Page 70 of Falling Fast
‘That’s because you’re a high-performance athlete.’ I lean forward, digging my teeth gently into his earlobe. ‘Some of us tire more easily.’
His breath hisses. ‘I’ll do all the hard work, I promise.’
‘I should hope so …’ I dart my tongue out, my imagination already running riot. ‘How sturdy do you think this ladder is?’
I watch his face as he starts to slowly unzip my overalls. It’s been a week since the football match and I’ve had three of those days off as leave, all of which we’ve spent together. We’re still taking things slowly – or slow-ishanyway – getting to know each other, hanging out, buying furniture, testing out his new super-king-sized bed. And his new sofa. And, on one memorable occasion, a gaming chair. Aside from a few panicky blips, it’s been a lot of fun. He hasn’t asked me any awkward questions and I’m starting to feel like the past is finally behind me.
‘Shit.’ Leif pulls away as his pocket starts buzzing. Just as my overalls were about to get interesting too.
‘Somebody really wants to get hold of you,’ I say as he looks at his phone and then tosses it aside. This must be the fourth time in an hour that it’s rung and he’s refused to answer.
‘It’s Bastian.’ He rubs a hand over his face. ‘I’m not ready to talk to him yet.’
‘So why don’t you turn your phone off?’
‘I would, but I’m expecting a call from somebody else too. It’s complicated. And –’
‘Confidential,’ I finish, though I’m desperate to know what’s going on. The online rumours about which team he’s going to sign for next year have reached a fever pitch, and if he’s dodging calls from Bastian that’s a pretty good sign of where his mind is. But I don’t want to push him. It’s surely only a matter of time before he signs with Quezada, and I want him to tell me the news when he’s ready. Then, when he does, I can tell him about Jasper’s offer. If he feels guiltyabout his decision, maybe it will help him to know that I’m leaving Rask too.
‘Well, then …’ I pull my zip the rest of the way down and let my overalls slide to the floor, curving my lips in a provocative smile. ‘Although we should really clean the paint brushes.’
Leif’s jaw drops. ‘They can fucking wait.’ He takes two steps towards me and cups his hands under my bottom, lifting me up against the ladder. ‘This can’t.’
‘Good.’ I wrap my arms and legs around him. ‘Because –’ I freeze at the sound of an engine. ‘Wait, is that a car?’
We both crane our necks towards the giant windows. A white Porsche 911 GT3 is speeding its way down the drive. Likereallyspeeding, stirring up a cloud of dust in its wake. Whoever’s driving will be here in less than a minute and I’m stark naked, practically spread-eagled, in full view of the front door.
‘Shit, shit, shit!’ I jump out of Leif’s arms.
‘It’s OK, it’s only Nathan.’ He sounds annoyed rather than alarmed.
‘He still shouldn’t see me – especially like this!’ I make a run for the stairs, then stop and swing round. ‘My car! He’ll know I’m here.’
‘He’ll know somebody’s here, that’s all.’ Leif heads towards the door. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll make this quick.’
‘But how will you explain it?’
‘I’ll tell him the truth – that my girlfriend is upstairs.’ He looks back at me and lifts an eyebrow. ‘If that’s OK with you?’
I blink because we haven’t discussed our relationship status yet and now definitely isn’t a good time, but I don’t feel like contradicting him either. Instead I throw a quick glance at the window, then dart back across the room, kissing himfull on the lips before running away again. ‘OK with me!’ I call over my shoulder.
I bound up the stairs, sprint across the landing and launch myself into the bedroom, landing on the bed at the same moment as I hear the front door open below. It occurs to me that maybe I’m over-reacting. Maybe it wouldn’t matter now, if Nathan were to find out about me and Leif (just preferably when we were all fully clothed). He’s a neutral party in all this. And maybe it wouldn’t even matter ifanyonefound out …
I fling my arms above my head and gaze up at the ceiling. Maybe it’s time for us to go public with our relationship. I don’t want Vienna to find out by accident and I hate lying to Emika, Charlotte and Yuto because they’re more than colleagues now. They’re friends. As for Quezada, Jasper as good as offered me a job, and he’s unlikely to alienate their new driver by reneging. There wouldn’t need to be any more secrets or sneaking around …
But I don’t want to make an impulsive decision; maybe after the summer break would be the perfect time to tell everyone. It was probably naive of me to think I could keep our relationship a secret all the way until December anyway.
I twist my head sharply as I hear the word ‘Quezada’ downstairs. Nathan’s timing might suck, but if he’s here to get Leif to hurry up and sign a contract, then I’m grateful. Briefly, I consider the ethics of creeping to the top of the staircase and eavesdropping, but I can’t do that to Leif. As of five minutes ago, we’re officially a couple and that means trusting each other.
I let out a deep sigh of contentment. My life, my future and my emotions are completely under control because everything is going exactly according to plan.
According to the regulations, there are certain discrepancies with Rask’s car this year …
Philip Sawyer,London Echo, 14 August
TWENTY-THREE
I’M TRYING HARD NOT to smile. I mean, really hard. Emika is on the other side of the room and if she catches me at it again, she’ll want to know the reason why. Fortunately, Yuto and Charlotte are working from home today and there are no other witnesses, so if she does ask then I can probably get away with pretending I don’t know what she’s talking about. But, ironically, this time I actually want to tell her the truth, that I’m daydreaming about all the time I’ve spent with Leif recently. Now that I’ve (almost) decided to come clean about our relationship, the words are on the tip of my tongue, but I haven’t discussed it with him yet and we should really make the decision together. Then, once we’ve got our story straight, our first stop needs to be HR.
