Only Angel

ʚOnly Angelɞ

in which Y/N is Rockstar Harry's hot girlfriend...

The whole story revolves around Harry and Y/N's relationship. It's just bunch of one shots and blurbs. You can request if you want me to write something here

Harry Styles- 24, main man of his band with Niall, Louis and Mitch. Is very much obsessed wih his girlfriend. (LHH era)

Y/N Y/L/N- 22, fashion student, best friends with Sarah, Harry's girlfriend.

• Concert- in which Y/N goes to concert and catches eye of the rockstar [tba]

NO MERCY || Mafia!Rooster AU

summary: In a game, someone is bound to get played. When set to marry Carter Wilson, you find out that he's cheating on you. Desperate to find a getaway, you rush out and practically stumble into the arms of Bradley Bradshaw. Immediately drawn to him, you're unaware of the dangerous background he holds: King of New York via the mafia. In a tale of twisted schemes, the likes of you soften the man who has no fear in his eyes nor care in his heart. But when a rival boss threatens your safety, it's up to Bradley and those around him to keep you safe.

pairing: mafia!Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw x Female!Reader

✧ Rooster masterlist

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

---

Chapter Eleven

"we have never heard the devil's side of the story, seeing as god wrote the book"

pairing: daniel ricciardo x fem driver

word count: 14.6k

warnings: explicit language, drinking, motorsport accidents, mentions of sex, mentions of death, mature themes

previous part

note: if you are on the taglist, and your name is crossed out in red, it means I’m going to delete you off the list unless you reach out and tell me it’s working/if you changed your user! also please tell me if I was supposed to add you to the taglist and I didn’t lol it’s been a while

Welcome back everybody, and welcome to Turkey as this epic championship in 2021 continues onwards. Lewis Hamilton came here last year and won his seventh world title, and now he returns to Istanbul Park with a two-point lead over Max Verstappen, but more notably, having just announced his retirement at the end of the 2021 season. In the last eight races, the championship lead has swapped places three times, and this race has the opportunity to be a very intriguing one.  

Valtteri Bottas lines up with his second pole of 2021. Max Verstappen for the second year running here, starts second on the grid. Charles Leclerc behind these two, nearly seven and a half miles per hour quicker than Verstappen in the speed trap. He’s got Pierre Gasly for company on row two. Fernando Alonso is behind them in fifth; his best start in over 7 years. Sam Thompson qualifies sixth despite having the exact same time as the former world champion, Fernando having completed his lap first. Lando Norris started seventh for the first three races this year, hasn’t started there since but he does today. Lance Stroll alongside him, and then Yuki Tsunoda ninth for Alpha Tauri. 

Sebastian Vettel starts tenth ahead of Lewis Hamilton who starts eleventh for the second time in his career. Esteban Ocon in the Alpine starts twelfth, ahead of George Russell who’s thirteenth, and Pietro Fittipaldi in fourteenth, filling in for Mick Schumacher while he has yet to be cleared to drive after his crash in Sochi. Nicholas Latifi and Antonio Giovanazzi keep each other company on the eighth row; both Alfa Romeos out in Q1 as Kimi Raikkonen starts in seventeenth. Sergio Perez starts eighteenth after taking an engine penalty, and then it’s Carlos Sainz in nineteenth for the same reason. Finally, Daniel Ricciardo starts twentieth after taking a new power unit. 

For the two thousand and twenty-one Turkish Grand Prix, its lights out, and away we go! 

Bottas to the second phase, he looked to have stuttered just a little bit. But Verstappen is not coming alongside him! So it’s Bottas that leads from Verstappen and then over comes Charles Leclerc— 

Oh! There’s a spin from Fernando Alonso at turn one and he’s lost plenty of places and he comes back out in fifteenth place! 

A beautiful adjustment from Sam Thompson to avoid contact with the Alpine, now moving up into fifth place. Not the start that Alonso would have wanted, but Thomson seems keen to make sure she stays in this race after forfeiting valuable points in the last. 

There’s Lewis trying to pass Sebastian Vettel, and on the outside of Esteban Ocon, now passing the Alpine to head into tenth place. 

And now to George Russell who’s in the thick of it, just ahead of Fernando Alonso. You’ve got the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz on the inside finding grip and Daniel Ricciardo getting all squirmy on the outside as he tries to challenge the number fifty-five car. 

There’s your race leader Valterri Bottas ahead of Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc runs third, closely followed by Samantha Thompson who has managed to pass Pierre Gasly who is now in fifth. Going through there is Norris ahead of Stroll and Tsunoda, and then rounding out the top ten is Hamilton who is putting a lot of pressure on ninth-place’s Sebastian Vettel. 

In the rain so far, it’s only been Fernando Alonso who has managed to spin off. Massive credit to these drivers because these are some treacherous conditions. 

Yeah, these really are difficult conditions. You have a lot of spray in these parts of the circuit, so it affects your visibility. 

A great start by Samantha to get up into P4, Norris in P6, we gotta watch out for him, but Lewis is in the mix rounding outside of almost one, no two cars there! And now he’s right behind Yuki Tsunoda. 

Nicholas Latifi has gone to the back because he’s had a bit of a spin. Hamilton now in ninth place, and there’s his teammate Valterri Bottas who leads this race. Daniel Ricciardo down in eighteenth; he’s trying to get past Carlos Sainz. I think he did, and then he lost the place to the Ferrari again. 

Would you look at this! Great defense from Yuki Tsunoda! Keeping the seven-time world champion behind him a bit longer than we’d expected. It looked like he was going to lose that place and then fought right back. 

Bottas leads by 1.2 seconds, and—

Yellow flags are out! It looks like there is a HAAS in the wall at turn 6. 

Yes, that is the HAAS of Pietro Fittipaldi! I bet you he’s just lost the rear into the turn. 

That’s exactly what he’s done, Jenson. But he creeps back out onto the track rather quickly, a thirty-one-second gap now between him and our race leader. He makes his way back, starting up behind Nicholas Latifi who’s in nineteenth, followed by Sergio Perez who still seems to be struggling in the wet. That leaves Ricciardo in seventeenth and Sainz in sixteenth battling with Alonso for fifteenth. 

This race has already been wild and we’re barely two laps in! 

***

The engineers have said that a 1.3-second pace advantage is enough to overtake here in Istanbul, and that’s exactly what Samantha Thompson has on Charles Leclerc. There she goes, getting in the slipstream of the Ferrari and proving exactly what the engineers speculated. 

Let’s listen to what Charles had to say about getting passed:

“Track limits! Did she not exceed track limits to get by?!”

Martin, I don’t think Sam was even near track limits when she passed Charles. 

I’m pretty positive she wasn’t. I’m not sure what Charles is on about. Sam has been closing in on Charles for the entire 11 laps, maybe he’s just succumbing to the pressure and getting a bit upset about it. 

But oh my god! She’s been given a warning for exceeding track limits! She was nowhere near them! I can just see Guenther Steiner raging right now. He can’t be too pleased about one of his drivers being given a second warning for exceeding track limits when she didn’t even do it!

But Martin, how on Earth is that the second warning? Did we miss the first?

I’m not sure, but for now, here’s what Sam had to say:

“Sam, you’ve been given a second warning for track limits. Drive a bit more carefully if you can.”

“Second?! When was I given my first? We’re eleven laps in?! And what turn did I even go out on?!”

“Charles claims you went off-track to overtake him at turn 12. Not sure where the first warning is coming from”

“And they believe him? Just like that? What about footage?”

“We’re contacting race control now. You were nowhere near exceeding limits. Using the curb at most. Just keep your head down and try to build a gap in case; you know how they can be sometimes.”

I’m shocked they considered that a breach of track limits. It seems as though Charles only said it out of desperation! 

Though they’re in completely different machinery, Samantha has been creeping up on Charles in the driver’s championship. Maybe he’s getting a bit worried? 

She’s just set the fastest sector two, so it looks like she’s pushing as if she’s expecting a penalty. We’ll have to see what the stewards decide. 

***

Lap twenty-nine out of fifty-eight and Samantha Thompson has somehow managed to stay in the top 3. 

That might be true Jenson, but she’s struggling and she knows it. 

“How are conditions, Sam? We need to pit soon.”

“I don’t want to pit until conditions are clear!”

“Sebastian is pitting for slicks.”

“Give me two more laps with these then call me in!”

That hesitation in her response speaks volumes. She trusts Sebastian, even saying she looks up to him, so hearing his plan must’ve made her think.

But she’s really struggling with those intermediates. They’re nearly bald by now, and Leclerc is gaining on her. I think if she’s going to pit for a new compound, she needs to commit sooner rather than later. 

***

It’s lap thirty eight and drivers are flooding into the pits, most of them opting for a fresh set of intermediate tires. 

We just saw a beautiful two-second stop from Max Verstappen as he re-enters the race in third. And behind him, coming into the pits is the driver who was in third. Samantha Thompson. 

She’s driven phenomenally today and if they can get her out of here quickly, she’ll rejoin in fifth position. 

But my god! They’ve got her just sitting there! I don’t see the issue? All her tires are on but they’re not even touching her car. 

Jenson, it looks like she’s serving a five second stop and go penalty for exceeding track limits. Race control notified her team as she came into the pit lane. 

Unbelievable. Her hand is waving frantically so she’s obviously confused, so let’s have a look. 

Yes, there it is, the final corner before the pit lane. A bit of correction for after hitting a wet patch and off she went, just barely. 

If you ask me, a five second penalty is much better than putting your car into the wall. The only unfortunate part is that those first two infringements came out of thin air: she wasn’t off track either time. 

“Chin up, Sam. You’ll be coming out in twelfth.”

“This is ******* ridiculous”

“Engage the rocket boosters, it’s time to go racing”

And there it is, that’s her engineer’s way of telling her to keep her head down and push, and it’s our way of knowing the Hell Rasier is about to live up to her name. 

