Just Him ❤

98. Belgium. Pt 2

"I'm sorry." She turned on to her side and nuzzled her face against his chest, his anger dissolved immediately and he laid his head down on the pillow, laying an arm over her waist.

"You've got to come to the circuit today." He kissed the top of her head. "Because I need you."

"Tell Silvia I'm sick." She pressed a kiss to his chest, a gesture that may have been purely innocent on her behalf but it caused a riot of emotion and longing inside him.

"I need you there for me." He started to stroke her waist with his thumb. "And I don't mean as just my PA, please." She shuffled upwards on the mattress until her face was level with his, she could see the pleading in his eyes and she realised that she was being selfish. She couldn't make him go through today without her by his side, there would be people at this circuit today suffering far, far more than she was. She nodded her head and he looked relieved. "Thank you." He whispered, kissing her cheek and moving his hand to her hip to give her a gentle squeeze. "I love you." He said, keeping his lips on her cheek. Feeling his lips on her skin, so close to her own she found herself sorely tempted to kiss him, nothing compared to being with him in moments like this and only her broken heart was stopping her. His alarm on his phone started to chime loudly breaking their close moment and he sighed while removing his hand from her hip. "Do you want the bathroom first?" He reluctantly rolled on to his back and then sat up, reaching over to grab his phone and silence his alarm.

"No, you go." She flopped onto her back and laid there, admiring his strong back and broad shoulders as he got out of the bed and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. As she heard him turn the shower on she let out a heavy sigh, today was going to be a difficult day.

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The mood in the paddock was reflective and there was an air of calm as everyone went about their tasks in the Ferrari garages. Chloe had switched straight into PA mode and was wearing her mask well, seeming calm and unflustered on the surface while underneath she was already finding today one of the hardest days she'd ever encountered during her career. The minutes silence that everybody from every racing genre had attended this morning before the support race had been particularly difficult, seeing members of Anthoine's family there had been heartbreaking but she'd swallowed her own misery knowing that she'd be no use or support to Seb if she was an emotional wreck. With just under an hour until lights out she watched as he paced around his driver's room with his head phones on before she stepped out to make a couple of quick phone calls to cancel his pre race interviews, he had too much on his mind today and didn't want the distractions that they brought. She glanced at Lina, his race car, and the thoughts she'd been trying to keep to the back of her mind since they'd been here came surging forward. She didn't want him to race, she didn't even want either of them to be here, she felt petrified and sick. Unlocking her phone she turned away from the garage and headed out into the paddock where she wandered aimlessly as she left two garbled messages to RTL and Ziggo Sports, then she checked through Instagram where photos of herself and Seb were doing the rounds among fan accounts who were curious to know if they were still together or not after photos taken earlier in the week showed her without her engagement ring and this mornings photos showed her holding Seb's hand. The truth was that as they'd entered the paddock together his fingers had brushed against hers and she'd simply taken his hand because she'd needed the physical contact. She closed her eyes for a second, wishing that she could go to him for hug and maybe persuade him not to race, then she cursed at herself for being selfish and needy.
"Hey!" Daniel gripped her shoulders to steady her as she walked right into him. "You make a habit of walking with your eyes shut?" He looked bemused.

"No, not usually." She looked down to see she'd dropped her phone. "For fucks sake!" She moaned as he bent to pick it up.

"It's ok, it's just scratched on the back, you've got one of those screen protectors on so no real damage done." He handed it back to her, she looked close to tears. "It's only a phone, it can be replaced, it still works ok." He added as she crumbled in front of him, bursting into tears.