Just Him ❤

74. A brief meeting in France.

"Yeah they're good aren't they, shame the car isn't the same." Chloe replied dryly as she pulled her phone out from her back pocket. Her heart skipped a beat, she had a message, surely it couldn't be from Stephen, could it? Stepping back to avoid her screen being seen she quickly unlocked it to view the text that was from an unknown and different number; 'Silver Mercedes people carrier, outside the paddock gates, straight after the race. M'. She put her hand over her mouth to stifle her gasp, her heart suddenly started to hammer in her chest and excitement swirled in her stomach, was Michael here? Straight after the race though? She couldn't do that, she would be busy with Seb in the media pen or maybe even watching him on the podium if his second stint was better than his first. She quickly typed a reply; 'It will have to be later, I'll be working. Make it an hour after the race?' She sent it and within a minute got a reply back; 'I cannot risk waiting that long, sorry. M.' Now she felt nervous, how the hell was she supposed to be in two places at once? What if it wasn't Michael? What if it was Stephen? Her stomach went from excitement to churning with anxiety as she typed another reply; 'Ok, I'll be there.' and without thinking she put her hand on her stomach.

"You ok?" Victoria asked, noticing Chloe rubbing her stomach in a circular motion.

"Yeah I'm....actually I'm feeling a little off colour." She replied.

"You're feeling unwell?" Antti turned to her, looking concerned.

"It's probably nothing, I'm sure I'll be fine." She put her phone in her back pocket again and returned her attention to the red Ferrari on the screen. For a while Seb seemed to be cruising around on his own and radio contact seemed to refer to switching from one strategy plan to another, until lap forty-three when they heard their driver being told they were on plan F. Chloe and Antti exchanged a look, they knew what plan F meant, Seb was going to pit for soft tyres and have a run for the fastest lap of the race. Victoria and Harry looked a little puzzled so Chloe covered her mouth with her hand and leant in towards Harry so that any tv cameras would not catch her and have someone lip read.

"Seb's going for the fastest lap." She said.

"Oh, right." Harry nodded before doing the same to pass on the information to Victoria. Chloe looked at the screen, lap forty-four, she knew she was going to have arrange cover for herself if she was going to meet Michael.

"Excuse me, I have to go." She said, removing her headphones.

"Are you feeling worse?" Antti asked, lightly taking hold of her arm.

"Yeah, I'm going to go and speak to Silvia, to see if she can cover for me." She put the headset down and gave an apologetic smile to Harry and Victoria as she left the garage.

            ~*~

"Sir." Karl, Michael's driver, spoke up, alerting him to the fact that Chloe was approaching. Looking up from his phone, a smile spread across his lips as he spotted her, head to toe in red Ferrari uniform. With her hair tied back and a pair of sunglasses on she looked confident, in control, and beautiful.

              ~*~

Seb's brows rose and he gave Antti a questioning look as he walked out of the door at the back of Parc Fermé to find his trainer waiting for him, with Silvia.
"Hi Seb, you did great today." She said cheerfully, they all started to walk as he passed Antti his helmet and HANS device, exchanging them for his drinks bottle. "You got as much out of today as you possibly could, well done for the fastest lap." She smiled as she passed him his Ray-Bans.

"Where's Chloe?" He asked, without replying to Silvia.

"She's not feeling too great." Antti answered before Silvia could.