It’s good to see Floyd Higgins trying to keep spirits high when Sam is upset. What I’d give to have someone encouraging me like that in a headset all day every day. 

***

“If I keep this pace, what are we looking at in terms of positions?”

“If you can get by Esteban, Norris, and Gasly with no problems, P6”

Might I say, these have been some of the most incredible racing laps I’ve seen from Thompson all season. She’s incredible in the wet, and she’s putting her ruthlessness to the test here. 

In seven laps she’s managed to overtake Giovanazzi, Ricciardo, Stroll and just now Carlos Sainz. He’s hot on her tail but it sounds like she’s planning on leaving him in her dirty air.  

Bottas is right behind Leclerc, Hamilton meanwhile, is gaining once again on Verstappen. And Sainz is gaining on Thompson. 

It’s all happening here in Turkey on Lap 47. 

But what’s this? Ferrari has decided to pit Leclerc despite telling him to finish this race on the compound he’s got! He’s lost the lead as he pulls into the pit lane. Seems the gamble they'd planned on taking hasn’t quite paid off. 

***

Ted, can you see that? That’s the Mercedes pit crew getting ready!

Yes, I can. Maybe they think that large gray cloud is going to come closer before this race ends in seven laps?

Hamilton is coming in, let’s have a listen:

“Okay Lewis, so we think we should box this lap. It’ll be our last chance to lose that gap to Thompson.”

“Sure, okay”

He’s doing what he told, but this stop has to be perfect. His tires are very, very old and oh! It was a perfect stop! Very good work by Mercedes. They’ve lost some points, but maybe this is even more damage limitation. 

Yeah, but they might think they can get those back. 

Leclerc goes through, Gasly goes through, I’m watching Thompson comes down the main straight now as Hamilton gets to the end of the pit lane, eighty kilometers an hour but now he can get his foot down. 

He gets back into the race track and ahead then of Samantha Thompson and into sixth place. 

She’s not far behind him, trying to close in, but in that car, she may as well be fighting with one hand behind her back. 

You can see that she’s overheated the rear tires with how hard she’s pushing, see it sliding around?

Hamilton still has a three second gap to the HAAS, but he doesn’t sound to happy to be sitting in sixth. 

“**** man why’d we give up the position?”

“We were going to lose it regardless”

I don’t think he expected to lose three places, and I don’t blame him. With the championship race being this tight, every point matters. 

***

This weekend, from pole position, Valterri Bottas makes it to the final corner and sees the checkered flag, crossing the line to win the Turkish Grand Prix! 

It has been a commanding performance, and that will give him a huge last cheer from the team as he leaves Mercedes at the end of this season and heads to Alfa Romeo. 

Behind him though, Max Verstappen comes home to finish second, where he started in this race, and that race will do nicely for him as he increases his championship lead over Lewis Hamilton. 

Charles Leclerc manages to finish third despite an upset with his tire strategy. His second podium this season and his fourteenth with Ferrari! 

Gasly crosses the line fourth after a fantastic drive. Hamilton comes in fifth after a blunder with his strategy, and Thompson comes in sixth despite a seemingly random penalty from the stewards. Then to finish out the top ten we have Norris, Sainz, Stroll and Ocon. 

All to play for still, only six races remain! We head to Austin next! 

Sam hopped out of her car in the parc ferme, Pietro pulling up next to her in his identical HAAS. While Sam had finished in the points, the reserve driver had managed a 19th-place finish. 

“Decent drive out there today, Samantha,” he said pridefully as he interrupted her conversation with Max. The two drivers stopped whatever they had been talking about and gave one another a look of bewilderment. Having your conversation interrupted was nothing but normal, yet the way Pietro didn’t come in with any hesitation acting as though they would stop to listen to him without a doubt, rubbed both of them the wrong way. 

Max raised his eyebrows at her and nudged his head towards the small driver standing beside them, reminding her she had to answer. All weekend, she had kept her distance from Pietro. Not only was it odd seeing somebody else driving Mick’s car, or the fact that his presence reminded her of the accident and the weight of Mick’s unresponsive body in her arms, but Pietro was far too prideful for his own good. 

Sam held back from rolling her eyes and bit her tongue. “Thanks,” she replied curtly, her annoyance at his presence obvious… Well, obvious to everyone but him. 

“Nearly cost us a few points with track limits, but I’m glad there was the rain to give you a chance to recover the penalty.”

Max nearly spit his drink out, whether from the shock at what Pietro had said, or the look of absolute rage that made it onto Sam’s face, he wasn’t sure. 

“I would’ve made up the penalty regardless of if it was raining, but I wouldn’t have needed to if the stewards hadn’t invented the first two infringements,” she spat trying to control her annoyance. 

Pietro blew air out of his mouth in what Sam could only assume was supposed to have been a laugh. Why was he laughing? More importantly, why did he feel so comfortable doing it right in front of her? They were anything but close and Sam was starting to think it was personal for Pietro; whenever he was in the garage, he rarely gave her the time of day when she’d try and be friends, so eventually, she just stopped trying. 

“Don’t see you scoring any points for the team,” Sam countered. 

“You don't even have a seat, mate. You’re only here because Mick hasn’t been cleared to drive yet,” Max added with a laugh. 

Pietro did not seem impressed with their comments whatsoever. He folded his arms and puffed out his chest, which Sam attributed to the short driver trying to make himself seem intimidating.  

“I’m here because Mick can’t go one race without choking and putting his car in the wall.”

At the way the words left his mouth with a smirk, Sam lunged toward him without hesitation. But she didn’t get far because Max sprung forward to stop her from reaching Pietro, who was looking at them with a laugh. As he turned and walked away, Sam loosened Max’s grip on her and regained her composure. She didn’t want the media to see her lose her cool at her teammate for the weekend, or even speculate why Max’s hands were around her waist-- the last thing she needed was for the constant rumors she was sleeping with another driver to not seem so baseless, but she also didn’t want rumors to start that Max was potentially cheating on Kelly.

“Thanks,” she mumbled. 

He nodded and leaned in close to remind her, “Just remember, at the end of the day, you’re the one with the contract. He’s just their glorified booty call or something.”

Sam couldn’t help but laugh at Max’s attempt to be comforting. Though he was intimidating and ruthless on the track, he had shown her previously how down-to-earth he really was. In a way, she related a lot to him. Both of their merciless reputations on track seemed to overshadow their true personalities; their careers had both been consumed by what the public decided was true. 

With a smile, she said goodbye to Max and made her way to where George was standing next to Lewis. The two were talking, and unlike Pietro, she made herself known with a wave before she reached the two drivers and courteously joined their conversation. 

They chatted for a bit as the winning drivers were finally pulled to do their track-side interviews. After a minute or two, George bid them farewell and walked over to get weighed. Sam watched him leave and as he nearly disappeared under the shade of the garage, she spotted Mick and Molly talking to Lance off to the side. 

She tried, but she couldn’t look away from the two. Yes, she’d been avoiding her two best friends since Sochi, but that didn’t mean she didn’t miss them. Sam watched as Mick smiled and chatted with Lance, Molly chiming in here and there. Though she was too far away, she could hear their voices in her mind, their laughs, the way they interrupted when they got too excited; it sounded as if she was right there with them. But of course, she wasn’t. 

It was selfish of her to keep her distance from them, that was no secret. But the betrayal she felt was unearthed each time she thought about what they’d kept from her— and for how long they’d managed it. She couldn’t bring herself to face them just yet. 

George passed by the group on his way to the scales, and as their heads turned to greet him, Molly’s gaze went past the British driver and landed on her best friend. When their eyes met, Sam froze. Her skin felt white hot and her stomach churned. But what twisted the knife was Molly offering her a smile. 

Internally, she panicked. The two of them stood staring at one another for a few seconds before Sam managed to tear her eyes away. 

Thankfully, Lewis was there to change the subject and unknowingly get her mind off it. He looked around discreetly before asking her what she’d been dreading. 

“Have you given it any more thought?”

Internally, Sam groaned. Because she had given it plenty of thought over the past two weeks. But she still wasn’t closer to an answer. Now that Lewis had announced he was retiring, the media had been sent into a frenzy. 

Why was he retiring at the peak of his career?

What were his plans after F1?

Did he have ulterior motives?

But what if he didn’t win this year?

Would he regret this?

Will he be back?

Who would take his seat?

That last one was the one presently teetering Sam dangerously on the edge of a moral cliff. 

“I— Uhm, I’ve thought about it. That’s definitely an understatement, it’s really all I’ve thought about. I want to— of course, I want to, I just need to talk it through with someone but I don’t know who I can tell and I also need to sort some things out beforehand...”

Lewis nodded, a smile on his face despite the slight panic in Sam’s voice. “Well you’re always welcome to talk through it with me, or Toto even. But please don’t stress yourself out about this. It’s supposed to be an exciting opportunity, and I’d hate to have burdened you by offering—”

Sam cut him off, “Not at all! Lewis, I’m honored you thought of me for the seat, really. It’s just personal stuff, I promise. I’ll have an answer for you before Mexico!”

He laughed and placed a hand on her shoulder,  “No, no, there’s no need to rush it. Take all the time you need. The only real deadline is Abu Dhabi, and it’s mainly a suggestion”

“No, you’ll have an answer by Mexico, and that’s a promise,” she stated with confidence. There was no doubt the decision scared her, but she was excited nonetheless.

