"Fancy seeing you here." The Australian's voice caught her attention as she sat in a quiet corner of the bar with her book and a large glass of wine. The wine was quickly becoming a habit. She looked up as Daniel sat in the chair opposite her.
"What do you want Dan?"
"Why didn't you tell me you were shagging Sebastian?" He asked.
"It wasn't any of your business." She tried to keep her eyes on the page she was reading. Daniel quickly snatched the book from her hands. "For fucks sake Dan!" She hissed.
"I asked you if anything was going on and then it's in the press days later."
"It's not your business." She repeated. "Now give me my book back."
"How come you're not at the team meal and sitting here on your own?" He asked, his dark eyes looked in to her's, searching for the answer.
"I didn't feel like it."
"Oh come on, I've heard you two are pretty inseparable, there's more to it than that."
"We've had a row." The words fell from her mouth before she could stop them. "Happy now?!" She blinked to stop tears from escaping, but failed. Here she was, crying again.
"Chloe, I'm never happy to see you upset." He quickly got up from his seat and moved to the one next to her. "It's not that bad is it?"
"I've lost him." She lowered her head, her hair falling around her like a curtain. "He hates me."
"I'm sure you can both sort it." He placed his hand on her arm. "Why don't you come up to my room, there's too many eyes in here." He stood and held out his hand to her. She refused to take it but stood up, she swayed a little. "Bloody hell Chloe how many glasses have you had?" He laughed eyeing her half empty glass.
"Just that one." She picked up a folded sheet of paper that sat on the table. He returned her book to her and she tucked the paper inside.
"I hope you haven't lost what page you were on of......" He glanced at the title, "Fifty Shades Freed." He looked at her as they walked. "Bloody porn that book you got there!" He let out a deep throaty laugh as they walked to the lift. She kept her head down until they got in the lift, she knew he was trying to cheer her up but it wasn't working. She was silent all the way up, he could hear her ragged breaths as she tried to control her emotions. The doors opened and they stepped out. He placed his hand on her lower back and guided her to his door, quickly unlocking it and letting her step in ahead of him. "Wanna drink?" He went to the mini bar and waved a bottle of whisky at her.
"I shouldn't." She shook her head.
"Not up the duff already are ya?!" He joked, he looked at how unhappy she was. "Shit, Chloe you're not are ya?!"
"No!" She realised he was suddenly being serious. "I've just not eaten much so I don't want to drink alot on an empty stomach."
"A small one won't hurt ya." He poured a little in a glass for her and a bigger measure for himself. He walked over to her. "Take a seat." He gestured to the sofa. His room was identical to Seb's. He watched as she sat down, placing her book with the sheet of paper safely tucked inside it on the table in front of her. "Wanna talk about it?" He sat next to her, relaxing back in to the seat.
"It's a long story, too much to go into." She took a sip from the glass, she could feel the liquid burn as went down.
"Try me." He simply said.
"He thinks I'm in love with someone else and there's something that happened to me in my past that he wants me to tell him about but I won't."
"How does he know something happened in your past, did you tell him?"
"He's just seen my reaction to someone, he's put two and two together. He thinks I'm in love with my old employer, Michael."
"Schumacher?"
"Yes." She nodded.
"And are you?"
"No, not now."
"Did you and him........"
"No Dan, we didn't. He's married." She cut in before he could say what she knew he was going to say.
"But you loved him in the past?" This was all news to him. He'd had no idea of her past with Michael apart from her working for him.
"I did, yes. He helped me through a difficult time, we became close friends."
"And is what he helped you through what Seb wants to know about?" He guessed they must be linked.
"Yes." She took another sip of the whiskey. "I've tried to convince Seb that I love him, I've tried explaining how it was with me and Michael. I think I've made things worse." She put the glass down and wiped under her eyes. "He just sees me and Michael as having some kind of connection and he cant stand not knowing why it is. I'm sick of crying, I feel like all I've done these last few days is cry."
"Chloe." He sat up and pulled her into his arms, rubbing up and down her back gently. "I'm sure Seb doesn't hate you. Give him time, he'll come round."
