A mans world, p.27
A Man's World, page 27
“Why is he here?”
“I’ve been told he’s the new Indy Car driver. They also paid for him to do some Formula 1 testing. Rumor is after Oliver’s contract is up, he might take his seat. They’re putting him in Indy Car to see how he does in America. God, I hope he fails. What a miserable teammate he would be.”
“I didn’t realize you’d met him.”
“Oh yeah, met him a few times. Georgia once brought him over to London when I still lived there. Absolute moron and so rude – incredibly American.” The way Edward said American had me grinning. One of his favorite places to visit was America, and he absolutely loved the Miami race, spending half the time telling me how he was going to move there. Still, there was no love loss between us European Formula 1 drivers and the American NASCAR drivers, even if so many of us went to drive for NASCAR after we left Formula 1.
“I’ve been trying to ignore him all morning, but I know I won’t be able to forever. Arthur has given him all access to the garage, and he’ll be here all weekend,” Edward groaned, rubbing his eyes in frustration.
“I want to meet him,” I said suddenly. Edward looked a little shocked, wondering why on earth I’d want to meet the asshole who broke Georgia’s heart.
“Gross. Why?”
“Because I want to thank him for being stupid enough to end his relationship with Georgia. I want to thank him for letting me show Georgia what it’s like to be with a boyfriend who values her. I want to rub my relationship in his stupid fucking face.” That last part came out in a whisper, but I knew Edward heard it.
“Luca Rossi, such a softy,” Edward teased. “Something tells me he probably won’t care since, I mean, he was the one who cheated on Georgia.” Did everyone know this story except me?
“Oh, he’ll care.” I was sure of it. “Georgia isn’t someone you just get over.” I knew this from first-hand experience, and I had no doubt in my mind that even though Anthony had been the one to cheat, he was missing her all the same. She was beautiful, smart, funny. It would be impossible not to miss her.
Edward looked incredulously at me but chuckled, glancing back at Anthony.
“I’ve got to head to the Hermes garage, but I’ll see you after qualifying.”
He nodded in agreement, and I left the hospitality suite as discretely as I could, heading towards the Hermes garage. It was only a few minutes past 8 a.m. when I got to my garage, and I took my seat inside the conference room. Fortunately, Francesco was also running late from an engineering meeting. Unfortunately, that meant it was just Henri, Hugo, and me sitting awkwardly together in the Hermes conference room.
“I saw the photos from the boat ride last night,” Hugo said, finally breaking the deafening silence in the room. “Georgia sent me a couple of photos.”
“It was good fun.” I let my eyes glance at Henri, who still hadn’t said anything. He didn’t look too shocked, which told me that he knew about the date but had decided not to say anything.
“So, Henri, you read the GQ article?” I asked casually, knowing full well that he would have been instructed to read it. Hell, Francesco wouldn’t even have needed to tell him to read it. Henri's jealousy would get the better of him, and he would want to read it. I knew he wanted it to be him and Georgia – a fun brother/sister spread in the magazine talking about their life together. He had mentioned it before, and the duo had done a few articles for Monegasque and French magazines, but nothing of this size.
Part of me felt pleased that he was jealous, and I knew it was petty. Everyone under the sun knew that Henri was the number one driver. He was the driver that Hermes had put all of their hopes and dreams on. By all means, this should have been his article. He should have been the one to get the big spread, but instead it was me, Hermes driver number two – the irresponsible ‘playboy’ who had put several sponsorship contracts at risk.
And fuck it, I was pleased. Not a lot of things had gone my way this season, and I was going to revel in the few things that did. Henri looked at me, clearly pondering how to respond to that. He knew I was baiting him in front of his brother, but his pause told me that he was debating on whether he should take the bait.
“Peaches looked beautiful.” Henri's eyes narrowed, looking directly into mine.
“Well, Georgia doesn’t need a professional photographer or fancy clothes to do that,” I responded back, letting a sly grin form on my lips. Should I be pissing off my teammate before a qualifying where I needed a tow? Probably not. But no one had accused me of being level-headed, and this was far too fun.
