Chapter 29 #2
“You’ll need to ask Barry Arden. I wouldn’t want to have to let me go, would you?” I say, the press enjoying this. “But seriously. Most teams in F1 run like a business. Results based and ruthless. Arden is like a family. We stick by each other, even if we don’t always get along.
“So yeah. I’m going to stick with the dogs, if they’ll have me.”
Outside in the hallway, I see Barry surrounded by press, his energy big and wild as he crows about the future of the team and how he always knew that Matt Warner could turn things around on the track. Matt and Archie and I head off down the hallway, leaving him to his perch.
But then I hear Barry say something that takes me by surprise. I stop and turn.
“Look, Chloe Coleman was a big risk for Arden,” he says.
“But she inspires that team. She trusts her team. She’s a star.
And I’m going to tie her up for as long as I can, so I can piss off to the Canary Islands with my two dogs, safe in the knowledge she doesn’t need my fucking input anymore. And probably never did.”
I turn to Matt, and I grin. “I guess I’m staying,” I say. “Thanks for that.”
“It was all you,” he says.
Archie coughs.
“It was everyone,” I say quickly.
We keep walking to the end of the corridor, pushing through into the lot as we make our way back toward the garage. As we approach the entrance, Archie says, “Guys, I gotta split early. I have something I need to do.”
“See you in Qatar!” I say, waving him off.
“He wants to do his girlfriend,” says Matt, grinning.
“Really?” I say, chuckling, as we stay outside the garage in the quiet of the hall.
“I think so,” Matt says, as the door closes behind us and we are completely alone for a moment. “We should probably go back to the hotel,” he adds. “It’s almost one a.m.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
The tension of the past few days finally melts away, and the realization of my achievement sinks in.
I watch Matt catch his breath, and then his eyes land on mine, as the silence falls.
I look down the hallway, pricking my ears for the sound of any of the strategists or pit crew, but most are long gone.
The few who remain are in the garage. There is nothing but the banging of gear and the sound of rolling crates as the garage is stripped.
“Why so serious?” Matt says, searching my eyes. “You did it, Chloe. Enjoy.”
We stand there staring into each other’s eyes for a moment, Matt searching mine intensely, his pupils large, his jaw flexing. The sounds of the garage grow faint as I concentrate on my breathing.
“I’m just thinking about what you said at the presser. About us,” I say, my heart clutching instantly, the wave of sadness crashing in to clear out any jubilation or joy I felt just moments ago. “Thank you.”
“I did what had to be done,” he says, shrugging.
“It breaks my heart a little, though,” I say, clearing my throat. I smile, put my hand on his shoulder, before leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.
“I’d do it again,” he says, reaching out his hand and putting it on my cheek. I turn my face to kiss his palm.
“That’s so mean,” I say, pretending to frown.
Matt tips his head upward and breathes out. Then he locks eyes with me, his gaze darkening, as he leans in slightly, pushing me back into the hallway wall so I’m pinned. I bite my lip, my knees weakening as I feel the full weight of him against me.
“We should go meet the team at the club,” I say. “They’ll be waiting for us.”
“Yeah. I just need one little thing first,” he says, leaning in closer, his nose touching mine, forehead falling against mine.
“But you said . . .” I begin playfully, as he kisses my cheek, his breath hot, the smell of sweat and champagne in his hair. I pretend to recoil a little, smiling, my cheeks warm, my heart pounding. But I love that smell. That is the smell of our victory.
“Listen, Bug. I know what I said.” He buries his face in my hair. “I wish it could be any other way.”
A thought pops into my head, and suddenly I have the answer about us I’ve been searching for.
“We’re only talking about waiting for a year or so, right? I mean, there are surely a hundred ways to have an affair that no one finds out about. Burner phones. Adjoining hotel rooms?”
Matt stares at me incredulously, then breaks into a wide, almost childlike grin.
“Overcoats and fake noses?”
“I’m serious!”
“You think we could sneak around for a year or so and hide this? Impossible.” He kisses my forehead, checking to make sure we’re alone, before we’re both laughing at the craziness of it all.
“You know what? I’ll take that challenge,” I say, pulling back to look at his face, and then leaning in, hesitating slightly, and putting my lips against his.
“Secret meetings in the driver room?” he says breathlessly.
“Dirty motorway motels, tucked away, far out of the city,” I reply, my hands hovering near his waist.
“I could get a fake girlfriend,” he replies.
“So could I,” I say, as his warm mouth hits the base of my neck. “Keyla might do it.”
“Fuck, you’re perfect,” he says, running his hand up my body to cup my breast on top of my shirt. “I could never resist you. I can keep a secret for the time being.”
“Our secret.”
“Except Archie has pretty much figured it out.”
“And I think Barry has known for ages. . . . Still, we emerge in fourteen months, just as you retire, and I’m established as a successful team principal. Successful enough to survive a sex scandal.”
“Then you’d really know you made it,” he says, laughing into my neck.
“We have enough people around us who we trust.”
Matt pulls back and looks at me. “You’re not being serious, Chloe. Right?”
“Why not?” I ask, running my hands down his arms, his muscles flexing at my touch.
“Because it’s mad?” he counters.
“It isn’t mad,” I say, my smile softening. “It’s what I want. And I think we’d be hard-pressed to do this any other way, Matt.”
God, I want him. I’ll take him anywhere I can get him. No one is here, but someone could come at any moment. . . .
“It’s either that or you leave the team, and you’re not leaving the team,” I say, as Matt reaches beside me to open a door. It’s a broom cupboard. He looks at me and grins. “I’ll let you go eventually. A year. Maybe two.”
I close my eyes as he kisses my ear, guiding me into the small space. He gives me a soft, lingering kiss that tells me everything I need to know.
“So, you’re quietly mine?” he says, his eyes a little misty.
“I always was,” I say, leaning forward and shutting the door behind us.