A/N: just wanted to share a picture of what I think Morgan looks like. I randomly found this on my Pinterest and she perfectly fit the picture I had of Morgan in my head.
Lmk what you think!
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Morgan
She had managed to evade Carlos for two days. Morgan was in no mood to have a conversation with him or to even give him an explanation about her relationship with Hawk. Not that she owed one anyways. One thing her mother had always kept drilling into her head was that women did not ever have to explain themselves to a man. She agreed with her mother. Women were hardwired to always say sorry, and always provide an explanation for their actions while men were allowed to do whatever they wanted to do without owing society an explanation. So why tell him? Why explain something personal? Right now, their relationship wasn't something that owed him an understanding of her actions. She was allowed to sleep with whomever she wanted to.
With that in mind, Morgan made her way to the car where Carlos waited. Today was race day which meant that it was the official day everyone saw Carlos and Morgan as an item. The Ferrari management team had made sure she looked picture-perfect. Now, making her way towards his car in a deep red Dior suit, she almost turned on her heel to go back into the hotel room. A hair and makeup team had pounced on her the second she had woken up and while she did look good, she wasn't a fan of how tightly they had slicked back her hair into a ponytail. Any tighter and her eyes would probably pop right out of their sockets. She caught Carlos staring at her from the driver's seat. With the new security measures reducing the drivers' access to fans during their walk to the paddock, Carlos and the rest of the drivers had the freedom of driving to the circuit.
"Good morning," his tone was clipped and he avoided looking at her. Morgan swallowed down a sigh and put on her seatbelt as he drove out of the driveway. Behind them another Ferrari with three agents followed closely as they made their way out into the street.
"Sleep well?" He asked, the double meaning behind those words obvious with his tone.
She rolled her shoulders back and opened the pull down mirror, "Yeah wonderfully," she said as she reapplied her lipstick. She could see the slight bob in his throat as he swallowed but Carlos didn't say anything.
"What about you?" she asked, the silence in the car stretching out awkwardly.
"Same as you," he said. She hid her annoyance.
"Once we get into the circuit, I will be walking down the fan stretch to sign a few autographs and take pictures- you're free to join me or you can go straight into the paddock," Carlos said as he took a right turn.
"You already know my answer," she replied curtly.
"So into the paddock?"
"I did not bust my ass off for four months building up this fake relationship with you to just scurry into the paddock like some headless chicken. I'm obviously coming with you. Plus you need someone to watch your back,"
"I'm not too sure if you're the right one for that."
"Is this about Hawk? What is wrong with you?" She snapped at him unable to tone down the wave of anger that overtook her.
"It's not Hawk." he was using that clipped tone again. She wanted to smack him.
"Then what?" Morgan pressed.
"Give me some space to interact with the fans once we get there. Enzo will be walking with you and he'll take you into the paddock with me," Carlos said ignoring her question. She wanted to argue with him but she saw the circuit looming ahead and with it the crowd of photographers that were waiting outside. She sighed and leaned against her seat and as always whenever the cameras were around, Carlos reached down to her hand and entwined his fingers with hers.
She felt sick at how easy it was to pretend like they were a couple and there was no animosity between them. Morgan plastered a fake smile on her face as she felt the flashes of the cameras almost blinding her as both the media crews and the fans alike were almost storming around their car as they drove into the circuit. Carlos followed the security car in front of him until they stopped at a small parking lot reserved for the drivers and Morgan put on her lanyard as she got out of the car.
The press was a lot less diluted here save for the ones belonging solely to the teams. A few pictures and videos were taken as they made their way towards the fan strip and the entrance to the paddock.
Carlos surprised her by pulling her close and kissing her. She could hear the fans at the barriers screaming at their interaction in excitement and she tried to focus on that instead the tingling on her lips that shot all the way down to her toes as Carlos's lips softly caressed hers before he pulled back. "Go into the paddock I'll meet you there," there was no gentleness in his voice and before Morgan could object he was turning on his heel and walking into the fan strip.
Morgan tried to go after him but Enzo was quicker than her as he subtly blocked her path and shot her a tight smile. "This way agent," he said gesturing towards the paddock and Morgan had no option but to follow him inside.
The paddock was busting with people all decked from head to toe in F1 merch and Morgan couldn't help but think about Alyssa and how she'd always wanted to be one of them. This one time they had planned coordinating outfits in both Red Bull and Ferrari merch during one of their wine nights. She realized that she missed Alyssa and Morgan suddenly felt a rush of excitement at the prospect of going to Australia in a few weeks. Maybe she could get Silvia to pull some strings and get her an extra paddock pass for Alyssa.
She was deep in thought when she was suddenly stopped by a pair of girls. "OMG you're Carlos's girlfriend aren't you?" one of the girls shrieked as she pulled out her phone and waved it in Morgan's face. "Um yeah," she said, not sure what exactly was going on as the other girl kept bouncing up and down in excitement. "Is it okay if we get a picture with you? Our friends and us have been talking about you non stop, you're so pretty we can't wait to see more of you and Carlos," the other girl said.