I could see Henri's jaw twitch a bit, but he remained mute and instead turned back to his phone, continuing to scroll through whatever he was reading. Part of me felt a little bad; in truth, I understood where he was coming from on a deeper level. He was a protective older brother whose sister had been hurt before. I would be acting like him if it was my sister, and I knew it.
As I considered this, I thought back to Anthony who was hanging out in the Wilmington garage. I wondered if Henri knew that Anthony was here. I expected that he didn’t; even Edward seemed shocked to see the American NASCAR driver this morning. I pondered for a few moments if I should tell Henri and Hugo and decided that it was the right thing to do. If it was my sister, I would want to know that her asshole of an ex-fiance was here.
“So, I, uh, saw Anthony at the Wilmington garage this morning.” Immediately, Henri and Hugo looked up, their attention fully fixated on me.
“What do you mean he’s here?” A look of concern spread across Hugo’s face. “Does Georgie know?”
“Edward pulled me into the Wilmington garage this morning. Anthony was in the VIP suite. Apparently, he’s had some Formula 1 testing at Wilmington, and he has been given an Indy Car seat. He’s here all weekend, moseying his way around the paddock as he gets further acquainted with the Wilmington team.”
“Why would the Wilmington F1 Team, or any team, want that asshole?” Henri loudly scoffed, slamming his hands on the table. I jumped back, a little shocked by my teammates’ outburst. Henri ruffled his hands through his hair as he muttered a frustrated sigh. Hugo put both his hands on his hips and began to pace the room, and I could see the wheels turning in his head.
“We need to keep her away from Anthony,” Hugo said finally, stopping mid-pace as he sifted his hand through his hair.
“With all due respect, Georgia is a big girl. She can handle herself.” I didn’t like to pick fights with Hugo, but I couldn’t help myself. I understood that her brothers were concerned, but I also felt like Georgia wasn’t a child.
Hugo let out an irritated chuckle but nodded in agreement. “You’re right. She can handle herself, but this is a huge weekend for her, and Anthony is very good at getting under people’s skin. They ended very badly, and I have no doubt that he’ll do everything in his power to get into her head. She doesn’t deserve that, not after everything he did.”
“Well, we’re having a quick lunch together after FP3. I figured we’d stick around the Valkyrie hospitality area, probably the safest place to be.”
“I will come and have lunch with you,” Henri piped up. I tried to hide my displeasure as I nodded at my teammate. It would be best to have a small group. I’d ask Edward to come too – might as well add company to misery.
Free Practice 3 had been excruciating. I hated these city tracks, favoring the more traditional racing tracks like Spa and Silverstone. Still, Georgia and Henri had done their usual – P1 and P2 as normal, with Noah in P3. They were separated between something incredibly miniscule, like a thousandth of a second.
I knew my P6 result was pathetic for the car, but I was not fairing well on the track. I felt uncomfortable and displeased with the car’s setup, but we were stuck with what we had this week. As I hopped out of the car, I saw Henri wave me over. He had his suit wrapped around his waist, clearly ready to head to lunch so he could brag to Georgia that he had beaten her into the P1 slot at FP3.
We arrived at the Valkyrie hospitality suite and took a seat outside. It was somewhat visible to guests who walked by, but they wouldn’t be allowed in unless they had a VIP pass. Georgia had insisted on sitting outside, even though Henri tried to convince her otherwise. Unfortunately for Henri, the weather was too nice for Georgia to possibly believe that we stay inside, just in case it rained.
Edward had arrived shortly after we sat down, a knowing look on his face. Henri gave him a small shake of his head, letting him know that we hadn’t told Georgia. I had been team ‘Georgia deserves to know,’ but I was overruled by her brothers, who said absolutely not, or at least not until qualifying was over. We all knew we couldn’t hide her all of Sunday, so we struck a deal – let’s get through qualifying.
But, as I suspected, the universe had other plans.
