UNLOCKED - LANDO NORRIS [Book 3]

04

By the time qualifying hits, I've been placed at the back station in the Red Bull garage, headset on and ready to sit in on Max's radio. 

"Good afternoon, Evelyn" Just the sound of her voice irritates me as I hear it come from behind me. 

"Mother" I acknowledge. 

"I hear you're recovering well" she necessitated. 

I slide the headphones off my head and place then around my neck, turning at her with frustration, "You hear I'm recovering? Are you serious right now?" I bark at her. 

"Yes, Dr Armidale and Dr Neto have said you are progressing well" she shrugs as if it's no big deal. 

"The very fact that you even think this conversation is going well right now, baffles me" I throw one hand up in frustration and turn back to the screen. 

"Evelyn there is no need for you to be so rude" she shudders, playing the victim again. 

"Did you even consider coming to visit?" I imitated, "Like even once. Or hell, okay I'll humour you, did you even consider calling?" 

"I phoned Dr Armidale and Dr Neto quite regularly" she denotes. "I was well informed on your circumstances Evelyn, who do you think paid for all of it? You would have been stuck in that hospital in Florence if it weren't for your father and I" 

I can't even look at her, I'm lost for words on how to even respond to her. "So, I should be thanking you then, for taking such good care of me" I respond sarcastically. 

"You always were so ungrateful" she hisses before walking to the front of the garage. I watch as she looks in her surroundings before crossing the pit lane, her hand brushing delicately across Christians back as she takes a seat next to him. 

"Hey, you okay?" Johan asks coming up beside me, resting a comforting hand on my back. 

"She's unbelievable" I shudder. 

"Did we expect any more from her?" he mocks. 

I attempt to swallow the lodge in my throat, it doesn't go down, but it does burn when I attempt, causing my eyes to fog. "I almost died, and it still wasn't enough to get her to love me" I mumble under my breath. 

Johan closes his arm around me, pulling me to him and placing a comforting kiss on the side of my head. "I'm sorry, Ev" he comforts. 

I quickly wipe each tear from my cheek and shake myself out of it. Johan's right, I didn't expect her to be anything more. 

Both Max and Charles make it into Q3, McLaren's two cars didn't even make it out of Q1 and when I come into eye contact with Zak, I see the blame written all over his face. His head shakes slightly at me before he staunches away, his gaze holding mine a little too long. 

We gear up and wait for the final session to take place. 

Max is currently sitting on pole with only 28 seconds left in the session, but he's just crossed the line so he won't be able to complete another one. Hoping that his set time of 1:11.877 is enough to hold him in the top position. 

Charles is coming around turn 14 on his out lap, giving him enough time to complete one more flying lap as he will cross the line before the timer goes off. He's currently in 3rd, but he has a fresh set of softs on that seem to be working well for him. 

We watch closely as he goes through turn 1 and 2, heading through to turn 3 before there's quite a big straight and Ferraris straight line speed has proved to be one of their strong points on this circuit. 

As he finishes the first sector, he sets a purple sector, beating Max's time by 0.076 as he heads into the second sector, the hardest of the track. Coming out, he sets another purple sector and I feel my stomach tighten, Johan making nervous eye contact with me as we await the final sector. 

As he crosses the line, my eyes flick around the screen eagerly. 

Charles Leclerc 1:11.483

Charles has taken pole. 

My hand fly to my mouth in shock, attempting to hide the smile. I glance over to the pit wall to find my mother glaring back at me, the same disappointed shake of her head I received not long ago from Zak. 

I pull my crutches off the side of the wall and secure them under my arms, following Johan out to the front of the garage where all the cars are slowly making their way into the pit lane. 

"He pulled that one out of the bag" Johan comments as we watch Charles' Ferrari being parked in front of the number 1 banner. 

"I suppose you're about to jump into bed with him now too. Since you like making a mate out of your brothers biggest competition" 

Johan and my head snap toward the voice behind me, coming from none other than my mother. 

"What the fuck?" Johan growls. 

"Leave it" I comfort Johan. "She can't stand anyone being better than her precious, Max" I mock. 

"That is your brother, Evelyn. Show some damn respect." she barks. 

"And I'm your daughter!" I shout, causing a few eyes to catch in our direction. "But that's always meant fuck all to you" 

I hobble away, leaving both my mother and Johan shocked. 

Johan comes jogging up beside me, "You alright?" he asks. 

"Yeah" I grumble, struggling with the crutches, "She's... impossible. I give up"

"I have been waiting for you to explode at her for the longest time" he sing songs. "That was actually incredible to see" 

I smile at me, "It felt good" 

"Did your mother really just call you a slut though?" Johan shrieked. 

"Yeah, I guess she did. Guess I'm the new grid whore now" I mock. 

"Move over Maddie" he joins in. 

"Is she still sleeping with the grid?" I ask Johan. 

"Kind of. She did try and initiate a relationship with Charles though, that didn't go too well" he informs, and I chuckle. 

"Charles is the last person who she should be going after" I tease. 

"Everyone was shocked, but as far as I'm aware, she's been with Logan a fair bit" 

I nod my head, as that kind of checks out. 

As we make out way to the end of the track where the cars have lined up, Max and Charles are finishing their interviews and they make their way over toward the crowd. 

"Good job, Maximus" I call out as he approaches me. 

He flips me off with a smile on his face. 

I see Charles approaching me with a smile on his face. He unclips his helmet and guides it off his head, pulling off the head covering as well. He fiddles with his ear plugs, pulling them from his ears and ruffles his sweaty hair out. 

"Well, well, well, look at you" I appreciate as he comes up in front of me. 

"Pretty happy with that" he mocks. I lean into him as he hugs me tightly. 

"You should be, that was an amazing run" I disseminated. 

"What are you doing tonight?" he asks me. 

"Oh" I hitch, "Nothing I don't think, how come?" 

"I want to take you somewhere. I was a little hard on you before and I really didn't mean to be. And I know the doctors have been saying we shouldn't be telling you things from your past, but I'm happy to answer anything you want. Just.. " he takes a deep breath, "Just come out with me.. Please"