When it Rains | Daniel Ricciardo

Chapter 19 - Salty

"Ah Mr Alain, I see you have met our girl!" Nico came up behind him and put an arm over his shoulder.

"Ah, your girl? You and Daniel share?" Alain says with eyes bigger than saucers.

"Oh please, they wish! Besides blonde isn't really my type." I add, winking at Nico. Daniel was standing next to me not saying anything, but I could see his smile from the corner of my eye.

"Nope, she's a single woman, in high demand. We're not that lucky, unfortunately." Daniel added

I tried to ignore that comment, but it kind of hurt knowing what Nico shared last night. My expression must've shown it because he put his hand around my back in a comforting way rubbing the spot softly. I stiffened at his touch still trying to hide my discomfort.

"Well miss Alexia, it's been fantastic to meet you. Don't be a stranger in the garage and please keep up the good work you are doing!" Alain said as he offered his hand to each of the drivers and went in for a hug with me.

I accepted, happy to be away from Daniel's arm. We said goodbye to Alain and for the first time ever, in their presence, I wished that the ground would open up and swallow me whole. I was feeling hurt and by the one person I never thought would make me feel this way. 

Maybe this was his way of getting back at me - blowing off steam for the way I had made him feel last night, but what exactly did he know? I needed to find out but now was not the time. We needed to be alone for this conversation to sort out whatever was going on.

How did we go from talking every available second of the day to him wiping the floor with me in front of one of our advisors - oh that's right, I fucked Mike!

"Well this has been lovely gents, but I've got work to get back to," I said, not waiting for a reply before making my way out of the garage. Someone was following me, someone, that smelled like a piece of heaven, someone I did not want to speak to.

He grabbed my hand with a strong tug and I whipped around from the unexpected force.

"Oh shit, I'm sorry Lex! Didn't mean to pull you so aggressively," Worry written all over his face, seeing that almost made me forget why I just stormed out of there.

"It's okay. I'm fine." That came out a lot colder than I wanted at the same time I pulled away from his hand again.

He took a cue from my unease and took a step back. "Listen I'm a straightforward kind of guy so I don't want to beat around the bush. I don't know what I've done to upset you or what's going on between us, but I think we should talk. My folks are here as you know and tomorrow is going to be hectic so if you would like to join me, I'm going to stay in Spain for an extra day. If you don't have to be back at the office right away... We could... spend the day together or whatever?" He was looking everywhere else but in my eyes, playing with the zipper on his jacket. Was he...nervous?

"I was actually planning on doing that anyway. I wanted to do some sightseeing while I was here and just haven't got the time with everything that's going on." I couldn't look at him through that last part, not knowing what he knows is driving me insane. "So yeah that sounds good."

"Okay, just to make sure I meant I'm staying over on Monday night too... "

"Yeah, that's what I meant as well. " A moment of silence passed between us again. "Ah, Daniel?" I asked nervously

He looked at me with raised brows. "Do your uh-parents st-still want to-" What am I? Five? 

 He cut me off before I could finish my sentence

"Yeah, they'd love to meet you, Lex. Tonight we're spending some family time together, but after the race maybe? I'll let you know." His normal smile was back and I let out a deep breath I didn't know I was holding. Thank God this man knows me as well as he does, that was becoming excruciatingly painful to get out.

I smiled back at him. "Okay. Good. That's good," my smile fell. It just didn't feel genuine enough to stay there. This knot in my chest wouldn't go away and until we could talk properly, I couldn't stand to be around him.

"Lex?" he called as I was about to walk to the car.

"Yeah?" I turned around.

"One thing this sport has taught me is that it's never as bad as your mind makes it out to be." He gave me one of that deep soul searching, 'I know what you're thinking' looks; winked and then walked away.

Fuck! This man. I swear I am being pranked and he can actually read my mind like I'm a character in a book that's being ripped to shreds for the sole purpose of good reading material.

 What the hell did that mean!? Is he saying that I'm making shit up in my head? That, maybe things are completely fine and I'm just over sensitive? Is he saying that he knows EVERYTHING and he forgives me? Or that he forgives me for just disappearing at the club because he doesn't know that I fucked his lead engineer... 

Maybe he's saying I don't need to worry anymore because I fucked up so badly that he doesn't care about me that way anymore and neither should I.. I just need to know!

I wish guys could just be a girl for one hour to realize the constant torture we put ourselves through with overthinking every situation. I sigh hard and dramatically.

I called Jen to confirm our girls night redo as soon as I had gotten back to the hotel. We were staying in with a bottle of red wine and sad chick flicks. Hopefully, this would take my mind off of Daniel and our pending conversation.