by Paige Toon
‘No thanks.’
I give Luis a look.
‘Oh, alright, then. That one, there.’ He points to a granary roll. Out of the corner of my eye I see Simon looking amused.
‘How was Italy?’ Luis asks me. Everyone is listening.
‘Fine, fine,’ I reply quickly, following Holly out of the room. We return a few minutes later with the smoked salmon starters.
‘Thanks.’ Luis looks up at me and grins, a familiar twinkle back in his dark-brown eyes. I try to keep a straight face as I serve the sponsor next to him. Norm Gelltron is the managing director and main money man behind our team.
‘I’m liking your new fresh-faced look, Luis,’ Norm says in a loud, booming American accent.
‘Blame this one.’ Luis aims his thumb at me.
‘Is that right?’ Norm asks with interest.
‘Yep. Well, actually, blame her grandmother. She shaved it off for me.’
Cue a loud chorus of impressed and surprised ‘oohs’ around the table.
‘Your grandmother, hey? You two know each other well, then?’
Twelve sets of eyes are now focused on me. Before I was invisible,
now I’m the centre of attention.
‘Um . . .’ I start.
‘We’re friends,’ Luis interrupts. ‘Aren’t we, Daisy?’ He raises one eyebrow at me and tucks into his salmon.
‘Mmm, yes,’ I murmur, blushing but secretly pleased.
Holly smirks at me as I hurry out of the room.
‘Friends?’ she says, once outside. ‘And to think you used to hate him.’
‘I didn’t hate him,’ I reply, brushing her off.
‘Sure you didn’t,’ she says sardonically.
Ten minutes later, we go back in to clear the plates. Luis produces a clean one. ‘Look!’ he says, delighted with himself, a bit like an 8-year-old.
‘Well done,’ I mutter, amused.
‘Daisy’s trying to get me to eat properly,’ he tells everyone.
‘Oh, really?’ Norm says. ‘Gosh, Daisy, you seem to be one hell of a woman,’ he booms.
My face immediately heats up again.
‘You are one hell of a woman, aren’t you, bun tart?’ Luis pats my bum.
‘Oi!’ I whack him on the arm.
‘Feisty, too.’ Luis laughs.
By the time dessert comes around, I’ve blushed so many times I’m surprised my face hasn’t turned red permanently. Holly is finding the whole thing highly amusing.
‘It’s mortifying!’ I exclaim.
‘No, it’s not,’ she scoffs. ‘Simon will be loving it.’
‘Will he?’ I ask hopefully.
‘Absolutely. He hates it when the sponsors act like we don’t exist.’
‘Huh. I didn’t think he cared about things like that.’
‘Yeah, well, there’s a lot you don’t know about Simon. I wish you could see him like I do.’
‘Ew!’ Whoops. Didn’t mean to say that out loud. ‘Sorry, I was just imagining him with his pants down!’ I dissolve into giggles and after her initial perturbed reaction, Holly soon joins in.
‘Why are you always rushing away?’ Luis complains as I clear up his dessert plate.
‘I’m working,’ I say quietly. Once again, the others are all ears.
‘Stay and talk to me,’ he says, as I move on to clear the next plate.
‘I can’t.’ I give him a look to warn him off.
‘What are you doing after this?’ Luis asks. I’m halfway around the table by now.
‘Still working.’
‘Want to take the afternoon off and come for a drive with me?’
‘I can’t.’ This is so embarrassing!
‘Aw, come on, how can you say no to an offer like that?’ Norm booms. ‘One of the world’s top racing talent offering to take you for a drive? You’ll let her off an afternoon’s work, won’t you?’ Norm turns to Simon.
‘Of course,’ Simon casually replies.
‘There you go!’ Luis chirps. I stand at the end of the table, my hands piled with plates, and stare at him with pursed lips. ‘Ready in five?’ he asks.
‘I’ve got to get your coffees, first.’
‘Don’t really fancy a coffee. You don’t mind if I shoot off, do you?’ Luis asks the faces around the table.
I frown. ‘I can’t just leave.’
Holly grins at me. ‘I can manage the coffees.’
