Chapter Twenty Four – Seoul Friday Night
Aleks Volkov – Seoul Nightclub
I didn’t have many genuine friends on the grid. I never had. I wasn’t popular. Too many wins. Too few words. I didn’t do warmth or charm. I was no Luca Moretti, out to make friends and influence people everywhere I went.
Which was why the few friends I had were sometimes able to persuade me to do things I would never normally do.
Most people didn’t understand my friendship with Jax.
We were so different. For every stoic silence on my part, he had a dozen loud jokes.
But we balanced each other out. On our good days, at least. I hated the sponsorship events, the dinners and galas.
All greasing palms and saying the right thing.
But the thing I hated even more was the loud, un-curated chaos of clubbing.
But when Jax told me a bunch of people from the grid were heading to Seoul’s hottest nightspot and insisted I tag along, I relented. Against my better judgement, I joined him, Callum, Ren, a bunch of the guys from Nova Dynamics and Falcon Edge and some of the Triton team.
The club was throbbing with young people dancing to the latest K-Pop hits. Coloured lights pulsed to the music and smoke filled the air. It was a vast and open club, with hundreds of people on display.
As what might be considered celebrities, we had access to the exclusive VIP lounge on the mezzanine level surrounding the dance floor.
A row of glowing pods lined the wall of the upper level, each one contained behind a sliding screen door.
In front of them were widely spaced round tables surrounded by tall stools and that was where I found myself.
Sat at a table next to the railing, overlooking the packed dance floor, with Callum, Jax and Matteo Ramos.
The rest of our party were spread out at various tables and occupying the dance floor below.
I nursed my lager—not my usual drink—and quietly observed the action around me. Not quite part of the conversation.
“—She’s doing well, picked up points in three races so far, which is good for any rookie, never mind a girl.” Callum was mid-flow about Sofia Vega when I snapped to attention.
I fixed him with a hard stare and a slow shake of my head. His cheeks blazed.
“Sorry, I know that sounded wrong, but you know what I mean. She’s the first female driver in F1. I’m impressed. That’s all.”
“She’s ahead of you in the championship,” Jax said, his voice carrying easily over the loud music. “Stop being too impressed to compete with her.” He grinned and took a sip of his beer.
“Oh I can compete with her, just you watch.” Callum came across a bit defensive sometimes, but we all overlooked it. I wasn’t blind to the fact that he had spent the last three years racing in my shadow. Overlooked. It was tough being a team’s second driver. Tough for him. It didn’t bother me.
“Yeah, yeah,” Matteo said, smirking. “Show us on the track.” The Brazilian driver’s skin glimmered under the lights and he had a wicked glint in his eye.
My attention was already wandering, my gaze drifting back down towards the lower level and the throng of bodies dancing to the beat.
“Well, look who it is,” Jax said, his voice close to my ear. “The thorn in Obsidian’s side.”
That got my attention. I followed his line of sight and there, just arriving through the double doors, was Elena and her friend, Caroline.
My jaw tightened. Elena was dressed in a sparkly, gold dress with an asymmetrical neckline.
Her dark hair flowed in loose curls about her shoulders and daring, red lipstick coated her full lips.
“She hasn’t been talking about cheating much lately,” Matteo said, curiosity in his voice. “Just track-side violence. Has she dropped that other thing?”
“No idea,” Callum said, shrugging and taking a swig of his drink.
“I don’t know,” I said. The lie was sour on my tongue. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
“If looks could kill,” Jax said, his tone more serious than usual. I blinked away from Elena and turned my attention to him, frowning. “Seriously, dude. Don’t murder the journalist who’s been sniffing around your team. It’s way too obvious.”
“I don’t want to kill her,” I said, a little more defensively than was necessary. I shifted my weight.
Jax, not missing a beat gave me a sly grin. “Oh. Right. Got it.”
Fuck.
On that note, Callum got up from the table, gave us a wave and wandered off to talk to some of the Nova guys.
“I’m heading to the bar,” Matteo said. “Anyone want another?”
“I’m good, buddy,” Jax said. His attention had turned to a group of young women at the edge of the dance floor. “I need something a little sweeter now. Excuse me.” He grinned and headed for the stairs.
“Aleks?” Matteo prompted. I shook my head and he followed Jax. I sat for a minute, my fingers idly wiping the condensation from my glass, my gaze back on the beauty in gold below. She was moving through the crowd with her friend, heading towards the heart of the dance floor.
