The Fight • Max Verstappen•

•onehundred-seventyone•

SCARLET

"I still can't believe he just broke up with you via text message." Daniel sighed as he raised his beer bottle to his lips to take a swig. "It's just such an asshole move." He said, shaking his head.

I shrugged my shoulders and leaned against Pierre, who was standing with his back against the kitchen wall. The Frenchman rested his chin on the top of my head, and his arm snaked around my waist protectively.

Part of me wanted to pretend that I didn't care, but how could I act when I had spent over half of my life in love with Max. He told me that what we had was forever, and I believed him. That moment on the beach when he looked into my eyes and told me, 'And there is nothing I want more than you, and so I guess I'm just saying that I am in love with you.' I felt my whole world move. I thought that there would be nothing I couldn't conquer with Max by my side. I didn't expect that I would be facing the world without him less than a month later.

"I guess he had his reasons, and I just wish I knew what they were." I glumly replied as I ran my finger around the lip of the red wine glass I was holding. "At least if I knew what had happened, then I could do something."

Beau, sitting on the kitchen Island with her legs wrapped around Daniel's abdomen, looked at me with sad eyes. "Do you have any inkling what made have happened?" She asked.

I shook my head. "I thought at first it was the picture of us," I said, wagging my finger between Pierre and me. "He'd asked if Pierre still loved me, and then the next day, the photo was everywhere, but I don't think it is that." I hummed.

There had been radio silence from Max shortly after that photo of Pierre, and I went viral on F1 Twitter and Instagram; that weekend, he had also fallen out with Daniel over his race and qualification.

It was an old photo taken when we were in Miami and hanging out with Lando and Charles. Of course, to someone who had never seen it, I could understand how the public might have taken it out of context, but I thought Max had trusted me.

"And do you still love her?" Beau laughed, "Wait, you don't have to answer that if you don't want to." She immediately added when she read the room.

I stood away from Pierre and turned my head to look at him. His eyes were fixated on the glass of wine he held, and he started to swirl the burgundy liquid. A small smile crept onto his face.

"I think it's safe to say that a part of me will always love you," Pierre said as his eyes now fixated on me. "But I also knew that we weren't forever, no matter how much I wanted us to be." He added as his eyes flickered to the ground. "Which is why I am so fucking angry at how he has treated you." His hand balled into a fist.

Pierre then opened his arm to embrace me once again. He has such a comforting aura, and in these past few weeks, I have realised just what a wonderful person he is. Pierre could quite easily of taken this opportunity to spark the feelings I still clearly had for him, but he had spent hours listening to me go on about the man who had essentially stolen me from him.

"Well, you're a better man than I am," Daniel laughed to bring up the mood that had deepened, "I'd have been taking her straight to bed." He winked, which resulted in a loud slap on his bicep from his girlfriend.

For the first time this week, I let out a genuine laugh, which caused Daniel's chuckle to intensify and if you've ever tried to stop laughing once the Australian had started, you would be losing. Before I knew it, the kitchen erupted with happy tears.

Daniel came across the room and pulled me towards him, "He is going to regret the day he walked away from you." He told me with a serious face, "Max has made some pretty shit decisions in his life, but falling in love with you was not one of them."

As the Australian swayed me around the kitchen to the light instrumental music playing, I saw that Pierre asked if Beau wanted to dance, to which she gladly agreed. She jumped down from the island and placed her wine glass on the side. Pierre held out his hand before he twirled the blonde around.

Daniel held his hand on the small of my back as we moved to the music; his hand that was leading us dipped gently before I too was twirled. He pulled me slightly closer, and I rested a heavy, overthinking head against his chest.

"What are we going to do?" I whispered so that Beau and Pierre would not hear. "Something is happening with Max; we both know it."

Daniel nodded as he brushed a strand of hair behind my ear. "I know, but he's pushed us all away, not to mention blocking Beau of all people."

Over dinner, we discovered that Max blocked both Daniel and Beau from his Instagram and their contact numbers. I wanted to pretend that I was surprised, but I wasn't. Max most likely felt that the world was against him, and Daniel had warned me about this.

Just as I was about to talk, George burst into the kitchen. "I hate to break up your ballroom dancing, but have you seen what Max has just posted on his story?"

I shook my head; how could I have seen it when he had blocked me from his Instagram. Beau and Daniel both looked towards Pierre, the only one in our quartet that the Dutchman had not blocked.

Pierre bit down on his lip before letting out an aggressive sigh. "Right. Enough is enough; I'm going to go and speak to him."

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