The Right Time (Lestappen)

Jealous

A few drinks later and the blonde girl placed her hand on his thigh then leaned in closely.

'We thought that maybe you would like to join us tonight?' She whispered in his ear

'To dance you mean? I'm not a great dancer' Max responded, missing the point entirely.

'No' she giggled, 'We were wondering if you might want to invite us up to your room. Both of us'

Max was taken by surprise, he had had women come up to him before, mostly he guessed because he was somewhat famous, but he had never had an invitation quite so forward. As he was thinking about how to politely decline he looked across the bar and locked eyes with Lewis. He cringed a little thinking about his slip up earlier in the night. Then he thought about the rumours that were spreading around the paddock. Lewis wasn't stupid, he had probably already figured out the rumours were about him but this was Max's opportunity to prove him wrong. Without thinking it fully through he pressed his lips against the blonde who returned the kiss. Then he pulled away and brushed his lips against the other women. Lewis watched for a brief moment and then turned away, maybe he had been wrong about Max.

'So?' The blonde asked.

Max hesitated. Did he really want to do this? No, not really. He had slept with women before, mostly when he was going through a period of trying to convince himself he wasn't gay but would it be wrong for him to continue to have sex with women hoping somehow he could be proven wrong about himself. He didn't want to use anyone, but still it seemed clear that neither girl was after any sort of commitment or relationship so he wouldn't really be leading them on. Most importantly, he was sure that if he left with two women then pictures of them leaving would certainly make their way to social media. For someone who was on some self destructive path to convince everyone he was straight the opportunity seemed too good to turn down.

As Max led the women out of the club and back to his hotel he hoped that at least one picture would find it's way out there, he also hoped that tomorrow he wouldn't feel the normal shame he felt whenever he tried to make himself feel straight.

Back in the hotel the two women were helping themselves to a bottle of champagne from the mini bar when Max heard a loud smash from Charles' room next door. He was sure it was a bottle. Then another smash followed by some loud crashes.

'Just make yourself comfortable, I'll be right back' he told the women as he headed out to see if everything was ok. The noises had given him the perfect excuse to leave the room momentarily and gather his thoughts.

He knocked on the door a couple of times, each time knocking a little louder, getting impatient. This was probably Charles attention seeking he thought to himself. Eventually Charles answered, his eyes looked red like he had been crying. As he saw Max stood there he rolled his eyes and went back into his room. Max followed him, taking in the scene around him, in particular he noticed the smashed bottles on the floor. 

'What happened here?' He asked, a little worried.

'It's none of your business, I'm just stressed' Charles snapped angrily.

'Do you want me to go get someone? Pierre maybe?' Max didn't really want to have to deal with this but yet Charles looked so upset he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him.

'Was my noise ruining your party? Charles asked, sarcasm dripping from every word.

'My party?'

'I saw you with those two women, everything is always so perfect for you isn't it?'

Max did not have the energy for this right now. If only Charles knew what was actually going on in his life. The blackmail, the stress, the self loathing. Everything was far from perfect.

'Are you jealous?' Max asked now getting angry, wondering what the hell had gotten into Charles to get him this annoyed, it wasn't like he was short on female attention.

'No.' Charles shouted, 'I'm not jealous of them, they're welcome to you'

Max was just about to argue with him when he realised what Charles had just said.

'Charles, I meant are you jealous of me ?' 

'Oh' was all Charles could respond with.

'Why would you be jealous of them?' Max asked, a little confused in his drunken state. 

Suddenly Charles began to panic. He could just tell Max that he was jealous because he wanted to be the one Max was taking back to his hotel room. No matter how much Max annoyed him, for some reason he still wanted all his attention. He wanted to feel those soft lips on his. He wanted Max's hands on him. He could tell him all of that but then he would have to die of embarrassment and given everything else that he was dealing with right now he didn't need the stress. 

Max was stood staring at him, a confused expression on his face. Charles couldn't bare to look at him anymore, with all his strength he pushed Max out of the door.

'Leave me alone Max, please' he pleaded as he slammed the door shut leaving the Dutch man alone to wonder what the hell had just happened.