Chapter 18 Theo
Theo
Krakow
Sebastian was always beautiful in the morning light.
The way that the sunlight caught his dark lashes, and gave his tanned skin an even warmer glow.
The sun, low in the sky and rising, made the valleys and bumps of his chest and stomach muscles even more apparent.
I trailed one finger down his chest and stomach, feeling the smooth contours of his skin and the scratch of his body hair. He was breathing slowly, still dozing.
With carefully practiced heaviness, so as to wake him slowly, I nipped at his jawline, then kissed my way down his neck and over his chest tattoo.
Sebastian groaned, eyes fluttering but not yet opening wide.
I dragged my tongue through his chest hair and down his stomach, nipping every now and then at the skin to leave tiny, temporary marks.
I manoeuvred myself down so that I was level with his cock and rubbed at his thighs and the sensitive skin near his balls.
Sebastian’s eyes finally fluttered open as I nuzzled at his pubes, taking in the natural sweet smell of him. “Good morning,” he muttered quietly, still not totally alert.
In reply, I grinned, took his cock in my hand and touched my lips to the tip before taking him as deep as I could. Sebastian’s hand came to rest in my hair, not pushing me or controlling the rhythm, just one of those little intimacies that made sleepy morning sex all that much better.
I took my time, loving the way his cock filled my mouth completely.
I loved pulling sleepy groans from my gorgeous lover.
I laid my head on his lower stomach as I continued to suck him down, to free one hand to stroke myself lazily too.
When Sebastian gripped at my hair that tiny bit tighter and I saw his balls tighten up to his body, I knew he was close, and accelerated to match him.
When we came, we came together, with quiet groans. I swallowed the salty taste of him as I came across the expensive hotel sheets and his leg, and didn’t come up for air until Sebastian’s groans turned a little pained at the oversensitivity.
“That was a nice way to wake up,” said Sebastian, beckoning me up for a quick kiss. I laid my head back on his chest.
“You were taking way too long to wake up,” I teased. “We’ve got a big day ahead of us.”
“You being this happy today doesn’t have anything to do with how well yesterday’s qualifying went for you, did it?” Sebastian asked with a smile. Krakow’s race circuit was famously tricky, with sharp hairpin turns and very few long straights. Perfect for my skill set and car.
He swung his legs off the bed and signalled for me to follow him into the bathroom.
It seemed Remini had paid for the most expensive hotel in Krakow, because his shower was massive and had all the mod-cons.
We stepped under the spray together and helped to wash each other down.
When we had started this relationship, I knew the sex would be good.
I knew how we gelled as friends. But I had no idea how these simple intimacies would make me feel.
How even after the bad races, Sebastian’s touch could cool my head and make me feel safe and cocooned from everything out there.
In the back of my mind, I knew we were competitors.
But Sebastian and Theo on track could, for the most part, separate themselves from Sebastian and Theo in the bedroom.
Once the shower was shut off and we’d dried off, I started to get dressed.
“Leaving so soon?” Sebastian teased, laying naked on the bed and playing with his mostly soft cock.
“I cannot believe Remini let you lay in on a day like this,” I muttered. “Ten-thirty call time my arse.”
“ZX are working you like a dog,” Sebastian grinned.
“We’ll see whose strategy works out on the day,” I replied. “May the best man win.”
“I inte-” Sebastian started predictably, so I lunged at the bed to shut him up with a kiss.
“We will see later,” I said. “Anyway. What’s your punishment going to be when you lose today, I wonder?”
“Punishment?” Sebastian scoffed, leaving up to peck me on the lips again. “Are you saying bottoming was a punishment for you? Or going on a date in Budapest?”
I hesitated. “You know what, you’re totally right, Mr García. We’ve come a long way from lifelong tattoos and embarrassing t-shirts, and that needs to change.”
“I was not complaining!” Sebastian protested, trying to push up. But I had the leverage, straddling him as I was, and pushed him back down.
“Whoever loses today is going to post the gushiest, most grovelling social media congratulations to the winner,” I said. “I’m talking love hearts, best driver ever, lots of fancy words about how good they are.”
“Deal,” said Sebastian. I leaned down so we could seal the bet with a kiss. “Now get out of my hotel room.”
“Wow, that’s not very nice,” I pouted.
Sebastian blushed. “The friction from your jeans is making me hard again, and if you stay straddling me for a second longer I am going to be forced to fuck you into the mattress. And you will be late for your team briefing.”
