LOVE OR RIDE | LESTAPPEN

Chapter twenty-three - the corruption of man

"Yes you are right. Sorry Charles." He says quietly, feeling foolish after my statement.

"It's okay." I hear the boy's voice behind me, trying not to smile now. I don't have to look at him to see that. I'm beginning to understand him more and more, which is scary.

After twenty minutes, the reporters finally leave us alone, so I take my hand off Charles' leg quickly and get up, walking quickly toward the exit. I breathe in the fresh air, feeling even worse than in the morning. I haven't slept for too long, on top of that my father keeps texting and calling, and when I answer something he doesn't like we argue. The situation in the team after my beating with Hamilton is even worse, and it's no longer just Christian who looks at me crookedly when I pass by. The only support is Checo, who knows as well as the whole team about the situation with Lewis. Surprisingly, he supports me instead of pointing fingers.

"Max!" I hear the Ferrari driver shout behind me, but I don't turn around. I walk towards my garage, having had enough of sitting with people for today. I have to take some kind of pill because my head is starting to hurt and drink Red Bull to stay awake. Not very healthy, but I have to persevere until the evening. "Max! I know you can hear me! Wait, please!" he shouts.

I curse in my mind and stop so the boy can catch up with me. When he reaches me, he breathes loudly, tired of running, and only after a moment shifts his gaze to me as he calms his breathing.

"What's going on?" he asks worriedly.

"Come on, let's not talk here." I look around, seeing people everywhere watching us curiously.

I start walking toward the back entrance to my driver's room, and Charles silently follows me. When we get inside, I sit down on the bed, watching as the boy looks around curiously.

"So?" I ask tiredly, leaning against the wall behind me.

"Are you all right?" he sits down next to me, and I start to feel remorseful, because he's worried about me, and meanwhile I ignore him on in every way possible. I didn't even write him back on yesterday's messages, I didn't answer the phone this morning and I didn't want to see him today. I am awed.

"I'm sorry, I feel bad and I didn't want to spoil your mood with mine." I say honestly.

"When was the last time you slept?"

I furrow my eyebrows, looking at him puzzled. How did he deduce that it was about this? After all, the makeup artist took care of every detail.

The boy moves closer to me and puts his hands on my cheeks, forcing me to look him straight in the eye, and when I do, I can't lie to him or conceal the truth.

"At night... With two hours maybe. I don't know, I can't sleep lately."

"Why didn't you say so, Max?" he sighs, taking his hands from my face. "Come to me." he adds, shifting so that I can lie down and lay my head on his legs. Without hesitation I do so, smiling softly.

The boy slides his hand into my hair and starts combing through it, making me uncontrollably close my eyes, smiling lazily. I put my hand on his leg, right next to his face. I don't know how long we go on like this, but eventually I fall asleep, too tired from these days.

***

I hear quiet conversations, making me curve my face and move around. Suddenly I feel someone combing through my hair, causing me to open my eyes lazily and the first person I see is Charles, who smiles at me, quickly glancing at me and returns his eyes to his interlocutor. This makes me realize that someone is seeing us in this situation, where I am lying on my stomach, holding my hand on Leclerc's leg, and on top of that I have my cheek resting against his legs, and a moment ago I was asleep while he was playing with my hair. I turn my head the other way and look at Pierre and Daniel, who are looking at me at the same moment.