Of course she was going to take the offer, there was no doubt in her mind. But there were a few things she needed to do before she could seal the deal confidently, like talk to Guenther about it, let Franz Tost know she’d be turning down his Alpha Tauri offer, politely decline the offer of a ‘quick chat’ from Williams, and talk to Mick. A small part of her, out of spite, wanted to just accept the offer without speaking to him first, seeing as he’d told her to do just that in his fit of rage. But deep down she knew she didn’t want this move to cause a rift in her and Mick’s friendship; it meant too much to her. And if that meant putting their argument aside even momentarily to have a genuine conversation about Sam’s future and Mick’s place in it, then so be it. 

Lewis continued to smile as he was pulled off to head to media. “Whatever you say, Sam!” He gave her a wave, which she returned before she ran to get weighed. 

She wasn’t sure why she’d thrown that out there, or why she’d chosen Mexico of all weekends, but Sam knew she needed to give herself a timeline or she would just push off making the decisions and never come to terms with what she needed to do. 

Sam watched as Lewis disappeared behind a door, and before she could get too lost in thought, she turned and began to make her way toward the scales, but nearly bumped into somebody as she turned around. 

“Where you off to in such a rush?” She was relieved to see that it was Daniel because as she tried to shove down the anxiety bubbling in her chest after her conversation with Lewis, Daniel always made it really easy to take her mind off of things, washing a sense of comfort over her with his humor. 

“Sorry, she mumbled referring to their near collision, “I haven’t weighed in yet.” She pointed to the garage she had yet to step foot in. Without a word, Daniel placed his hand on her shoulder and lead her toward the scales. 

Of course, he wouldn’t say anything, but the second he looked into her eyes, he could tell something was bothering her. There was a glint of unease that he recognized all too well; one he’s seen in the mirror before nearly every recent race in orange. All that mattered to him at that moment was that he continued to be a good friend and that she knew he would be there if she ever needed him again. 

Sam couldn’t help but notice the difference in the feeling of Daniel’s hand in the same place Lewis’s laid only moments earlier. It sent a spark zipping down her arm all the way to the tips of her fingers. It lit a warmth in her stomach that paralleled a fireplace in the dead of winter. And it absolutely terrified her ways she tried to ignore. 

“What answer is Lewis looking for?” Daniel finally asked. 

A lump formed in Sam’s throat, but luckily she was ushered to step on the scale, so she had a moment to collect her thoughts and decided what she wanted to tell Daniel. 

She stepped off the scale and Daniel took her place. Thankfully, his back was turned to her as the volunteer waited for the number to settle and record it down into the system. Sam felt horrible keeping a secret from Daniel, especially with how willing he was to help her in Sochi— more than once— and not ask any questions. 

“If I would be able to watch Roscoe for a few weeks this winter,” she gritted out, thankful he was still facing away from her. 

As if timed perfectly, Daniel turned back around to face her and they started back out toward the media pen. 

“Huh, I never pegged you as a dog girl,” he mumbled as they both got stopped here and there for a photo or an autograph. 

They got a few more feet before they were stopped again. “Yeah? Then what kind of animal girl did you see me as? Hairless cat? Guinea pig? Goldfish?”

A few more photos and autographs. 

“I was thinking more along the lines of horse girl, actually.” Daniel began to laugh and Sam rolled her eyes, quickly flashed him a discreet middle finger, and continued towards the media pen tent. Once they got within a few feet of the entrance, she saw her press officer Paula, but before she could get to the press, she heard another familiar Aussie voice. 

“Great race Sam,” Michael said, grabbing Daniel’s helmet from him as he came up from behind her. 

Sam smiled and thanked him as he went on, giving Daniel the side eye implying she was still annoyed and causing him to laugh in response. 

The physio ignored their antics with a small laugh of his own and a shake of his head, “You excited to head back to your stomping grounds next weekend?”

Sam nodded, “Texas isn’t really my stomping grounds, but I’m excited to be back in the states for sure.”

Then, the thought hit her. 

“When do you guys fly into Austin?” She asked the question to both of the men. 

Daniel answered, “We’re getting on a plane tonight. Gonna spend the extra week in California before heading to the big T.”

Sam laughed at the nickname for the state and then cautiously posed the question she’d been sitting on, “How attached are you to going to California?”

The two men looked puzzled, but Daniel responded. “About as attached as velcro. Why?”

Sam reared her head, taken back by expression, puzzled as to what that meant. She thought about the comparison but decided it was pointless and went on tentatively, fully aware she was about to make a significant leap in her friendship with the two Aussies. 

“The initial plan was to go to Mick’s ranch with him and Molly, but seeing as we aren’t on speaking terms just yet I’m spending the off week back home in Carbondale. I’m not sure if you guys have ever been to Colorado, but I just wanted to extend the invitation; it’d be nice to have some company. I’ve got a pretty big place up there, and it’s super pretty this time of year. Just an offer though, no pressure,” she silenced her rambling by attaching her lips to the straw of her drinks bottle, hoping to drown her anxiety in electrolytes. 

She looked a bit frazzled, somewhat regretting her invitation. It was no secret Daniel loved spending time in Austin, and Sam didn’t want to intrude on his time spent there, let alone make him think she didn’t respect his time. But all of her overthinking was interrupted by an excited Aussie laugh. 

“Are you serious? I’d love that! I’ve never been, but what better way to get to experience it than with a local! I’m picking up a bottle or two before we get there. I want to indulge in some vino on my week off, and from past experience, I don’t trust your wine judgment” The smile on Daniel’s face told Sam everything she needed to know. 

Her gaze shifted to Michael, who was looking at his best friend with a smile. “Ah man, Sam I’d love to go, and I really appreciate the invite, but my girlfriend is meeting me in California tomorrow and I can't just leave her hanging.”

Sam brushed it off. “Don’t worry about it! Looks like it’s just gonna be you, me, and the mountains if you’re still down to go,” she smiled looking at Daniel. His iconic grin was spread from ear to ear. The idea of spending his time off in nature already sounded like something he would enjoy thoroughly, but to get to do it with being alone with Sam? That sounded even better. 

Ever since the time they spent together in Sochi, Daniel couldn’t stop thinking about her— both worried about her and lost in every detail of her. Yes, he’d thought about her before that weekend and the circumstances of the time they spent together after the incident in Sochi weren’t ideal, but seeing Sam so comfortable with him, so willing to be vulnerable with him, changed something inside of Daniel for the better. 

“Oh and you can finally meet Stewart! You’re going to love him!” Sam interrupted Daniel’s thoughts excitedly. 

With that comment, Daniel’s smile faltered just the slightest. Who was Stewart and why hadn’t Sam mentioned him before? He didn’t want to raise her suspicions by asking so he just smiled and nodded. 

“The plane I’m taking leaves tomorrow morning, So I'll shoot you a text with the details once I finish up here if you want to take the same flight. You're always welcome to come a few days later though,” she added with a smile. “Have fun with your girlfriend Michael! See you in the big T!” Sam shouted as she walked off, offering both men a wave before she turned around and walked off. 

Michael nudged Daniel, “So, a few days off the grid just you and Sam…” He suggestively wiggled his eyebrows and Daniel rolled his eyes in frustration. 

“Yeah, and apparently Stewart too!”

Michael laughed, “Whoever he is you can take him. Just focus on Sam and spend time with her away from racing for a while. Don’t worry about him.”

Media was over and Sam was making her way back to the HAAS hospitality to gather her things when she ran into Yuki. 

“Yuki! Great drive today, your defending was wicked,” Sam said with a smile. The rookie driver looked less than impressed to be speaking to her. To be honest, Sam thought he even looked a little scared. 

It took him a moment to respond, and when he did, he did it hesitantly, barely even able to look Sam in the eyes. 

“Uhm thanks...” 

The way he phrased his response sounded as if he was confused and Sam didn’t see why; she’d never really spoken to Yuki too in-depth before, mainly because he was always glued to Pierre’s side, but when she did speak with him in passing it was never negative. 

“Got any plans for the off-week?” she asked, trying to make conversation with him for once, but more so, he looked averse to speaking with Sam and she wanted to know why. 

Yuki stammered to find the words and tried to decide whether or not he should answer her. But before he could get the chance or Sam could get her answer, Pierre interrupted them.

“Yuki, what are you doing man?”

At the sound of the French accent, Sam had to clench her teeth down on the inside of her cheek to keep her cool. The accusation in his tone at his teammate erupted a wave of rage in her stomach, but more than anything it revealed to her that Pierre had most likely told Yuki to keep his distance from her. 

For the first time in a few races, Sam was reminded of her ongoing feud with Charles and Pierre. Unfortunately, Lando had been occupying her brain a little too frequently since her and Daniel’s discovery in Monza as well as her discovery of Mick and Molly’s secret. Her issue with Lando had festered into something new since the start of the season, but her issues with Pierre and Charles still remained solely because of what happened those years ago. 

“Relax, we’re just having a conversation. Didn’t mummy ever teach her precious little baby how to share? I don’t have cooties or anything,” she said, not in the mood to fight with Pierre, especially in the middle of the paddock and especially with how exhausted and overstimulated she was after the race and what followed. 

Sam went to walk away, but Pierre spoke up, “It’s not the diseases you carry that I’m worried about, it’s your entitlement rubbing off. Just steer clear of my friends and we won’t have an issue.”

She laughed bitterly, holding back a scoff, and folded her hands across her chest in defense. “So what I’m hearing is that you’re scared about people finding out the truth now that I’m on the grid?” 

Pierre’s eyes got the slightest bit wider at her comment, and Sam reveled in the slightest feeling of triumph. Just the thought that she’d gotten under his skin or caught him by surprise left her with a satisfaction she hadn’t felt in a while. 

“That’s right. I know exactly what happened. Exactly what you all decided that night. All it takes is for me to accidentally let it slip to one media outlet and then it’ll spread like wildfire: put a crack in your facade,” the words fell from Sam’s lips laced with venom, but more importantly retribution. 

