Chapter 3
Antoine would be in team meetings during the day, so she only saw him in the evenings. She had time to explore the city a bit and took some photos to send to her family back home. It was her first time in China. All the lights, and people, and food were overwhelming in an exhilarating way.
For her second meeting with Antoine, they were going to a secluded dumpling restaurant that Ingrid had found online because he had been told he needed to put on some weight ahead of the race weekend.
“How are the briefings going?” She asked.
“The car might not perform so well here. We aren’t sure yet.”
“Sprint weekend.” She shook her head.
“Ouais, we only have FP1 to see,” he responded. “Oh, and the media talk might be about you and your impact on my race performance.” He pulled a sheet from his pocket. “Here are the points they have suggested.”
Ingrid looked them over. They seemed ok to her, but a bit like they were throwing him under the bus for last season.
“Are you ok with these points?”
“I don’t think so,” he said as he popped another dumpling in his mouth.
“Good, neither am I,” she said. “The car was shit, and you had a shitty time. I think you go back to them and say that you aren’t talking about me until after race three. All you will say for now is that mental fitness is important to maintain for on-track performance, and so you hired a coach.”
“Ok, I agree.”
After dinner, they arrived back at the hotel to a horde of fans. Erik was in the middle of them. Ingrid hadn’t seen him since they had parted at the airport. He waved to them, then tried to move along to the door of the hotel.
“I feel like I’ve done my fan duty for the day,” he said. “I love coming to China, but so many photos and signatures.”
“Ready for media tomorrow?”
“Fuck no. You know how much I hate that. I see we’re doing it together, though, so at least it will be fun.”
Ingrid felt like there had been a shift in Erik since Australia.
He didn’t even look at her. They got into the elevator, and Antoine pressed the button for their floor.
Erik reached across Ingrid to press the button for his floor.
She noticed that he made an effort not to touch her.
They were both leaning against the back of the elevator, and again, no physical contact.
“Ok, this is us. See you tomorrow.”
They all said goodnight.
Ingrid went to her room and wondered what had happened in the past few days.
Had she imagined everything in Australia?
Was it because he was single now, and so the thrill was no longer there?
The latter would be typical of a thrill-seeker like him.
She was confused. Usually, she was good at reading signs.
Erik got to his room, shut the door behind him, and leaned against it.
His heart was racing. It felt like he was having a panic attack.
He hadn’t had one of those since he was a child.
When he had seen Ingrid, he knew that he had to behave himself, especially around Antoine.
He didn’t expect it to be so difficult. There were moments when he was so close to touching her again. It would have been so easy.
He went to lie down on his bed. Opening Instagram, he started scrolling through photos of her.
He saw her with someone he assumed was her twin brother.
Again, with her soft, wavy hair, which suited her better.
They were at the beach, and she was in a bikini.
There were now hundreds of thousands of likes on that photo.
Silly woman, you should put your profile on private now, he thought.
He was tempted to like the photo too. Instead, he imagined being able to touch her bare skin.
Damn, Antoine. He threw his phone to the end of the bed.
It could be so easy. He had gotten her number from the flight manifest. A call away, and they could have one of their moments.
Again, he thought about his best friend. It was enough to kill any hard-on.
???
Erik arrived at the track for media day. It was raining. He loved racing in the rain, but being hounded by fans and cameras while it was pouring down wasn’t his idea of fun. He heard Antoine calling after him.
“Mon pote, you look grumpy today?”
“Media day.” He sighed.
Ingrid was with him. She was hiding her amazing body beneath a Burberry trench coat. He had bought enough of those coats for previous girlfriends to recognise one when he saw one.
“Ingrid.”
“Erik,” She responded in a cold tone.
“Ok, should we go get ready to put on a show?”
“Yes, I’ll see you in there shortly,” Antoine replied.
Erik wondered why she had such a cold tone today.
He wasn’t aware that she had felt the same way he had the previous day.
He thought it didn’t matter to her, but it did.
Brushing off their interaction, he went over the team’s media points.
They were pleased with Ingrid’s suggestion about the head injury and had added a note to make sure everyone knew he didn’t have a concussion.
The question never came up, so his social media post about it had obviously worked.
Before his next media engagement, some TV interview on the start of the season, he went to find a quiet spot. He still had his earlier interaction with Ingrid on his mind. He stopped. There she was, smoking her cigarette in the rain.
