Mad Max - Max Verstappen

47. Dark alley

"Can I invite you for a dinner? I feel so bad that you paid for everything" Naomi asked him.

"I would like to go to for a dinner with you, but I'm not letting you pay for it" Max said.

"Why not, please I want to pay for it" she said.

"No, just no, do you keep forgetting that I'm a millionare? I won't let you pay" he said.

"You can't be paying for everything" Naomi said.

"I want to, it makes me happy ok?" he said.

Naomi sighed.

"Let's go, I found one amazing place, when I was here last time" Max said.

Max went from a main street to some dark narrow street, Naomi followed him, they were just going from one narrow alley to another.

"This looks quite scary" Naomi said quietly while they were walking through another dark alley.

"Don't worry, if something happens just run, I will fight" Max said.

"This is not calming me down Max, it is actually doing the opposite" she said.

"Wait are you actually scared? We can go somewhere else, I didn't want to make you scared" Max said while running his fingers through his hair.

"It is fine, but how did you find that place?" she asked him.

There was a group of angry looking men, they were staring at them. Max pulled her to him and held her by her waist while staring daggers at them.

"Stop, you are just provoking them" Naomi said quietly.

One man started walking towards them while he was still staring. Other men followed him. Naomi's heart sunk. Max seemed to be ready for a fight.

"Naomi, if I tell you, you will run ok" Max said.

"I won't leave you here" she said.

"I will fight them and you will run, do you understand?" Max said loudly.

"I don't want to hurt your ego, but I don't think you can fight eight men" Naomi said.

The group of men reached them.

Naomi pulled out her phone without thinking in case she would need to call a police, then she realised it is a mistake, because she will probably just get robbed.

The man in the front squinted his eyes.

Naomi's heart started racing.

"Are you...by any chance Max Verstappen?" the man asked.

"Yeah" Max said. Naomi just stood there like a statue waiting for what will come next.

"You are! That's incredible!! We wasn't sure because we didn't see you properly in this darkness!! Mike here is a huge fan" he pointed to his left.

Naomi felt relieved. Her pulse calmed down. She wanted to laugh, because of how paranoid they were.

"Great" Max managed to awkwardly smile.

Can we take photos with you? The man asked him.

"Yeah sure" Max said.

"I can take them for you, it is very dark here so it would look better with a flash and a back camera" Naomi smiled.

The man thanked her and gave her his phone. They wanted a group photo so Naomi took few for them. Then she took a photo of Max with Mike and that was it.

They thanked them and walked away.

"Sorry" Max said.

"Why are you sorry, nothing happened" she smiled.

"It wasn't a great idea to take you through these dark alleys" he sighed.

"It is fine, we are having some adventure, but you still didn't answer my question, how did you find that place where we are going?" she asked.

"It was a coincidence, because I got lost" Max said.

"Anyway we are here" he added and pointed to a small building. From the outside it didn't look special, but when they walked in, they were immediately greeted with a quiet music, yellow lights, fireplace and a nice smell of food. This place felt very cosy.

They chose a table near a fireplace and ordered their food.

"Do you remeber when we played our little question for question game in the jet?" Max asked.

"I didn't know it was a game for you" Naomi said.

"It was not a game, but I like to call it like that, I have more questions" Max said.

"Go on".

"If you could be an animal, what would you be?" he asked her.

Naomi chuckled. "That's an important question" she said with amused tone. "To be honest I never really thought about it, I don't know maybe an elephant" she said.

"Elephant? Why elephant? I would never guessed it, even if I tried" Max said.

"They seem cool and smart, something about them is just very majestic" she said.

"Interesting" he said.

"Let me guess yours! I think you would want to be a lion!" she said and grinned.

"Actually I would probably rather be a cat" he said.

"Then my guess is not too bad" Naomi smiled.

They brought their food. Naomi had to admit it was absolutely delicious. It was definitely worth it going there.

When it came to paying Max insisted he will pay again and he did. Naomi attempted to put some cash into his pocket, but he caught her hand before she could place money into his pocket.

"I said that I am paying" Max said.

Naomi furrowed her eyebrows.

They took a taxi back to the hotel. Naomi thanked Max for a nice day, she really enjoyed it.

It was very late, so she brushed her teeth, took shower and went to sleep.

---

It was friday. Naomi walked into the paddock.

Daniel waved at her. She waved back and went to him.

"Girl you are glowing!" Daniel grinned.

"Haha, I am just in a good mood" she answered.

Daniel was more observant then she thought. His eyes drifted to her nails.

"Don't you want to tell me something" Daniel said, his grin disappeared.

Naomi saw where he is looking. Of course he had to see Max's insta story. "No, not really".

"Naomi...look...you have to be careful" Daniel said.

"Why? I know what I'm doing" Naomi said.

"You know, but Max's mind is probably clouded. What he posted yesterday on his insta looked a lot like a soft launch and trust me, some fans can be insane" he said.

"Don't worry Danny, it will be fine, it is just a photo of nails, nothing bad, it is like a promo for Red Bull" Naomi said, trying to calm him down and mainly trying to comfort herself.

"Today is qualification rigt? Because of the sprint" Naomi asked him to change a topic.

"Yeah practice and quali" Daniel said, he still seemed to be studying her every movement.

"Good luck, I will be in the office if you will need me" she said and quickly left. Daniel was right, she didn't want anyone to be attacking her on a social media just because of some photo, but she really hoped that noone will care.

***

Thank you so much for your support ♡ ily ♡