Chapter 32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Caleb
‘You look like shit,’ Johannes says, his forced laugh getting caught in the back of his throat as we step into Harper’s room. Harper’s shirtless, and one side of his chest and arm is absolutely covered with angry-looking bruises.
He doesn’t seem to be hooked up to any monitors, though, which is always a good sign, and there are no casts or slings on any part of his body. It’s still not a sight you want to see in this sport. The thrill of it sometimes allows you to forget the danger until you witness the crashes.
I’ve loved this sport for a long time, but now that I’m close to so many of the drivers and engineers, accidents hit hard.
‘You doing okay?’ I ask Harper as Johannes perches on the end of the hospital bed.
‘All good. No broken bones. Can you believe it? Just bruises.’ He gestures to where he’s turning black and blue. ‘I’m just waiting to be cleared to go back to the hotel. But first I have to deal with this worrywart.’
He thumbs over towards where his phone is next to him on the pillow. Kian can be seen moving around frantically on the screen. ‘My car is ten minutes away,’ he says.
‘I’ve told him he doesn’t need to come.’ Harper sighs, but I don’t for a second believe he means it, and while we’ve only been friends for six months, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s actually delighted that Kian’s on the way. They seem to enjoy being joined at the hip.
‘And I told him that there’s nowhere else I’d rather be and that I started packing my bag as soon as I saw the crash.
’ Kian’s tone, and the way he’s throwing a duffel bag over his shoulder, tells me this isn’t something anyone can stop him doing.
I’d be the same if it was Johannes, and if I’m thinking that at this point, when I’m still not even sure what’s going on between us, or between him and Jackson, then I can’t imagine how Kian’s feeling about seeing his husband all battered and bruised.
‘No broken bones, no concussion or internal damage. Just cuts and bruises. I’m basically one hundred per cent,’ Harper tries one more time, but Kian just shakes his head. There’s a small smile on Harper’s lips despite the amount of pain he must be in.
‘Just let me come, okay? I want to be there for you. You’re going to need someone to ice those bruises and help you out.’
I’m not sure we should be here for this conversation, but luckily Kian lets Harper know his car’s outside and that he’ll see him in around thirteen hours’ time. They each hang up with ‘I love you’, and Harper tucks his phone back under the pillow.
‘Your relationship makes me feel sick,’ Johannes says as Harper stretches out to get as comfortable as possible on the hospital bed.
‘Have you seen me? Of course my husband would get on a plane to check on this ass.’
Johannes rolls his eyes, before clapping his hands on his thighs and pushing up off the edge of the bed. ‘And on that note, we’re going to see what state Nils is in. I’ll be back shortly.’ He leans over and places a kiss on Harper’s forehead and gestures for me to lead the way to Nils.
‘So, it was worse than they thought it was,’ Nils says as we step into his room and find that he’s wearing a sling.
‘Oh, fuck, man, I’m sorry. How bad?’ Johannes is straight to his side, perching on the bed to try and get a better look at his injuries.
‘Broken collarbone. Out for the rest of the season.’
Fuck. That’s not what we want to hear right now, but it could have been so much worse and that’s what I have to think about when it really comes down to it.
‘At least there are only two races left, but that sucks. I’m sorry.’
‘Next year we’ll have it, though. I have a good feeling and there’s nothing more I can do for the team this year anyway. Hendersohm basically has the Constructors all tied up, so you need to win the Drivers so we can have some silverware.’
‘Absolutely.’ Johannes pats his head in an adorable move and Nils preens. They’re so cute, like brothers.
‘Oh my God, you guys, have you seen this, though?’ With his other hand, Nils scrolls on his phone until he finds what he’s looking for and to my surprise he thrusts it towards me and not Johannes.
It’s a Twitter hashtag. Of my name. With thousands of posts under it. What. The. Fuck. I’m not exactly anonymous because I’m the race engineer to someone who loves to win, so people post things about me every now and again, but these are all from today. This is next level.
‘What am I looking at?’ I ask Nils as Johannes peers over my shoulder.
‘You went viral. I think Sky Sports or something aired your little story to Johannes, or at least parts of it, and everyone’s lapping it up. They all think it was so cute and now they’re basically worshipping you.’ Nils is beaming and I can’t help but notice he’s liked a ton of these tweets.
I’m hoping that it’s at least from a burner account, not his official one, because that would be really stupid of him.
Especially the ones where people tweet that Johannes and I are #goals.
Too many girls are saying they wish their men would speak to them like that and others are tweeting about being a part of a big family, too, which is kind of cute.
I’m sure when I turn my phone off do not disturb, I’ll have a ton of messages from my brothers, but I made sure not to say anything embarrassing. I knew I was mic’d up, so I wasn’t about to be stupid on the radio.
‘When did you post this pic?’ Johannes is on his phone now, too, looking at the same hashtag and someone’s found a picture of me from like eight years ago.
I’m shirtless, sitting by the pool with a book placed over my swim trunks so it looks like I’m naked – and possibly also pitching a tent.
I probably shouldn’t still have that up, but I’d clearly forgotten about it.
‘Oh, fuck. Are people sharing that?’