For a moment, Pierre struggled to find the words to respond, but once he did, a subtle smirk found its way to his lips. “If you go to the media, you’d implicit George too. You’d never do that, not with how far your tongue is probably down his throat.”

“You act like I haven’t talked with George about it? We’re friends. And that means he’s willing to hold himself accountable for what he did. He apologized. You could always try it; it wouldn’t hurt that bad to put your pride aside and look at things from my perspective.”

Silence from Pierre. The look on his face was a cross between stoicism and distaste. She wished she could say that the last piece of the puzzle she couldn’t place was regret or guilt, but in all honesty, she had no idea. 

Sam went on, “I don’t doubt deep down there’s a good person in you somewhere Pierre, but after what you did, I don’t think I’ll ever have it in me to trust you again. I hope you’re content with that.”

With that, she continued her walk toward her hospitality to get ready for her flight the next morning, hoping she may have talked even an ounce of sense into Pierre. But alas, her hope was extinguished. 

“Va te faire enculer!”

Sam rolled her eyes and turned around with a sickly sweet smile, shouting to compensate for the distance she’d managed to put between them, “What was that?”

He rolled his eyes because he knew she’d heard him, and repeated the words in French, a bit louder this time. 

Trying to stifle her laughter, Sam shouted again, “What?”

Just as Sam had thought, he was starting to get irritated. 

But at the sound of the noise, camera crews, and reporters had started to make their way over to the trio of drivers; exactly what Sam had wanted. She knew Pierre wouldn’t repeat what he’d said with cameras around, not if he wanted to protect his nice-guy image. But if he did, Sam would have the perfect opportunity to reveal the truth to the public. 

Once he saw the people heading in their direction, he rolled his eyes. Sam’s smile was wide as ever, and she gave him what would be seen by everyone as a simple, friendly wave before continuing her walk to the hospitality. 

Daniel was early to the lobby; of course he was. He was early for everything all the time. It was the courteous thing to do. He always got there ten minutes early and would get out of his car or make himself known five minutes before. 

But there was something about Sam… When it came to her, Daniel was ready far too early in advance and would sit and wait in anticipation until it was time to meet her. Even then, he was still showing up nearly fifteen minutes early. 

That’s how he found himself sitting in the Lobby of their hotel at 5:30 in the morning, nearly twenty minutes early, surrounded by his bags, Michael still asleep in their shared room sixteen floors above him. The space was deserted, only the people behind the front desk were within his view. 

Despite being early, Daniel was exhausted. The conditions of the race yesterday put his body through hell; wet conditions were always harder on the driver because of the slipping and gravitational forces and he was feeling it. His hair was still disheveled, and a hoodie and sweats adorned his body. He was sure he was going to sleep on this thirteen-hour flight, and he hoped when Sam came down she felt the same. 

With fifteen minutes left before their scheduled meeting time, Sam made her way into the hotel lobby. She wasn’t surprised to see Daniel on the couch waiting for her; he’d been early every time they’d made plans together.  

“Early bird gets the worm, I guess,” she chuckled, sleep still evident in her voice. 

Daniel looked up from his phone at her arrival and couldn’t help but smile at the state of her. Sam’s hair was thrown in a bun, one that she’d more than likely slept in he thought, and was wearing a hoodie that was far too large for her, as well as sweats and sneakers. 

She theatrically flopped down in the seat next to him on the couch, leaning her head back against the cushion and closing her eyes with a yawn. 

This time, he allowed himself to laugh, “you tell me!”

“I’m not a morning person. So if you ask me, all the early bird gets is the first worm and validation from its peers.”

Daniel let out a howl of a laugh which echoed through the empty lobby, and Sam was even struggling to keep a straight face. He countered, “What do you mean you’re not a morning person? I’ve seen you at the paddock this early and you look wide awake!” 

She scoffed, “yeah because I have to be! If it were up to me I would sleep in until noon. Which I normally do on the day after a race if there’s an off-week”

Daniel nodded, and Sam’s phone buzzed with a notification. 

“My manager just texted, the car she called is here.”

The short ride to the airport consisted of chats with their driver and trying to convince him that they were both in fact Formula 1 drivers and were not lying as he had assumed. Once they arrived at the private terminal, they grabbed their bags from the trunk and made their way toward the entrance. 

They talked and laughed until they boarded the plane, which had 5 other people on it. Three HAAS team members who lived in the states and would catch a connecting flight later, an Aston Martin mechanic who was meeting his girlfriend in Aspen for a weekend, and finally, none other than Lance Stroll himself. 

Sam found herself sitting next to Daniel and across from Lance. Everyone chatted for the first hour or so until they all put their headphones on and fell asleep. 

She’d slept for about five hours before she woke up to the sound of laughter. When she opened her eyes, she was met with Daniel’s phone in her face, and when she sat up, a bunch of random stuff fell off of her. Chapsticks, water bottles, coins, packs of gum, snacks, phone chargers, and anything else everyone had pulled out of their bag to balance on her while she slept. 

A few hours later, the group found themselves in a heated game of Uno followed by Lance and Sam yelling at one another about the rules which ended in Sam pinning him face down against the floor until he tapped out. 

Once they entered a terrain that caused the flight to be a bit turbulent and they were all buckled into their seats, Lance was reading a book while Sam taught Daniel how to play with chopsticks with her on their fingers. It was all fun and games until he finally caught on to how the game really worked and began to beat her consistently. She protested and reassured him he wasn't allowed to beat her at the game she taught him, but once he continued his winning relentlessly, Sam randomly declared she was tired and put her headphones on to take a nap. Daniel couldn’t contain his laughter at her being a sore loser, but let her sleep regardless. 

“So what’s the deal with you guys?” Lance asked casually a few minutes later pointing subtly to a sleeping Sam. 

The question took Daniel by surprise, his head turning to see if Sam was awake, which to his relief she was not. He shrugged. 

“Sam invited me out for the week. We both need a little bit of a break from everything going on in our lives, so we’re running off to hide.”

The two guys laughed, but Lance persisted. “So you guys aren’t a… thing?”

Daniel shook his head in response, an odd protective feeling erupting through his chest. Was Lance asking because he was interested? Internally, Daniel began to panic. Because even though he knew he and Sam were only friends, he didn’t know what everything else he felt for her meant; it was overwhelming every time talked to her, or even looked at her, but he couldn’t put a name to it. So for now, they were still just friends. 

Lance hesitated before continuing, a smile upturning just the corners of his lips. 

“Really? Because I haven’t seen her act this comfortable with anyone outside of Molly and Mick. Not even George, at least not this early on. It took her a whole year to talk to me in Formula 3 without the threat of murder in her eyes.” Daniel’s spine straightened, and even though he tried to hide it to the best of his ability with a laugh, Lance still noticed the reaction he was able to elicit from the Aussie. “But what do I know,” he finished with a chuckle, Daniel joining in to ease the tension. 

“We’re just good friends. I consider myself lucky she doesn't hate me anymore. She’s pretty amazing.” Daniel grew bashful at his admittance, trying to hide the blush on his face by looking out the window to his left. 

“Yeah, she’s pretty spectacular.”

The two both had their eyes locked on Sam as her head shifted against the window. Small smiles adorned each of their faces at the sight of her sleeping peacefully, but when Daniel’s eyes lingered on Sam, Lance’s eyes shifted to look at Daniel. At that moment he could tell the girl meant much more to the Aussie driver than he’d come forward about, whether he himself had realized it or not. 

With that, they put their headphones on, and while Lance continued to read his book, Daniel closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. 

The plane landed two hours later, and after the group said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, the two drivers collected their bags and made their way out of the terminal. Daniel expected them to make their way toward the cab line or uber pickup zone, but Sam led them in the direction of long-term parking. 

She stopped in front of a black Jeep and dropped her bags. Daniel’s skepticism of the situation only increased when Sam got down on the ground and made her way underneath the vehicle. 

“We’re not stealing this car, are we?” He asked with a laugh. 

Emerging from the floor, she stood and brushed herself off and held a key up between them. 

“Nancy and Glen said they’d drop my car off this morning and leave the key on top of the oil tank after I told them I was coming. They live next door and hang with Stewart while I’m away during the racing season,” she replied, taking Daniel’s bags from him and putting them in her trunk. 

He’d completely forgotten about Stewart, whoever he was, but apparently, he was about to find out. The idea of meeting a man in Sam’s life that he didn’t know, and she knew from outside the racing world, made him a little worried. 

“The drive is only forty-five minutes. We can stop and grab dinner on the way if you’re hungry?” She turned to look at him for an answer as she pulled from the parking lot and started the commute from the airport. 

He shrugged, “I could eat. But I’m not picky.”

And with that, they were off. 

With ten minutes remaining of the drive, the ever-changing topic had landed on Daniel asking Sam about her life here. 

“After I moved out to go live with the Schumachers, I really only stayed here during the IndyCar offseason. But with HAAS’s HQ being in North Carolina, I come back here a lot more often. Especially if it means I get to see Stewart and the Colemans. Nancy and Glen have lived next door to us since before I was born—”

Daniel cut her off, “Wait, this is the house you grew up in?” Sam nodded and Daniel continued, “If you don’t mind me asking, why doesn’t your mom live here anymore then?”

Momentary silence engulfed the car, and Daniel saw Sam’s throat move as she swallowed thickly. “She says there are too many memories to handle being up here by herself.”

With a clear of her throat, she turned on her blinker and made a left-hand turn off of the road surrounded by fields, and down a secluded street. “I’m not sure if the Colemans are home this weekend, but if they are I’d love for you to meet them. We’ll just have to wait and see if they stop by.”

He pursed his lips, perplexed. Out of the corner of her eye, Sam caught on and clarified. 

“I don’t know about you, but I’m turning my phone off this whole trip. In all fairness, it’s been on do not disturb since I got back to the hotel last night… The only person I have set to allow a call or a text to go through from is my manager, and she knows only to reach out if it’s emergent. I’m using this trip to unplug and unwind before shit gets crazy in Austin.”

