Chapter 9
“Jeff,
just listen to me” Matt shouted at his brother who had found him in the now
deserted East 8 stand.
“Why,
give me one reason why I should listen to you.” He said as he walked closer to
him.
“Because
I’m your brother, that’s why.”
“Some
brother, you sleep with my girlfriend god knows how many times, then you have
the nerve to think that I won’t get upset!!” he yelled as he came face to
face with Matt.
“Me
and Chloe slept TOGETHER, you can’t just blame all this shit on me!! If I’m
to blame, so is she.”
“That’s
where your wrong Matt, you see, when she left you last night, she came to the
hotel, but she didn’t come to see me, oh no, she came to take her life by
jumping off the roof!!! When she eventually got down she told me why she went up
there, it was because of what she had done with you, she said it made her feel
like a cheap whore. She was going to kill herself because of you and me.” He
yelled at his brother, tears filled his eyes as he thought of Chloe standing on
the edge of the hotel roof.
“What,
you’re a bad liar Jeff, why would she do that when me and her are having a
baby? She wouldn’t do that, she loves me.”
“I
know she does, she told me, but she loves me as well, and even though she is
having your kid she’s still with me?”
“Because
she doesn’t want to hurt you anymore!!”
“Matt,
just face up to it, Chloe is with me because she wants to be not because she
doesn’t want to hurt me, she done that already!!!”
They
continued shouting and yelling.
As Chloe
finally reached East 8 she could see who she thought was Matt and Jeff. She
walked over to the stand, she stood behind a wall when she heard them arguing
about her. She felt the familiar pain in her chest. She heard Jeff say that he
would do anything for her, but Matt cam back with another line that made her
cringe. She couldn’t stand them arguing.
After
standing there a few minutes, she decided that she had to stop this. She stepped
out from behind the wall. “STOP IT!!!!!!!” she yelled at them. They both
turned and saw her looking straight at her. She ignored her throbbing knee and
walked over to them.
“Please
stop it” she begged them as she looked into Jeff eyes. All the hate that had
been there when she saw him looking at Matt disappeared, they turned to the soft
loving eyes she knew.
“Clo,
we were just….” Matt began.
“I
know what you were doing, I heard you and I think half the circuit did to!! I
don’t want you arguing over me. Please don’t, your brothers, you love each
other, it would completely destroy me if I came between you more than I already
have. I don’t want you fighting, and if that means I leave you alone, both of
you, then, that’s what I’ll do.”
“Clo,
no, I’m not going to let you, if Matt can’t see how in love we are and how
much we want to be together then, I don’t want him around me, and you.”
“It’s
not that simple Jeff.” Chloe said as she moved her eyes from Jeff’s to
Matt’s. She could see the pain in them, she knew that she had caused it, she
wanted to cure it, but she didn’t know how. “Matt, I love you, and I know
that I’m having your baby, but, my love for Jeff is stronger, what I’m
trying to say is, I love you but I’m not in love with you. But, I’m in love
with Jeff.”
The pain
in his eyes softened. “Ok, you made you choice.” He said as he reached out
for Jeff’s hand, Jeff shook it wearily. “I hope you’ll be very happy.”
He said very sarcastically. “Clo, I will be there for you when you have our
baby, what ever you need just tell me.”
“I
know you’ll be there, I never doubted that.” She said to him but he had
already walked of in the other direction.
She
turned back to Jeff. As he walked towards her, she suddenly felt the pain in her
knee, she grabbed his arm to stop her from falling. “Ouch!!!!!”
“Are
you going to get it checked out?” he asked as he helped her walk.
“Yeh,
that’s why I came to find you, I was hoping you would take me to the
hospital.”
“Sure,
but we need to talk first, about what just happened.”
“Not
know Jeff, my knee is to painful.” She said as they made there way slowly to
his car and headed to the hospital.
“What’s
the matter son?” Gil asked Matt as he sat down in the hotel room they were
sharing.
“It’s
a long story.” He replied as he
sat down on a chair and looked at the floor.
“Well,
we have plenty of time.”
Matt
explained the whole situation to is father, he sat there listening to every word
his son had to say. When Matt had finished he looked up at Gil. His concerned
look said it all.
“Well,
I don’t know what to say Matt. But, if you love Chloe and she’s having your
baby, you’ll have to live with the decision she’s made and you’ll have to
learn to get used to her and Jeff. They obviously love each other, so, you’ll
have to fit into their lives, I know Jeff won’t make it easy for you because
he is probably trying to protect Chloe.”
