Forbidden

86. Reserve Driver

"Pato this is incredible!" said Olivia smiling brightly, she wrapped her arms around his neck once more hugging him tight and he hugged her back, his arms tightly wrapped around her waist and his head rested on her shoulder. "I'm so proud of you" said Liv sincerely. This time she said it so only both of them could hear it.

"Thanks Liv, honestly you're.." started Pato.

"What's so incredible?" Olivia heard Max's voice from behind her. She let go of Pato after giving him one last squeeze.

Olivia turned around and there he was: tall, his blue sky eyes seemed more of an iced blue and an even colder look was behind them, the tight jaw, not a hint of a smile, his head turned slightly up in the air. It made him look so much taller than Pato.

"Pato is gonna be the reserve driver for McLaren" explained Liv. She didn't hide her smile, it was clear she was happy for him and she refused to lie about it .

"At least until the season is over" added Pato "Zack Brown is giving me a chance to show him what I got in an F1 car" he said with a smile even in front of Max's clear lack of enthusiasm.

Max's eyes opened wide for a moment before he corrected it and went back to his cold stare, he crossed his arms on his chest and rubbed one of his hands through his chin and his mouth in slight frustration. "No way". He said it in a completely different tone than Olivia had, his tone was more dreadful while Olivia's was excited.

"It's fantastic, you're gonna do great!" said Checo with his trademark smile.

"You are, this is so amazing" agreed Olivia while nodding her head.

"So are you actually going to drive or just be on the garage?" Said Max with a tone of belittling and Olivia couldn't help but give him a look.

"I'm going to drive during Free Practices" said Pato as his smile faltered, understanding Max's intentions.

"Maybe we should lock Lando on his driver room so he cannot get out and that way you can drive the whole weekend" joked Checo. Oblivious to the tension around the group.

"Don't be silly Checo" said Olivia joining in to break that tension "they would get him out of the driver room immediately, we should lock him up somewhere else" she joked as they laughed.

"Leave him in the middle of the woods" joined Pato chuckling.

Him and Liv looked at each other "by the lake!" They said at the same time and they laughed even more.

"It's not that far away I'm sure we could drop him off" added Liv laughing.

Alice came from the motor home "Common guys, it's time to go" she said to Max and Checo.

Checo gave another quick hug to Pato "Congratulations mate, show them what you got" he said as he started to leave. Max also started walking away and then turned back "Are you coming love?" He asked Olivia. Even though he called her love, there was enough edge in his voice and Olivia knew he was upset.

"Yeah, I'm gonna go get my camera" she said as she pointed at the motor home. As she turned to go inside the motor home she squeezed Pato's arm and said "I'll leave you to your interviews" she said with a smile.

"See you later Liv" he smiled at her.

Liv went inside to grab her camera and Pato continued walking towards the McLaren motorhome, followed by the cameras.

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At the driver's interviews Max was making Alice's job incredibly difficult. Max, Checo, Lando, Lewis and Charles were seated in a couch answering questions from interviewers on the audience. Max kept giving short, cold, uninterested answers to all their questions. He was not afraid of firing shots at the reporters, and he wasn't afraid of Alice either. 

"Lando, you have a new reserve driver in McLaren, are you excited about the possibility of a new team mate? asked one of the reporters. Olivia saw it immediately, Max's scoff and annoyed eye roll. It was hard to miss since he was sitting next to Lando. 

"I mean, I don't think we should jump the gun. I'm excited to see what he can do, I've heard all good things from Zack, although my teammate for next year is Oscar Piastri, but we'll see what he can do" said Lando.

"Max, do you have anything to add to that? You seemed to have something to say about that" said the same reporter.

"Nothing to add really, wouldn't want to waste my breath talking about it" he said coldly.

"With 'talking about it' you mean talking about Pato O'ward?" asked the reporter.

"Yes" said Max plainly.

"Do you not think he's got what it takes to be in F1?" asked back the reporter.

"Well it doesn't really matter what I think, because if it did then he wouldn't..."

"Pato is an excellent driver, he has really been proving himself at Indycar and I am really excited to see what he's able to do with an F1 car" Checo cut him off, his tone was serious. "We really should be turning our heads to these young new talents, they are the future of F1".

Lewis jumped "I have to agree with Checo here, Pato is a great guy and he's a fantastic driver, I guess we'll see what he brings to the table tomorrow" he said kindly.

Behind the audience Olivia was fuming what the fuck was that, she thought. Thankfully Checo had intervened. Next to her Alice was shaking her head in disbelief but Max didn't seem to care. He continued to sit on the couch with a dead stare towards the reporters, uninterested in anything else they had to say.

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I'm back!

Short chapter but I'll have more tomorrow

I have a feeling Mad Max is about to make an appearance.