Georgia insisted on having a short walk to get her legs going before qualifying. I offered for Edward and Henri to head back to their garages, but they both insisted on staying. About halfway through our walk, I saw Edward’s face go wide, telling me what I needed to know – Anthony had spotted us, and he was heading over to our group. Fuck.
“Well, well, well, Edward, I had wondered where you had gone off to!” I heard a voice call out. Edward ducked behind me as if that was going to hide him from Anthony. Georgia immediately looked up at the person standing in front of her, a look of dread – and then anger – on her face as she turned to see Anthony standing there with a female redhead, their hands intertwined.
Edward said nothing, his eyes shifting to Georgia, who was already giving Edward a pointed glare with a questioning look on her face, clearly expecting an answer out of the Brit.
“Just having lunch with friends,” Edward replied with a dry smile.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Henri gritted out, standing slightly in front of Georgia – Georgia’s knight in shining armor as always.
“Oh, Henri, how I’ve missed you,” Anthony drawled out in his ridiculous Southern accent. “Been a while. You remember my girlfriend, Anna.”
Henri ignored Anthony’s introduction, once again demanding to know why Anthony was at the grand prix. I turned to look at Georgia, who was still a little wide-eyed. She was staring at Edward, and they were clearly having a secret conversation with their eyes and body language.
“I’m a personal guest of the Wilmington F1 Team this week. Just signed a contract to be their Indy Car driver,” he gloated, as if the four F1 drivers in front of him would be impressed by that. Georgia being the first woman to win Indy Car was impressive, but she was now a Formula 1 driver, something that Anthony would never achieve. It was likely Wilmington had only asked him onto the team because his dad was one of the richest oil barons in Texas. Money talked in racing.
I could tell that Edward wanted to say something, but he held his tongue. There was no need to make his time in the Wilmington garage even more miserable. The war between Wilmington drivers wasn’t worth it, and the press would crucify the team if they caught wind of drivers not getting along.
Before anyone could respond to that, I slipped my arm around Georgia and put on my classic Luca smile, the one I always wore when I met annoying little shits like Anthony. The smile that said go fuck yourself, while still looking pleasant to the outside world. As I leaned into Georgia, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her closer to me. Georgia looked up, confusion in her eyes, not entirely sure what I was trying to do.
“Indy Car… wow… so impressive,” I said half – no, mostly – sarcastically. “I stopped watching after someone kept winning all the races. Got a little boring,” I said, looking down at Georgia and giving her a wink and a sly grin. I was pleasantly surprised when Georgia leaned a bit more into me, grinning at my comment.
“Can’t help that none of the other teams put up decent drivers or competition,” she quipped. It was at that moment I realized she was wearing her Triple Crown polo that Isabelle had gotten her. The entire garage had swapped their shirts, and now everyone had the triple crown logo on their backs, a reminder to all the teams that a lion was among us.
Anthony scoffed as he dragged his girlfriend Anna closer to him, clearly sizing me up. I had no doubt that he had heard Georgia and I were dating, and judging by his body language, he was trying to judge us as a couple.
“Hard to compete with someone who can sleep her way to the championship,” Anthony bit out. I felt Georgia immediately go stiff in my grasp, could feel her anger start to bubble, but before she could get something out, I moved forward and stood close to Anthony, my face mere inches from his.
“From what I heard, Anthony, it sounded like the only person trying to sleep their way to the top was you, but you were so lousy in bed even that didn’t work, so Daddy had to buy you a spot at Wilmington.” I said it low enough voice so that only the six of us around could hear, recognizing that a small crowd had started to form around us.
I knew Georgia could defend herself, but I also knew Georgia, and I knew that look on her face. She was boiling with anger – at us for not telling her, but also at Anthony, and she would say something she regretted. The media’s opinion of her was turning the tide, and I didn’t want something to get out into the press. The group of us together was starting to gain attention, and I knew this interaction needed to end – and quickly.