With a grin, he pulled out his phone, shot Michael a text, and set his phone to the do not disturb setting. He flashed his phone to Sam with a wiggle, “there, me too. Now the only person who can get through to me is Michael, but I doubt he’ll need me. He’s probably too busy spending every last second with his girlfriend.”

“Ugh, I did not need that image in my head, Daniel!” She let out a groan and it shifted into a laugh. His eyes went wide as he caught on to what she was insinuating.

“Oh god! That’s not what I meant, you dirty birdie! Now you’ve put the image in my head!” They laughed about the innuendo as the car pulled to a stop in the large driveway. 

Daniel couldn’t help but stop and stare at the sight in front of him. The farmhouse itself exceeded his expectations. The outside was rustic, looking perfectly quaint and lived in. But what stunned him the most was what surrounded it. The mountains in the background perfectly framed the house, which was bordered on each side by expansive fields, which led into thick layers of dark green trees. Further down a gravel road, he spotted a small barn, or maybe it was a shed. Regardless, it fit right in. 

While he was so preoccupied with the view, Sam had gotten out of the car. She took a moment to notice the awe-struck look on his face, and appreciate that she was able to offer him a bit of solace this week from whatever was without a doubt troubling him. After a minute or two, she finally called out to Daniel to break his trance. 

“You know it’s even prettier out from behind a thick pane of glass!” His eyes snapped over to her figure standing in the driveway, “Come on, there’s something I want to show you.”

She was right, of course. Once Daniel stepped out of the car, even though it seemed impossible, what lay in front of him was even more beautiful than it was moments ago. Now he was sure, regardless of what was troubling him from across the world, in the universe of the media, or anywhere else, it all seemed so minuscule as he stood there, enveloped by the beauty of nature.

Daniel followed Sam as she walked around the outside of the house. He couldn’t help but stare out at the expanse of the field to his left, a small wooden fence being the only thing separating him from what felt like acres of lush landscape. But an animal off in the distance caught his eye. 

Sam approached the fence and Daniel watched as she brought her middle finger and thumb up to her lips, and blew, producing a sharp whistle. At the sound, the head of what he now knew was a horse looked in their direction. 

She cupped her hands around her mouth and into the serene silence of the field she shouted, “Stewie! C’mere boy!”

As he watched the horse excitedly gallop towards them, Daniel knew he had made a royally incorrect assumption. 

He couldn’t be embarrassed for long, because the smile on Sam’s face was unlike any other Daniel had ever seen before. Once the horse made it over, it came right up to her and gave a loud neigh, which he could only assume was from elation. The horse put his head right in front of Sam, and as if it were second nature, she brought her hands up and began scratching his cheeks and nose. It neighed again, and Sam mumbled something to him before giving him a quick kiss on the nose. 

“Daniel, this is Stewart. Stewart, this is Daniel.” She turned to see what Daniel thought, and was met with a look of surprise. 

Yeah. He was utterly wrong. 

“Stewart is a horse?” he asked, still trying to process how he’d managed to jump to conclusions so rapidly. 

She nodded, “My dad’s horse, actually. They rescued him as a pony when I was 12 and we were inseparable. My dad had to pry me off of Stewie when I left for Europe a few years later, and he’s been here living life ever since. The Coleman’s,” Sam pointed to a house barely visible in a clearing of trees, “keep him with their horses while I’m gone, but since I’m back, so is he.”

Daniel slowly approached the horse with his hand held out in front of him to allow the horse to become accustomed to him, just as he’d done with his horses back in Perth so many times.

Once he got close enough, Stewart nudged his nose towards Daniel in an urge to get him to scratch his nose. He laughed at the insistence of the horse, and how friendly he was. 

“He’s 14, so he’s pretty docile. He likes it best when you scratch under his chin,” Sam said quietly, pointing toward where she was referring to. Daniel took her advice and began to give Stewart’s chin a scratch, smiling as he saw the horse’s tail begin to flick side to side in enjoyment. 

“So I was right, you are a horse girl,” Daniel said with a satisfied grin. 

To hide her blush of embarrassment, Sam tried her best to obscure her face with her hand as she flipped him off. “Come on, I’ll show you around.”

Hours had passed of Sam driving the ranger around the property giving Daniel a tour, telling him all the funny stories from her childhood she was reminded of along the way. They hung out at the stables a bit longer before they both realized how tired they were. 

Finally bringing their bags inside, Sam showed him around the house and where he’d be sleeping. The two put their belongings into two of the guest rooms, showered and changed out of their airplane attire, and decided to order dinner to the house. After they ate, they compromised to open a bottle of Daniel’s wine and unwind as the Colorado sun started to set. 

Sam threw some logs into the fireplace and turned on the gas. In an instant, the logs caught, the flames grew, and an orange glow flooded the living room. She sat down on the couch next to Daniel leaving a decent amount of space between them and tossed a blanket over her lap. He leaned forward and poured red wine into the two glasses that sat on the table in front of them. 

“So,” Sam started as she settled comfortably into her seat, Daniel passing her one of the now full glasses, “you definitely thought Stewart was a person, didn’t you?”

She brought the glass to her lips and took a sip as she waited for Daniel’s reaction. He tilted his head back with a laugh. “Was it that obvious?”

Sam gave him a playful nudge with her sock-clad foot and couldn’t help but laugh with him. “The look of utter disbelief on your face gave it away. Besides, I definitely left out the part about him being a mammal on purpose,” she laughed harder when his eyes got wide at her confession. 

“What, I wanted to see you squirm a bit,” she added as he nudged her right back with his foot. 

The two continued to drink as they chatted beside the fire crackling with heat. It started off as plans for their days off, then progressed to things they didn’t know about the other, and sooner or later they were drunk enough to talk about whatever came to mind. 

“Did you ever find out who leaked those photos of you in Monaco?” Daniel asked, refilling their glasses with wine from their third bottle of the night. 

Sam shook her head, taking a sip from her newly full glass. “No, I don’t think I ever will, to be honest.”

Daniel pressed on, “Doesn’t that upset you at all? I can’t imagine how violated you must’ve felt those weeks after. Those articles, the headlines, the questions you were asked… I couldn’t believe it.” Though they weren’t friends at the time,  the morning Daniel saw the articles and photos released about her, he couldn’t help but feel bad— any decent human being would. They were harsh, far harsher than any articles ever published about him during his years of partying as a driver. If it were him, he would’ve been livid.

“I mean, yeah I’m upset. I’ve faced shit like this from the media before, but this was on another level. I have to think of it as if I continually let it get to me, then they’ve won. And I can’t keep letting the media win. They’ve had a little too much to do with my career being derailed in the past, I don’t need them to have a hand in it possibly happening again.”

She took a deep breath, “The sooner people realize that I’m just an average person underneath my helmet, the sooner I’ll get treated like any other driver on the grid and the balance of the universe will be restored.”

Sam could feel Daniel’s eyes locked on hers and when she turned towards him, their eyes locked. He cleared his throat, “I hate to break it to you, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, but you’re the furthest thing from normal. You’re extraordinary, Sam. As a racer, a friend, a human, a role model, you’re unbelievable.”

 A blush crept onto her cheeks and she tried to hide it with a sip from her wine glass. 

“Thank you,” she tried to brush off the compliment, never really sure how to take one, “but I mean it like— think of it—” Sam struggled to put her thoughts into words but Daniel sat patiently, intrigued to hear what she had to say. 

She turned to face him, “Okay picture this.”

He nodded. 

“Do you know how in those movies about the presidential family or whatever, they always have a scene where the main character is down in this giant, industrial kitchen, eating ice cream or something pitiful by themselves late at night?”

She looked to Daniel in hopes that he was somewhat following along, seeing as though what she was referencing involved movies including US presidents and he was Australian. But to her surprise, he nodded in understanding. 

“Then at some point, someone comes and joins them, and they have some big philosophical thought-provoking conversation about the existential crisis in their lives, and it’s supposed to make them seem like normal people, doing normal things, despite being someone important enough to be in the White House past midnight, in the dark by themselves?”

Again, she looked at Daniel to see if he understood what she was going on about. Though she was worried she may have been a little too drunk, Daniel had a small smile on his face and nodded again. 

“That’s the moment I need. I need them to see me eating ice cream in the White House at midnight. They need to see that I’m an actual person, with normal human feelings despite being in this abnormal lifestyle.”

Daniel couldn’t help but begin to laugh. 

“Hey! I thought the explanation made sense!” She laughed in defense, reaching over to whack him in self-consciousness. 

Still laughing, he tried to move away from Sam’s attack while trying to avoid spilling his wine. 

“It does! It does! It makes perfect sense! I just can’t imagine you watching a movie with a scene like that and saying to yourself, that’s exactly how I feel!” He laughed again and Sam rolled her eyes. 

Through her laughs, she asked, “So you’re telling me that doesn’t make sense to you? Especially with how everyone is deciding to make their own assumptions about your performance with McLaren and the sleazeball CEO? Don’t you wish people thought about the fact that you’re a human being with feelings before they say all these horrible things about you?”

Daniels's eyes went wide with surprise at her words and then he let out another laugh. 

“Okay I may have overstepped, but I still think he’s a sleazeball! I know he’s your pal but he oozes rich entitled American businessman! I didn’t like him when I’d see him around the Arrows in IndyCar, and I don’t like him now. Not at all!”

“Well it’s a good thing he’s not your boss then…” Daniel trailed off, trying the hide the ounce of pain in his voice behind another laugh. 

“Zak Brown wouldn’t last one day with me as his driver,” she laughed, taking another sip. 

