The Escape ( Paddock Passion Series Book 1)

Chapter Three

I recalled the image of the man from the poster, he was really attractive, and for some reason sent a shiver through me. That was unusual, I had never been a girl for having crushes on celebs and not a Motorbike racer. I had never really had any sort of major crush. I secretly hoped it was him and not the other guy.

“He and his teammates are staying here for the race build-up, and to see his surgeon, he had a fall a few races ago, and they are doing a check-up,” Sam said excitedly,

“How on earth do you know that Sam?” I asked impressed by how much information he had managed to glean “I asked the receptionist; she is a fan” he answered.

“Of who, him or you?” Myla asked in a sarcastic tone. “both” Sam retorted looking at her with annoyance evident from the stiffening of his body to the hardening of his face. This could get awkward if he could not control his dislike for my friend.

The thought of the man in the poster staying at our hotel was intriguing, more than it should have been, my mind wandered throughout our meal to his image, and how he was staying here in this hotel. I needed to get a grip of myself, maybe it was the heady excitement of my freedom and the holiday feeling, but I was dwelling on the thought of maybe meeting this man. Myla was busy chatting to Sam, about the club we would be going to, and he was listening, but only giving the odd one-word answer, still, she pushed on attempting any sort of conversation with him. Again, I found myself daydreaming of the poster boy I now knew to be Sabino Antlia.

“You quiet for once Nat,” Sam said looking at me, “are you Okay?” he sounded concerned.

“Yeah, of course, I am Sam, I am probably just a little tired” I smiled at him.

“Not too tired Nat, we have some partying to do tonight, and talking of which let’s get this party started with a few drinks “Myla interrupted excitedly. Sam rolled his eyes but refrained from commenting.

After a few drinks and a bite to eat we headed to the club, it was called Opium and was according to Myla the place to be. The music was loud, and with so many people conversation was near impossible, which was just as well, given my brother's reluctance to engage with Myla. We headed to the bar and bought some drinks grabbing my hand Myla pulled me to the dance floor. I glanced over to my brother, and he was stood watching over us, with a careful eye, but seemed content enough with his beer. All of a sudden people were starting to stand still, looking in the direction of the VIP area some of the girls were screeching, I looked over and saw a Tall man with curly hair standing in one of the booths, with a large entourage. Sam was looking over and waved at me to go to him. Myla and I went across the dance floor to where he was standing. “That is Adamo Stravinsky, he is another racer” I glanced over and the face did seem a little familiar, maybe from the other poster at the airport, Adamo seemed to be enjoying the attention, and was working the crowd like a rock star, which they loved. “He is Polish, Nat, and was the world champion until Sabino came on the scene, he is getting older now at 36” I glanced over again. To be honest, I didn’t understand the fuss, and why the girls including Myla were so taken with him, he was not in my opinion that good-looking, and seemed to love himself just a bit too much for my taste. The men were just as enthralled by his appearance and the club was filled with the shouts of “Stravinsky, Stravinsky “

Within a few minutes, things settled down, and the music started up again, Myla and I headed back to the dance floor, she was edging closer and closer to the VIP area, obviously wanting a better look at him. She turned and shouted into my ear, “I wonder if his package is as big as his motorbike” I laughed I wished I could be as carefree as she was with such talk, but I was incredibly shy, and given I had no experience in the area of a man’s package I just nodded at her, If ever a woman could find out you could bet that Myla would make every effort possible to do so.

After around an hour on the dance floor I motioned at Myla that I was going to find Sam, I needed a drink again, it was getting increasingly hot, Myla however wanted to stay where she was, in prime position for the eyeliner of the rider. I headed off and whilst standing waiting at the bar, my brother found me. “are you okay Nat?” he inquired.

“Yes just hot, do you want a drink?” I asked him

“Can do, I have been making friends” he smiled at me, I looked over at the direction he was nodding at, why don’t you come and join us?”

“What about Myla?” I responded

“She is Okay, she can look after herself no problem that one, come over for a chat” he insisted.

