Page 74 of Drive Me Crazy
Warmth radiates through my body as I tell her about how our coffee meeting turned into cocktails. Remi and I have a lot more in common than I initially thought. She’s a firecracker who saysdickas often as people saybecause, but she’s business-savvy and smart. I’ve already downloaded a business plan template she emailed me, and she’s connecting me with a freelance producer she knows.
She reminded me that I’ve already mastered how to do the hard stuff. Researching and asking the right questions, connecting with the listeners and creating a community, building good rapport with the guests. The things that Play-Media did for me—editing, producing, marketing—can be learned. Or outsourced, as Josie reminds me. She’s offered to help me with branding and social media.
“Do you want to have a similar format to your last podcast?” Josie asks after she’s satisfied I’ve given her every last detail. “Or completely start over and do something new?”
My nerves buzz with excited energy as if I just downed a double espresso. In the words of the nipple queen, “I’m not starting over. I’m simply redirecting.”
THIRTY-THREE
Blake
THERE ARE ONLY four races left in the season. I know a lot can happen in four races and so does Ella, but that doesn’t stop her from pacing around the pit garage an hour before the Brazilian Grand Prix. I watch her with devilish delight. She may not put up with my shit, but she’s still my biggest supporter. She’s asking everything and anything. Are the tires they chose right for today’s weather conditions? Is their two-pit strategy smart? How are they going to deal with the fact that Theo landed pole instead of me? There can only be one winning strategy, and I have a much better chance at the Championship, so how does that fare for team camaraderie? Are they going to be using a harder suspension? And what about wing settings?
When she asks an engineer if they’re planning on using a low off-throttle differential setting for the slower turns, I step in. The McAllister team loves Ella, but they also love doing their job, and her questions are making it a little difficult to concentrate. I place my hands on her hips and pick her up, walking over to the other side of the garage with her feet inches off the ground.
“Ican’t believe you just physically removed me.” She glares at me in exasperation. “Completely unnecessary.”
“You have no idea how sexy it is to hear you talk about overrun, but you’re making it hard for them to do their jobs.”
“It’s exactly because I want them to do their jobs that I’m asking.”
“I appreciate it, love.” I chuckle. “So does the Tickle Monster.”
Ella has trouble keeping her balance as she laughs. It takes her a minute to catch her breath. “You named your car the Tickle Monster?”
“Finn and Millie named it,” I defend myself. To be honest, if it weren’t for them, I probably wouldn’t have even named the car.
Ella looks at me with undisguised affection. “You continue to surprise me.”
“Blakey Blake.” Theo saunters over to where we’re standing, placing himself firmly in between us. “Your girlfriend doesn’t want me to have a threesome with you guys, but I think we need to talk about it as a group.”
I’m sorry, what?I fold my arms across my chest. Over my dead body am I sharing Ella with anyone else. Especially not Theo. “I don’t want to have a threesome with you either, Walker.”
“C’mon,” he argues with a pout. “You can’t deny that I’m a fantastic-looking bloke. You’d be lucky to see me naked.”
I’ve already seen Theo in the nude plenty of times. If there’s a chance for his dick to be out, it will be. The man acts like he’s bloody Tarzan.
“I’d rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon than see you naked,” Ella says, wrinkling her nose like a rabbit. “I’m not having a threesome with anyone.”
“Unless it’s Pete Davidson and Harry Styles,” I grumble.
I’vegotten over the fact that if my girlfriend is ever in a threesome, I’m not involved in any capacity. Well, I’m still pissed about it, but I can’t bethatmad considering I’ve already had a threesome with two of my celebrity crushes.
“You got cockblocked out of a threesome with your own girlfriend!” Theo slaps his hands against his knees as he doubles over. “How the hell does that happen? You got a thing for blokes with tats, Goldy?”
“It’s hypothetical.” Ella smacks him in the arm before narrowing her eyes at me. “Don’t you guys have a race to win or something?”
“I don’t need to beat Blake.” Theo winks at her. “Looks like Styles and Davidson already have.”
I’m going to smash his face in.
“Good luck out there.” Ella gets on her tiptoes and gives me a kiss. She’s not fully comfortable with major PDA thanks to the cameras on me at all times, but she’s starting to warm up a bit.
“Thank you. See you after dinner?”
The last thing I want to do after the race is to entertain sponsors at a three-hour-long meal, but it’s not up to me. Ella was invited, but she’s skipping out. People won’t leave her alone now that our relationship’s public. The media is trying to learn everything and anything they can about the woman who stole the heart of Britain’s broody bachelor. Ironically enough, it wasn’t a sneaky pap photo that exposed us, but my own sister posting a photo of Ella with Finn and Millie on her Instagram. Go figure.
I steal another kiss before heading out to the pit lane. I ended this race in P3 last year, but a five-second penalty for crashing into Thompson dropped me down to P7. I’m ready for an actual podium win this year.
