Lights Out • 1 • Formula One ✔️

Chapter 29

Monday afternoon Kudzai and I drove back to our apartment in England. The journey didn't seem to take nearly as long as when we were on our way to France which I was thankful for. We arrived just before midnight. Murray also seemed to be happy back on familiar territory when we eventually arrived at home. It's a shame that we had to be leaving him again so soon, my mum was coming over to house-sit before we set off for Monaco.

Esteban, instead of driving with us, got the plane back to London late Monday evening and caught a taxi to our apartment. Kudzai was going to spend a couple of nights with him at his house until we leave for Monaco Thursday morning since she hadn't spent much time with him. It was also their seventh month anniversary coming up and this would be the only time they would get time off to celebrate it. Although it would've been nice to have a few quiet days with Kudzai, I couldn't be happier for her that her relationship was going so well. Also, it meant that I could invite Max over for a couple of days.

Max finally knocked on my apartment door at about 4am, over three hours after Kudzai had left with Esteban. I opened the door to reveal a sleepy looking Max holding his suitcase in one hand and a small bunch of flowers in the other. The sky outside was starting to turn light, an indication that it was way too early.

"Morning," he yawned, offering me the flowers with a lopsided grin on his face, "I'm sorry my flight was delayed so I got you flowers to make up for it. You like lilies, right? I mean, everyone likes lilies."

"Thank you." I chuckled softly, pulling him into a hug before taking the flowers off of him. "While I put there in some water, you can put your stuff in my bedroom." I smiled.

Thankfully, there was already a vase set up on the kitchen counter by the window from when we occasionally have flowers. Since we travel so much, we rarely bother since they'd just be dead by the time we get back and we wouldn't get to appreciate their beauty. I filled the duck egg blue vase half way with water, adding the little packet of flower food which was attached to the wrappings before putting them in. Max was right, I do like lilies - mostly because they are my mum's favourite flower, though.

I had just finished adjusting the flower's positioning when Max's arms snaked around my waist. I jumped slightly at the contact, not hearing him come in to the room. We just kind of stood there, enjoying each other's presence, whilst he rested his head on top of mine. I closed my eyes. I didn't get a lot of sleep since I was waiting for him to arrive, and I only had about three hours when we were travelling.

"What did you want to do today?" He asked, spinning me around slowly to face him. I didn't bother to look up and leaned against his chest, wrapping my arms around him.

"Nap." I mumbled, eyes still closed. "And then I have to do the workout Lizzie set me."

I felt his chuckle vibrate through my body. "I can definitely do with a nap, too. Daniel caught the plane with me and just wouldn't stop talking so I didn't get much sleep."

"Daniel's in the UK?" I asked, finally looking up at him.

"Yeah, he has a house in Milton Keynes near where our garage is. Because there was an issue last race, he's got to spend a little bit of overtime working with the team." He replied. I hummed in acknowledgment. "Thankfully you let me stay with you or else I'd have been stuck with him."

"You're just lucky it's Kudzai and Esteban's anniversary." I pointed out. "And that I hate living on my own."

"Not that you love me?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Eh," I shrugged, "I guess that, too." I grinned when he rolled his eyes at my teasing. "I would love you even more if you carry me to my bed."

Max sighed. I wasn't expecting him to do it and was fully prepared to walk to my room so when he suddenly lifted me over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing, I let out a little squeal of shock. His hands grabbed ahold of my thighs to support me, whilst my torso hung down his back. At least this gave me a good view to admire the work that the squats had been doing.