🔺Love Triangle🔺

Part 12

It was hard to say goodbye. He drove me completely crazy again, he messed my head. I call Sofia and ask her if she can babysit for the evening.
"She can sleep at my place," she said.
"No, no. I'm just going to say goodbye. I won't spend the night with him," I say as I'm looking at my wardrobe to find something to wear later.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Sofi, something happened," I say seriously and sit on the edge of the bed. "You're scaring me. Say it."
"Carlos and I met at the park in the morning. Vivi wanted him to go to the bakery with us. Then he came to the apartment."
"Ah, and? You had a family breakfast?"
"Sort of. He went under the shower, I brought him a towel and..."
Sofia squeals: "You two fucked in the shower!!"
I laugh: "Not literally in the shower." "Anyway, you fucked!"
"Yeah. Sofia, he drive me crazy...it was insane. I didn't even want him to go."
"What about Charlie?"
"I don't know. We need to talk. I'll see you later, okay," I say when I see what time it is. At 7:30 pm, I drop Vivi at Sofia's and hurry to the hotel. I knock on the door of Charles' room. "You're wonderful," he says as he opens the door and pulls me into a hug. "Thanks, you don't look bad either," I reply as he kisses me.
"I ordered dinner for us," he said, pointing to the table with delicacies. "Thanks, I can't stay long. I don't have day care for Vivi," I lie. I walk past him and stare out the window. "Please sit." I put my bag down and sit on the couch. "Is everything okay?" he asks worriedly as he sits down next to me and takes my hand. I nod and smile slightly. I feel so sorry for him. "We need to talk. It's about Carlos," I look at the floor, "somehow we..." Tears come to my eyes. "Hey, look at me," he says as he sits closer to me. "I'm sorry, I can't," I say and cry. He pulls me into a hug: "Everything is fine. Please don't cry." It takes me a while to stop crying. "So you two are back together?"
"Not exactly. I don't know. It's complicated," I say quietly. Now he gets up.
"He knows we like each other..." I continue. "I don't like you, Vanessa. I love you."
"I-I..."
"We had wonderful moments. You can't say that it didn't mean anything to you."
"It means," I say quickly.
"But?"
"I don't know," I shrug, "I need time."
"I have a feeling that it was just a summer romance for you. With the younger one, how exciting. Did you tell Sofia?"
"Charles..." I say seriously and stand up. He doesn't look at me. "I think I'm in love with you too," I admit. He still doesn't look at me. I decide to go. "I wish you all the best. Good luck in the rest of the season," I say, taking my bag and walk across the room.
"Wait," he says quickly and rushes to me. "You love me?" My heart collapses. Before I can answer anything, he kisses me. When he starts to undress me, I stop him: "I have to go."
"Will we stay in touch? See each other?" "Probably." I kiss his cheek: "I'll be your number one fan." He smiles: "Just be a number one Ferrari fan."
Then I leave.

*Carlos*
The next morning I go to the airport with my suitcases, where the plane is already waiting for us. I board and greet the crew. "Leclerc is still not here?" I ask as I sit down. "No, Mr. Sainz," the stewardess replies. I take my phone out of my pocket and write a message to Vanessa.

- me
Already on the plane. Did you talk to Charles?

- Vanessa
At the dentist. Yesterday evening. Is something wrong?

- me
No, nothing's wrong. He just boarded.
I'm sending kisses to my little princes & kisses to my queen. You know I love you ❤️

- Vanessa
We're sending kisses back to our king 😘
Travel safe ❤️

Charles sits across me.
"How is it?" I ask when he shrugs: "Probably not as good as you." A little smile shines on my face, but I quickly get serious: "Look. We have to stay on good terms for the sake of the team. The rest of the season must be colored red."
"Whatever," he replies and looks out the window. I can see that he doesn't want to talk, so I leave him alone. I should have been in a bad mood, not him, because he wanted my woman.
"What about Rebecca?" he asks after a while. "I don't know."
He laughs: "Don't lie. Weren't you two on vacation together?" I look at him and say nothing. "The whole world saw her posts on your yacht. Vanessa saw everything too. And you say how much you love her and want her back." Now he pissed me off. I can feel the veins on my neck popping out. I reach across the table and grab him by the collar: "Stop it!"
The stewardess rushes up to us and asks us to stop. "My love to her is more sincere than yours," Charles laughs as I grab him tighter. "Guys, calm down, otherwise we'll have to make a forced landing," says the pilot. I push him back into his seat and then stand up and walk to the other side of the plane. The rest of the flight goes by without a conversation, we even don't look at each other.
After landing, they pick us up at the airport and take us to the meeting, where we talk about tactics, new settings, and other things. In between I get a photo of a smiling Vivi.