He nods. ‘This tweet alone already has over a thousand retweets. I suggest making your Instagram private, but it might be too late.’ Sadly, he’s right. ‘They’re all calling you hot, though, and of course I agree.’
‘My ma’s gonna have a field day with this.
’ I bet my brothers are screenshotting literally everything into the family group chat.
She’ll chastise me for the amount of skin I have on show, but she’ll probably be tweeting back anyone she considers suitable for me.
I wince at the thought of her getting carried away on Twitter, but it’s a very real possibility.
‘There are even news articles already. One of the sports channels in Europe has the full clip. They must be absolutely raking it in. This person who’s tweeted it said they’ve already listened to it five times.
’ I don’t even remember everything I said.
I’m sure I was just chatting crap about being from a big family, something simple to soothe Johannes’s nerves about his friends being hurt.
That was all I wanted. For him to feel okay, for him to be able to get through the race, pull off the win and make it to the hospital quickly.
We have a lot to talk about, and we will, because it’s not like I can just switch off my feelings.
I care about him, no matter what. Plus, it’s also my job.
Maybe not to be that nice because I’m sure Ian would have just said ‘You can do this’ to Nils and kept feeding him the factual information he needed, but that’s not me.
It never has been and it never will be, especially with Johannes.
‘Okay, well I might need a visit to the PR team, then.’ That’s something I never thought I’d find myself saying.
At least they’re easily accessible through the team, but I’m pretty sure they won’t be expecting to have to deal with this.
Maybe they already are, though. They probably started planning responses the minute I opened my big mouth and started reading Johannes the story of my life to keep him calm.
My phone rings loudly in my pocket. As my mom’s is the only number that’s set up to break through the workplace do-not-disturb settings I currently have on (because my dad refuses to get a mobile phone) I already know who’s calling.
And sure enough, when I slide my phone out of my pocket there’s her name flashing up on the screen.
‘I should get this,’ I say, showing the screen to Nils and Johannes.
Both of them grin as they nod, and I hate them. This is going to be awful.
‘Hey, Ma,’ I say as I slip into a quiet corner of the busy hospital corridor. ‘I’m at the hospital right now visiting Nils so I have to be quick.’ And mostly I don’t want to have this conversation right now.
‘We saw the race. Are the boys okay?’ At least she cares enough to start with asking that, but I’m sure she’s just getting the polite questioning out of the way before she begins to interrogate me.
‘Yes, Ma. They’ll both be fine eventually.’
‘I’m glad it’s not more serious because it looked really bad.’
‘Thanks for calling to check up on them, though, Ma. I appreciate it, but I should probably go back in and spend some time with them before visiting hours are over.’
‘My sweet Caleb, you think you’re escaping your mom so quickly, but we have to talk about Johannes first.’ My whole body twitches at the way she says his name. There’s no way she can be implying what I think she’s implying.
‘My driver?’ I ask. I’ll play this coy until she admits to what she thinks she knows. I’m not about to hand it to her on a plate.
‘Yes, your “driver”. Don’t pretend that’s all he is to you,’ she says. One thing I’ll never do is lie to my ma. Obstruct the truth occasionally, sure. Fail to tell her vital goings-on in my life – has to be done sometimes. But straight up lie? Never.
‘Ma…’ I warn but she hears something in my voice that apparently confirms it for her.
‘I knew it! I knew it! From the moment I heard how you were talking to him, I said straight away to all the family who’re gathered here to watch the race that you’re in love with him.’
All of the family? Great, just great.
‘You do love him, don’t you, sweetie?’.
‘Ma, you can’t go around telling people that. You know that, right? Tell me you know that.’
‘Of course not, sweetheart, but you should have told me! I shouldn’t have had to figure it out for myself.’ She’s right. Of course she’s right, but I’m not sure I’d realised it myself until very recently.
‘I know, Ma. I’m sorry. Things have just been so busy with work and, you know…’
‘I need to hear all about him! My lord, Caleb, you’re dating a celebrity!’
‘Shhh!’
‘Don’t you shush me, Caleb Hughes!’
‘Ma, please. I promise I’ll call soon and tell you all about it, okay?’
‘No need. Just bring him home to meet us! When the season’s over, you get your butt back on a flight to Tennessee, ASAP.’
‘Yes, Ma,’ I say. Now is not the time to discuss the very complicated nature of our current status, so I just agree.
‘One last thing, Caleb.’
‘What, Ma?’
‘I love you, son. You’re a good boy and I hope he makes you very happy. It’s been a pleasure being your mom and raising you.’ I have to knead at my eyes with my fists to stop myself getting emotional.
‘Love you too, Ma. I’ll call you when I can.’
We end the call and I have to take a couple of breaths to steady myself. I wasn’t expecting to have this conversation today. I wasn’t planning on saying any of that stuff to Johannes, but he needed me and I’d do anything for him.
‘Everyone okay at home?’ Johannes asks when I step back into the room and take up the seat next to him.
‘All good. They’ve heard the clip, of course, and my mom … well, we’ll talk about it later, okay?’ Johannes nods, before turning back to Nils who starts chatting our ears off about one of the hot nurses and how he’s going to charm her number out of her. He’s incorrigible.