Chapter 11 #3
Ingrid walked around Spa the next week with her head held high, declining any media interviews. She wasn’t going to add fuel to the fire. Instead, she wanted to keep the mystery of her role intact.
It was the last race before the summer break – Hungary.
Everything would change after that. Ingrid would no longer be Antoine’s coach.
Antoine would be Erik’s teammate. Erik was leading the championship, but he knew that could change.
It had happened before. He was exhausted from all the travel and the emotional upheaval of the year so far.
Mark was now out of court-mandated rehab, and he promised to see him when he got back to Monaco.
Ingrid was owning her new ‘position’ in the paddock as some mysteriously powerful woman.
He enjoyed watching her play this part. Behind the scenes, the boys joked with her about it.
“Ingrid, could you wave your magic wand so that I don’t DNF again this season?” Nico said to her.
“I’m not that powerful, Nico.” She laughed. “Just try keeping out of trouble and keep your car on track in the rain!”
“I agree, Nico, I know she’s powerful, but not that powerful!” Antoine laughed.
Erik put his arm around her, then whispered in her ear, “I love you.”
“Can you two get a room, please?” Nico said.
“We have one, back at the motorhome,” Erik responded.
“Go use it! We don’t need to see all this cuteness.”
“It’s their last race weekend!” Antoine interjected. “Ingrid might decide she doesn’t like being called rookie all the time.”
The table went into an awkward silence. It was their last race weekend together, and Erik didn’t know what the future held for them. They hadn’t discussed it. He hadn’t pushed.
“I love it when you all call me rookie.” Ingrid broke the silence.
After dinner, they went back to the motorhome, and Erik felt the conversation from earlier hanging in the air.
“Ingrid.”
“Erik…”
“What are the plans?”
She was looking at him with her clear blue eyes that he couldn’t resist, with a tiny smile on her face.
“I go back to my life in London, forget you exist, and find some charming barrister or whoever to settle down with and have lots of babies,” she said matter-of-factly, then laughed.
“V?lva!” He went over, picked her up, and carried her over to the bed. “Any settling down and babies will be done with me.”
“Oh, really? I think you’ll have to show me how you’re going to do that,” she said, biting her lip seductively.
“First, we’re going to go public.” He unzipped her jeans and took them off. “Then, we’re going to do what I’m about to do to you every day.” Erik could feel she was ready for him. He kissed her.
“And how do you propose we go public?” She kissed his neck.
“You. Me. Naked on a yacht in the Mediterranean.”
He went deeper inside her as he thought of this idea.
“I like the sound of that. A good plan for the summer break.”
She lifted her hips and wrapped her legs around him. He lifted her up, and they looked into each other’s eyes.
“And the settling down?”
Ingrid shrugged her shoulders, then stroked his hair. “I might consider that after summer. You’ve been very patient.”
The confirmation that they had a future wrecked his body. He couldn’t be patient any longer and crashed inside her.
“Good thing we’re being patient on those babies…” She kissed his neck as she held him inside her.
“Do we have to? I think a little racer that looked like you would be great.”
Ingrid just laughed and unwrapped herself from around him. “Yes, let’s try being in a public relationship first.”
Just one more weekend that he had to pretend to keep his distance from her, then he would be free. Free to live with her. Free to hold her hand in public. Free to kiss her whenever he wanted. Free of this charade.
Antoine and Erik were doing media day together. The questions were all about their new work together as teammates. There was a question as to whether Ingrid would be joining the team.
“My contract with Ingrid was on an individual basis and ends after this race weekend, so it would be up to the team to have that conversation with her,” Antoine responded.
“I have loved working with her, and she has become like a sister to me. I think everyone in the garage and paddock has enjoyed having her around. I’m sure those in the media who have engaged with her can agree that she’s a special woman. ”
The question was then directed to Erik: would he like her to join the team? He had been hoping this wouldn’t happen.
“As Antoine has said, anyone who has engaged with Ingrid knows that she is a remarkable woman. We have all become very close to her; we’ve even nicknamed her ‘Rookie’ in our friendship group. Again, as Antoine said, it is up to the team and Ingrid.”
It was diplomatic on both their parts and hid the fact that Ingrid and Erik were in a relationship. This is what the team wanted them to do for now.
Erik finished off the season with a win, and Antoine left Dunham with another podium place finish. He still didn’t get to kiss Ingrid after the race was done, but in a few more days, they would be sailing around the Mediterranean, and he could kiss her whenever he wanted.