- Vanessa
She got a twinkle star for the most beautiful teeth

- me
Daddy is proud. I love you two 😘

"Carlos, would you like to share something with us?" Fred asks. "I really would," I say and get up, "I just got a photo of my little girl." I show them the photo. After the meeting Fred stops me and Charles.
"Guys, I heard that there are some disagreements between you two. Can you explain?"
"Everything is ok," said Charles.
"No, it's not. I'm asking you to leave your personal grudges on the summer holidays. I want harmony, support, friendship in the team. I don't care who stole who's girlfriend. In the rest of the season, we have to steal victories from the other teams together. Do you understand?" We both were silent. "Carlos?" I nod: "Yes, Fred."
"Charles?" He keeps silent. "Charles?" repeated Fred. "Yes, Fred."
He shakes hands with both of us. "Perfect, now go to train."

We both did some training in the gym, then I went for a run.
Since the race in the Netherlands are in the next days, after the training I prepared all the things in the hotel and slowly went to the assembly point, where some members of the team had already gathered. I'm chatting with the engineers when one of them asks me: "Hey Chili...tell me something. Did kiddo really steal your girlfriend?"
Some of them laugh.
"Who told you that?"
"Ah, there's rumors.."
If Charles told them, he won't be talking for long anymore. At this moment, he walks to us with all the luggage, smiles and greets, but when he sees me, he gets serious.
I can see how the boys look at each other. "Oh, you two are not talking?" Alessandro asks.
"I don't want to talk to him," Charles said, and I remained silent. It's none of their business. We slowly board the plane and the flight passes without any drama.
In Zandvoort we settle in hotel rooms. I just finished the call with Vanessa to let her know that we arrived safely and prepare to go to continue with training, when I get a message from Max.

-Max
I'm inviting you at my place in the evening. We'll drink some beer 🍻

I call him.
"Oh, hey" he answers.
"Hi. Is there something special tonight?" "Nah, nothing serious. Just hanging out." "Aha...who else did you invite?"
"Lando and Daniel."
I don't answer anything.
"Are you here? You're coming right?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll come. See you."
"Great, at my place at seven."
I hang off.
I talk to Lando and we'll go there together. When I get into his car he laughs at me stupidly. "What's wrong with you?" I ask him and look out the window.
"Nothing. I'm in a good mood, unlike you." "Mhmmm," I mumble. We drive in silence for a while. "Did you hear anything from Rebecca?" he suddenly asks me.
"No, why do you ask?"
Lando shrugs: "Just asking. I feel sorry for her, that's all."
"Sure," I reply then we're silent again. The conversation with Lando is always flowing, we laugh all the time, we talk about everything. But tonight I'd rather stay in the hotel room and talk to my Vanessa on the phone.
When we ring the doorbell at Max's apartment, he opens it with a big smile on his face.
"Perfect, now we're all here. Come in, make yourself at home."
The apartment is beautiful. There is a big couch in the middle of the living room where Daniel and...Charles and Pierre are sitting. At that moment I wanted to turn and walk away. I look at Lando, who nods at me. He knew that Charles would be here too.
"So, let's get to the point," I say as I walk over to the couch and sit on the other side of Charles. "Chili, don't be mad. We're friends and we don't want you to fight."
"It's nice to hear that you're worried, but I think it's completely our business," Charles says. I nod and take the offered beer.
"We never fought becouse of women. We are all good looking, but a woman cannot come between us," Daniel says. Lando and Pierre laugh. "Daniel..." Max gives him a serious look and continues: "You two are good friends, team mates, you have good results this season."
This season is really colored red. So far we've been on the podium almost every race, Charles even won once. I sigh: "Fine. Vanessa chose me anyway. I can forgive you." Now everyone looks at Charles who is staring at the floor. I see how fast the hamster spins the wheel in his head. "I'm very sorry, but I really fell in love," he says finally.