The Bull Prince | Max Verstappen

Chapter Eleven

"Metaphorically speaking, right?" Max tried to joke a little bit uneasy. The Dutch didn't see Joanna as a threat, he liked her and believed Joanna to like him back. He wasn't naive, Max knew that Joanna seemed to treat him slightly differently from the other drivers, but he was fully alright with that. After all, he was the only one who ended up in bed with the beautiful Austrian and he wouldn't change that for a treatment like all the others received. The young Verstappen was quite happy with how things were between the two of them right now.

"Yeah, sure why not." Daniel allowed Max's little input. 

"I'm not falling for some stupid game. I'm not an idiot, Dan." Max told Daniel and the Aussie could see how the young Dutch disappeared behind his walls again. A guarded Max was far more difficult to deal with than a relaxed one.

"I'm just trying to warn you, mate. We don't call her the Red Queen for no reason." Daniel was the only one, whoever dared to mutter that name in her presence, but Joanna didn't seem farsed by that. She simply ignored it. A name doesn't matter to her. Daniel wondered if Max knew that they've already called her that long before she moved to Ferrari.

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Joanna was in a playful mood today, Matteo her race engineer could tell as soon as he saw the Austrian walking around the garage with her performance coach Andrew and her PR-agent Kiwi, greeting the crew as she did always before a long workday in the car would start, but today something was different. She seemed to genuinely enjoy herself, despite her hate for her second home race. 

It's not like Joanna didn't like street circuses, no she actually loved them but the Austrian always felt like the familiarity and comfort of her own home caused too much of a distraction. Of course, she enjoyed sleeping in her own bed for a change, but that often ended in her running late for various meetings and even sessions much to Ferrari's displeasure.

"She's in a good mood, no?" Matteo asked Andrew with an amused grin on his lips as soon as the Canadien trainer had sent Joanna off to get changed and walked over to have a little chat with the race engineer. 

"Happens when she gets herself laid," Andrew muttered, not loud enough to hear for anyone but Matteo, who snickered. 

Andrew leaned back against the control stand with his back, looking up at Matteo, how was stiffly seated in front of some screens. The Italien never seemed to really relax, not even with the people around he's most at ease with.

"Won't complain. She's easier to deal with when she's happy." Matteo told the Canadian performance coach, who nodded. 

"Wasn't the case for some time now," Matteo added, which caused Andrew to sigh. He knew the Italien was right. Joanna seemed to be unhappy for the maturity of this season and even some weeks before the season started. Andrew could tell that something was on the Austrian's mind but their relationship was strictly professional. Joanna didn't tell him about her private life, she didn't allow him to overstep the line between an employee and a confidante. 

At first, he was hurt that Joanna tried her best to shut him out, but Kiwi always made sure to assure Andrew that it was for his own good. The last relationship she had with a performance coach was a close one and as it went south it hurt Joanna a lot, so Andrew respected the Austrian's decision in keeping things strictly professional. 

"I know. I'm just worried that it's Mark again." The Canadian muttered, which caused Matteo to look at him with widened eyes. Nobody ever admitted what they all knew was going on between Mark Webber and Joanna Lauda back in the day. Whatever they had wasn't healthy. Mark despite Joanna and her quick mouth additionally the girl was barely legal when it all had started.