“But
she doesn’t need protecting, not from me anyway.” Matt told his father.
“I
know that, Chloe probably knows that too, but Jeff will see it differently, if
you and Chloe are having a baby, think how Jeff will feel when his sees his
girlfriend with his brother and best friends baby. That will hurt him more than
any of this is probably hurting you. And what about Chloe? Think of the pressure
that you and Jeff have out her under, it’s not good for her or the baby.”
“I
know that dad, I never meant for any of this to happen, I don’t want to make
Chloe have to choose between us.”
“I
know that, but does she and Jeff? I think you need to talk to both of them, not
together but on their own. Tell Chloe what you want to do about the baby. Then
speak to Jeff and tell him how you feel about Chloe and how you want things to
work and instead of fighting with him, listen to what he has to say. Ok?”
“Yeh,
thanks dad.” Matt said as he got up and walked to the door.
“Matt.
Remember what I said, talk don’t fight.” Gil reminded him.
“I
can’t believe I only managed 19th.” Chloe said as he talked to
Eddie in the drivers briefing that was being held that night because of the
accident between Chloe and Michael. She lent over the table and banged her on
it.
“Ha,
look at it this way, I could drive fine and I’m only 12th.” He
said to her as she picked her head up and rubbed her forehead.
“Well,
thanks that makes me feel soooooooooo much better.” She joked as she picked up
the piece of paper that had just been put down in front of her.
“How’s
your knee?” Eddie asked stopping her from reading.
“Painful,
but the doc said I could drive so that’s what I’ll do. But after the race I
have to London for some intense physiotherapy. But at least I’ll have a couple
of days of testing off.” She joked as Bernie Ecclestone entered the small
cramped room.
“Thank
you all for coming.” He began. “Chloe yawned. “Are we keeping you up Miss
Stevens?” he asked her causing all the drivers in the room to turn and look at
her.
“Yes,
hurry up.” She said to him, making a few of the drivers’ smirk and let out
muffled giggles.
“Very
well, how is your knee?”
“Ok.”
“Right
this meeting is about track safety, because as we saw earlier Chloe couldn’t
make a turn but she turned in cutting Michael up and causing him to lose the
back end of the car and then hit Chloe causing her to spin of as well. So if any
body gets into that situation and you have a car behind you, you should slow
down, and take the safest route either threw the corner or across the gravel.”
Chloe
ignored the second bit but went back to his first comment. “So, are you
blaming me for the accident?” she demanded as she stood up.
“No.”
“Bullshit!!
You said I cut him up! I didn’t make that corner because I was watching him in
my mirrors as he was right up my ass and I was on my flying lap and he was only
on his warm up, so what right does he have to come sit up my ass whilst I try to
put in a good lap?”
“I
don’t think that’s what happened. Michael said..…” She cut him of.
“Michael
said this, Michael said that, he could say the sun was shining in the middle of
the fucking night and you would believe him!! What is this? The Michael
Schumacher fan club?” she asked as she walked from her seat to the door, she
opened it and slammed it as she walked out.
She
began to talk to herself under her breath. “ How fuckin’ dare he accuse me
of causing the accident!” she walked back into the Williams garage where the
mechanics were working frantically to finish her car. She ignored them and
headed to Franks office.
She
opened the door and stepped in. “Frank, what can you do if someone accuses you
of causing an accident when it wasn’t your fault and you were the one who got
injured?” she asked as she sat in a chair, taking the pressure of the left
knee.
“Well,
you can put in a complaint and claim compensation I guess, why?”
“Bernie
is more or less saying what happened with Michael was my fault.”
“Does
he have proof?”
“No.
But Michael told him, so I guess it’s as good as written on the bible.”
“Chloe,
do you want me to speak to him?”
“No, I
want to complain, he can accuse me when he has proof and ONLY when he has firm
proof.”
“Ok,
I’ll try and sort something out. And about your knee, you may get compensation
and you may not.”
“Well,
it’s not about the money, I just want Ferrari to know that they can’t get
away with everything.”
“I
agree with you, so let me sort some stuff out and I’ll speak to you in the
morning. By the ay where’s Ralf?”
”In briefing, I walked out.”
“You
did? That’s not going to help much. But anyway, go and get some sleep and
I’ll see you in the morning.
previous chapter ~~~ Chapter 8