A mans world, p.36
A Man's World, page 36
Luca and I stepped inside the elevator and smiled at the guests inside, huddling together in the corner. The elevator stopped on the next floor, and much to my surprise, in walked Sara, the Maison de Klotho executive who we had met all those weeks ago. She smiled at me and Luca.
“Going to smash it this weekend, Georgia?” Sara asked. If she meant ‘smash the journalists,’ then her answer was yes.
“As if she knows how to do anything else,” Luca quipped, earning a laugh from a few different people in the elevator.
“That Aphrodite’s bracelet is just lovely, Georgia,” Sara said, observing the bracelet around my wrist. “I’ve never seen charms like that.” Sara’s comment took me a bit by surprise, but then again, Maison de Klotho merely owned Aphrodite’s Jewelry. Sara didn’t actually work at Aphrodite’s, nor was she the coordinator who likely helped Luca pick out the charms.
“Luca has exquisite taste.”
“In both women and jewelry.” Sara gave us both a warm smile as the elevator reached the bottom floor. “Looking forward to seeing you both this weekend!”
Luca and I made our exit and headed towards the front of the hotel, where Henri and Éliott were waiting for us. The four of us piled into the car and headed to the restaurant, where Oliver and Edward were already seated and waiting.
“Hey! Look what the cat dragged in!” Oliver called out as she walked over to me, giving me one of his signature hugs. We all took a seat at the table as Oliver poured us some glasses of wine from the bottle he and Edward had already ordered.
“Good to see Luca has convinced you to stop this pre-race, no-drinking tradition,” Edward said with a laugh, clinking his glass with mine.
“Well, it seems to be working out for me so far,” I teased back. To be fair, the stress of this season had been immense, and a glass of wine had helped me wind down a bit.
“So, Georgia, I see we’ll be in the press conference together tomorrow.” I turned to Éliott and saw a little hint of mischief in his eyes as he said the words.
“Well, make sure to bring your shield. Georgia is out for blood,” Henri quipped.
“Don’t be silly, Henri. I’ll be as cordial as I always am.” Henri actually choked on his wine at my comment, and I gave him an annoyed look.
“You’re many things, Peaches…. cordial to journalists? Probably doesn’t make the cut.”
“Whatever,” I mumbled under my breath. They could tease me, but I had a plan. Kill them with kindness, as my mother would say.
As we finished up dessert, Luca excused himself to the restroom, and Edward took the opportunity to hop into Luca's seat, grabbing my wrist so he could take a better look at the bracelet.
“Wow, Luca did an amazing job with the design.”
“Well, I’m sure the Aphrodite’s sponsorship team gave him a few pointers,” I joked, but Edward just looked up at me with a serious expression, one I wasn’t used to seeing from the Brit.
“Luca did this all by himself.” I felt a rush of warmth go through me, and butterflies began to fill my stomach. Had Luca actually designed this all by himself?
“I mean, I’m sure he helped, but Aphrodite’s sponsor both of us-” Edward cut me off before I could finish my sentence.
“Georgia… Luca designed these charms by himself and ordered the bracelet without any knowledge from the sponsorship team.” Edward’s voice sounded a bit frustrated, and his face was incredibly smug.
I didn’t know what to say.
“Wh-Why?” I finally muttered out.
“That’s for you to ask him.” Edward put my wrist down and hopped back into his chair, rejoining the conversation with the rest of the group. As soon as Luca came back from the restroom, we got up from the table and made our way outside of the restaurant.
“Want to walk back to the hotel?” I asked Luca, who nodded in response. I said goodbye to the rest of the group, and Luca and I set off on the twenty-minute walk back to the hotel.
“So… Edward, let your secret out,” I teased.
“Edward lets everyone’s secrets out. Which one did he spill this time?”
“He, umm, told me that you made the Aphrodite’s Jewelry bracelet yourself.”
“Do you like it?” I could see a hint of worry in Luca's eyes; it was clear he was unsure of himself and the gift.
