RACE 2 - Max Verstappen

50

"No no no," Daniella yelled as she lost control of the car and went out of the track, losing her second place in the sprint race. 

"Fuck!" She yelled as she got the car out of the gravel and back on the track, the two Ferraris and a Red Bull already passed her, making her hard work go in vain. She almost hit Lando when she came back on the track but she and the McLaren driver quickly reacted to it and saved themselves from any contact or crash. 

"Sorry guys," She apologized to her team, feeling guilty since they were all cheering and was excited when she climbed up from P11 to P2. But now they have lost it and are now on P6 and not enough time to gain back those positions. 

"Don't beat yourself up Dani," Nate calmly told her through the radio. But the camera zooming in the Mercedes garage showed the gloomy faces. "We can pull it through tomorrow."

Daniella didn't reply as she was too disappointed in herself. 

***

"Are you okay?" Max stopped Daniella as she headed back from the media pan. The look on her face clearly shows how she is feeling. 

"No," Daniella mumbled as she shook her head. "I let the team down."

Max gently put his hand on her back, a means to comfort her. 

"It's just a sprint race," He softly said. 

"I lost some good points," Daniella expressed her disappointment. 

Max could try to comfort her more but he knows it will do no good at the moment. She has always been too hard on herself, losing even one place on the grid would have dampened her mood. 

"You want my Red Bull?" Max offered the can of energy drink. 

"Yes please," Daniella looked at him with a small smile before taking the can from his hand and took a sip. 

Max chuckled which only managed to make Daniella's smile bigger. 

After a few more minutes they went separate ways. 

Carlos watched from afar, feeling jealousy and envy, wishing he was the one to comfort Daniella as he clearly knows and relates to how she is feeling. 

***

Daniella was surprised when she opened the door and found Carlos standing outside, and judging by his look even he looked surprised. 

"Umm… I thought this was Lando's room," He sounded confused but a pleased smile was on his face, his eyes admiring the fresh out of shower, relaxed Daniella. She doesn't look tense as before. 

"This is my room," Daniella let out an awkward laugh. "I don't even think Lando is staying on this floor."

Carlos pulled out his phone and rechecked the text Lando sent him. 

"He said room number 5160," Carlos showed her the text. 

Daniella smiled and pointed at the room number on the door. Carlos let out a chuckle when he realized what Lando did, obviously Daniella was oblivious to it. 

"I think he played a prank on you," Daniella said. 

"Yeah," Carlos smiled. "But I am not mad…"

"Hey," Max interrupted the Ferrari driver. "What are you doing here?" He gave an intimidating look before glancing at Daniella. 

Carlos couldn't help but curse his luck and Max. 

"Umm.. Lando gave him the wrong room number," Daniella explained before Max could jump to conclusion. 

"He is not even on this floor," Max said bluntly. 

"Yeah, I realize that now," Carlos said in a rather rude tone as he glared at Daniella. 

"Then you can leave now," Max matched Carlos' rudeness. 

"Stop it," Daniella lightly hit Max's arm, sending him a warning. 

"What?" Max acted to be ignorant. "He has no reason to stay here outside your room anymore."

"I am so sorry," Daniella apologized to Carlos om behalf of Max. 

"No, it's fine," Carlos replied politely. "I better go find Lando. I will see you tomorrow."

Daniella felt bad for the rudeness he face from Max. She can only give him a soft smile and nod. 

Carlos glared at Max before walking away, didn't bother to look back. 

"What the hell was that?" Daniella snapped at Max which even reached Carlos' ears, giving him a slight satisfaction. 

"What?" Max shrugged as he followed Daniella inside and locked the door. "You do realize why he was here right?"

"It was an honest mistake, Max," Daniella defended the Ferrari driver. "Lando played some sort of prank on him."

"You don't know that," Max argued. 

"I do know that because Carlos showed me the text from Lando," Daniella explained, her voice raised a little. 

Max realized his mistake, but he felt like his rudeness was justified as he knows what feeling the Ferrari driver has for Daniella. 

"I don't want to fight…" Daniella soft mumbled. 

"Neither do I," Max replied. "I… I am sorry," He apologized as he stepped closer, gently moved a few strands of hair and caressed her cheek. "I just… I know he likes you and…"

"You do know that you have nothing to worry about, right?" Daniella looked into his vulnerable eyes. 

Max nodded before placing a kiss on her forehead and then kissed her lipslips, his hands holding her as if she is going to disappear or someone will take her away from him. 

**********

A/N: Tough day for Dani :( how do you think the race will go for her? 

We got both Carlos and Max in this chapter. Sometimes I forget that Carlos is part of the storyline. 

What do you think will happen next? 

I thought about writing the race day in this chapter but I am too lazy and sleepy at the moment but still wanted to update the chapter 😅

On a scale of 1 to 10 how much drama will be suitable for this book? I can go crazy with the story or keep it somewhat calm with moderate drama