LOVE OR RIDE | LESTAPPEN

Chapter twenty-six - touch him and die

Max

I feel someone placing kisses first on my face and then on my jaw and neck. I mutter under my breath, wanting to continue going to sleep. After a while, this person returns to kissing my lips, at which I smile lazily, knowing full well who it is. I reciprocate the kiss, hoping that the boy will give me a few more minutes of sleep.

"Charles..." I say in a hoarse voice as the boy moves away. "Come to my place, we still have plenty of time." I add, reluctantly opening my eyes.

The Ferrari driver is already dressed and looking at me with a wide smile. At least he of the two of us is happy, and I, not wanting to take that happiness away from him, put all my problems in my pocket and force myself to smile broadly.

"I'm taking you after my qualification for a break from everything. You need to forget." He states satisfied with his plan. "And when we come back, me and our friends will help you with everything."

I bite my lip, watching him. I don't deserve him. He is too good a man for me, and even though I know he should be with someone better, I don't want to let him go. I want him to be mine forever, even if we are not yet in a relationship.

"Will you go to breakfast with me?" he asks suddenly. "You need to eat something, come on." He adds as I cover myself with the quilt.

"After last night, is this how you repay me?" I ask reproachfully as he takes the quilt from me. Abashed, he looks away from me, which makes me smile. "Give me some clothes from the closet and I can go." I add, rising from the bed. I run my fingers through my hair to bring it into some sort of order, but suddenly Charles returns with the clothes and grabs my wrist.

"Leave it. You look perfect with hair like that." he says, handing me a set of sweatpants.

I sigh resignedly and quickly get dressed, after a while me and the Ferrari driver walk down to the dining room, where other drivers are already there. We get to Pierre, Carlos, Lando, Daniel, Checo and Yuki. Everyone greets us smiling. Only Perez looks confused. I ignore this, putting food on my plate from the plate of Daniel, who is sitting next to me. The boy looks at me with raised eyebrows.

"Does my plate look like a gutsy buffet to you?" he finally asks as I start eating.

"Yes," I reply contentedly, glancing at him. "Are you okay, Checo?" I ask finally, and everyone's gaze falls on the Red Bull driver.

"I... Yes, yes... Just... You know... The walls in this building are not thick enough for me not to hear what you do in the evening. And the person who moans your name half the night." tightens his lips into a thin line.

Charles begins to choke on the juice he just drank. I stare impassively at everyone, continuing to eat pancakes, because showing a reaction is the worst thing I can do. Daniel next door is looking in complete shock in my direction, Lando is trying to save Charles, who is choking on his juice, Carlos is scooping fries onto a fork, but the problem is that he's hitting the table with the fork, not the plate, and Yuki and Pierre stat themselves not to start laughing while looking at all of us. Checo looks embarrassed and all in all, it's a day like every day.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I finally say, breaking the silence. Charles next to me draws air into his mouth and sighs with relief. Lando wipes his sweaty forehead, stressed by Leclerc's tantrum, and tells Carlos quietly that he's not scooping food onto the fork.

"Maybe I misheard." whispers Perez finishing eating and almost running out of the dining room under the pretext of going to the toilet. After a while, Yuki leaves to go change, so a bunch of trusted idiots remain. Great.

Most of the drivers disperse after eating, and we continue to sit in silence, eating or drinking coffee. Suddenly Hamilton enters the room. I raise a puzzled eyebrow, glancing at Daniel, who also looks at me. Everyone seems surprised by this, even Charles. Lewis finds the Ferrari driver with his eyes and moves toward us. I measure him with a glance, feeling my muscles tense up.