"He's backed me in to a corner." She pulled away. "I've got no options left."
"What do you mean?" He placed his hands on either side of her face, wiping her tears away with his thumbs.
"I've got to tell him." She looked panicked. "And then he'll see how fucked up I am, I don't know if he'll believe my version of events."
"You've got to tell him what?" He looked into her frightened eyes.
"He'll see I'm damaged goods." She whispered.
"Chloe tell me what it is you think is so bad that you feel you can't tell him."
"I can't." She stood up. "I've got to go." She walked quickly to the door.
"Chloe, at least stay here until you've calmed down." He stood and made his way towards her.
"Thanks for the drink. I'm sorry, I have to go." She opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her.
~*~
Chloe walked back in to Seb's room. It was just gone 10pm and he wasn't back yet. She was a bit relieved really. She felt drained and didn't want to deal with the tense atmosphere between them. She walked in to the bedroom and undressed down to her underwear. She rummaged through her case and pulled out a vest top and a pair of shorts and then wandered into the bathroom to remove her underwear and cleanse off her make up. She looked at herself in the mirror afterwards as she stood there, now in the vest and shorts. She felt sick, maybe that whiskey wasn't such a good idea. Her stomach lurched and she quickly moved over to the toilet, emptying her stomach in to it. Seb entered the room, walking in to the lounge area he wondered where Chloe was. He headed to the bedroom to see if she was in bed, he heard her vomiting in the bathroom.
"Chloe!" He tapped on the door. "You ok in there?"
"Does it sound like I am?" She shot back before gagging again and throwing up some more.
"Can I come in?" He asked, she didn't answer right away so he let himself in anyway. There she was on the floor, literally hugging the toilet. Classy. She took a deep breath in before sitting upright. "Have you eaten something that didn't agree with you?" He asked, sounding concerned. He watched as she slowly stood up, flushing the toilet and taking careful steps over to the sink.
"Nope. I had half a glass of wine at the bar and a small whiskey with Dan." She clocked her appearance in the mirror and Seb's unimpressed face behind her.
"You've been drinking with him?" He asked, this was not what he wanted to hear.
"I sat in the bar reading my book, he saw me in there, he asked why I wasn't with you, I got upset and spent about fifteen minutes in his room crying over a small measure of whiskey." She turned to look at him. "That's all." She walked past him and went out in to the kitchen, she needed a glass of water. He followed her out and watched as she ran the tap, filled a glass and drank the water.
"So you've been drinking on an empty stomach?"
"Oh Seb, not this again." She rolled her eyes. "You could have fit the total amount I drank into a bloody small glass, and no I haven't eaten which why I didn't drink a lot."
"Ok." He sighed. He knew he was making the situation worse by going on about it. "I'm just worried about you."
"Well don't be." She refilled the glass, praying the water she'd had would stay down. "I'll be fine. You should get some sleep. You've got a busy day today tomorrow."
"I'll go to bed then." He looked at her shaking hand as she drank, the result of not eating. "Are you coming?"
"To bed?" She looked at him.
"Where else?" He gave her a small smile. "I'm tired of us being like this with each other. Please just come to bed, I don't want to argue anymore. Let's at least get back to being friends."
"Friends?" She knew that meant it was over. Her stomach dropped. She felt sick again but hoped she wouldn't throw up, not in the kitchen sink.
"Friends, for now." He nodded, he could see it hurt her hearing the words. It hurt him too, but he needed them to get along with a busy week ahead.
"For now." She whispered. She was afraid if she spoke any louder she would break.
"Come on, you need some sleep too." He rubbed the top of her arm. She nodded and yawned. She followed him in to the bedroom and got straight in to bed. Seb stripped off to his boxers and got in too, turning the light off and laying down beside her. "Chloe?"
"Yeah?"
"It hurts me as much as it hurts you, us not being together." He looked at the ceiling as he spoke, a lump in his throat. "I think we just need to both take a step back." Chloe said nothing in reply but lay there with silent tears streaming from her eyes. She was heartbroken, but determined to win him back.