Last Man Standing

Chapter 22

"Give me a couple of hours – or a day, I don't know yet – and I will be. I will have gotten my sweet, sweet revenge."

"Should we be worried about anyone who is apart of the team?" Marylinde shook her head but stopped.

"Only if you consider their dignity worthy of your worry."

"How many?"

"Just four, so don't worry Rene." No one in the room looked not worried after lack of spirit or mischief in the sound of her voice. Everyone knew Marylinde was up to a lot worse when something was done to her and there was very little to no response. Hell was going to fall down on the four.

"It depends on who the four are."

"They're just kids, you'll easily replace them."

"I rather not replace anyone. Because if I have to replace them, I'll have to let you go as well, I prefer not to have to look for someone like you. They are rather hard to find." Marylinde smiled.

"I'm glad you think so, and I'll take your words into consideration, but no promises." Rather than continuing on the subject, they decided to leave it at that and start the meeting. Marylinde had been the last to enter the room, so they were complete.

Xxx

With Peter's mom still in agony because of her hip, Peter had remained in Britain. That meant Marylinde trained with several of the guys from the factory to stay in shape. She had trained with Mick and Gianluca and it had been Arthur's turn that day. When they had gotten back from the training and were done for the day, Arthur had called dibs on the shower. By the time Marylinde was done showering – which was over an hour later – she collapsed in a heap on the couch, right next to another heap which was called Arthur.

"I hate your trainer."

"You hate every trainer." He laughed. "It has nothing to do with mine in particular." Marylinde shrugged her shoulders. She didn't care. "But I do have to say, he was particularly tough today. Maybe he felt like he had something to prove. Arthur wiggled his eyebrows. His trainer was somewhere in his late twenties. "I mean, he's a bit old for you, but you would be a cute couple." Marylinde groaned loudly.

"When is everyone going to stop trying to match me to someone, honestly. Everyone seems to do it!" Arthur laughed.

"When you finally get yourself a decent enough guy!"

"And what is decent enough?" Arthur shrugged his shoulders.

"We'll figure that out when we see the guy that has enough guts to attempt a relationship with you."

"So you might just keep matching me to someone even when I have a boyfriend. Well, isn't that just great news..." Marylinde curled herself up in a ball. "Do you think I could just go into hibernation until all of you have died and I can finally live in peace? Because that would be amazing."

"You wouldn't even want to." Marylinde made a mocking sound and sighed deeply. "Your phone is ringing. Shouldn't you pick up?" With a roll of her eyes, Marylinde raised her phone over her head but instantly started to smile when she saw who was Skyping her.

"Pierre, hi!" She exclaimed and clambered up from her position on the couch to snuggle into a pile of pillows in the corner of the couch. "How are you?"

"I'm good." Pierre smiled. Marylinde wasn't wearing any makeup and her hair was up in a messy bun. The hoodie she was wearing finished the outfit that was screaming lazy on all sides and it gave Marylinde the look of a cuddly teddy bear in Pierre's eyes. Something that wouldn't exactly be the association of most when they thought of a Magnussen, let stand Marylinde. "You?" Marylinde nodded.

"Give me a sec though, I'm going to plug in my earphones so I don't have Arthur listening in on every word." With a couple of shakes of her earphones – which made them tangle even more – Marylinde groaned loudly in frustration. She hated them with all her heart. "A couple more." She put her phone down and started tugging on the wire until they were finally untangled.

"And you keep wondering why they break," Arthur mumbled beside her, making Marylinde throw a pillow at him.

"I'm back." Marylinde raised her phone again so she was on camera again to smile at Pierre.

"That took you-" Marylinde didn't hear what he said further as a laugh rang through her ears. Arthur had smacked the pillow back in her face.

With a deep breath, Marylinde took her phone with her and grabbed a blanket out of the cabinet in the living room. Outside, they had a comfortable lounge set she decided to sit on, while she snuggled under the blanket. It was a bit chilly outside, but it couldn't be considered actually cold. Besides, they had a heater on the teras that would quickly make the temperatures more comfortable.

"One day, I am going to move as far away from him as possible," Marylinde said as she finally held her phone still, her blanket pulled up until under her chin. "I don't know why we let him stay here until it sort of became permanent."

"Because you are good, soft people who care for others."

"I'm not soft."

"Yes, you are!" Marylinde tried to look offended but ended up smiling. "You are a sweet young woman." Blushes crept up her cheeks.

"Sweet I am no longer." Pierre frowned. "Long story, but this morning I was incredibly sweet and sticky thanks to some young blokes who thought it was funny to throw a bucketload of whipped cream on someone."

"Wrong someone." Marylinde grinned.

"I don't know if it was the wrong one, but it definitely is the most dangerous one." Pierre let out a laugh.

"How busy are your days leading up to this weekend?"

"Not too bad, most days I'm done around three, so it's good. After that, I mostly do some chores around the house. Cleaning, washing, grocery shopping."

"Would you like to hang out one afternoon then? Tomorrow I am free in the afternoon. I could come down there? We could have dinner or something? Watch a movie?" Marylinde tried to suppress the large grin that was trying to spread over her face as much as she could, but the smile that broke through still portrayed the amount of joy she felt for Pierre suggesting to do something together. Outside of the race weekend where they were forced to run into each other at least once because of the challenges.

"I would love to." Pierre now smiled brightly as well.

"Shall I pick you up from the Prema facility? Let say three fifteen? That leaves a bit of time for things to run a bit late." Marylinde's heart swelled.

"Sounds perfect."

"Great, I do have to go now, I have a training session planned with Pyry. I'll see you tomorrow." He stopped, frowning.

"What's wrong?" Marylinde asked, concerned that Pierre had just realised that he already had other commitments and had to cancel what they had decided upon minutes ago.

"I was thinking of who is in that team of yours to make sure we aren't mobbed by some of your friends, but I think we are safe?" Marylinde sighed in relieve. "Now what's wrong with you?!"

"You scared me! I thought you suddenly realised that you don't actually like me enough to hang out with me and changed your mind!" Pierre chuckled, smiling lovingly at his phone.

"I could never pass up on an opportunity to see you, Mary, don't you worry about that. Besides, I don't just like you enough to hang out with you. I like you very much."