Driving Me Crazy

Chapter Forty-Four

Katana

"That lovely lady is Katana Riley, my girlfriend," Charles says to the reporter. My eyes go wide as he finally announces me to the world. Charles spins towards me and motions for me to come up to them, I'm not sure why, but my feet start moving in that direction. I can't tell if I'm going to puke or not, but fear riddles my body as I walk toward the lovely lady with the camera and microphone.

"Hi, Katana, you look absolutely lavishing today! Do you mind speaking with us about the relationship between you two? The reporter asks my frozen body. I manage to speak when I say, "Oh that's no problem at all!" Honestly, I'm not sure how I have even survived up to this point, but if I'm dating a celebrity I should probably know how to talk to the media.

"Perfect! How did you guys meet?" The reporter asks. I was expecting words to come out in a strangled, dying kind of way, but things just click like they did when I was talking to his mother. "We met back in Miami, we were introduced by friends and things worked out in our favor," I manage to say, gracefully. Charles grabs my arm lightly and smiles at me, giving me the confidence to continue. "That is absolutely adorable! When did you guys decide on making things official?" Despite the interrogating questions, the reporter does well to make me feel comfortable in the conversation.

Charles cuts into the conversation and answers for me, "We made things official when we first arrived in Monaco but wanted to share it with the world after securing the pole position for my home race." He answers so quickly without even thinking about a response, I imagine he has years of training for situations like this. They wrap up the interview and we thank each other before going our separate ways. Once we arrive in a quiet place, I suck in as much air as possible and lean down with my hands on my knees to breathe. Charles stops and kneels down next to me, searching for any signs of a problem. "What is going on?" He asks, concerned. I reply breathlessly, "Holy shit." After a moment of confusion, he laughs and stands up, pulling me up with him to walk back to the car to go back to the apartment.

"You did really well, love. I will try to make sure you don't have to do too many of those, but some appearances will have to be made. I'm sorry that I bring other people into this relationship, but I don't want that to ruin anything with you," He says with sincerity. I grab his hand and kiss his knuckles before saying, "Just don't bring any of those other people into our bed and I'll be fine with whatever."

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We woke up earlier today to prepare for the race ahead. Charles is buzzing with anxiety as he grabs everything and drags me out to the car with him. When we arrive at the paddock, he makes his way to the trailer without speaking to anyone and sits down on the bed. His leg is bouncing and his mind is elsewhere as we sit here in silence.

"You're a literal ball of anxiety," I say, shoving pillows behind him and forcing him to lean back. I crawl across the bed to grab the remote and switch on the television in front of us. "What are you doing?" Charles asks me as I prepare Teen Wolf to get his mind off of things. "I have an alarm set for when we need to leave, you sit back and watch this show with me while we wait. There is no point in overthinking yourself to death before you go drive a death trap," I say, demanding that he sit back again and watch the show.

After a few minutes of watching the show, he still looks so pent up with anxiety and stress. Unsure of what to do, I get a devious idea. "How similar is your anxiety attack to a panic attack?" I ask, trying to put focus on the fact that he isn't mentally in the room with me. Sitting up next to him, I ask again to which he replies, "I'm not having an anxiety attack-" I cut his words off when I press my mouth against his, bringing him into a deep kiss. Moving my body, I position myself to where I'm straddling him as he brings his hands up along my sides, feeling every curve of my body. The kiss deepens as he brings his tongue along my lips, looking for an invite. A few moments later, I pull myself back and climb off of him until I'm sitting next to him with my eyes on the television.

"What the fuck?" He asks, confused about the situation. I don't reply as I sit there, watching the show. For a moment, he stares off into space, eyebrows creased together, trying to figure out what just happened. "You're thinking about that kiss aren't you?" I ask, not breaking eye contact with the show despite feeling his eyes roam my body. He doesn't respond until I turn to face him, to which he says, "Yes," in a deep, lustful voice.

I shoot him a devious smile when my alarm goes off, exposing that an hour and a half had passed. "You're welcome, now let's go get ready," I say, kissing him softly before climbing off the bed and putting my shoes on. "You're welcome?" He asks, still confused. Feeling successful, I say, "You just spent the past 45 minutes either kissing me or thinking about kissing me instead of thinking about the race, you're welcome." He shoots me a big smile before picking me up and kissing me deeply one last time before we work our way out of the room and get ready to drive. "Good luck, Romeo," I say as we have to separate. He winks at me and blows a kiss before saying, "You are my good luck, Juliet."