Page 62 of Red Flag
I now had my own picture of him, thick andgirthyin hisjogging bottoms. He had about twenty of me.
That wasn’t the only thing he had sent me, though. The Australian publicadoredLuca. His model looks and cheeky smile didn’t hurt but on one of our trips to the beach, we had beenpappedhugging. Nix had been the one to send me the shots, finding them on Twitter minutes after they were posted.
I enjoyed his jealousy just a little.
When he arrived on Friday, I was itching to take the car to see him and fidgeted atLuca’sinterview.
That evening, I received a text from him with a location pin.
NIXONARMAS: I’ve booked anAirbnbon the beach. I might have bought some toys too. Come and play with me.
His hotel room had been booked. I knew it because it was next toCris’. The furthest from mine on the corridor.
But withSalihalooking over my shoulder as we walked down the strip of bars, I ignored it. Though I was desperate not to.
I was a girl’s girl. I wasn’t about to start ditching her for some dick.
No matter how good the dick was.
And, fuck, it wasgood.
The first time I saw him was at the testing circuit on Saturday, but the press were crawling around after one of the riders had gone viral for cheating on his wife. As well as trying to subtly ask questions about Pedro being released and the inquiry intoAlv’saccident.
As long as they didn’t come asking questions about Nix, that was okay. Somehow — and I knew exactly why — Nix and his manager had not consulted me on being sponsored byJustGroupies, a subscription website for celebrity content.
Known in many circles for porn.
The feedback from his first video talking about it had been… mixed. There were a few ‘my man!!’ comments and some women claiming it gave them the ‘ick’. Some commented on how he couldn’t endorse this and try and make a girl’s children’s charity.
The bad boy image he wanted to uphold was not worth the risk.
And I was seething.
The only positive was thatSalihaand I had spoken to the design team forCiclatiand managed to wrangle pinkCiclatitops — I finally had some that actually fit — only because no other team used pink. I’d been desperate to wear something cute for once that I could style. Packing my whole life in a suitcase meant my new series on Instagram was about making a capsule wardrobe, but I itched for something new.
In the back of the pit box, I was tearing apart the plastic, taking my anger out on the bags, and unwrapping the three I had been given to check the sizing when I heard the voices ofCrisand Nixon entering the box.
I stopped rustling the plastic packaging, eager to listen to them, my breaths through my nose harsher just at the sound of him.
“Well, I had no choice,Cris!” he said in French. “I hadno choice. He’s my friend and no one knows or saw.”
No way. No fucking way.
“He waseveryone’s friend, Nix. But we all had the sense to cut ties.Liviaand I said you couldn’t see him,”Crissnapped. “I might have overlooked it but she’s right. You can’t be seen with a previous drug dealer, Nix. Oursport’s previous drug dealer.”
I may or may not have brushed up on the French slang for drugs before taking this job. My French was far from perfectand I could comprehend far more than I could say, but I was pretty certain that was what they said.
“You said my name?” I asked, coming out from behind the partition.
Nix stopped when he saw me, his eyes slightly wider than usual. “Livieis about to become Livid,” he groaned and walked away towards his bike.
“Without a doubt,” I said but continued by pretending to be ignorant. “FuckingJustGroupies, Nix? What is that about?”
“It was my manager’s idea. It’s a lot of money.” He didn’t look at me, checking his phone as he walked towards the lockers andCriswent to the sofas beside the screens.
“It’s not exactly working with the new image we’re going for, is it?” I snapped. “A large majority of your fans are teenagers. Children.”
He shrugged, then paused before placing his phone in his open locker. He glanced around us and lowered his voice. “You don’t want me to watch porn?”