Well. We didn’t want that.
I walked into the team briefing five minutes late, trying my best not to wince as I sat down.
I wish I’d thought about how painful a quickie session with Sebastian could make sitting down before I’d thrown myself at him for the second time that morning.
As we’d both already come, it hadn’t been as much of a quickie as I’d intended, and I felt like I might have friction burns on my arse and bruises on my hips from where he’d gripped them so tight.
“Glad you could join us,” said Armand, my team principle, as I pulled the headphones off the monitor in front of me.
Team briefings were hybrid, and there was an engineer back at home base in England talking through the headsets about our performance in the corners.
We had dominated other teams there, even though our straight line performance was far from the best.
“Theo used that to his advantage yesterday. Graham, you were pretty good, but I think we should lean into our strengths rather than trying to fix our weakness here.”
Sat across the desk and looking at his own monitor, Graham nodded and wrote something down in his notebook. He was a class act, a professional, and at thirty years old and with a wife and kids to think about, he never let the bad races get him down.
The briefing continued for almost an hour.
Qualifying was to start at twelve, so we split at the end to speak with our individual race engineers and teams. Moto 1 was a team sport first, and an individual sport second, so there was still some competitiveness between Graham and me, but this season I’d stayed far enough ahead that I was the team’s main priority.
I was sat at my monitor flicking through the slides I’d been sent by the race engineer when a tap on my shoulder made me jump. “Got a minute?” asked Armand, and I nodded, following him out of the communal room and into his office. He gestured for me to close the door.
“How are you feeling about the race?” Armand asked me as he sat behind his desk. He was studying his computer screen rather than looking me in the eye, and I felt that the question was about to lead to something further. Something worse.
“I feel good. I’m second in qualifying, and I know I’ve got better race pace than Frankie Jenkins. Quite frankly, I’m astounded he qualified in first place.”
“No one’s more surprised than me,” said Armand. “However, I’m more referring to the man in third.”
“Sebastian?” I asked. My heart leapt into my throat.
“He started off this season with a run of bad form, and you were excellent. However, your form has dropped in recent weeks.”
“Right. Shouldn’t we be more worried about Max Burnham? He’s ahead of both of us, but within catching distance. We both know if I beat Frankie today, I’m likely to be in pole position going into the German race.”
“I would be, but…sit down, Theo. I need to talk to you, and I cannot have you hanging around the door like you’re in the principal’s office at school.”
With my heart beating a nervous samba again my ribcage and my cheeks feeling very cold all of a sudden, I sat down in the chair opposite Armand.
“I have had a request for comment from Racing Monthly magazine. Asking specifically about your relationship with Sebastian, as they are planning on running a story about your relationship. From bitter rivals, to friends, to lovers. First of all, I must ask you, is this true?”
I did my best to look disaffected, even though I felt like I was about to faint. “It’s not a problem if it is true, right?”
“It shouldn’t be, but I would rather find out from my driver than from the press, Theo.”
“Then…yes, we’re in a relationship.”
“Romantic or sexual?”
“Is that really appropriate?”
“Theo.”
I sighed. “We’re romantic. Boyfriends. Not just…messing around.”
Armand grinned. “How lovely for you both. Now, we need to know how to handle this. If you’d like to make a statement. And I need you to reassure me that this relationship, no matter how serious, will not affect your racing. That it hasn’t already affected your racing.”
I stood. “No statement, if Racing Weekly already knows about it I don’t see the need to make a big deal of it.
And no, it has not affected my racing. In fact…
Sebastian’s been my rock this last run of bad races.
And I’m all the better for having him. If I have the chance to beat him in the championship, you bet I’ll be taking it. Our relationship will survive.”
“Good. Now get out there and warn your man of the tornado that’s about to hit you both. And then go and win that race.”
“Aye aye, cap’n,” I grinned. I hadn’t realised quite how much weight would lift off my shoulders at the thought of the world knowing about us. I had turned the door handle already when I realised I hadn’t asked perhaps the most crucial question of all.
“How did they know? I asked. “They haven’t…got any pictures of us doing anything explicit, have they?”
Armand smiled, just a small one, as he turned his computer screen so that I could view it from the doorway.
It was a picture of Sebastian and me together at the rooftop bar in Budapest, bodies melted into one another under a blanket, looking into one another’s eyes like two lovestruck fools.
I left the room before Armand could see the happy tears in my eyes.