Chapter 25 – Richard #2
The pair of us are standing outside the conference room at HQ, watching Dave sit himself in a chair.
Opposite him, already sitting, is Nicky, and the only other person in the room was the cameraman.
Nicky had been briefed to only discuss the crash, and the interview couldn’t take longer than thirty minutes.
“I just think that he needed more time,” I tell him.
“There might not ever be a right time. We must follow his lead, and he needed to do this,” Vin explains, and I know that he’s right, but that doesn’t make it any easier.
We don’t say anything more as we watch the interaction between Dave and Nicky. There are a few smiles and laughs, which settle my nerves, until I see Dave frown, and a shadow passes over his face. I’m about to burst into the conference room, but Vincent moves faster, I’m following right behind him.
“David?” Vincent asks.
“Sorry, Vincent,” Nicky starts, “I couldn’t help myself.”
“He asked about the photo,” Dave explains, as he gets to his feet. I go to take a step forward, wanting to punch Nicky in the face, but Vincent holds out a hand to stop me, and gives a slight shake of the head. If I’m not careful, I’m going to give the game away about my feelings for Dave.
“Nicky, that wasn’t in the agreement, and you have just blown any future chance you had for exclusives with the team,” Vincent adds. “If you air any of this final question, we will sue.”
Nicky is visibly taken aback by Vincent’s outburst. Nicky knows what he’s losing out on.
“Vincent, please,” Nicky begs.
“We had an agreement that this interview was just going to be about the crash only. David is aware of a leaked photo, but at the moment, that is private business,” Vincent adds. “I think that it’s best that you leave now.”
We stand around and watch as the cameraman and Nicky pack up their belongings, and then just before they leave the room, Vincent calls over to Nicky.
“I will need to see a copy of this interview before it goes to air. Do you understand me? I never thought you would let me down, Nicky,” Vincent says, before turning his back on Nicky.
Nicky stares at Vincent for a moment, and I can see the sadness on his face. The worst feeling in the world is knowing that you have somehow let down Vincent, and Nicky knows that he has. He’s going to have to grovel if he ever wants to get back into Vincent’s good books.
“Vincent, it’s not Nicky’s fault, you can’t blame him for taking a chance,” Dave replies.
“But, of all the people, Nicky should understand what it’s like to have the press invade your life, and yet, he did it,” Vincent adds.
“There is nothing that can be done about it now, but there is something else I wanted to discuss,” Dave adds.
“Okay,” Vincent adds and looks over to me. I shake my head. I have no idea what he wants to say, he never mentioned anything to me.
“How many of the team members are in?” Dave asks.
“I think most of them,” Vincent adds.
“Can you call them in here?” he asks.
“Baby, what is going on?” I ask.
“You have my ring?” Dave replies, ignoring my question, and I dig into my pocket, pulling it out, and handing it over to him. He slips it back on his finger. “Can you help me move the chair to the front of the room?”
I shift the chair around so that it’s now facing the room, but my nerves are on edge. Why isn’t Dave telling me what this is all about?
“What are you doing?” I ask again.
“Something that I need to do. For me, for the team,” he tells me. “Jeff explained that it might help, and I think he’s right.”
“Okay. I’ll be at the back if you need me,” I say.
Within ten minutes the conference room is buzzing with noise, everyone rushes over to see Dave when they come into the room. The smile on his face when seeing his teammates is the brightest I have seen since we got married.
The room is full. There is a huge conference table in the middle of the room, and when all the seats are taken, the team stands behind them. Vincent and I are standing at the back, but no one has dared block our view of David.
“Guys,” Dave shouts, and the team quiets down as they look over to him. “Sorry I have been MIA, but I sort of got myself into a little hot water, or maybe flames are the better word.”
A ripple of laughter goes around the team at his joke, but the team soon quiets down again, waiting to hear what Dave has to say, and he isn’t the only one.
“Some of you may know that I came here today to do an interview with Nicky, but I wanted you guys to hear everything from me first.” Dave pauses for a moment, and looks across the room to me and smiles, before giving me a little wink.
Which causes most of the room to turn around and look in my direction.
“Look,” Dave starts, and all the heads turn around to the front, “earlier this year I hid something from you. I got shin splints. I wouldn’t recommend them, they are fucking painful, but the only people that knew about them were Jasper, Daniel, and Richard.
Vincent wasn’t too happy when he found out. ”
“If I could’ve kicked your ass I would have,” Vincent replies back, which causes more laughter.
“I was able to keep racing, but I was in pain, and before any of you ask, no they had nothing to do with my crash. That was just a bad accident. Now my hands were burnt, but I have been told they should make a full recovery, but my knee isn’t so good, which means I’m confirming, here with you guys now, I won’t be racing next season. ”
There is a chorus of, “What?” that echoes around the room.
“But there is something else that I have been keeping from you,” Dave adds, looking up to me again, and then it dawns on me what he’s going to do. He is coming out. He is going to tell them about us. Vincent is already looking at me, and is smiling, nodding his head.
“Back in November, after the Vegas grand prix, you might have noticed that I vanished for a while.” Dave says. “Well, I needed to ice my legs, because they were hurting, but I also met someone.”
He pauses for a moment, and takes a deep breath, and I wish I was standing up there with him, but I get the feeling that this is something that he needs to do on his own.
“I know that you have all seen the leaked picture of me coming back from Qatar. I’m sure that you are all interested in who the person in the picture is. Well, that person is my husband.” And the room falls silent.
“What about Jasper?” someone shouts.
“I’m just a mate,” Jasper answers back.
“So, you aren’t dating Jasper?” another person pipes up.
“No. I’m not. But you should know that we have dated. A long time ago, and my husband knows this too,” Dave says, with a smile.
“Come on, tell us who you married?” comes another voice.
“You don’t care that I married a man?” Dave asks.
“Seriously. Come on. We have Vincent, Lars, Jasper and now you. We really don’t care; we just want the gossip? Is it someone famous?” the voice replies.
“He married me,” I shout out, the room turns to face me, and bursts into laughter.
“Yeah, right, Richard. You are the straightest man we know,” the voice sounds, and I wish that I could see who was shouting it, but there are just too many people in the room to get a clear view.
“Actually, he’s right,” Dave says. “We got married in Vegas.”
“No, seriously, who?” a different voice demands, and I’m starting to feel a little disheartened that no one believes us.
“Here,” Jasper says, and he slides his phone across the table.
“Holy fuck,” comes a murmur. “You married Richard?”
“Jasper?” I question.
“Hey guys, give us back my phone.”
Jasper’s phone slides across the table, and he shows me the picture that is on the screen. It’s one of me and David, kissing after it was announced that we were married. There is no mistaking who it is in the picture.
“When the hell did you take this?” I ask.
“I think the picture tells you when I took it,” Jasper replies.
Looking up at Dave, I see him staring at me, but the smile on his face is everything.
He told his story his way, and I need to be up there with him.
Holding him. He is already standing by the time I reach him, and I pull him into my arms, before locking our lips together to the distinctive sound of wolf whistles and cheering.