Chapter 7

“Where’s Chloe?” Frank Williams asked as he looked around the Williams garage on the Saturday morning. “She knows it’s qualifying and she’s got to go to driver briefing.” He said to Chloe’s manager and brother, Ben, who had just turned up.

“I don’t know, she’s not in her trailer, coz it’s still locked, and I haven’t seen her in the paddock. But I’ll go and look around for her.” Ben replied as Frank handed him some new sponsor’s contracts that Chloe needed to read and sign.

“Thanks, and when you find her tell her to get here, see me and then go to the briefing.” Frank replied as Ben turned and left the small make shift office.

Ben walked around the paddock looking for his little sister, no sign. He asked a few of the other drivers and they hadn’t seen her either. He made his way to the Jaguar garage to try and speak to Eddie, he knew he and Chloe got on well, he was hoping that he had seen her.

“Eddie.” Ben called over to him from the garage door.

“Ben, how you doin’?” he asked as he shuffled past a couple of mechanics.

“Fine, You?”

“Fine, what’s up?”

“Well, I was hoping that you would have seen Chloe, I can’t find her anywhere and her trailers locked.”

“OH, yeh, hang on a sec.” Eddie said as he disappeared.

When he returned he held up the keys from Chloe’s trailer. “Her keys.”

Ben took them from him. “How did you get them?”

“She went a little well, mad last night and she’s at a hotel with her boyfriend and she asked me to lock the trailer for her, so I did.”

“Oh, right, what hotel, I need to get hold of her coz she ain’t here and she needs to go over some stuff and it’s only two and a half hours before qualifying.”

“It’s the hotel Rouge. Franks got the number for it.” He told him as he leaned up against the garage door.

“Thanks, I’d better go, I’ll see you later.” Ben said as he shook Eddie’s hand and headed back to the Williams garage.

“Hello.” A tired Jeff asked as he picked up the phone next to his hotel bed.

“Mr. Hardy, we have had a call from Ben Stevens asking if you could get Chloe to the circuit as soon as possible.” Said a polite voice on the other end of the phone.

“Sure, thanks.” He mumbled as he hung the phone up and rolled over to see Chloe still asleep. She looked so peaceful. He didn’t want to wake her, not after last night. He sat up in the over soft bed as he looked over to the clock 12:15. He did a double take to make sure he read it right. He lent over Chloe and ran his hand softly down her cheek. She moved slightly and let out a soft moan, he did it a few more times before she began to move. He looked over her with loving eyes. She slowly rolled over towards him and laid her head up against him, he stroked her hair as she rolled back and opened her eyes slightly. She turned her head and turned to him. “Hi.” She said as she stretched.

“Hi.” He replied softly. “You had a phone call from someone called Ben Stevens, he wants you to get to the track.”

“What’s the time?”

“12:18”

“WHAT” she said as she sat bolt up right in bed and looked over at the clock. “I’d better get going then.”

“Are you going to be ok to work?”

“I don’t know.” She replied as she stood up from the edge of the bed, but her legs where still wobbly and she fell back on to the bed. A look of frustration crept over her face. She again tried to stand but it was starting to seem impossible. Jeff got out of the bed and made his way to her, he put his arm around her and helped her to her feet, he then slightly loosened his grip as she tried to take her own weight.

She took Jeff’s hairbrush of the nightstand and tried to run it though her knotty hair. As she did she heard Jeff turn the shower on, he appeared out of the door and walked over to her, he placed one arm around her waist and one under her knees, her lifted her into the bathroom and placed her down. She looked at him, as he began to undo her halter neck followed by the zipper on her skirt, it dropped to the floor. He lent down and placed his lips on hers briefly. When he lifted his head he looked into her eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Call me if you need anything.” He told her as he kissed her again before he left her alone to take a shower. 

As the hot water ran over her body she started to shake as she thought of the events of the previous night. She turned the water hotter but she still felt the goosebumps on her skin. How was she going to face Matt? How could she look him in the eye? Yes, she loved him, but her love for Jeff was stronger, she knew that. Her and Jeff hadn’t talk about the baby the night before. She didn’t want to. She felt her heart ache as she looked down at her stomach, she ran her hand over her wet skin.

The hot shower wasn’t helping so she turned it down to cold. She stood under the water thinking about Jeff, Matt, the baby and the fact she had to work. She couldn’t face it, them.

As she stepped out of the shower she wrapped a towel around her and opened the door, she watched Jeff un-dressing before he noticed her.

“Feel any better?” he asked as he walked over to her.

“Not really.” She replied as she tried to stop herself shaking.

“Do you want something to wear?”

“Yes please.” She answered him with a small smile. She walked over to him as he looked through his duffel bag. She surprised him by wrapping her arms around his waist. He smiled and looked at her, she wasn’t smiling, she lent her head down onto Jeff’s bare chest. He ran his hand over her back. She held back the tears she felt welling up in her eyes before she lifted her head. She dropped her arms to look at what he had laid out on the bed for her, a bright green top. She smiled at him. “Thanks.”

“It’ll be to big but it’s the smallest thing I’ve got.”

“That’s ok, I’ll wear my skirt with it.”

“I’m going to have a shower, will you be ok?” he asked as he walked to the bathroom and picked Chloe’s thing and handed them to her.

“Yeh.” She replied as he turned the shower on.

Whilst Jeff was in the shower Chloe dried herself and put on her clothes, she didn’t have a bra and the top was kinda see through, but she shrugged and pulled it over her head. She again sat in front of the nightstand mirror and ran the brush through her hair. She starred at her own reflection, hating what she was seeing. As she looked into her own eyes, she began to see herself as what she was, an ugly knocked up slapper doing a mans job. As she continued to stare at herself, the picture she was looking at became blurry, she felt the cold tears roll down her face. She began to pour her heart out again.  

As Jeff stepped out of the shower and began to towel off, he heard Chloe’s crying in the other room, he quickly wrapped the towel around his waist and headed out the door, he looked at her sitting in front of the mirror, her head buried in her hands. He walked over to her and knelt at her side. She looked up as she saw him from the corner of her eye. The pain that Jeff had seen in her eyes the night before was back. She turned on the stool and faced him; she looked into his loving eyes. He lent forward and pulled her into his arms again, she wrapped hers around him and held onto him tightly. She never wanted to let him go.

Jeff led Chloe down the hallway. They reached the front of the hotel. Hand in hand they walked out to Jeff’s car. They got in a drove to the circuit. They drove in silence, but Jeff kept looking at Chloe out of the corner of his eye, just to make sure she was ok. He didn’t think she was fit to drive, but he didn’t want to say anything because he knew how important her work was to her. She looked tired, pale and weak. He knew that she was emotionally empty and it wouldn’t take much for her to snap, again. He thought about telling someone at the garage but if Chloe found out he had said anything he knew how upset she would get and he didn’t want to upset her more than he already had. His mind drifted to Matt, he didn’t know how he would handle his brother, and he thought he had taken advantage of Chloe because she was upset, he knew that he hadn’t forced himself on her but he couldn’t help think otherwise. He didn’t want to see him nor did he want him around Chloe, she needed to concentrate on her driving and she didn’t need any distractions especially Matt.

Chapter 8

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