LOVE OR RIDE | LESTAPPEN

Chapter thirty-seven - the home race

I sigh loudly, wiping my face with my hands as I walk to the car. I was really getting tired of the interviews, this looking for problems in the car and other nonsense. I could say I did it on purpose, but then it would be worse for everyone. As I get into the car, suddenly the passenger side door opens and Charles gets in there, smiling broadly.

"Will you take me somewhere?" he asks as I look at him confused.

"Me?"

"And do you see anyone else here?" he laughs, looking at me with a smile.

"Oh, well... Yes, I can take you somewhere." I say, starting the engine. "To my bed, of course." I add, making him stop smiling. "We'll go with the rest of you to the club, we wrote on the group earlier." I say, pulling out of the parking lot.

Charles leans out the window, waving to the fans, and I grin as I drive behind the other cars, glancing at him every now and then. There will probably be a lot of pictures of us on the Internet now, but I'm slowly getting used to it after Charlie decided to kiss me on the yacht, which hadn't yet sailed away from land. Then there were plenty of photos and videos of the event, but neither of us cared much.

After a while we arrive at the place. We get out of the car, and I give the keys to the man who is supposed to repack them. I follow Charles to the front door, where a security guard stands with a list.

"Verstappen." I say, and the man, without even selling the list, lets us inside. Charles glances at me with raised eyebrows, and I send him a smile, greeting the people we pass along the way.

"Celebrity." Charles says.

"Who?"

"You. You know everyone, they let you in without ID." he begins to list.

"Honey, because it's my party." I laugh, and the boy looks at me in complete shock. "I organized it a few days ago, it was supposed to be for me when I won, but I changed my mind and it's for you. There are people from Ferrari, our friends, your family and..." Before I can finish, the brunet hugs me happily. "But we pretend that I didn't let you win at all?" I whisper to irritate him, which works perfectly.

"Because of you, I won't feel victory in a while." He crosses his arms over his chest. "I don't recognize it much anyway. Means I acknowledge with a wink." And suddenly our friends come up to us, followed by his and my mother. The boy completely forgets about our conversation, greeting everyone.

Everyone enjoys his happiness, which makes him even happier. I've never seen him more happy than at this moment. He is energetic, cheerful, always smiling and talking to everyone. I watch him with a smile, sitting at the bar and drinking whiskey.

"Hey." All of a sudden Lando joins me, I glance at him.

"Hey." I reply, once again returning my gaze to Charles, who, at Pierre and Daniel's urging, takes sip after sip from the bottle of vodka. He finally gulps down half the contents and gives them back the bottle, and they start shouting and applauding. "How are you?"

"It's good. Different, but better. I think so. Did you let him win?" he asks curiously.

"No." I glance at him with a smile and he nods, also smiling, because he understands that my words are not quite true. "Do you want one?" I ask, pointing to the glass.

"I'm leading, so..."

Lando doesn't have time to answer when suddenly Charles stumbles and almost falls, but catches himself on my shoulder. He climbs into my lap and leans with his back against my body. I look at him as he takes the glass from me with a wide smile and drinks its contents.

"The party has just started, and you can barely walk already?" asks an amused Carlos, standing next to Lando.

"Pierre and Daniel..." He starts, and I roll my eyes.