He laughed with her, the alcohol flowing freely through his bloodstream, “I’m going to be completely honest, I don't think I would last a day with you as my driver either…” 

As laughs erupted between the two yet again, Sam scoffed and kicked him. 

For the first time all night, there was a lull in the conversation. Sam didn’t know what compelled her to ask the next questions, maybe it was the alcohol in her system, the morbid curiosity eating her up inside, or the pain he’d try to hide whenever Zak was mentioned. 

“Do you ever regret it? Leaving RedBull?”

The air in the room shifted. 

She’d thought the question would take Daniel by surprise, but the way he exhaled and looked to the ceiling to collect his thoughts told Sam he may have expected her to ask sooner or later. It took him a few seconds before he answered. 

“No,” he said quietly, but not lacking the conviction the response required. Sam couldn’t help but feel sympathetic for him at the moment. She knew Daniel was confident in nearly everything he did and his belief in himself was one of his most powerful attributes, yet even then she could tell that it was still a sore subject for him, and at a time when his career was struggling, it most likely wasn’t something that was easy to think about. In an attempt to revoke her question and stop him from continuing if he wasn’t comfortable, but not before she was cut off by Daniel continuing. 

“But Renault? I start to regret leaving more every day I’m with McLaren.”

Now Sam was the one being taken by surprise. Daniel didn’t seem like the kind of person who dwelled on choices he’d made. But the biggest shock of all was that he felt comfortable enough with Sam to share this with her, so she would be damned if she interrupted him. She offered him a commiserative smile as if she was letting him know he could go on and she would be there after, regardless of what he said. 

Daniel swallowed and went on to say something he had never said out loud to anybody other than his parents before.

“I got greedy. I was blinded by a future full of possibilities, a bigger paycheck, and the promise of success when everyone back at Renault had done everything in their power to make sure I was welcome, comfortable, and succeeded. It was a horrible car, but we worked so hard. I put it on podiums, something that nobody thought was possible. And I was happy, god I was so happy. For once, I was treated like a driver: not a first driver or second driver, just a driver. Most of all I regret letting Cyril down. That man was so dedicated to giving me two great years and made sure I stayed happy while doing it. And what did I do? I abandoned them, I tossed him aside for the promise of podiums and glory. What did I get in return? A shit car, a teammate who seems to hate me for no fucking reason, a team principal who refuses to listen to me, and the public deciding I’m washed. I’m a goddamn fool.”

Daniel tipped his wine glass back and finished its contents. Sam watched him, not knowing how to respond. This was a side to him she’d never seen before. She had a feeling that this conglomeration of emotions is how he must’ve felt when she showed up at his door that night. Should she try and comfort him? Try and relate to him? Reassure him? Hug him? Would that be weird? Long story short she was conflicted. 

With another breath and a final sip of wine for extra confidence, Sam commented. 

“You’re not a fool, and you’re not greedy. How I see it, you’re just motivated. Being able to feel that regret doesn’t make you weak, or a lesser person, it makes you human. Besides, wouldn’t you rather regret the things you did than regret the things you didn’t?”

He sat there looking at her, his fingers quietly running over his sweats where the tattoo on his leg resides. 

No regrets, only memories, he thought to himself.

His gaze remained on Sam, who still sat on the couch next to him, and was silently hoping she hadn’t said the wrong thing. But from how she’d spoken those words, and how sincere they had felt, Daniel was stricken with a question of his own. 

“Well, what about you?”

She raised a brow at him in confusion. 

“What regret of yours taught you that lesson?”

For a second, Sam was stunned. In all her years on this earth, nobody had ever asked her a question like that when she has given them advice, whether it was unsolicited or not. 

She cleared her throat and fiddled with the wine glass in her now clammy hands. Tucking a piece of hair behind her ear, she took a moment to build up the courage to talk about it. Willing herself not to cry, which would be difficult thanks to all the alcohol in her system. Reminding herself that Daniel had just been vulnerable with her. Taking her own advice she had wordlessly offered him earlier: he’d be there after regardless of what she would say. 

As a last-ditch effort to deflect, Sam mumbled, “I don’t even consider it regret anymore. It’s more along the lines of self-resentment.”

Though she’d tried to brush it off, Daniel gave her an adamant look. Not one forcing her to go on, but one that told her he was genuinely interested in getting to know both the good and the bad about her. And with that, she went on, not holding back. 

“I spent some of the last years my dad was healthy, when he was alive, on a different continent than him. I’m never gonna get that time back. Or him back. He made my mom promise not to tell me he was getting worse; he didn’t want me to worry about him and come home. I was doing so well in GP3, and my mom said that watching me race was one of the few things that made him feel better… she said it reminded him to keep fighting, and that our dream was coming to life. After a race in France, my team principal pulled me aside and told me he’d passed away from stage four pancreatic cancer. I hadn’t even known he was sick. My own mother couldn’t even tell me herself. I was nine thousand miles away, confused, sad, and alone. But before that race, I had been successful, thriving, the happiest I’d ever been, but naive. The guilt eats me alive…”

Sam trailed off with a sniffle, the memories weighing down on her as she was trying to fight back tears. Something inside her compelled her to keep going, and when she fought the urge, she looked up at Daniel. 

It was hard to put into words the look on his face, but something about it, how profoundly earnest he looked for her to continue, allowed her to keep going. 

“The only reason I still race is that I don’t want those months to go to waste. If I’m not successful, then I spent those last few months he was alive, away from him for nothing. I would’ve stopped the second he passed if I would’ve been able to be there with him. It reminds me too much of him and what he wanted for me,” at this point, Sam had allowed tears to begin to escape, “but at the same time, I love it. It’s what I’m passionate about. It’s where I feel the closest to him. Every time I get in that car he’s right there with me. I still like to think that I’m doing it for the both of us, even if he isn’t here anymore. It keeps me sane,” she finished with a lighthearted chuckle, wiping away the wetness from her cheeks.  

The look on Daniel’s face remained unchanged, which sent a pang of fear through Sam. Had she overshared? Had she made some mistake?

Without a word, Daniel put his wine glass down and closed the space between the two of them. 

For a moment, Sam was confused, but when Daniel engulfed her in a hug, she couldn’t help but laugh away the few remaining tears. When she thought about it, she hadn’t hugged Daniel since their podiums in Monza. Even then, it was fueled by adrenaline and overwhelming emotion. This time, it was nothing more than Daniel being a good friend. 

Okay, and maybe the three bottles of wine. 

Still hugging her, he mumbled, “I don’t know why I decided to hug you. It just felt like the right thing to do.”

She could help but smile, remembering the same thought she shared about hugging him earlier. 

“Don’t go soft on me now, Ricciardo. I need to keep up my surly, hard exterior.” 

In times of panic and to avoid new, scary emotions, Sam Thomspon would do what she did best:

Deflect. 

After nearly thirty minutes of convincing and another hour of trying to get through an Ace Ventura movie without Sam asking questions and Daniel laughing so hard he couldn’t even explain the jokes to her, the two decided it was time to open yet another bottle of wine. Their plan was to enact the age-old trick of drinking early in the afternoon to get drunk and tired by a decent time and avoid getting screwed by the time difference, so it only felt right to keep going. 

When the movie was paused and Sam was in the kitchen opening the next bottle, Daniel succumbed to the liquid courage to ask Sam a question that had been chipping away at his subconscious for a while. 

“Can I ask you about Sochi?” He saw Sam’s steps falter at the question on her way back over to the couch. She put the two glasses on the table in front of them, followed by the bottle, and took a second to get comfortable before answering. 

“Which part?” she asked with a forced laugh as she brought her fresh glass to her lips and took a long sip, reminded of just how much had happened that weekend. 

Daniel hesitated. But he was curious, and there was no harm in asking, especially seeing as they’d already been so open with each other tonight. “What happened before the race?”

Sam didn’t look up from whatever had her attention in her wine glass. He held off from continuing, but her lack of response gave him enough time to think to clarify what exactly he was asking about, which he did. 

“You’d said you and Mick got into a big fight, and when I suggested I should grab Molly, you panicked and told me not to. They’re your best friends and you didn’t speak to them at all this weekend, let alone look in their direction.”

Sam’s eyes stayed locked on her lap, avoiding eye contact in defeat for as long as she could. 

Daniel persisted. “You even let it slip to me and Michael that you weren’t on speaking terms. They’re in Texas and you decided to come here, with me, so I feel like maybe I should know what I’m getting caught up in if it’s anything at all…”

He trailed off, worried the way he’d phrased his question may have been too entitled. But Sam took another sip of her wine and nodded. 

“No, you’re right. I came to you with no explanation that night and I invited you here on a whim. You deserve an answer.”

Daniel couldn’t help but feel sympathetic at the look on her face. It was obviously still a hard topic for her, and he started to interrupt her to tell her she didn’t need to go on if she wasn’t ready until he heard the words that left her mouth. 

“They knew Lando was lying to both of us. Ever since Monaco.”

Eyes wide and jaw slack with shock, he stared at Sam. The way she’d said it told Daniel that she’d been trying to process it still, even over a week later. It was completely out of left field for him; he thought back to both Mick and Molly over the last few months and what he’d seen of them. He was downright confused and it must’ve been written all over his features. 

Sam saw the look on his face and went on, trying to clarify, “When Mick gets upset, he does this thing where— I don’t know how to explain it, but it’s like he blacks out and someone else completely different takes over, and then shoots to kill. I— I shouldn’t have done it, but I was angry and I lost control for a second…” 

She took a deep breath and continued, continuously swirling the wine in her glass around and looking away from Daniel periodically as if she was ashamed. 

“I told them that I knew they were dating. I’d known for a while and I was going to let them tell me on their own terms, but in the rudest way possible he had just told me to take the offer and so I was blinded by anger. And his rebuttal to that involved telling me he’d known about Lando lying to us. I’m not sure if he even meant to. But he did. Then Molly stepped in and tried to defend him, but she just implicated herself in the process.”

