The Bull Prince | Max Verstappen

SEQUEL - Chapter 25

Please, look back at me, show me you still care

He saw the woman he loved with all his heart, it was so worrying sometimes. Logically Max knew that Joanna was flawed and broken, but he looked past all that and only saw her. The way she buried her face in his shoulder when she laughed at something inappropriate, he said, or the way she always threw her legs over his lap when they sat on the couch together.

I don't want you to go, why am I the only person in this world that is not allowed to love you?

Max was able to do something Joanna always failed at, he was able to remember the sweetness of their life together, of their love. Joanna always looked at the scares, at her fault, but there were no scars to show from happiness. And for Max, not every scare was bad. Each and every scare told another story, about bravery, stupidity, pain but also happiness and love. None of them come free. They all came with a memory.

I will swim for both of us, just hold onto me

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The tight straps around her body were grounding her. Securing her in her seat, while her eyes have swayed to the side once more. People might think she's looking at Max, who's going to start from the pole position like a hunter is looking at its prey, but she didn't feel like the hunter today.

The only need she felt when she was strapped into a car was to protect her baby.

Joanna knew that this thought was just poison to her sanity, but deep down an instinct told her that that was the most important thing. No matter how far she had pushed this thought away, over and over again, in the car, when her sanity knew they were at risk, her mind decided that the child was her first priority. The one thing they weren't allowed to lose, not again.

Once things would be easier again, she would allow herself to indulge in this thought, but for now, the only thing that could matter were the five lights above her head which came to life one after the other until all five of them were shining brightly.

One blink and she would miss it, there was no time to take a deep breath with closed eyes, Joanna had to stay alerted and so she pulled away to an almost perfect start, challenging Max on the straight for the lead until she braked for the first corner, following tightly behind the Dutchman's Red Bull. Watching Max closely, Joanna knew his style of driving and she knew that he wouldn't be considerate around her, not because he didn't respect her, he truly did but because he knew she could take it.

Going wide in the next corner, Joanna was fast to use it to overtake Max, but knowing him, she was very well aware that she might be able to see a Red Bull or at least the front wing of a Red Bull right next to her in the blink of an eye, so she moved to cover the side which would give her a little benefit for the next corner. Following each other for one lap, Max was leading in turn three up to turn four, until he wasn't any longer.

The fans erupted in horrified screams and sounds of surprise as the Mercedes of Joanna Lauda and the Red Bull of Max Verstappen suddenly crashed together only to hit the wall at full speed. The race was red-flagged right away. The medical car was sent out while the world was stunned into silence. Everybody was waiting for the two drivers to let the teams know they were alright. But second, after second passed by without a word from either the Austrian or the Dutchman.

The Dutchman seemed to be hanging in his seatbelts, his head moved forward, almost touching the helo, his hands not holding onto the steering wheel while the Austrian's car was buried under the remains of the tyre wall. The only indicator that she was still in her car was the bright colours of her helmet which shone through the dark mass of rubber.