Amber & Honey ~ [DR3]

25. Baku

I swear when I left Monaco I left a piece of my heart there. Never in my life have I felt happier than lying there, under the sun, on a yacht, in the company of Daniel.

However, reality called. Daniel had a job and that involved him being needed at the Mclaren Technology Centre back home. There I had no excuse to stay with Daniel, I had a perfectly good room at my parents house and any excuse I might try would make things painfully obvious to everyone. So I'd had a Daniel-less three days back with Lando until we flew to Baku yesterday.

"You're coming tonight?" Carlos asks as I sip on the iced coffee made for me in the Ferrari motorhome. I was heading towards Mclaren one when I stumbled across the Spaniard. He'd almost dragged me into the red and white trailer wanting to speak with me, not that I'd ever complain,  the coffee is way better here - made in Italy and all that. We take a seat in the sun which is hitting the outdoor seating area of the Ferrari perfectly, drinks in hand and sunglasses over eyes.

"What's tonight?" I ask quickly, between swallows, reaching for my sunglasses to slide over my eyes. It's hot but a little windy for my liking, the breeze is hitting my eyes in an awkward way and making them water.

"The dinner." Carlos clarifies.

"I don't know anything about a dinner." I explain with a shrug to who is looking a little confused by my words.

"I thought you'd be there; Lando and Daniel are coming." Carlos's words surprise me. Neither Lando nor Daniel had mentioned a thing about these supposed plans. I would be offended, but I was quite resigned into having a quiet night in the hotel. Baku is beautiful and I'd love to see more of it but for some reason I'm constantly filled with this sense of exhaustion. Plus, I hasn't slept well last night and my eyes are aching.

"You're not coming?" Charles asks, making me jump a little in my spot. I look to him a little wide eyed not even knowing he'd appeared. He greets me with a small grin, laughing at my reaction kissing each of my cheeks softly before dropping into the chair to my left.

"I haven't heard of it." I hum, my eyes flicking between them. "Don't think I'm meant to be there." I add, the words don't seem to convince either of them. They weren't meant in a rude way.

"It's not official or anything, Pierre just organised yesterday." Charles explains in the carefree way he seems to say most things with. I'd never even met Pierre, why would he think I'm invited? I want to point this out but don't.

"I think I'd ruin your fun." Is all I reply with a shake of my head.

"You could never ruin my fun Amber." Charles grins, a wink sent in my direction with the smooth words. I only laugh at him, his flirty move doesn't have the same effect on me as it did a few weeks ago. We've become too good of friends for it. Plus I know his type now - dark hair & named Lilly - that's not me.

"Flattery isn't getting you Lill's number Leclerc." Charles huffs in frustration at my words. Lilly, for some unknown reason, had made me promise not to hand over her number to Charles. She'd wanted what happened to remain in the week they spent in Monaco. I personally didn't really understand it but it was her decision to make, I guess. Girl code and all that...This being said, I'm almost tempted to meddle in her business as payback for her spilling my secrets to Charles in Monaco. "I'm not crashing a guys night." Annoyingly I make air quite around 'guys night', Charles rolls his eyes.

"It's not guys night." Carlos tries but I only shake my head no.

Besides, if Lando or Daniel wanted me there they would've invited me. I don't have to go to everything around here, that's okay. I can order room service and FaceTime Lill, maybe even watch a movie in bed and actually sleep. "Guys night involves tequila, this won't, we have to race tomorrow." Carlos adds lightly and I shake my head at his words. I can't handle tequila, I found that out the hard way in my final year of uni (and on the night I met Daniel).