“I love it,” I responded honestly, looking up and meeting his gaze.
I stopped the two of us, and I took both of his hands in mine as I stood up on my tippy toes, giving Luca a gentle kiss on the lips. “It’s one of the nicest gifts anyone’s given me.”
Some more silence passed between us, and I finally gained the courage to ask the question I had been wanting to ask. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want you to think you had to wear it. I wanted you to wear it because you thought it was beautiful.” The look on Luca's face was the most genuine expression I think I had ever seen from the Italian.
“Well, I’ll wear it when I’m beating you on Sunday then.” The sound of Luca's laughter was like music to my ears. I loved seeing Luca laugh – loved the way he threw his head back, the way his brown eyes sparkled. His body language was soft and genuine. It was a different Luca than the one I was used to seeing in the paddock. With this experience, I truly got to see a different side of the Italian driver.
When we approached the hotel, we could see a crowd of people at the front. Henri and Éliott were standing just inside the lobby, signing autographs. When Henri spotted me at the back, he gave me an apologetic look. The crowd looked behind them and started cheering for Luca and me to come forward, most of them begging for autographs and pictures. As Luca and I pushed into the hotel, we took a few selfies and signed a few hats.
Just as I felt like the coast was clear, I heard someone yell at us, “Feeling guilty yet for taking a spot from a driver who deserves to be here?” I froze as I heard the taunting words, knowing that they were for me. I could see Luca and Henri looking around, trying to spot the man who had said them, but Éliott had beat them to it.
“Come over here and say it to her face!” Éliott called out, causing the crowd to go silent as the French driver made eye contact with the guy who had yelled the rude comment. He motioned for the guy to come forward, and I could see everyone take out their cell phones, ready to film the situation unfolding in front of them.
Éliott pulled me forward, but Luca grabbed my hand and pulled me back to him. Éliott didn’t let go, and he pulled me towards the man as he stood behind me.
“Go on…” Éliott said to the man who was now standing in front of me. “Say it to her face.” The man was frozen in front of me, and I could tell he was not expecting Éliott, a male driver, to call him out like that. I suppose he figured he would be able to yell it from the back of the crowd, going completely unnoticed. After a few moments of the man saying nothing, I finally found my own voice.
“Cat got your tongue?” I mocked, standing a little straighter as I could feel my confidence surge. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luca, Henri, and Éliott smirking, the three of them looking very amused.
“I read what I read – why would they lie?” the guy finally spit out.
“Because cash is king, Darling,” I said coolly, “and they know they can con people like you into buying their trash.” When the guy finally started to back away, muttering to himself, I just shook my head in disbelief, turning back to the group.
“Let this be a lesson to all who dare mess with the lioness,” Éliott announced.
The group of fans around us started to dissipate after a few more autographs, and Luca and I started to head to the elevator. When the doors opened, I felt small hands pull at my dress from behind me.
“Excuse me!” A voice yelled, and I turned around to see a little girl waving at me. I knelt down next to her and smiled as she handed over her hat for a signature.
“Georgia is her favorite driver,” I heard her mother say to Luca.
“Mine too,” Luca whispered as I finished signing the little girl’s hat.
Luca
Henri had texted me Wednesday morning to let me know that Georgia had read the article while they were on the flight. Truthfully, I was surprised that she had waited that long, but I suspected that she felt like I did – reading the paper would make this seem all too real.
I knew I wanted to do something nice for Georgia, something to make her feel special. I had already purchased the Aphrodite’s Jewelry bracelet. It was going to be my gift for her at the end of the season, but seeing how beaten down she looked in that Valkyrie conference room on Tuesday, I just couldn’t bring myself to wait, so instead, I purchased some extra items and stuffed them into a gift basket, hoping that it would bring a smile to her face. Seeing Georgia wear the bracelet made my heart melt.
Seeing her happy made me want her even more.
