Chapter 3 #2
“Have you all been looking at my Instagram?” She asked in disbelief.
“Well, you’re new, so of course we did,” Mark said teasingly. “Excuse my forthrightness, but you might want to take down any bikini pics.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“It’s too late now. The media and any crazy fans probably have them saved,” Erik added playfully to her.
“It’s alright, Ingrid, like I said earlier, you’re one of us now, so you’ll be protected,” Antoine added.
At that point, a fan shyly approached the table and asked if she could get a photo. Ingrid offered to take the photo. The fan said no, she wanted Ingrid in the photo too, so Gaetan took one with both Erik and Antoine competing to put their arms around her shoulders.
“Told you, one of us now.” Antoine smiled.
“But is that going to be all over social media?”
“Probably. You get used to it. Remember that video of you, Mark, drunk dancing in a club in London?”
“Oh god, don’t remind me.” He put his head in his hands. “At least this was just an innocent dinner photo, darling,” he said to Ingrid.
Ingrid was still trying to get a read on Mark. She had spent the least amount of time with him. He always seemed to be off somewhere else, but was definitely close to the rest of the guys. Ingrid found him intriguing.
???
After dinner, Ingrid decided to avoid looking at social media.
She sent Oliver a long voice note about the Instagram saga, dinner, and the fan photo.
She hadn’t told him anything about Erik yet, but he was her twin and probably knew from the number of times she mentioned him that something was going on.
She’d tell him when she was back in London.
Ingrid’s phone pinged. She thought that was relatively quick for a response from Oliver. The message was from an unknown number:
“Come to my room: 702”
“Who is this?”
“Erik”
Ingrid didn’t know what to respond. They should probably talk about what happened earlier.
“Ok”
She was already in her PJs, so she threw on a cardigan and went up to his room.
Erik hadn’t known whether to message Ingrid or not.
He had been playing the moment of kissing her over and over again in his mind all day.
When he saw her at dinner and heard her laughing, it just felt so good to be around her.
He didn’t know what he was going to do when she came to his room.
Talk? Kiss her again? He hoped it would be the latter and more. There was a knock at the door.
“You summoned me?”
“I didn’t summon you,” he said, taking a step back from the doorway so she could come in.
“It seemed like it.”
“And you came anyway.”
She was looking around his room. It was neat, and the famed travel sim was set up in the corner.
“What did you mean earlier when you said Antoine said something?”
“Ok, so we’re going to talk about it.”
“What did you expect? That I was going to fall into your arms?”
He had hoped she would. She sat down on his bed, and he just stood there, taking her in. He had been almost right. No negligée, a T-shirt and long pyjama pants instead, covered by an old cardigan.
“Antoine asked me not to screw things up with you, and I said I wouldn’t.”
“When did this happen?”
“On the flight here. I was the one who got the blanket for you and put it on you. Nico asked questions, and I just said that you looked cold.”
“That sounds innocent enough.”
“You forget these guys have known me a long time.”
“Remember, I’m one of the guys now.” She smiled mischievously.
Erik wasn’t going to take this. He walked over and kissed her again. The effect she had on him earlier was still there. He wanted to take her silly PJs off right then and there.
“No, you aren’t.”
“Remind me again.”
Ingrid had enjoyed that kiss even more than earlier. This time, he pushed her back onto the bed. Gripping both her hands so he could control his own from doing anything more.
“Is that a good enough reminder?”
She nodded her head and pushed herself up against him.
“I have to stop. Antoine,” he said abruptly. His whole body didn’t want to, but his friend’s words were playing in his head.
They both sat up on the edge of the bed.
“Listen, I don’t think Antoine is a real problem. My concern is, when was the last time you were single for longer than a few weeks?”
“Jimmy, my trainer, said something similar the other day.” He laughed. “I don’t know.”
“Ok, we start there. My contract with Antoine ends at the start of the summer break anyway. If you can stay single until then, we can revisit this.”
“That’s a very long time for me not to touch you,” he said, stroking her thigh and moving up her back. He could feel her tingle under his touch. He turned her face to his and kissed her softly, moving his other hand down to her breast and then her thigh. She opened up slightly.
“Can I?” She murmured yes as he put his hand down those pyjama pants. He could feel how wet she was. She pulled him closer. If he was going to be denied touching her for six months, he wanted to take full advantage.
“No, we must stop. Otherwise, I’m going to fuck you right now, and that defeats the point,” she said, getting off the bed.
“So, what do we do now?” he said, fully erect. “Wait six months?”
“I just said you have to be single for six months, then we can revisit all this. It’s partly for Antoine.
I can’t be coaching him to win and then fucking one of his rivals behind his back.
It’s also for you. You said you haven’t been single for longer than a few weeks.
Try it out. Also, I’m not expecting you to be celibate.
I can’t expect that of any 20-something-year-old man.
Just in terms of us, we can’t do anything. ”
“Again, so what do we do now?”
“We can hang out as friends. Chat in our quiet spots. Meet up for coffee or at dinner. I’m not going to be at all the races.”
This wasn’t the result that Erik was hoping for.
“Ok, but promise me you won’t believe everything you see on social media? You know it isn’t all true.”
“Yes, I know.” She put his face in her hands and kissed him. “I should go.”
Erik felt like he’d lost control. He’d just agreed to be single for a woman who might not be in his life in six months. Coffee? Dinner? What does hanging out mean? He hopped online and spent the next two hours racing with his other team.