malicious | max verstappen

thirty three.

ELYSE's POV

Welcome to the USA.

Not even 5 days later after the best night of my life, it was time for another race weekend. I entered the weekend with a completely different mindset that the past few races. I was ready.

I opened the Formula One app, wanting to see the standings so far.

1- Lewis Hamilton 270.5 pts
2- Max Verstappen 262.5 pts
3- Elyse Garcia 249.5 pts

I stopped after my name.

Exactly 21 points between me and the lead. I just needed to win and close the gap as fast as I could.

'Hold On, We're Coming Home' by Drake sounded through my headphones while I had my grid walk with Thomas. Lewis just so happened to tag along.

I still wasn't buddy-buddy with him or the rest of the drivers — Max was an exception. But I didn't completely ignore him, mostly sticking to talking with Thomas about twists and turns that I should improve and what not. He also told me about his wife and newborn twins which I congratulated him on.

When we got back from the track run, I had pre-qualifying interviews so I was quickly stolen by Hailey.

"So, Elyse, do you have high expectations for tomorrow's race?" Natalie asked me.

"I always do. I just hope quali goes well and then we'll see what to do from there." I told her.

"Wishing you the best of luck, of course." She chuckled, "Obviously we all know it's silly season right now and your contract with Mercedes' ends at the end of the season, do you have any exciting news for us?"

I frowned at the reminder. I've been in the same 4-year-contract ever since I first signed with Mercedes' and now it was coming to an end and there had been no signs of renewal so far.

"Nothing is still confirmed yet. So no news about that yet— we still have 3 months till the end of the season so till then, anything is possible." I told her, not believing a single word that was coming out of my mouth.

"Thank you for your time, we'll be routing for you today." She put on her Mercedes' number 95 cap and winked at me.

"I'll make sure not to disappoint." I winked back at her and finally left the media pen after finishing my last interview.

On our way back to the garage, Hailey bumped into Davies and Max and quickly got lost in conversation with Davies. Max took that as a chance to steal me away and took us inside an empty room filled with nothing but discarded tyres.

"What are you doing?" I asked him as he pressed himself against me. I wasn't complaining, though.

"I missed you." He whispered, "And I admit, I was feeling a bit jealous when I saw you winking at Natalie."

I cackled, "Max Verstappen, I didn't take you as the jealous type."

"Oh, I am so jealous right now. You have no idea." His eyes fixated on my lips as he spoke and I could feel a bulge against me.

"I think I have an idea." I looked down for a split second. "As tempting as this is, we have quali in 5 minutes and the chances of anyone walking in on us are way too high."

He rolled his eyes, "You overthink things too much."

"I state facts, Max, not overthink." I clarified, "Anyways, put your thing back to sleep so you could go drive. Or don't, it'll benefit me either way." I winked his way before I left him in the room filled with tyres to solve his...problem.