Thursday, Georgia and I arrived on track several hours before our scheduled press conference. We were to meet the FIA and Formula 1 board along with our team principals. We knew the FIA wanted some explanation for the article before we went into the weekend. The consultant Isabelle had hired to help solve this mess had advised us on what to say, although I felt as though there probably wasn’t anything we could do to properly prep for this.
Georgia and I arrived at the conference room last, hand in hand, as instructed by Elizabeth. I could see the nerves on Georgia’s face, and I wanted nothing more than to soothe her worries and tell her that everything would be okay, but I knew I couldn’t do that.
Truth was, I didn’t know if everything would be okay.
“Good morning, Luca and Georgia. Please, take a seat.” Giovanni Bruno was a staunch Italian man with thick-rimmed black glasses. He had a frown on his face, although Isabelle told me he was always like that. At first, I was pleased that Giovanni used to be the Hermes team principal and hoped that his history with Hermes would give us some clout, but from what Henri had told me, due to the team’s recent lack of success, Francesco, the current Hermes team principal, and Giovanni were a bit at odds.
Great.
After we took our seats, Giovanni continued, “So, in recent light of this mess from the Daily Report, we wanted to touch base with the teams to make sure we are all on the same page.” There was a pause in his voice, but no one said anything. “To be clear, the FIA does not condone faking relationships so you can get more sponsors.”
“Good, neither does Hermes.” Francesco quipped, a scoff in his voice, which earned him a look of disdain from Isabelle, clearly telling her husband to leave the attitude behind.
“What do you want, Giovanni?” Isabelle finally asked after a brief pause. “The Daily Report is a trash newspaper that wrote a trash story to sell their trash magazines. You know that. We know that. Hell, I think even The Daily Report knows it. Now, you’ve called us into this office for a good reason, I assume?”
“The FIA just wants to make sure that everything between these two teams is above board.” It was clear from Giovanni’s voice that he didn’t want to directly give us a telling off, but his tone was certainly insinuating one.
“The only thing going on here, Giovanni, is the FIA getting in the way of precious time I have with my driver to help her prepare for this upcoming race,” Isabelle said dryly, giving Giovanni a stern look that told him she had no intention of backing down.
“Fine. I want to hear it from the drivers, then you can go.” Giovanni turned to look at Georgia and me, expecting us to say something. I could hear Georgia’s breath quicken, her nerves were starting to get the best of her.
“There’s nothing to tell. I’m with Georgia because I want to be, plain and simple. I like spending my days with her, and I want to continue doing so,” I said finally, flashing Georgia a warm smile as I silently encouraged her to share her piece.
“I wish I could say this was one of my elaborate pranks, Giovanni,” Georgia said finally, “but it’s not. We’re just a couple of kids in our twenties racing cars and falling in love. People accuse us of using each other for PR, but how is it different than a driver dating a model and doing PR shoots with them? Luca and I like spending time together. If we want to do some photoshoots together, then so be it. Other drivers do photo gigs with their significant others all the time.”
I could see Giovanni pondering our words, and he nodded in response to Georgia’s comment, standing up from his seat at the conference room table.
“Fine. But please, do us a favor and don’t stir the pot with this, hmm?” Giovanni paused for a moment before turning back towards us.
“Oh, and one more thing, that comment the article made on Luca letting Georgia pass – if we ever find that out to be true, I’ll have both of you off this grid.”
“That would require the rest of the grid to be able to qualify ahead of me,” Georgia retorted, earning an approving smirk from Isabelle.
That’s the Georgia I know and love.
Giovanni scoffed at that, but I saw his facial features soften ever so slightly. Our point had been made.
Georgia: 1 FIA: 0
I let out a huge sigh of relief as Giovanni left the conference room. Georgia looked a little more lively, although I could see she was still a bit shaken from the conversation. I grabbed her hand and pulled her into me before whispering softly, “It’ll be okay.”
And this time, when I said it, I knew it would be true.
