Page 116 of Red Flagged
“Of course I do, mon champion,” she said simply. “You’re still my hero. Just in more than one way, now.”
My chest went tight, like she’d just reached in and squeezed the heart right out of me. “You make it really fucking hard not to believe in myself when you talk like that,” I murmured. “You know that, right?”
Her lips curved, and I swear the sun broke through the clouds just to find her.
We reached the Luminis hospitality area a few minutes later, the buzz of the paddock fading as we neared the entrance. Aurélie gave my waist a soft squeeze—her silent way of asking,You good?
I smirked, knowing she already knew the answer.Better than ever.
The past few weeks had been everything we needed. Time to breathe. To process. To justbe.
For the first time since the season started, there was no ambiguity. No blurred lines. No wondering when the other shoe would drop.
And yeah, it felt fuckinggood.
We didn’t just pick up where we left off after Silverstone. We had to find our way back to each other in the quiet. In the after. In the hollow places where grief had left cracks we were still learning how to heal.
But we did. And when we came back together, it wasn’t desperate or manic or wild. It wasn’t rough or punishing. It was gentle. Reverent. Love-making at its core. Like building something sacred out of the wreckage.
And yeah—if I was being honest? It was the best sex of my fucking life.
It was all just… different. It was the way she held me in the middle of the night when neither of us could sleep. The way I washed her hair while she sobbed. The way she curled into my chest like she was relearning the shape of home.
Because it wasn’t about drowning out the pain or proving we’d survived. It was about staying. Choosing.
“Callum.” The voice broke me out of my thoughts.
I turned to see two familiar figures striding toward us. Beckett and Maverick looked better dressed for a boardroom coup than a Formula 1 paddock appearance.
I realized it was the first time Aurélie was meeting them, but I wanted her position made clear: she wasn’t just my partner. She was a powerhouse in her own right, a key player in the fight against the FIA’s corruption, and the reason any of this strategy had a shot in hell of working.
They exchanged handshakes and hellos, Maverick offering an indifferent, “Been hearing a lot about you,” and Aurélieresponding with a smooth, “Only the good things, I hope,” before turning to give me awhat the fucklook behind their backs.
“When you said ‘an old friend,’” she murmured under her breath, “I was picturing an actualoldfriend.”
Beckett smirked. Maverick snorted.
“Language barrier, love,” I teased. “Not my fault you thought I was making deals with a couple of sixty-year-old executives.”
Beckett shot me afuck youlook. “I’m thirty-two.”
“Barely out of diapers,” I added.
Aurélie elbowed me, and I barely managed to swallow my grin. She gave them both a slow once-over, like they were some kind of expensive mirage. “Huh. Weird. Neither of you look like people who make multi-million-dollar deals. Nor do you look old enough to be a billionaire.”
Beckett arched a brow. “Does your boyfriend look like he’s worth almost a billion dollars, about to invest in a Formula 1 team, and finish out his last season as a five-time world champion?”
She turned to me slowly, her eyes dragging down my body and back up again.
“Yeah,” she said, flashing me a sultry grin. “He does.”
The conversation shifted quickly to business. Plans for media leaks, legal counsel, and what came next. But we didn’t linger long. FP1 started in a couple hours. They had meetings. I had briefings. Aurélie had some PR stuff to handle with her team.
Before she and I parted ways, I stopped her, fingers brushing her wrist. “Hey.”
She glanced up at me, tugging one of her braids. I watched the movement, thinking about how much I would miss this, but then I remembered that I’d get to cheer her on in a different way, and it eased the ache.
I wanted to tell her again how good it felt to be here with her. How three weeks ago I thought I’d ruined it. How all of this—today, us, everything in the work—was only possible because ofher.
