Max answered and tried to turn to her as much as he could. Cecilia moved to face him in front of him and began. "Well I assume you know the reason why I stormed out by now?" she said. He nodded and she continued. "I know that I overreacted but that photo really upset me," she said. "I told you that the photo was fake. Why didn't you believe me?" he asked. Tears began to form in her eyes. "I really wanted to believe you but this has happened in the past and I didn't want you to hurt me," she said and tears slid down her rosy cheeks. Max painfully reached up and wiped the tears from her cheeks and said, "I would never want to hurt you. But what happened in the past?" She sniffed and answered, "Two years ago I dated someone and he ended up cheating on me. The way I found out was because a photo was posted online saying that Christian Horner's daughter got cheated on," she wiped the tears from her eyes and continued, "Of course my dad was furious and got it taken down but that's why I haven't been in the paddock and why this whole thing stings so bad." Max had a stream of silver in his eye and said, "Oh love, I am so sorry. I didn't know that's why you were so upset." "I completely trust you but there was just something that made me feel like I shouldn't stay around. And when you crashed I realized how dumb it was that I was ignoring you for something that wasn't even your fault," she said, starting to hyperventilate. "You had every right to not trust me. I just wish you would have told me this," Max said and held his arm up for her to sit next to him. She carefully scooted next to him as he rested his arm on her shoulder. "I know I should have," she said. "If it makes you feel any better I got the post and the account taken down. I think it was Kelly," Max said and stroked her arm with his thumb. "You think Kelly did this?" Cecilia asked, shocked. "She probably got one of her friends to take it when you left and line it up perfectly so that you can see that it's me but not my face," Max said and pulled out his phone. "I've texted my manager to see what I should do but I really want to make her suffer the consequences of being a disgusting human being," Max said, getting a little heated. Cecilia sighed and gave him a look of thanks and laced her fingers with his, "Okay well we can worry about making her suffer until after you are healthy." "You know the past week has been horrible without you," he said, trying not to show his blushed cheeks. "I wanted to call you everyday," she admitted. "I had my manager take my phone so that I couldn't text you," Max said. Cecilia gazed into his light eyes before gently resting her head on his shoulder, careful to not put too much pressure.