‘Off you go, then!’ Norm booms.
I glance at Luis and he winks at me, then I leave the room to the sound of him shouting that he’ll meet me back here. Holly cracks up laughing the second the door shuts behind us.
‘That was hilarious!’ she squawks between guffaws.
‘I can’t believe he just did that to me,’ I reply, walking quickly down the corridor in the direction of the kitchen.
‘So funny. . .’
I decide to help out Holly with the coffees, but when we get back to the boardroom, Luis is leaning up against a wall outside the door.
‘Come on, then,’ he says, jokily glancing at his watch. ‘I haven’t got all day.’
‘Let me just put this down,’ I say, nodding at the filtered coffee jug I’m holding.
‘I’ll do it.’ He takes it from me and follows Holly into the room. A moment later, the door opens again and the sound of cheering applause rings out as Luis emerges. ‘If the racing doesn’t pick up, I could always get a job as a bun tart,’ he says.
I roll my eyes at him. ‘No chance.’
In the car park, he points his key at a grey and white Bugatti Veyron. I know what the car is, because Johnny had one, and I also know that they’re one of the fastest – and most expensive – cars in the world. I try not to look too impressed, but fail.
‘It’s not mine,’ Luis comments, seeing my face. ‘The CEO of some company is lending it to me. They’re trying to persuade me to take part in an advertising campaign.’
‘What do they want you to endorse?’
‘Watches. Posh ones,’ he adds, climbing in the car.
‘Have you been asked to do a lot of that sort of thing?’ I ask, once we’re buckled in.
‘A fair bit. I’ll get more offers next year if I win the championship.’
‘Do you think you’re still in with a chance?’
He flashes me a cheeky grin. ‘Honey, I’m always in with a chance.’
‘You dick.’ I shake my head and chuckle to myself as he drives slowly back out towards the first security gate. ‘Where are we going?’ I ask.
‘Just for a drive,’ he says. ‘And then maybe we’ll go to Marlow and feed the swans.’
I crack up laughing.
‘What?’ he asks.
‘I didn’t take you to be a “feeding swans” type,’ I reply.
He glances at me sideways and teasingly says, ‘There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Daisy Rogers.’
‘Is that right, Luis Castro?’
We exit the last set of security gates and Luis cranks up his speed.
A thought pops into my head. ‘Does it bother you when people pronounce your name “Lewis” instead of “Lew-eesh”?’
‘It’s a bit annoying,’ he says. ‘But the main thing is that they’re talking about me at all.’
‘Even when they’re saying horrible things?’
He pulls a face. ‘Hmm. Maybe not.’
‘Holly told me the papers are being much nicer now.’
‘We’ll see how long that lasts. I was thinking I was going to have to move back to Brazil if that kept up.’
‘Where do you live?’ I ask suddenly. I don’t even know if he has a house in the UK.
‘Hampstead,’ he replies. ‘North London.’
‘I know Hampstead.’ Now I’m properly impressed. ‘It’s beautiful there. What’s your house like?’
‘Come over sometime and you can see it for yourself.’
‘Well, I don’t know about that. . .’
‘Why not? We’re friends, aren’t we?�
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‘Are we?’
‘Sure we are. You know things about me and I know things about you that no one else knows. And I trust you. I hope you trust me.’
I think about his words for a moment before answering. ‘Yeah, I do. I have done for a long time.’
Is Nonna right? Does Luis have feelings for me? Or am I just someone he can talk to? When I think about all those Screwdrivers he hooks up with, I can’t believe he’d want me to be anything more than just a friend. Which is good, because I would-n’t touch him with a bargepole.
I suddenly remember the night in Monaco when butterflies fluttered through me as I looked at him. It makes me feel uneasy. And then I’m thinking of Will. I see him quite clearly, his blue eyes staring into mine, before he goes blurry again.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Luis asks.
‘Hmm?’
‘I asked what you were thinking about?’
‘I was just thinking about Will, actually.’
He falls silent as he pulls off a roundabout and the road starts to climb uphill. We’ve been travelling on main roads, but now we’ve reached the country lanes and Luis picks up his speed. I cling on to the armrest as my stomach tenses.