“Erik,” she said again in the same tone.
He walked up to her.
“You’re going to get sick. Here, put on my jacket.”
“I’m fine.”
They fell into silence. It was uncomfortable this time.
“You really should put your Instagram on private mode now.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve become one of us now.”
“Were you looking at my Insta?”
“Ingrid…”
“What?”
She turned around to look at him with fury in her eyes. The usual blue eyes were lit with flames. He couldn’t help himself. Pulling her by the waist, he brought her as close to him as the umbrellas would allow.
“What the fuck are you doing?” she said. “You ignored me yesterday and today.”
“Antoine said something, so I had to. I didn’t want to.”
“Listen, I don’t like playing little boys’ games.”
“This isn’t a game for me.”
He leaned in so he could feel her cheek against his. Their lips were so close, and he could feel her resistance melting. Finally, they found each other, hidden behind the umbrellas. Just one soft kiss. Erik was wrecked.
“We can’t,” Ingrid said, trying to pull away.
“I know,” he said, leaning his forehead against hers. “It was worth it, though.”
Erik let go of her. He gathered himself and walked back to his team’s HQ. He had an interview to do. Back to being a F1 driver. No thoughts of Ingrid’s soft lips on his.
Ingrid was left there standing in the rain.
She touched her lips, then lit another cigarette to try to distract herself.
The kiss had left her stunned. She knew that there was chemistry, but this felt like more.
She hadn’t expected the kiss to feel like that.
Tender, electric. She had a feeling that she would be thinking about it all day.
Ingrid didn’t know what Erik had meant by “Antoine said something”; nevertheless, she had to respect her client.
Making her way back to the team, she tried to avoid any space where she might bump into Erik.
It was easy enough with the rain. Most of the interviews were being done undercover or in the hospitality suites.
She didn’t know what she would do if she saw him at that moment. Her focus needed to be on Antoine.
“Ah, there you are!” He said.
“Here I am.” She smiled. “How were the fans?”
“I love this part of the job. They always make such cute posters and gifts. There’s even one for you here!” He handed her a slightly damp poster of her face with a heart on it.
“Ok, that’s a bit freaky, but I’ll take it.” She laughed.
“Oh, and did one of the guys tell you to put your Instagram on private?”
“Why?”
She wasn’t going to mention her interaction with Erik.
“When last did you look at your notifications?”
“Never, I turned them off a while ago.” Ingrid opened her Instagram and stood there, shocked. She had hundreds of thousands of new followers since she last looked. “Oh my god, this is going on private right now!”
“You could do what we do.” He shrugged.
Ingrid would sort it out later. For now, she just wanted to focus on work.
“What’s next on the agenda?”
“Hotel and then dinner, I’m starving,” he said. “You, me, Gaetan at the hotel restaurant at around six? I wish Bonnie could join, but she’s still in briefings.”
“Sounds good.”
They found each other at the restaurant.
Gaetan was strict with Antoine’s diet before a race and knew exactly what he could eat before qualifying days and race days.
They went over the sprint quali strategy for the next day.
Antoine seemed more relaxed this weekend.
Ingrid thought that he just needed that first weekend under his belt.
“Daniela says hi,” he told the table as he looked at his phone.
“Tell her I say hi. I spoke to her at some ridiculous hour yesterday,” Ingrid told them.
“Are you surviving your first race weekend without her?” Antoine asked.
“It hasn’t really started yet, so I’ll let you know tomorrow.” She winked. “How are you feeling about preparations?”
“Good, still think our car won’t be good for this track, but we’ll find out tomorrow.” He stopped. “Oh, look, there’s Erik and Mark. Should we invite them to join us?”
Antoine was always so warm and inviting that it was difficult to say no to him. The other two joined them.
“Are we going to share trade secrets for tomorrow?” Mark asked.
“Yes, it’s going to rain, and my car won’t be able to handle it.” Antoine laughed.
“Neither will ours!” Mark responded.
Ingrid laughed with the boys. She was trying to act relaxed around Erik. There was nothing they could do. She felt his hand brush past her thigh under the table. It was difficult not to feel turned on by this after their earlier interaction.
“Oh, Ingrid, did someone tell you to set your Instagram to private?” Mark asked.