Fuck it.
I drained my glass and left the table. I kept track of her as I moved along the mezzanine and down the stairs, but then she was lost in the crowd and I picked my way carefully through it, matching her course.
I stood a couple of inches taller than most of the people in the club and soon found her again, dancing under the glitter ball, her arms raised above her head, her hips swaying to the music.
I eased between dancers, making my way closer. This was too public. The risk of being seen was huge, especially with so many of my peers up on the balcony. But it was like I was a fish caught on a line, being reeled in by her swaying body.
I moved behind her, close enough to touch. Hidden by the packed crowd, I skimmed my fingers gently across the middle of her back. She startled and spun her head, looking like she was ready to punch whoever just touched her but her eyes went wide when she laid them on me.
“Volkov!” Caroline called above the music. “Last place I thought I’d see you.” She grinned at me, unaware of the way I’d just touched her friend.
Elena lowered her arms and resumed dancing, but with more restraint.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice almost swallowed entirely by the noisy club.
“I was dragged here against my will.” I leaned close enough to talk into her ear without shouting. “I’ve been abducted. I need rescuing.”
A smile crept over her lips.
I don’t dance. It’s a hard and fast rule, so I just stood beside her, watching heat rise in her cheeks and the way she tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I need a drink,” Caroline declared. “You okay here?” She directed her question at Elena with no subtlety whatsoever.
Elena nodded and shooed Caroline away. I watched her leave before moving around to face Elena properly.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her tone stern, but her smile betraying her pleasure.
“Dancing with you.”
“You aren’t dancing,” she pointed out. That was a fair point.
I took half a step towards her and leaned close to her ear. “You look good enough to eat.” I ran a hand over her hip.
“Someone might see,” she hissed.
“I could be ordering you to stop writing about me for all anyone knows.”
She glared up at me, her cheeks flushed, her lips pressed together.
“No one will suspect that I’m telling you how much I want to take you upstairs and fuck you in one of those VIP pods.
” I closed the gap, towering over her. It might’ve looked from a distance like I was trying to intimidate her, but I was drinking in the scent of her perfume and feeling her swaying body brush against mine.
“That sounds good. Too good. I don’t think we’d get away with it.” She spun away from me and moved through the crowd. I followed her close enough to keep a hand on the small of her back.
Near the edge of the dance floor, she whipped around and planted a hand on my chest.
“This is for show. I’m telling you to back off and leave me alone.”
Her eyes were alight with want. I took a step back and dropped my head.
“Got it. I’ll be waiting up there. If you come up, you’d be rescuing me from a fate worse than death.”
“Jax spilling his guts about his latest conquests?”
I flashed her a grin. “Something like that.”
“Tempting. The risk is exciting, I have to admit.”
“That’s what it’s all about, that heart-pounding danger.” It was what I felt every time I got into the car. And I felt it now, just as strong.
I left her standing there, uncertain whether she was going to follow me or not. At the foot of the roped-off stairs, I leaned close to the bouncer, slipped him a generous tip and said in a low voice “The Latina woman in the gold dress is with me. Let her up.”
He gave me a stoic nod and pocketed the money.
I took the stairs two at a time and scanned the pods for a vacant one. I was in luck, the very last one in the row was empty. I slipped inside and closed the door. Inside was a low, round table surrounded by a deep, plush, curved sofa. I took a seat and waited.
Elena Archer
I watched Aleks slip into the last pod, my pulse racing. I’d lost sight of Caroline but was desperate for a drink. I made my way through the packed club, and squeezed myself into a narrow gap at the bar. I rested my forearms on the sticky surface and waited for a bartender.
The man to my left peeled away with his drink and the space was instantly filled by a petite woman with long, blonde hair hanging in a silvery sheet over her shoulder.
Her arm pressed lightly against mine and I glanced sideways at her.
My heart stuttered and I did a double take.
It was the FIA woman who’d been following me around the paddock.
She was stalking me out in public now. I fixed my gaze ahead and tried to keep my breathing normal.
“Archer,” she said, her voice barely audible over the throbbing music.
I chanced another glance her way but she was looking resolutely forward.
“What do you need?” she asked.
“Sorry?”
“To publish your story? What are you looking for?”