‘Did you ever go to Will’s house?’ Luis asks suddenly.
I hesitate before answering truthfully. ‘Yes. The night before . . . Silverstone.’ I wanted to say, ‘The night before he died’, but those words still come with difficulty.
‘Really?’ He glances across at me.
I don’t reply and I swear he puts his foot down.
‘Luis! Slow down!’
‘Why?’
‘Because you’re going too fast!’
‘Am I scaring you?’ he asks dryly.
‘Yes, actually.’
Bizarrely, that does the trick. He slows right down. In fact, he’s suddenly going so slow that I can’t believe he’s not going to stop. Oh. He has stopped.
‘What the hell did you think was going to happen?’ He looks across at me angrily.
I give him a wary look. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘With Will. Do you really think he was going to leave Laura?’
‘Luis, seriously, shut the fuck up.’ Fury bubbles up inside me. ‘Anyway! Why does it even matter anymore?’
‘It DOES matter!’
‘WHY?’
‘It just does!’
We glare at each other for a moment before I finally calm down enough to speak. ‘Are we going to drive anywhere or am I going to get out and walk?’
‘We’re going to feed the fucking swans!’ he snaps.
‘Well, let’s go and feed the fucking swans, then!’
‘Okay! We fucking well will!’
I start to laugh. Seconds later, he does, too.
‘You drive me nuts,’ he says, pulling away from the kerb. ‘Jesus, I think Will had a lucky escape.’
My face instantly falls and my heart feels like someone is crushing it. ‘That’s not even funny,’ I manage to say.
‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ he quickly tells me, looking worried.
But suddenly Will is everywhere. My head is filled with him and I can’t push him out. He’s leading me up the stairs to his bedroom, he’s kissing me up against the hotel room door in China, he’s pushing his hair off his face in Bahrain, he’s rubbing my arm and giving me goosebumps on my nonna’s terrace . . . A lump forms in my throat and I can feel sobs building up in the centre of my chest. I don’t want to cry again. I feel like I’ve done enough crying. I try to swallow the lump, but it won’t go away.
‘Are you okay?’ Luis asks, concerned.
I shake my head quickly.
‘I was only joking,’ he says.
But I can’t speak. He falls silent for a moment, then glances across at me before saying tentatively, ‘Do you remember back in Bahrain when I told you it was me who asked for you to be our on-hand girl?’
My brow furrows. I nod, confused as to why he’s bringing this up now.
‘I lied.’
My head shoots across to look at him. ‘You lied?’
‘I was just winding you up. It was Will,’ he explains.
‘And you’re telling me this now?’ I ask bitterly, as tears fill my eyes.
‘I thought it would make you feel better,’ he says, confused.
‘Well, it doesn’t,’ I bite back, as a wave of anger pulses through me.
‘We’ll be there soon,’ he comments, oblivious to my encroaching rage.
‘I don’t want to go,’ I reply through clenched teeth. ‘I want you to take me back to Holly’s.’
‘Daisy—’
‘NOW!’ I interrupt.
‘Come on, we’ll have a nice ti—’
‘Take me back to my fucking friend’s house, right now,’ I warn menacingly.
And so he does, and I swivel in my seat and face away from him for the rest of the journey, feeling like I’m drowning in a haze of loss and regret.
Chapter 26
‘It was damn out of order! He shouldn’t have said it!’
‘He obviously didn’t mean it. Honestly, Daisy, you need to give that guy a break.’
For the last week, Holly has been giving me stick about my behaviour with Luis. We’re on our way to Singapore for the only night race on the calendar. I went to the first-ever Singapore Grand Prix last year. On the Thursday night before everything kicked off, we went out in the city and got wasted on Singapore Slings, ate a plate full of chicken and beef satays at a hawker centre and then got a lift back to the hotel on a rickshaw. We almost fell off, we were laughing so hard. I have a feeling this time around the atmosphere won’t be quite so joyous.