I heard both Henri and Edward snicker behind me. I didn’t even look at Georgia, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the smug look on her face, clearly pleased with Anthony’s reaction. I grabbed Georgia’s hand and turned around, dragging us both toward the Valkyrie garage. As soon as we got to the garage, Georgia let go of my hand and turned to face Henri, wagging a finger in his face.
“I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that you three knew about Anthony’s presence this weekend,” Georgia accused.
“Look, Peach-“ Henri started.
“Don’t ‘look, Peaches’, me. What the fuck is going on with you, Henri? I get you’re trying to do the whole protective brother thing, but knock it off. I already have one protective brother. I don’t need another one. I thought you were on my side, but recently, it feels like you’re always hiding something from me.”
“And you,” she pointed to Edward, who looked a little worse for wear. “You couldn’t drop me a text? Oh hey, Georgia, that asshole I told you to break up with during your trip to London a few years ago is here. Like nothing from you? Really?”
Both Henri and Edward just stared at her with blank expressions, neither of them really knowing what to say. I braced myself for my turn, but nothing came. Either Georgia had run out of steam, or I had been spared because of my comment to Anthony. Regardless of the reason, I’d take it. It was nice to not be on the receiving end of Georgia’s frustrations for once, and if I was being honest, a little fun to watch Henri stand there uncomfortably. Both Henri and Edward mumbled fairly pathetic apologies, but Georgia just rolled her eyes.
“I have to go get ready for qualifying. I don’t have time for this.” And with that, she pranced into the Valkyrie garage. I wanted to utter an I-Told-You-So, but that seemed in poor taste, even for me, so I just shrugged my shoulders and started to walk back to the Hermes garage with Henri following me in total silence.
Georgia
I didn’t have time to really process what had gone down with Anthony before qualifying. I was annoyed with Henri and Edward, but I understood why they didn’t want to tell me before qualifying. I texted Hugo about my frustration, but he only backed them up, insisting that nothing good would have come of it – insinuating that they were going to tell me this evening, although I wasn’t sure if I believed that.
I insisted that finding out an hour before qualifying by running into my ex was worse, to which he agreed and apologized, asking me not to be so hard on Henri. This was a classic Hugo move. He knew I couldn’t stay mad at him long, so he took the blame so Henri could get some relief from being the center of my anger. He had that same sweet personality that our mother had, and he was always willing to protect his siblings.
Truthfully, I was more annoyed because Henri was supposed to be my partner in crime, not my bodyguard, but recently Henri had shifted from best friend to protective older brother, and it annoyed me. I wanted my best friend and confidant back.
Still, I put all of that aside and did what I came to do in Baku – come in first, which is exactly what I had done in qualifying. I was buzzing, as Oscar Parker would say. As I jumped out of the car, I went and stood with Noah and Eric, who had qualified P2 and P3 alongside me. We took our photos and chatted with the event VIPs for a bit before being ushered back to our garages so we could get prepped for the post-qualifying press conference. I made my way back to the Valkyrie garage, a huge smile on my face. Not even the appearance of Anthony could ruin this for me.
As I stood in the conference room with Lily, waiting for Lizzie and Fiona to give me a rundown of what to say at the post-qualifying press conference, I had a thought. In the corner of the office was a beautiful leather binder with Fiona Schmidt’s name engraved on it. The binder was full of important papers, and Fiona carried it all over the paddock. I walked over and emptied the binder of its contents, putting them neatly to the side. I picked up some empty pieces of Valkyrie header paper and stuffed it inside. Lily eyed me warily, an unsure look on her face.
“You know, Georgie, your career as a racing driver is okay. You don’t need to join the strategy team,” she joked. I smiled at her, letting a mischievous grin fill my face.
“I’m going to prank the journalists – and Fiona Schmidt.”
Lily’s face widened, and she began to laugh – a little too loudly. I quickly shushed her and set the binder next to my spot at the conference table. I knew Lizzie and Fiona would not appreciate my joke on the journalists, so I motioned for Lily to keep quiet.
