Chapter 14 – David #2
“Because I'm not. Only with him.” Fuck. I didn’t mean for these words to fall out of my mouth. Jasper was the only man I let control me. When we broke up, I fooled myself that it wasn’t what I wanted. Richard tapped into a side I never considered, being the one to dominate.
“You were only submissive with him.” And for the first time since this conversation started, Rich’s tone changes.
“As you said, you two were a long time ago.”
“Don’t throw my words back at me,” anger now lacing his voice.
“You should have told me about Jasper,” I demand.
“You too,” Rich snaps back.
“I had no idea who he was until you told me his name. You knew exactly who he was,” I spit back.
“And when did you give me a fucking chance to tell you? All you wanted to do was prove that I belonged to you. And look where that got me.”
“And what is that supposed to mean?” Richard is no longer calm, and this isn’t a conversation that should be happening over the phone, with thousands of miles between us, when I should be concentrating on my driving. Not the fact that my current boyfriend fucked my ex-boyfriend.
“You knew what you were doing when you marked me. Knew the risk you were putting me in and did it all the same. I had to sit with my friend and tell him how I liked to be loved.”
Shame fills me because there is no denying that I crossed the line when I gave him the love bite that couldn’t be easily hidden. But pain has a way of clouding your judgement.
“Then maybe you should go back to paying,” I snarl down the line, before ending the call, which is probably not the best thing to do.
“Dave.” Jasper’s voice sounds behind me, and when I turn to look at him, his face is a mask of worry. I hadn’t put as much distance between us as I wanted. My phone starts to ring in my hand, and I see Rich’s name on the screen. I cannot face talking to him any more today, so I hit decline.
“I need to get going,” I tell Jasper. “Daniel is waiting for me.”
“Dave, please call Rich back, talk to him. Don’t leave it like that.”
“If you are that concerned about him, you call him. I’m sure you have his number.”
“I do,” he confirms, and I actually huff at the knowledge, “but he doesn’t want to talk to me,” Jasper replies.
My mobile phone starts ringing again, and there is Richard’s name. I decline the call, and this time, I turn my phone off. Rich can stay back in England, and I’m just going to do what I do best, race.
“You can’t ignore him,” Jasper adds. “You need to talk to him. You need to talk to him about us, and he needs to talk to you about what we did.”
“Tell you what, why don’t you tell me.” And I take a step towards him. “Tell me how you got him to submit to you. How much he enjoyed it. You were always so good at dominating.”
“Dave, I am not going to talk to you while you’re like this. Jealousy is not a good look on you.”
“Fucking stay away from Richard,” I snap at him.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” And Jasper takes a step closer to me, and when he speaks next, his voice is different.
It’s a voice I haven’t heard in fifteen years.
“Listen to me, and listen good. Richard and I are friends, just like me and you. The three of us have a shared past in a way. But it’s our past. Do you understand? ”
“Yes,” falls from my lips unaided, and I feel my head starting to fall into submission. How easy it is to fall into old habits, but not this time. Shaking my head, I push Jasper back, so he isn’t as close.
“Fuck off,” I shout over to him, annoyed that he was able to do that so easily.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” Turning, I see Vincent standing in the doorway to the room. Shit. How much has he just heard?
“Nothing, Vincent. Just a little misunderstanding between me and Jasper,” I say over to him, which is virtually the truth.
“I don’t care what this is about. Sort it out, and for fuck’s sake, don’t let the press hear you.”
“Of course, Vincent,” Jasper adds. “My apologies. It won’t happen again.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting with Daniel,” I say, more over to Vincent, as I push past him.
“Care to explain what that was about?” I hear Vincent ask Jasper, but I can’t hear his reply, and I have no intention of finding out what he says.
The rest of the week goes by in a blur. With press conferences, training, and trying to avoid Jasper, I didn’t really have time to think.
I was still avoiding Rich, and now he calls daily, not to mention, daily voicemails.
At the beginning of the week, they had been full of anger, but as the days passed, the anger faded into worry.
At one point there were even tears, asking if this was over. I hadn’t responded.
I was channelling everything I was feeling into my driving, and I was flying.
Vincent was loving it. Lars and I were making the headlines on how we seemed to be pushing the cars to their limit and getting the most out of them, making the cars a dream to drive.
Circuit of Americas in Austin was starting to be a favourite track.
The turns, and straights, the G force on my body.
It made me forget about my troubles. It was just me, the car, and the racetrack.
“Are you ready for today’s race? You’re on pole again,” Lars states.
“I am. It’s a great race day. That weather is perfect.”
“That it is. But you know that if you beat me today, we’re going to be pretty close in points.”
“Yeah, I know.” I had already been calculating what I needed. So far, I worked out that, if I can win the next three races, by the time we get to Vegas in a month, we could be level on points. Meaning, I could potentially win the world championship there.
“You know I’m going to fight you.” Lars smiles over to me.
“Wouldn’t want it any other way,” I say to him.
Climbing into the car a few hours later, I closed my eyes and visualised the track, and I drove like my life depended on it.
I managed to keep the lead all the way around, my engineer keeping me updated on how close Lars was.
There was still a chance he could catch me, but then I suddenly got a radio message that there was a problem with Lars’ car, and he needed to retire, and that they were monitoring mine, but everything looked good.
At this point, I eased back, there was no way that I was going to risk the car. The setup we had was working perfectly, and I fully intended to keep it that way. I couldn’t afford to get any grid penalties for changing a component of the car.
The strategy worked, and I came home to win the race.
I jumped into the team, did everything that I’m supposed to do as the winner, but I knew something was missing, and so I turned on my mobile.
Rich will have texted or messaged me, wanting to celebrate my win, but my phone stays eerily quiet, and so I do something I haven’t done all week, I hit call on his number, and it goes straight to voicemail. I debate leaving one, but don’t.
“What a drive,” Lars says, pulling me into a hug.
“Thanks. Sorry about your car, mate, they know what’s wrong?” I asked him.
“Something to do with the engine, guys are looking at it now, but with travelling to Mexico tomorrow, not sure there is a lot that can be done tonight.”
“You know the guys, the second they get settled, they’ll work on it day and night.”
“Yeah, anyway, we’re heading back to the hotel, want to grab some food with me and Vincent?”
“Actually, I think I might just head back to the hotel to grab a shower. Muscles are feeling it at the moment,” I tell him, which isn’t a lie, but I honestly just want to be on my own.
The second I close the hotel door, lean against it, and heave out a breath, I pull out my mobile, and hit Rich’s number again. Just like before, it goes straight to voicemail. I wonder if I should be concerned. Have we actually broken up?
Pushing myself off the door, I have only taken a step when there is a knock on the door. Turning around, I open the door, thinking I’m going to see Jasper standing there, when I’m suddenly pushed back, and the door slams shut. And there he is, standing in my hotel room. Richard.