Because Singapore is a night race, the first practice session on Friday doesn’t kick off until the evening, and the second doesn’t even finish until after eleven o’clock, so Holly and I aren’t needed at the track until late afternoon. I’m at the serving table preparing the evening’s meal when Main Money Man Norm Gelltron shouts out to me.
‘Hey! Daisy!’
He remembers me?
‘Hello, sir!’ I chirp. ‘Can I get you anything?’
‘No, I just want to know how your drive went the other week?’
‘Er, it was fast. Very fast.’
‘I bet it was. And have you managed to keep his beard at bay?’
I’m about to answer that I don’t know, but a clean-shaven Luis walks in through the door behind him.
‘See for yourself.’ Phew. Lucky escape.
‘Luis!’ he shouts. ‘I see Daisy’s done another great job of keeping up your appearances!’
Everyone in the hospitality area is staring at us. I will my face not to go red, but there’s no stopping it.
Luis glances from Norm to me and back again before twigging. He rubs his jaw.
‘Oh, yeah. She’s good at cracking a whip, this one.’
Norm guffaws and wanders off, leaving us alone. I look at Luis awkwardly. I don’t know what to say so I settle on my usual.
‘Can I get you anything?’
‘Is that all you’re going to say? “Can I get you anything?”’
‘Sorry, I’m a bit lost for words after our last encounter.’ I give him a challenging look, but he’s unperturbed.
‘How about, “How are you, Luis? What have you been up to? Sorry for depriving the swans of their dinner last week.”’
‘Oi, that was your fault,’ I say warningly. ‘If you hadn’t said something so stupid. . .’
He stares at me directly and I struggle to keep eye contact, but I’m too stubborn to look away. I start to feel jittery and it strikes me as odd before suddenly he comes around the side of the serving table and grabs my hand. ‘Come with me.’
‘Hey, what are you doing?’
‘I want to talk to you.’
I glance back to see a few people watching. ‘Everyone’s looking!’ I hiss as he drags me out of eyesight and up the stairs.
‘Who cares?�
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‘I care! They’ll all think something’s going on! Or something.’
‘Or something?’ He grins at me over his shoulder and leads me into his room. I shake my hand free.
‘What was all that about?’ I demand to know.
‘Look, Daisy, I’m sorry I said what I said. I didn’t mean it. You know I didn’t mean it. So can we just drop it?’
I’m kind of pleased he wants things to go back to normal, but no, I can’t drop it.
‘I’d love to, but it still bugs me that you think Will wouldn’t have left Laura. How the hell would you know?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Exactly!’ I can’t help but feel a little angry. ‘You have no idea how close we were.’
He puts his hand up and looks pained. ‘Just . . . Can we just . . .’
‘What?’ I ask crossly.
‘Can we just leave it?’ he asks again.
‘Just promise me to stop going on about it.’
‘I promise. What are you up to tomorrow?’
‘Oh. I don’t know.’ I’m flummoxed by his sudden change of subject. ‘Why?’
‘Want to come out to lunch with me?’
‘Um, I, yes, I guess I could. . .’
‘Good. I’ll come and get you at eleven thirty.’ He balances on one foot and tugs off a shoe. I stand there, still feeling confused, as he hops around and takes off the other shoe, before reaching for his flies. ‘Are you going, or what?’
‘Hmm?’
‘I need to get changed. So unless you want to see me with my kit off, you’d better leave.’
‘Of course, yes.’ I hurry out of the room.
Catalina is here this weekend and she wasn’t originally going to come. Simon told Holly about this on Thursday night, which was their only night together before his wife arrived, so she and I haven’t been out on the town at all. Last year’s rickshaw fun seems like a distant memory, so to be honest, I’ll be glad to escape the hotel for a couple of hours, even if it is just with Luis.
‘Where are we going?’ I ask, when he comes to pick me up twenty minutes late on Saturday morning. Holly went out earlier to sneak some time with Simon while Catalina went shopping and she’s still not back.
‘Raffles,’ Luis replies.
‘Ooh, fancy,’ I tease.
‘Simon and some of the sponsors are meeting us there.’
‘Oh.’ I feel a bit put-out. ‘Don’t you think you should have warned me about that?’