After the Hate Has Gone (Sebastian Vettel)

13. The Rain in Spain

Lottie watched out of the window in hospitality. She had never seen rain like this. Surely there was no way that qualifying was going to go ahead. Everyone seemed certain that it would be postponed until Sunday morning.  They were just waiting for the official announcement.

She saw  Lance leaving the garage and heading towards hospitality.  He shot through the door and closed it firmly behind him.

"That's it, it's off," he announced to the team members huddled up in there away from the monsoon conditions outside.   "Lottie, the social media team want to know if you could get some shots from in the garage that they can post. Some of the mechanics. Some of Seb, he's still in there at the moment."

"OK, I'll head over now. Gonna be like a drowned rat when I get there, mind you," she laughed.  She grabbed her camera bag, pulled her hood up and headed over. As predicted she was soaked through by the time she got to the garage. She nodded hello to Sebastian as she headed to a worktop to place her bag down. She took her hood down and unzipped her jacket.

"Bit wet?" Seb joked.

"Just a bit, but not as wet you was when I pushed you in the pool."  He winked at her.

"Payback will be sweet."

"Loser."

"Hey, play nice Liebling."

"I'm not nice."  Seb threw his head back, laughing.

" Not to me anyway."

"I will be when you deserve it.  Besides you'd worry if I suddenly started being nice." 

She got one of the cameras out and started to make her way over to take some photographs of the rain lashing down on pitlane.  However she managed to stand in a wet patch that one of the mechanics had made.  She tried to keep her balance but her feet went from under her and she found herself in a heap on the floor.  A shooting pain went through her right ankle, causing her to let out a yelp.  Seb quickly rushed to her side and knelt down.

"You clumsy girl," he told her.  "Are you ok?"

"My ankle, I twisted it."  Seb gently pushed her trouser leg up.  He could see straight away that it was swollen.

"Think we need to get some ice on this."  He turned to Joel, who had rushed over, and said, "Joel please can you go and get some ice from hospitality? Bring it to my room.  Thanks mate."

"I don't know if I can put any weight on it Sebastian."

"It's ok, hold on."  He slipped his arms around her and picked her up as if she weighed no more than a feather.  She put her arm around his neck.  He carried her out into the rain and across to his driver room, kicking the door open.  He sat her down on his massage table. He pulled a chair over and sat down in front of her, gently removing her shoe and sock.  He pushed her trouser leg up out of the way.

"Can you move it at all?  Maybe you need an x-ray."  She moved it round in a circle, grimacing at the pain it caused. 

"I can but it bloody hurts.  I don't think it's broken ."  Joel tapped on the door and entered with a bag of ice.  Seb wrapped it in a towel and held it to her ankle. "Jesus Christ, that's cold!" she exclaimed.

"Well it wasn't going to be hot was it dopey?"  He half expected her to react to him calling her dopey, but for once she let it go. 

"I'll have to shoot off guys," Joel said.  "We're doing some work on Honey."

"You look after my girl Joel. Need her at her best in the morning."

"Will do Seb, you look after this one."  Seb took her foot in his hand, tenderly rubbing the arch. Lottie breathed in deep.  She was in pain but his touch was doing crazy things to her.

"Lottie, you really need to be more careful."

"What can I say? I'm accident prone. Always have been."  He smiled at her, his thumb making circles around her foot.  "You haven't got me back yet," she blurted out, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm working on it," he grinned.

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm not.  Whatever you do, it was worth it to push you in that pool." 

"Yeah I guess you would think that. Wear that little bikini of yours for me and I might let you off," he said, cheekily.  Lottie blushed.

"You like that then?"

"What do you think? The way you were rubbing that cream in conjured up all sorts in my imagination." 

They fell silent, just looking at each other. Then Seb stood up, swinging her legs around so they were resting on the table.   He sat back down and dragged his chair closer to Lottie.

"Lottie, you really drive me nuts.  I either want to throttle you or kiss the hell out of you."  He stood up again and bent down, brushing his lips softly over hers. he did it a second time before applying more pressure. Her lips parted in a sigh and he took advantage of that to slip his tongue in. 

She froze initially but soon returned his kiss. He nibbled at her bottom lip with his teeth, trying to hold back all the desire that was building up inside him. He pushed her down so she was laying flat. He looked down at her from above.  She looked back at him, he could see the arousal in her eyes.

"Lottie, I..." Suddenly there was a knock on the door.  Seb quickly jumped back as the visitor didnt wait for an answer and walked in.  Antti.  Great timing there mate, Seb thought bitterly.

"Hey, I heard about your fall Lottie. I've come to take a look. What's the damage Seb? Any chance of a break?"

"She can move it but it's very painful.  Not sure about weight bearing, I carried her over."  Antti bent over her bad ankle and took the ice off of it.

"Hmm quite swollen.  I'd suggest a quick trip to the hospital as a precaution."  Lottie tried to protest  but Seb told her it was non-negotiable. 

"I'll go and arrange someone to take her."

"I can take her."

"Seb, be sensible.  You'll be recognised.  Plus we don't know how long it's going to take, and you need to rest up for morning.  Going to be an early start with qualifying."

"It's ok Sebastian, I'll let you know how I get on."  He nodded, reluctantly.  Antti left to make arrangements.

"You'll need my number." She nodded and took her phone out of her pocket.  She handed it to him. He keyed his number in and rang himself so he had her number too. "Antti has great timing doesn't he?" he asked, sarcastically. 

She gave a little smile but Seb could see the smile never reached her eyes.  "What is it?"

"Sebastian, he stopped us making an even bigger mistake than we already had."

"What do you mean?"

"I think it would be a mistake to act on this attraction.  We are bad for each other.  It always ends up in fights and I just really can't take it.  I just want things to be as they are.  Acting on it would be plain stupid.  You've got to see that."

"Is it really so wrong to want each other?" he said, feeling an ache in his heart.

"It's not wrong but we will only end up hurting each other.  You know it's true."  He turned away so Lottie wouldn't see that he was upset.

"Yeah I guess you're right," he agreed. "Plenty more fish in the sea."  The door knocked and Sophie walked in.

"Come to drive you to the hospital chick.  What on earth have you done to yourself this time?"  Lottie swung her legs off of the table and attempted to put weight on her foot.  She quickly gave up on that idea, sitting back down on the table. Seb walked over and swung her back up in his arms.  Sophie pointed him in the direction of her car.  She opened the door and he deposited Lottie on the passenger seat. 

"Remember, let me know how you get on," he said.  He brushed his finger down her cheek, and then he was gone.