Sam went on to explain the betrayal she felt as they allowed her to continue to villainize Daniel for no reason, intentionally leaving out Molly’s silence that night in Hungary despite its significance to her anger, but still managing to find a way to let him know she felt more upset with her in comparison to their fellow driver. Then she moved on to what she’d told Mick in the hospital that night and how she would need time to figure out how to get past this. 

After she’d finished, Daniel didn’t know what to say. He hadn’t expected either of them to know; they hadn’t led onto it at all. The thought evoked something in him that he couldn’t explain. He felt hurt, offended even. But if he felt like this? He couldn’t imagine how Sam must’ve taken the news. 

Yet in the moment, he wanted to backtrack on a detail he’d managed to catch. 

“Sam…” he couldn’t help but smirk a bit at what she’d implied in passing, which made her raise her eyebrow in confusion. 

“What offer?” 

Now he was full-on smiling, playfully wiggling his eyebrows as he leaned closer to her with his hands clasped patiently. 

She momentarily felt concerned that she’d dropped that detail without knowing, but couldn’t help but smile at Daniel’s reaction. With a chuckle, she dropped her head into her hands with a groan of frustration and abandoned the effort of keeping her secret. 

“This wasn’t supposed to be how you found out!”

He laughed at her annoyance with herself and persisted, “Well come on! Tell me!”

“Lewis wants me to take his seat…” she said shyly, still hiding behind her hands. 

At that, Daniel’s face lit up like a Christmas tree and he let out a yell of excitement, “No way!” 

Sam laughed at his response, but in an instant, she was off the couch and in the air slung over Daniel’s shoulder. She was thankful she’d put her wine glass down before she became airborne as he spun her around her living room. 

“Calm down! I haven’t accepted it yet!” She laughed out, feeling a warmth spread through her. 

Sam thought back to how Mick reacted to the news, how she’d hoped he would, and how he’d ended up doing so. She knew it was unfair to compare how Daniel was reacting to how Mick had, and while it made her momentarily sad, she was just thankful she was able to get the news off her chest and even more, have her opportunity celebrated by someone and draw away some of the doom and gloom she felt surrounded her opportunity so far. 

Daniel placed her haphazardly back onto the couch and flopped down next to her. “So?! The fact that Lewis thought to offer it to you first is an incredible accomplishment!”

They laughed and then turned to face one another. The silence was electric as they stared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds. Without breaking eye contact, Daniel whispered, “We need to celebrate.” 

A smile came back onto Sam’s face, “Yeah? What did you have in mind?”

He playfully pouted, “This is your place, you’ve got to have a bottle of tequila somewhere…”

“Aren’t we already decently drunk?” She laughed. 

Daniel scoffed, “I fear we may be one glass from plastered, but that has never stopped you before…”

He couldn’t help but notice the slight tint of color that appeared on her cheeks. She rolled her eyes with a smile, “you know me a little too well, Daniel Ricciardo.”

And after that, the mood of the night stayed upbeat. Though the moments of intensity and full disclosure had passed and been replaced with celebratory tequila shots, they were not forgotten. 

It was only nine o’clock when the credits of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective began to roll in the dark of the house. The obnoxious music played as names scrolled, faceless lists of letters rushed by, and logos flashed across the screen. Eventually, the list disappeared through the top of the display, the movie production logo flashed across the screen one last time, and the screen went dark. Silence engulfed the house, except for the crackling of the few remaining embers of the dying fire. And on the couch across from the television, lay two sleeping friends who had far too much to drink, slouched against the cushions, heads stacked on top of one another, that were dreaming about god knows what, without a worry in the world.

OUTSIDE THE TURKISH GRAND PRIX POST-RACE MEDIA PEN

Molly was worried. 

Worried she’d back out once she came face to face with Sam.

Worried Sam might ignore her again. 

Worried Sam will never forgive her. 

Worried she may have lost her best friend 

Molly was standing outside the large media tent waiting for Sam. After the looks they exchanged earlier, she knew she wanted to attempt to get back on good terms before the race in the states, seeing that it was a race weekend they’d been planning for since the start of the season. The initial idea was for Sam and Molly to go to the Schumacher ranch leading up to it, but now, Molly would be going alone with Mick; they hadn’t spoken to her since Sochi, so they took it upon themselves to assume she wouldn’t be joining them. 

She wanted nothing more than to apologize yet again to Sam and let her know how profusely sorry she was. For the past two weeks, Molly had been nothing but miserable. Sam had gone out of her way to avoid her, like spending excess hours in the simulator, booking them separate hotel rooms, showing up to the gym for their training sessions but keeping her headphones on with blaring bass while acting as though Molly wasn’t there, initially letting Molly follow her around the paddock like normal without speaking a word to her until Molly realized it was a waste of time, and coincidentally being needed somewhere else whenever Molly would enter the same room. 

Every time she’d tried to talk to Sam, the driver acted as though Molly didn’t even exist. 

The fact that Sam made eye contact with her today, despite how brief it may have been, gave Molly hope that if she tried to talk to her she may be more inclined to hear her out. 

So as she waited for Sam to finish her interviews, the anticipation was eating away at her. A small part of her was tempted to barge in there and pull her aside, but she knew better. 

She went from pacing back and forth, to fidgeting, and then settled on impatiently bouncing her foot. But in an instant, the anxiety turned to annoyance at the sound of her name. 

“Molly! What’s with the sour face? Are you not happy to see me or something?”

She rolled her eyes, “Fuck off, Lando.” All she thought of when she looked at him was how she’d been dishonest with Sam and how he’d been the root of it, yet as she tried to walk past him and away from whatever he had to say, he blocked her path. 

“Oh come on now! What did I do this time?” He was laughing. Of course, he found something about teasing her amusing. She didn’t put it past him now that she knew what he’d done. 

In fact, she was done playing this game, done pretending like she was oblivious, done pretending to be friendly.  

“I know what you did to Daniel and Sam…”

But where she expected terror, shock, or even denial on his face at her revelation, Molly was met with amusement. 

“Yeah, I know.”

The pit in her chest tripled in size. She said nothing, waiting for him to clarify, in disbelief at what this could mean. 

The way his eyebrows raised and pulled the corners of his grin with them made her uneasy. He went on with a chuckle, “Do you think I scream my secrets out over the loud bass in clubs frequently?”

If what he was implying was true, that meant… She couldn’t even finish her thought because the chasm in her gut nearly swallowed her whole. 

“After a while, I realized Danny and Sam would find out what I’d done; it was only a matter of time. And I honestly didn’t think it’d last this long, but the two idiots managed to drag it out. And in Monaco, after Daniel’s rubbish race and Sam’s near podium, I thought they’d connect the dots. So I saw my chance and I took it.”

She couldn’t move. She wanted to walk away, but she knew she needed to hear exactly what he’d done. 

“The idea didn’t hit me straight away. Honestly, it came on a whim. The initial plan was to put Sam in a compromising position and sell pictures of it to the media for headline news the next morning. That part was supposed to be a no brainer, seeing as how she constantly capitalizes on free drinks and can’t control herself around tequila. And then I saw you, well you and Mick really.”

The smirk that was spread across his face was nauseating— he was enjoying this. Everything in her was telling Molly to walk away. 

“You two were cozied up with each other at the corner of the bar. Tsk Tsk very naughty of you two… Does Sam know you guys are together?”

She could tell her silence was egging him on, giving him the perfect opportunity to continue. She tried her best to keep her face neutral as a defense. 

“But then it hit me: you’d do anything to protect Sam. And seeing as though I thought my days of deception were done for that weekend, I thought why not make it a little more interesting? So Fewtrell and I just so happened to make our way over to the bar, a patron or two down from you to avoid suspicion of course, and then the rest is history.”

Her throat was burning. She wanted to scream. She wanted to yell. She wanted to punch the satisfied look right off his face. She couldn’t believe it. 

“It’s not my fault you’ve got a knack for eavesdropping. Besides, all you had to do was tell Sam what you’d heard. But seeing as I’ve seen you around Mick more than I have her this weekend, I take it she finally found out what you’ve managed to hide since Monaco.”

How had she been so blind? So naive to the possibility? 

“Bravo, by the way. The guilt must’ve been excruciating. And look where it got you. Groveling. Alone—”

“I'm not alone—” she choked out. 

Amused, Lando locked eyes with Molly, “did you drag Mick into this?”

He watched as hurt flashed across her features as confirmation of his speculation, “Some friend you are then, yeah?”

Tears were flooding her eyes, but she refused to let them fall in front of him-- she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. With a sickening smirk, Lando closed the space between them and hovered his lips right outside of her ear. 

“I read you like a children’s book, Molly. Keep that in mind for the future,” he spoke quietly. And with his final words, he walked off somewhere behind her. 

 She had no idea where, because she stood frozen, tears blurring her vision and leaving trails down her face as she attempted to control her breathing. She couldn’t process what he’d just said-- what he’d done. Time after time, Molly thought Sam was being a bit too intense when it came to her grudge against the remaining three drivers from her past; that’s why she’d tried to protect her, she didn’t want her best friend to take a little feud too personal and erase a career she’d worked so hard for. 

But now? Now she understood. 

Mick walked out of the media tent with his press liaison and was surprised to see Molly waiting outside. What shocked him, even more, was the state she was in. 

He waved off his company and quickly made his way over to the girl, pulling her out of the center of the busy paddock and into a quieter corner. “Hey, hey, what’s wrong?”

The light grip he held on her shoulders brought her back to earth, but her mind was still racing and she could barely find the words with how worked up she was. “It’s uhm, it’s Lando. He did— he made sure I— now he knows—“

“Molls take some deep breaths. Now try again,” he whispered, tilter her chin so she was looking into his eyes, giving her a nod of encouragement.

