“Hi. I need to talk to you,” he started.
“Yeah. Me too.” I stepped aside, letting him walk in my apartment.
I knew the place looked like shit and to be honest, I couldn’t care less. I bought this with my own money at the worst time of my life. If anything, I was proud of it.
He walked inside and I was surprised to see he didn’t let his eyes linger on his surroundings. The only spot they stopped on was the wire that kept my door closed. However, Tristan didn’t say anything about it.
“You first,” he suggested, planting his palms on his hips.
I nodded, biting my bottom lip as I took a seat on my couch. He kept his tall posture and waited for me to talk, even though I could see how impatient he was to tell me what he had to say.
There was no right way to deliver what I just found out. I knew he was safe, but it was still a gut-kicker.
I took a deep breath. “I know I’m no longer part of your company, but I still paid close attention to your activity,” I said with a small smile. “And Gorig’s.”
Tristan squinted his eyes at me but kept quiet.
My mouth remained open. I didn’t know how to say this. “And I don’t know if you got time to look at your phone on your way here but...”
Now he was starting to act suspicious. His eyes searched for an answer in mine and his body came closer to me. Tristan stared down at me, ready for any shot I was about to give him.
“Uhm.” I looked at the ceiling before meeting his eyes again. “Gorig is building a car for next year’s race.”
He leaned back a bit and took his hands off his hips before threading his fingers through his hair. I couldn’t tell if he was mad or pissed, he was as stern as a stone.
I got up to my feet, not able to maintain the silence. “I’m pretty sure he’ll use your sketches,” I added, just in case he didn’tfigure it out by now. “But I left out the most important things, just to avoid something like this happening.” He was still silent, so I continued. “You can sue him, Tristan.”
Tristan watched me in the eye, then shook his head. “I don’t have time for shit like that. He can go to the race and fail. I don’t give a fuck. My plan wasn’t to go to the race this year, anyway. My sketches were mid at best.”
What?
How could he be so... relaxed about this? I thought he would freak out since the car project was the only thing up his sleeve and now he doesn’t have that either.
I frowned, then found myself closer to him. Right up to his nose. “Tristan, you can’t let this go. This could be huge for the company and in ten years, you could fight the first place with Serrari if you find the right racer, the right partners. This could be big,” I blurted, my mouth not able to stop my thoughts from coming out.
He laid a hand on my shoulder. It was meant as a comfort, not in a romantic way. “Listen. This has been my dream since I was a kid and I’m not saying I’m giving up on it. That’s actually why I came to you today.”
I relaxed and listened to what he had to say.
“Gorig has a plan and that’s why he’s moving so fast with joining the race. He doesn’t want to join it because it’s a passion, but because it will promote his brand. I want something more and what I want can’t be done in a year. I’m not the type of doing something just for the sake of doing it.”
“Okay,” I breathed out. “I agree that a year is too little time, but that doesn’t mean it’s fair for Gorig to participate with your sketches.”
“I don’t care. He won’t get far, I promise,” he assured me. “It’s impossible to with so little preparation.”
I nodded, then dropped back on the couch. He had a point and even if I didn’t like it, it was better to focus on your growth than on destroying others. Tristan was right. He could wait and come up with something fresh on the market.
“And I want to partner with Serrari, not against them. They are the best and they deserve it for a reason.”
At that, my eyebrows shot up. He wasn’t wrong, but I also knew from my little knowledge that they do everything on their own. Tough to achieve, but it can’t be impossible for someone who’s last name was Graves.
“Sounds like you have a plan,” I said.
He took a deep breath and then sat down next to me, wiping a drip of sweat from his forehead with his arm. Tristan was looking right at me, yet I couldn’t find the courage to do the same.
“Come back to the company, Haelyn,” he said it so simply.
My head snapped to him. “What?”