Chapter Twenty-Two
SUMMER BREAK - 2019: GEORGIA
Georgia: Summer Break 2019
“Hey, Georgie, Henri said you’ll be in town for the next three weeks. Can’t wait to see you during summer break.” I smiled into the phone as I heard Éliott’s voice on the other line.
“Yeah, got in yesterday. Can’t wait. It’ll be so nice to catch up.”
“You got any plans tonight?”
“Yeah, dinner with a friend,” I lied, a pang of guilt hitting my chest. After Éliott and I tested the waters of a relationship, we decided to remain friends. Truthfully, he had become one of my closest friends and confidants, and for that, I was extremely appreciative, but telling Éliott that I had a date with a certain Italian Wilmington F1 driver felt odd. Luca had gotten himself a bit of a reputation.
“Nice! Enjoy that. Right, well, gotta be off, but see you soon!”
After Éliott and I hung up, I hurriedly finished getting ready before calling a cab to the restaurant Luca and I were meant to meet at. He was coming straight from an afternoon event, so I had agreed to meet him there at 8 p.m. I had arrived a few minutes late, but fortunately, Luca wasn’t there yet.
At 8:15, I pulled out my phone to check my messages since Luca was now fifteen minutes late to our date. I shot him a quick text, asking if everything was alright. When 8:30 rolled around, I decided to check his social media to see if I could possibly reach him there.
And that’s when I saw it, the pink highlight around his profile photo, signaling that there had been a new live story. As soon as I pressed it, I realized one thing – Luca Rossi had stood me up. My heart dropped when I saw the photo. I tried to stop the small tear from escaping my eye, but it was fruitless. Not even five minutes ago, Luca had posted a photo of him with Edward and Noah hanging out, the three of them at a restaurant drinking cocktails, various women in the background of the photo, likely with their party.
As I went to Edward’s Instagram, I saw he had also updated his social media with a photo of him and Noah, but the background showed Luca sitting next to someone absolutely stunning. His hand was on her thigh, and he looked engrossed in their conversation.
The waitress came back to the table, and I quietly excused myself, telling her they could re-seat the table and that my ‘friend’ had to cancel. I suspected that she knew I had been stood up, but she just nodded gracefully and gave me a soft smile as I exited the restaurant. I pulled out my phone and immediately called Éliott.
“Twice in one day. What did I do to be so lucky?” he joked over the phone, but his laugh was immediately stopped when he heard my sniffles on the other end.
“I lied to you… I had a date tonight.”
“Had? What happened?”
“He stood me up.”
“Oh, Mon Cherie, that’s awful. Who the fuck was this guy?” I knew I had to tell him who it was now, but I also knew that telling him would likely mean ending the friendship between Éliott and Luca.
“Luca…”
“Luc-“ Éliott paused, clearly trying to piece together what I was saying. “Luca Rossi?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll fucking kill him,” Éliott said quietly. “Are you sure he stood you up? I know Wilmington had an event today.”
“I saw his live story. He’s with Edward and Noah getting drinks.”
“Absolute prick. Georgie, I didn’t know he had asked you out. Does Henri know?”
“No… and you can’t tell him,” I added quickly. “I feel like such an idiot, Éliott. Why on earth would one of the most handsome guys on the grid want to date me?”
“Hey – I’m the most handsome guy on the grid, and I wanted to date you,” Éliott said, trying to lighten the mood of the conversation.
“Thanks for reminding me about our failed relationship. Really know how to cheer a girl up,” I huffed, earning me an awkward chuckle from the Frenchmen.
“Look, Georgie, I hate to sound cliché here, but it genuinely is his loss. Luca Rossi is a playboy and an obnoxious moron, and until he learns how to grow up, he isn’t worth your time.”
“I just… I thought he liked me. I feel like an idiot.”
“The only idiot here is Luca. You’re too good for him, Georgie, and one day he’s going to look back and regret his decision. Guarantee it.”