She took a deep breath, allowing her anxiety to melt away in the pools of Mick’s baby blues. “Lando planned this. He knew I would try to protect Sam so he set the whole thing up and made sure I heard him at the club.”

His face contorted in confusion, but when he was met with genuine concern in her voice, at her final clarification, he knew the breadth of the situation:

“Mick, he knows that Daniel and Sam are on to him. We have to call her.”

LONG TIME NO SEE!

thanks for letting me take a little mental health/school break. life has been kicking my butt and I needed to get it together.

I don't necessarily love how this chapter turned out, but I hope it was worth the wait at least.

reblog and tell me what you thought or you SMELL!!!

as always, thanks to @lightsoutsainz for beta reading <3

tags:

@honey-leclerc @laura-naruto-fan1998 @loverboysainz @ibelieveinunicornsaf @d0ntjudgemy50shades @theplobnrgone @idkiwantchocolatee @ccloaned @lightsoutpierre @eitak-t @alternativemadchen @a-distantdreamer

@ricciardo-is-racing @glitterquadricorn @canadian-girl87 @riccardoshoey @sauce-pansexuals @eternallovers65 @eternalharry @dr3lover @defnotsobbing @scotlynaurora @hoodpankow @canyouseethesainz @marelovesf1 @ariarossisworld @markluv4u @slxtforbonten @aceniixx @the-art-of-existing @monte-carlando @dan3avocado @itsjustmyopinionf1 @prettybiching @thatchickwiththecamera @oneoftwoghosts @jpotterdilf @lovingdennishauger @verstfosi @icecoldtires @clairejpg @oyesmendes @eas-8 @inchidentwithmax @capela-miranda @yearsof-war

@imonlyherefordannyric

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Loyalty

Christian Pulisic x reader

What happens when an English girl falls in love with America’s star soccer player and her loyalties are tested when England plays the US at the World Cup?

Word Count: 3200

Requested: Yes

Warnings: Fluff, tattoos, light swearing, mentions of smut

You were sat on the couch with Christian, legs draped across his lap as you anxiously awaited the group draw for the World Cup.

You had a feeling, you just knew it was inevitable that the US would end up in the group with your beloved Three Lions.

You chewed your lip nervously waiting, eyes flicking between the TV screen and the American who had stolen your heart. And then it happened. The US would be playing England in November.

Christian’s eyes met yours as his phone lit up

“MM”

“Tell y/n I’ll be sure to have her some Mount gear ready for November” was the first thing out of his mouth.

Christian let out a hearty laugh as he tilted the camera towards you so that Mason could see you leaned back against the couch cushions in his USA hoodie.

“I’ve got seven months to sway her allegiance, and it looks like I’ve got a head start” he quipped.

Mason chuckled “she may be wearing your hoodie, but the Three Lions are in her blood, I’ve got years and years worth of a head start on you mate.”

“Guess we’ll have to wait til November to see” Christian answered him, maybe a little less confidently than before.

“Can’t wait man, should be a good one” Mason replied as they shared a few more jabs before finally ending the call.

Keep reading

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Fighter Town Calls

A/N: Guess who has a laptop again! Yes I know it's been a while and I am so sorry. Please enjoy this new chapter of Family Line.

Taglist:  @khaylin27 - @renajimaa - @dempy - @peakascum - @luckyladycreator2 - @starkleila - @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy - @havlindzk

Warnings: Fluff, talk of canon character death, a little angst

Characters: Reader / Y/N Seresin nee Bradshaw, Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin, Nicholas ‘baby goose’ Seresin, Javy ‘Coyote’ Machado, Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky, Sarah Kazansky, Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw, Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell, Nick ‘Goose’ Bradshaw (mentioned), Dagger Squad (Present but not involved)

Summary: Upon your return to Fighter Town, you decide to take baby Goose to see your godfather while Jake and Javy head on over to the Hard Deck. While you play catch up with Uncle Ice, 2 figures from your past can’t help but show up, causing Jake to butt heads with one and embarrass himself in front of the other.

Part 1. Previous Part Next Part

Returning to Fighter Town was both a joyous occasion but also a heart wrenching moment. This was the very town that you grew up in for some time and it was the same town the training accident where your father died in occurred. But since you and Jake were both in the navy, you knew you couldn’t disobey the orders to return. 

You arrived a day earlier so you could get used to the house that the navy provided off base for you three and get Nick used to the new change in his life. You managed to unpack majority of your boxes but you figured you could leave the rest for another time.

“Y/N!” suddenly rings out from the lounge room.

“Yes Jake?” You reply, sticking your head out of the kitchen.

“Javy and I are going to head to the Hard Deck to suss out who else is here” Jake informs you, heading in your direction.

“Oh that’s fine, I think I’m going to take Nick to see Uncle Ice” thinking of your godfather.

And with that, Jake kisses you a gentle goodbye before he heads off to meet Javy at the bar. You head up to Nick’s room to wake your napping baby and change him for the trip. While Nick slowly comes out of his sleeping daze, you text Uncle Ice to see if it’s alright for you to come over.

Uncle Ice: Come for dinner, Sarah would love to see you both

Grabbing your keys, you place Nick in his car seat and head on over to the Kazansky residence, a place of your most fond childhood memories. Thinking about how Jake and Javy are going, but with in that split moment Bradley also passes your mind. Shaking your head, it’s never a good thing to bring up the past.

Arriving at Uncle Ice’s, you spot Aunt Sarah at the front door steps as you unbuckle Nick and get him out of the car.

“Oh it is so good to see you dear, and hello little man” Aunt Sarah greets you with a kiss on the cheek and takes Nick out of your arms.

“It’s good to be home Aunt Sarah” you respond back, giving Aunt Sarah a side hug as you both head inside the house. 

Looking around, you remember all the times you spent holidays here before the fight with Bradley. 

“He’s up in his office if you wanna go see him first” comes from Aunt Sarah, snapping you out of your memories.

Thanking Aunt Sarah, you head on up and knock twice on Uncle Ice’s door. Hearing a rasped “Come in”, you quietly open the door to step through before closing it behind you.

“Hi Uncle Ice” You greet, heading over to give your godfather a kiss on the cheek before sitting on the opposite side of the desk. It hurts your heart to see Uncle Ice suffering from battling throat cancer and the effects on him, but you knew he was a fighter and always has been.

You and Ice spend a few minutes catching up before heading downstairs for him to see mini Goose and have dinner. You talk about what has been happening and if he can give you any details about the upcoming mission, to no surprise he keeps tight lipped about. Continuing eating dinner and spending time with them, you wonder what chaos Jake is up to.

At the Hard Deck

Jake manages to land another bullseye on the dart board causing Javy to groan in annoyance at his friend winning again. While this is happening, there’s a patron sitting at the bar, observing the 2 men. Jake lets out a chuckle before taking a sip of his beer before finishing the game. They both head over to a free pool table where Javy proceeds to rack the balls. While Javy sets up, Jake heads over to the bar to get more drinks courtesy of the patron who caused the free drink bell to ring.

 “Penny m’dear,” Jake drawls out leaning on the bartop, “2 beers on the old timer” sending a wink. 

Once receiving his order, Jake turns around and heads back for Javy, a slight chuckle leaving his lips at the thought of the man being Maverick, your supposed uncle who caused you heart break one too many times. 

Javy and Jake play a few rounds of pool, before the evening rush comes in and things start to pick. Looking up as three people make their way across the bar floor, Jake chuckles.

“What do we have here?” Jake calls out, “Well if it ain’t Phoenix”

“And here I thought we were special Coyote, turns out the invite went to anyone” Jake says with a smirk on his face, waiting for Phoenix’s so loved nickname for him to come.

“Fellas, this here’s Bag man” and there it is, Jake thinks to himself.

It is 10 minutes later while Phoenix is playing a round against her new WSO, BOB,when the bane of Jake Seresin’s entire life strolls through the door without a care in the world.

Now Jake didn’t always have an issue with Bradley ‘Rooster’ Bradshaw, sure he thought he was a bit of a flight risk, taking too long to make decisions in the air. But as soon as he met and married you, the love of his life, Bradshaw became a lot worse in his books especially because he cut you out of his life and hurt you beyond belief.

Jake clenched his jaw and took a deep breath before he nearly made a comment, or punch the fellow pilot.

“Bradshaw as I live and breath” Hangman strolls around the pool table taking the poolstick off of Bob.

“Hangman” Bradley greets.

Rooster and Hangman exchange a bit of rivalry banter, before Jake decides to move on.

While the juke box cuts out, Maverick's card declines causing Penny to ring the bell once more leading to customers to yell out "Overboard" repeatedly.

Jake and one of the other boys head on over, hooking their arms under Pete's armpits leading him out and tossing him onto the sand.

"thanks for the beers! Come back anytime" Jake salutes the older man, with a cheeky grin on his face.

During Bradley’s ‘famous’ piano piece, Jake decides to head on home hoping to get home and spend some time with you and Nick before tomorrow. Nodding his head to Coyote, he drives out of the car park.

By time Jake gets home, Nick is washed and put into bed asleep while you lay in your bed waiting for Jake to get home. On the drive over, Jake decides not to tell you about Rooster’s appearance in Fighter Town, wanting to spare you the old heartbreak.

You spend some time together in bed, knowing Jake has a very long day the next morning. Only you don’t know what is lying around the corner.

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secret heart - mason mount x reader

summary: in which you have just moved to london, now living together with your brother kai and his girlfriend sophia. as you try to make more friends and enjoy your new life, you also get closer to their friends, especially one of your brother’s teammates.

notes: the whole series will contain fluff, angst & smut

chapter one

chapter two

chapter three

chapter four

chapter five

chapter six

…

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