Morgan didn't know what to reply to first so she forced a smile to her lips and nodded as she posed for a selfie with the girls. "I'll see you girls around. Have a great time!" she said, hoping she sounded enthusiastic enough as Enzo led her away from them.
Morgan was still going over what just happened and she didn't realize that she had walked into someone until she heard him swear. "Oh Jesus I'm so sor-," the words died in her mouth as she saw who she had bumped into.
"Morgan?" he asked, his tone unsure.
"Aiden?" she asked, recognizing him immediately.
His gave her one of his million dollar smiles. The same smile that had girls in high school almost passing out in the corridors. He looked the same, a little more older looking but just as ruggedly handsome as he was when they were seventeen. "I thought I saw you walk into the paddock but I wasn't so sure. Hey!" he said with a chuckle as he pulled her in for a hug. He still smelled the same, the mix of clove and mint- his favorite perfume that he kept at his bedside table.
"How have you been?" she asked as they pulled back. From the corner of her eye she could see Enzo looking at her impatiently but she ignored him. It wasn't everyday you bump into your high school sweetheart after 9 years.
"I just opened my new recording studio a few months ago, we're signing on a few upcoming artists as we speak," Aiden said.
"I'm glad to hear that you took up that career in music,"
"Yeah figured it was the best option for me, seeing that I my amateur guitar skills were enough to score the cutest girl in high school," he said with a wink. Morgan couldn't help but chuckle, "Always the flirt aren't you Aiden?"
He gave her a crooked smile. "Always."
"So what are you doing here?" she asked just as she saw the paddock pass on his lanyard, "Oh nice which team?" she asked.
He flipped the pass around, "Ferrari,"
"Oh same!"
"Yeah I can tell," he said, gesturing at her outfit with a chuckle. "Red is a good color on you," Aiden said giving her a once over that made her blush. He had those piercing green eyes that just made anyone get all loose tongued and bashful, it was one of the reasons why she couldn't resist him in high school.
Enzo cleared his throat and they both turned to him, "We need you in the hospitality room when Carlos comes, the PR team have some protocols they wanna go over," Enzo said.
Aiden cocked his head to the side, "Carlos?" he asked her.
Morgan shrugged as she began walking towards the Ferrari hospitality lounge, Aiden followed from beside her. "Carlos and I are dating, we've been together for quite some time," she said hoping that she sounded convincing enough.
"Oh," Adien said, "It makes sense now," he chuckled.
"Oh what's that supposed to mean?"
"The fact that you're here at a Grand Prix and not held up somewhere in Guatemala," he knew about her time at Quantico and that she was dispatched to Latin America following the end of her training. Aiden however didn't know about her and Minotaur, nor about Diego Juarez.
Morgan forced a chuckle to her lips, "Shut up," she said swatting her lanyard at him.
"I'm serious. Up till now I was convinced that you had no idea what a holiday was," Aiden joked as they stepped into the Ferrari Lounge. Immediately cameras were shoved up Morgan's face as so many reporters began clicking pictures of her. From beside her Aiden looked comfortable, like he was used to this much of attention. Morgan kept her composure as she smiled at a few of the photographers and was led into the room by Enzo where Silvia waited. "You're going to be upstairs with Carlos sr. some of the other guests will be with you as well," Silvia said in Italian.
"What about the agents?" Morgan asked in Italian. Working at Minotaur it was a requirement to know as many languages as possible, Morgan was grateful that Italian was one of the languages she had picked.
"They're up there as well," Silvia said as she led Morgan upstairs. She turned around to find Aiden talking to a group of people, he caught her eye and winked.
Morgan was taken upstairs to a viewing deck from where she could see the entire pit lane and the race track in front of it. She spent an hour going through her iPad and meticulously rechecking the positions of the agents on the track and in the grandstands. She could see Hawk in the William's garage, his position marked with a bright green circle. Morgan spent a few more minutes going through everything before she set down the iPad and made her way to the balcony that overlooked the pit lane.
"Morgan," it was Silvia. Morgan turned to the redhead, her eyebrow raised in question. Silvia didn't look too happy about what she had to say.
"Carlos would prefer if you stayed in the garage," the PR manager said before leading Morgan downstairs and away from the crowd of people that had gathered. She caught Aiden's eye and gave him a small grin as she followed the PR manager to the garage and was handed a pair of headphones.
"You can hear Carlos's radio throughout the race, thought this would be better to keep track of him," Silvia said.
Morgan popped on her headphones and joined the small group of celebrities that had come to the garage. She caught the football star, Neymar's eye and gave him a tight lipped smile unsure of what else to say. Some girls shot her looks of envy and cleared space as she slid into the viewing box. They avoided talking to her and she stifled a sigh. If only they knew how much Carlos and her hated each other.
There was some movement in the garage and she saw Carlos making his way towards her, "we're going out to the grid now," he said as he neared her.
She didn't know what possessed her when she spoke, "Stay safe out there and have a good race," she said and he surprised her by leaning down to catch her lips for a quick kiss. She felt her cheeks redden but said nothing as he turned on his heel and walked towards his car.
She stared down at her iPad again.
This race better go smoothly, she thought to herself as Carlos drove out of the garage.