The Red Bull Party Girl |ON HOLD|

9. Home.

That afternoon I lay in bed next to Darren, he'd dozed off after a rather energetic session. I grabbed my phone from my bedside table to check the race result; Red Bull had achieved 3rd and 4th with Daniel again finishing ahead of Seb and I knew that would do little to repair things between them, even though it was a good result for the team. My phone buzzed in my hand with a text, it was from Seb.

Seb V 🏁: Can I call u? I want to talk. I miss u xx

I closed the window and within seconds my phone was buzzing as Seb tried to call me. I just swiped to decline the call, I wasn't ready to speak to him, especially with Darren in my bed. He would have to wait until Monaco.
"He's still calling you then." Darren woke up and got on top of me, he took my phone from my hand and placed it back on my bedside table. "Let me take your mind off of him." He started to kiss me, from my lips and working his way down my body, covering all the little areas he knew I liked to be touched. His favourite thing to do with me was to have his head between my legs, he couldn't get enough and I wasn't going to complain as he made me come quickly before flipping me over on to my stomach and fucking me hard from behind.

A few days later and I received a call from Christian. The whole team was back in Milton Keynes for a week before making the journey to Monaco, I journey I would be joining them on.
"The team has missed you Harper." Christian's sounded relaxed and friendly.
"I've missed them too, I can't wait to get back." I replied.
"If you can travel to here on Tuesday, we'll be flying out in the evening. Seb and Dan will already be in Monaco as Dan has a place there and Seb is currently staying with Kimi and his family on Kimi's boat." Christian must have guessed that I'd be anxious to know where the two drivers were.
"Ok, that's no problem. I can drive down there, am I ok to leave my car there and hitch a lift with Emma to the airport?"
"Certainly, that won't be a problem. Emma has missed you, she's been a nightmare without you!" He laughed. "Are you ready to come back?" He asked. I thought it was an odd question.
"Of course I'm ready, have been for weeks." I answered.
"You're ok to be working with Seb and Dan again?" He asked.
"Of course." I knew then that that is what he was getting at with the previous question. "How are things between them?" I had to know.
"It's been better. Seb is struggling with the car at the moment, as you know, so having Daniel beat him isn't helping matters. Just stick to keeping things professional when you see them both, and things shouldn't get any worse." He replied. "I'll have to go now Harper, I'll see you on Tuesday. It'll be good to see you."
"Ok, yeah it'll be good to see you too." I replied, while thinking that him saying it'd be good to see me sounded almost too personal by the tone of his voice.
"Good bye Harper." He ended the call, leaving me feeling weirded out. So, it seemed quite simple. I was going back to work and had to remain strictly professional with both drivers, easy huh? Except this is me, and things never remain simple, not with my history of fucking things up.

Tuesday had slowly arrived after I'd been counting the days down at home. I parked my car Red Bull's personnel car park and got out, taking in the view of the impressive buildings in front of me, I had a few hours before we made the trip to the airport. The sun was warm so I removed my long cardigan and chucked on the passenger seat. I was to meet Emma in the reception area so I got my case and bag out of the boot, closed it and locked my car. I felt happy to be here, six weeks was along time to sat at home, even if I was still being paid. I pulled my case along behind me as I made my way across the car park, looking at the impressive line up of Infiniti company cars as I walked. Some were a higher spec model than others, a black one took my attention and I stopped to look at it. It was an identical model to the one Seb had used in Australia, just a different colour with matte paintwork. It had huge wide tyres with black alloys, I imagined it must be Christian's as the managers and drivers would probably be given the top end cars. I wolf whistled at it in appreciation and then jumped as the indicators flashed and it unlocked. I quickly turned around to see who was mucking about with locking system and found myself staring back at Seb.
"Hi Harper." He came to a stop in front of me. "It's so to good to see you."
"I thought you was in Monaco." I replied, I wasn't at all prepared to see him.
"I had a last minute engineers meeting to attend." He pressed a button on the car key and the boot opened. "How have you been? You didn't reply to any of my messages or calls."
"I didn't think talking to you or Dan was a good idea while I was off." I replied, I saw a hint of anger on his face at the mention of his team mate.
"Daniel was trying to call you too?" He asked, his brows raised.
"Yes, but I wouldn't take his calls either." I immediately began to think I should stop this conversation now.
"You've been ok though? I was worried about you."
"I've been fine, I'm fine." I replied. An awkward silence formed between us and we just stood there looking at each other, I could see his mind was working overtime.
"I'm going back to my apartment for a few hours, do you want to come? Maybe we could talk?" His eyes looked at me hopefully, I stepped back, I couldn't allow this.
"Hey chick!" Emma's voice carried across the car park as she ran over to us. "I've missed you so much!" She engulfed me in an enormous hug. "It's so good to have my party girl back!!" As she released me she looked at Seb, I knew she could sense that she'd maybe interrupted something. "Come on, let's get you signed in." She took hold of my case and started to walk off, pulling it behind her.
"I'd best go." I gave him a small smile and turned around, walking quickly to catch up with Emma. I heard Seb shut the boot of his car behind me and then open and close the door as he got in.
"I was waiting in reception and I saw him approach you." Emma said as we walked. "I guessed you might want rescuing."
"Thanks, Emma. I certainly wasn't expecting to see him today." We entered the reception and Emma got me signed in. As I wasn't a regular visitor here I didn't have a pass to get in and so had to sign the visitor's book to get in. We walked along a corridor to her office, she let me in and I sat down at her desk. "It's good to be back." I smiled. "Six weeks was far too long."
"How have you been?" She asked, the second person to ask me that.
"The first week was rough, but mum helped me out." I admitted. "Seb and Dan calling me and texting me hasn't helped."
"Seb's been asking everyone when you were due back, he got back here yesterday and he's been hanging around in the hope of seeing you. He's been driving me mental." She rolled her eyes.
"He said he was here for a meeting?" I was surprised to hear he'd been waiting to see me, I felt a small glimmer of hope at that but pushed it down, I knew it wouldn't be right.
"He has spent some time with his engineers this morning but I'm not sure he's had a meeting with them. He was waiting to see you. The love saga continues!" She grinned at me.
"He had asked me to go back to his apartment with him when you turned up." I confessed.
"He really regrets treating you how he did, his little reunion with his ex didn't last five minutes, he knew he'd made a mistake." She looked almost excited. "Britta told me."
"Well I'm under instructions to keep things strictly professional with both drivers, so that's what I will have to do."
"Who told you that? Christian?" She asked.
"Yeah, he doesn't want things to get any worse between the two of them and I can't say I blame him when he's got two men racing high powered machines around race tracks." I watched as turned her lap top to face me.
"It's more likely because Christian fancies you." She giggled. "You've not seen the way he looks at you!"
"Oh god please, stop! No way!" I put my hand in front of my mouth.
"Anyway, let's go through what we've got lined up for you in Monaco." She replied.