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“What the fuck are you doing here?” Henri gritted out, standing slightly in front of Georgia – Georgia’s knight in shining armor as always.
“Oh, Henri, how I’ve missed you,” Anthony drawled out in his ridiculous Southern accent. “Been a while. You remember my girlfriend, Anna.”
Henri ignored Anthony’s introduction, once again demanding to know why Anthony was at the grand prix. I turned to look at Georgia, who was still a little wide-eyed. She was staring at Edward, and they were clearly having a secret conversation with their eyes and body language.
“I’m a personal guest of the Wilmington F1 Team this week. Just signed a contract to be their Indy Car driver,” he gloated, as if the four F1 drivers in front of him would be impressed by that. Georgia being the first woman to win Indy Car was impressive, but she was now a Formula 1 driver, something that Anthony would never achieve. It was likely Wilmington had only asked him onto the team because his dad was one of the richest oil barons in Texas.Money talked in racing.
I could tell that Edward wanted to say something, but he held his tongue. There was no need to make his time in the Wilmington garage even more miserable. The war between Wilmington drivers wasn’t worth it, and the press would crucify the team if they caught wind of drivers not getting along.
Before anyone could respond to that, I slipped my arm around Georgia and put on my classic Luca smile, the one I always wore when I met annoying little shits like Anthony. The smile that saidgo fuck yourself, while still looking pleasant to the outside world. As I leaned into Georgia, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her closer to me. Georgia looked up, confusion in her eyes, not entirely sure what I was trying to do.
“Indy Car… wow… so impressive,” I said half –no, mostly– sarcastically. “I stopped watching after someone kept winning all the races. Got a little boring,” I said, looking down at Georgia and giving her a wink and a sly grin. I was pleasantly surprised when Georgia leaned a bit more into me, grinning at my comment.
“Can’t help that none of the other teams put up decent drivers or competition,” she quipped. It was at that moment I realized she was wearing her Triple Crown polo that Isabelle had gotten her. The entire garage had swapped their shirts, and now everyone had the triple crown logo on their backs, a reminder to all the teams that a lion was among us.
Anthony scoffed as he dragged his girlfriend Anna closer to him, clearly sizing me up. I had no doubt that he had heard Georgia and I were dating, and judging by his body language, he was trying to judge us as a couple.
“Hard to compete with someone who can sleep her way to the championship,” Anthony bit out.I felt Georgia immediately go stiff in my grasp, could feel her anger start to bubble, but before she could get something out, I moved forward and stood close to Anthony, my face mere inches from his.
“From what I heard, Anthony, it sounded like the only person trying to sleep their way to the top was you, but you were so lousy in bed even that didn’t work, so Daddy had tobuyyou a spot at Wilmington.” I said it low enough voice so that only the six of us around could hear, recognizing that a small crowd had started to form around us.
I knew Georgia could defend herself, but I alsoknewGeorgia, and I knewthatlook on her face. She was boiling with anger – at us for not telling her, but also at Anthony, and she would say something she regretted. The media’s opinion of her was turning the tide, and I didn’t want something to get out into the press. The group of us together was starting to gain attention, and I knew this interaction needed to end – and quickly.
I heard both Henri and Edward snicker behind me. I didn’t even look at Georgia, but out of the corner of my eye I saw the smug look on her face, clearly pleased with Anthony’s reaction. I grabbed Georgia’s hand and turned around, dragging us both toward the Valkyrie garage.As soon as we got to the garage, Georgia let go of my hand and turned to face Henri, wagging a finger in his face.
“I’m going to take a wild guess here and say that you three knew about Anthony’s presence this weekend,” Georgia accused.
“Look, Peach-“ Henri started.
“Don’t ‘look, Peaches’, me. What the fuck is going on with you, Henri? I get you’re trying to do the whole protective brother thing, but knock it off. I already have one protective brother. I don’t need another one. I thought you were on my side, but recently, it feels like you’re always hiding something from me.”
“And you,” she pointed to Edward, who looked a little worse for wear. “You couldn’t drop me a text?Oh hey, Georgia, that asshole I told you to break up with during your trip to London a few years ago is here. Like nothing from you? Really?”
Both Henri and Edward just stared at her with blank expressions, neither of them really knowing what to say. I braced myself for my turn, but nothing came. Either Georgia had run out of steam, or I had been spared because of my comment to Anthony.Regardless of the reason, I’d take it. It was nice to not be on the receiving end of Georgia’s frustrations for once, and if I was being honest, a little fun to watch Henri stand there uncomfortably.Both Henri and Edward mumbled fairly pathetic apologies, but Georgia just rolled her eyes.
“I have to go get ready for qualifying. I don’t have time for this.” And with that, she pranced into the Valkyrie garage. I wanted to utter anI-Told-You-So, but that seemed in poor taste, even for me, so I just shrugged my shoulders and started to walk back to the Hermes garage with Henri following me in total silence.
* * *
Georgia
I didn’t have time to really process what had gone down with Anthony before qualifying. I was annoyed with Henri and Edward, but I understood why they didn’t want to tell me before qualifying. I texted Hugo about my frustration, but he only backed them up, insisting that nothing good would have come of it – insinuating that they were going to tell me this evening, although I wasn’t sure if I believed that.
I insisted that finding out an hour before qualifying by running into my ex was worse, to which he agreed and apologized, asking me not to be so hard on Henri. This was a classic Hugo move. He knew I couldn’t stay mad at him long, so he took the blame so Henri could get some relief from being the center of my anger. He had that same sweet personality that our mother had, and he was always willing to protect his siblings.
Truthfully, I was more annoyed because Henri was supposed to be my partner in crime, not my bodyguard, but recently Henri had shifted from best friend to protective older brother, and it annoyed me.I wanted my best friend and confidant back.
Still, I put all of that aside and did what I came to do in Baku – come in first, which is exactly what I had done in qualifying. I was buzzing, as Oscar Parker would say. As I jumped out of the car, I went and stood with Noah and Eric, who had qualified P2 and P3 alongside me. We took our photos and chatted with the event VIPs for a bit before being ushered back to our garages so we could get prepped for the post-qualifying press conference.I made my way back to the Valkyrie garage, a huge smile on my face. Not even the appearance of Anthony could ruin this for me.
As I stood in the conference room with Lily, waiting for Lizzie and Fiona to give me a rundown of what to say at the post-qualifying press conference, I had a thought. In the corner of the office was a beautiful leather binder with Fiona Schmidt’s name engraved on it. The binder was full of important papers, and Fiona carried it all over the paddock. I walked over and emptied the binder of its contents, putting them neatly to the side. I picked up some empty pieces of Valkyrie header paper and stuffed it inside. Lily eyed me warily, an unsure look on her face.
“You know, Georgie, your career as a racing driver is okay. You don’t need to join the strategy team,” she joked. I smiled at her, letting a mischievous grin fill my face.
“I’m going to prank the journalists – and Fiona Schmidt.”
Lily’s face widened, and she began to laugh –a little too loudly. I quickly shushed her and set the binder next to my spot at the conference table. I knew Lizzie and Fiona would not appreciate my joke on the journalists, so I motioned for Lily to keep quiet.
“You’re also going to give Fiona a heart attack,” she cautioned, although I could see the incredibly excited look on Lily’s face.
