Page 54 of Dirty Air
“There’s no way,” Adam scoffs. “Edge and the other guy have been there for over a decade. He’d never fire them.”
“No, not fire.” The primal urge doesn’t understand that Fritz is terrible at thinking on his feet. “There was talk of a promotion? Shuffling? I do not know the Mercenary staff well, only what he told me.”
Adam grunts in reply. Fritz can only imagine how these pictures from the hidden photographers will turn out. “Anything else?”
Well, lying has gotten him this far already. “He invited my father and I to tour their factory during the break. I do not know if that is still happening, not with all of this press.”
“Don’t signanything.” Adam seems more harried than Fritz has ever seen him. “I’m sorry—there’s just a lot to take in here.Pleasedon’t sign anything until I meet with you and your father.”
His father? That sounds an awful lot like an actual contract negotiation meeting. “Um, okay.”
“I wasn’t going to push it, but obviously you would make a great addition to Red Boar. You must’ve heard the rumors of Lucas’s retirement?”
Fritz nods. Kudos to Henry’s source.
“Jesus, Sven has to ruin everything. I was trying to convinceLucas to hold out until next year. I mean, the Red Boar is finicky—it takes time to adjust.Fuck, why did he—? Please don’t sign anything until we meet again, okay?”
“How long…?” Is that like, a one week thing? Or the end of the year?
“I need to talk to some people first. Will your father be at the track next weekend? That might be too soon, shit, give me a month or so, okay? You can tour the factory, I’ll even find a German to do the talking. Please justdon’t sign anything.”
Fritz nods his head furiously. He probably lost any chance he had with Mercenary, so a tour and a meeting with Red Boar is much more than he could’ve expected.
Adam pays and wraps an arm around Fritz as they leave the restaurant, whispering embarrassing stories about Lucas in his ear to make him laugh.
More phones are shoved into their faces, and the women duck past the crowds while Adam and Fritz stop to take selfies with fans. They sign what they can with whatever writing instruments people are able to find, and run away after Adam signs one of the restaurant’s plates.
“Let’s do this again sometime,” Adam says as they part ways outside. “Don’t be a stranger—stop by the Red Boar garage whenever you want.”
When the VFIBR SUV arrives, Madison and Fritz climb into the back and sink into the seat.
“I think that went well,” she says.
Fritz wants to scream until he breaks the windows of the car, but he settles for gathering her up and rocking the two of them side to side with a muted “AHHHHHHHH!”
Fritz lets go and falls back into his seat, completely deflated. “He wants me.” He struggles to unbutton the collar that has been choking his giant neck all night and sighs. “Adam actually wantsme to drive for Red Boar.Fuck, I thought I would die a VFIBR driver.”
“You deserve it.”
Madison smiles for the first time all night, and Fritz’s stomach drops. “Thank you for being here. I know it was not comfortable.”
“At least the food was good.” Madison nods, almost to herself. “Just promise me you’ll stop joking about your sex life to the press? At least, while you’re still at VFIBR.”
“Will do.”
Lucas announces his retirement a week later on his social media.
Fritz is sent the video no less than six times, but he watches it every time. Lucas could just be a good actor, but it looks like he’s genuinely excited to get away and try something new.
Fritz wants that seat more than anything. He barely even notices how quiet and lonely his hotel room is.
The reporters in the paddock act like the Red Boar seat is Fritz’s for the taking, though his meeting with Adam isn’t scheduled until after the Indian GP. The dinner photos did the trick, though, forcing the narrative back onto Red Boar vs Mercenary instead of Fritz’s sex life.
He had a sliver of hope that once the gay storyline disappeared from the press, Henry would call again. That he might stop by his shower again. That Fritz is so irresistible that Henry couldn’t help but help himself.
That doesn’t happen, though.
P8, four points, a passing “Good race” comment.
