LOCK UP - Lando Norris [BOOK 2]

30

CHARLES

I couldn't do it.

No matter how much I willed my feet to walk through the door, I couldn't move.

Lando had told me everything to expect, physically. Physically, I knew what she was going to look like. Physically, I knew every inch of her body that had been injured and exactly what those wounds looked like. But he couldn't prepare me emotionally.

Nobody knew how I felt about Evelyn. They all had an idea, I had made it painfully obvious to everyone around me, but nobody truely knew.

The minute we connected, although only on a friendship level, the risk of falling in love with her was always going to be there. And over time, it isn't the "love" where I wanted to rip her clothes off and devour her against a wall, although it would be nice, it was the kind of love where their pain is yours, their dreams are important, knowing their favourite colour is orange connects you to everything you see of the shade and something as simple as a freshly fallen leaf, makes you think of them.

It was the kind of love that knew I had to watch, whilst she loved someone else.

Finally pushing myself into the room, flinching with incredible pain every step I took, I made it to her bedside, but my gaze was the floor. I couldn't look at her.

I blindly searched for her hand, holding it in mine, using my fingertips to push some cords out of my way.

"I can't look at you, Ev" I whisper unknowing if she could hear me. "I can't see you broken. And I know that's selfish, I know that you're the one in copious amounts of pain right now and I'm being selfish." I grip onto her tighter. "But I'm afraid that once I see this, protecting you will be the only thing that matters, and needing to protect you may result in telling you certain things I shouldn't."

I sat with her for way longer than I should have, the need to rotate through the 4 of us didn't even cross my mind. A nurse came in a few times, fidgeting with a few machines and changing one of the IV bags in the hand I was holding. 

I spent my time gripping her hand and speaking absolute nonsense, but I still haven't been able to look up at her. I got as far as examining the casts on her legs, but feeling how my body reacted to that, I  couldn't do it. 

LANDO

"He's been in there a while" I snap toward Max and Johan as I pace back and forth the row of chairs. 

"Leave him" Johan reassures, "Everyone deals with this sort of stuff in their own way" 

"She isn't his to deal with" I scoff, earning me a warning look from Johan. "Sorry" I hold my hands up in defence. 

"Lando, I once said to Ev, when you were causing drama last year, that I gave full support to her dating you, because she was good for you." Max informs me, causing me to smile tightly. "And I'm going to tell you a similar thing now. Charles is good for Evelyn" 

Anger pulsates through me and I feel my brows furrow immediately on his comment, causing him to chuckle. 

"Calm down Romeo, I mean, she's always had Johan, and that I've been forever grateful for" he ruffles the top of Johan's head, "But she's always had Charles too, and thats just as important" 

I shake my head irritated. I was getting real tired of everyone telling me how to feel. 

"Hey" Charles weak voice comes from the end of the hall, but I catch Johan's gaze first, he's giving me a warning glare and I hold my hands up in a gesture of agreeing to behave. 

Max finishes the gap between them, placing a hand on his shoulder and giving it a little squeeze. 

"I don't understand, I don't understand why she's on life support though?" Charles gasps. 

"In the accident, the doctor, he said she hit her head on the frame of the door, she was slipping in and out of consciousness, they were unsure what extent the damage to her brain was, so they've placed her in a coma, giving her the proper time to heal." Max explains, that being news to me as well. 

"Do you want to go back in?" I ask Max to which he nods his head, heading off in the direction of her room. Charles excuses himself and heads down the hallway, Johan and Gabriel head back to the cafe after I decline the offer to have another cup. 

I slide down further in my chair, crossing my legs in front of me, and its the first moment I've had alone since I found out about her, and I can feel my emotions bubbling up. I force them down, I don't have time to breakdown right now. 

********************

We spend the next 2 weeks continuously rotating shifts in with her, every time I'm with her I try and talk about things I remember, or plans for the future. The doctor and psychologist that came to see us on that first day informed us that talking to someone in a coma is a good thing, studies suggest that they might be able to hear you. 

The three of us missed the race in Italy, the reserve drivers for each of our teams came into play and we didn't have a race this week. We are meant to be flying out to Singapore in the next week, but it seems like everyone has been pretty understanding of our situations. They know our focus in with Evelyn at the moment. 

"NURSE! NURSE!" Max's voice echoes through the entire hospital and it sends Johan, Charles Gabriel and myself racing toward her room just as a few doctors and nurses hurry in. 

"She's waking up, I think she's waking up" He chants, all of our attention moving toward Evelyn. A crowd of nurses block my view from where I am standing in the further corner of the room. 

"Please wait outside" a nurse instructs and we all object before being ushered out. 

"What happened?" we ask Max in unison. 

"I don't know man, I was just talking to her and then I thought I felt her hand flinch, I wasn't sure, then I looked and her eyes were looking like they were trying to open. Her hand, it gripped my finger." He rattled off. 

"She's okay. She's going to be okay" I mutter, Johan moving into my space as I feel his grip tighten around me before I realise he's hugging me. 

"She's going to be okay" Johan repeats in my ear.