Sam got our drinks and headed over to the rear of the room in a secluded corner to the booth where his newfound friends were sitting.

“This is my little sister Nathalie” he spoke in slow English. Around the large oval table, 6 men and one woman sat,

I looked around the table, smiling politely when a pair of dark brown eyes looked back at me, my heart stopped for what felt like an age, I needed no introduction to the man I had found myself fantasising about all evening. Sabino Antlia was sitting, staring at me, I smiled and nodded, but he did nothing in return, just sat motionless staring, it instantly made me feel uncomfortable, suddenly she turned without acknowledgement and continued to speak in very good English to the man next to him.

“That is Mark Johnstone the Australian rider talking to Antlia” Sam whispered in my ear, “the other man is Colin Cornwall, the British rider, with his wife Emily, the rest are part of Sabino's crew”

Emily smiled up at me and said “Take a seat Nathalie, come rescue me from the testosterone “ I instantly liked her, she had no airs and graces, and seemed down to earth, “they are talking shop again, and it’s getting heated, do you like racing?”

I smiled “Not really, I only ever watched one race and a rider died, so never watched again, my brother is a huge fan though” I instantly regretted mentioning that, given the company I was in, and felt embarrassed that I had answered so honestly, the feeling was only intensified as Emily looked at me with a look of concern her features instantly changed a small frown forming on her face that ached of worry “that was a sad day, thankfully it doesn’t happen that often, but the worry is always there, such is the life of the family member” I could see the pain behind her comment as she looked at Colin.

“Sam said you arrived today, and that he is trying to convince you to go to the race next weekend” Emily added, with a smile, she had noticed how embarrassed I was at my faux pa, and it only strengthened my thought that she was a very likeable person.

“yes, my friend Myla, wants to go as well, so I suppose I will go, I am just not telling him that yet “we both laughed.

I suddenly felt uneasy and looked over to where Sabino sat, he was staring at me intensely, and his face hardened as I looked over at him, he looked annoyed at my presence, and a knot formed in my stomach, I felt like I wanted to run away from him, his disapproval was too upsetting to me. I quickly gave my head a shake, and told myself, what did it matter, I didn’t know this man existed until earlier today, and why should I care, I don’t normally care what a man thinks of me. Just then the tall figure of Adamo Stravinsky I approached had the smile of an assassin and you could tell the friendly persona was for show.

“Oh, I did not know you were all here, I am happy to see you” he said with a thick Polish accent.

The men all looked at him smiling, but the smiles did not reach anyone’s eyes. I instantly noted that nobody truly liked this man. Adamo sat on the seat next to me blocking me in between himself and Emily. His arm went around my shoulder, and I flinched away from him. “who is this beautiful lady, I can show you a good time no” he said, I looked at him, I did want to run away, and the feeling of distrust swept over me. Sabino stared over again, the look of anger on his face was clear for everyone to see. He spoke in Spanish to one of his team, and they looked at me in shock and shook their heads at him. I could not understand this reaction or what it meant, I felt resolved to leave the table as soon as possible to avoid his obvious objection to my presence.

Suddenly Myla stood, glaring in my direction, “Nat, here you are, I was looking everywhere for you!” she shouted, then stopped in her tracks as she noted the people around me. Uninvited she pulled up a stool and placed herself as close to Adamo as she could get, then placing a hand on his knee she reached over to my drink and took a big gulp. Myla was on a mission to have this man and my brother had now made it possible. Thankfully Adamo’s attentions turned to Myla, however, this in turn meant I was now unable to escape this increasingly uncomfortable experience.

“How on earth did you manage to get to speak with this guy Sam” I whispered to my Brother.

“I knew Emily years ago from a school trip I went on to the Isle of White, she recognised me, as we all hung around together, for the week, didn’t think she would as it was nine years ago when I was just 13”

I remembered him going on some trip or other, I, however, was never allowed to go on any school trips, in case anything happened to me, such was the overprotective nature of my family.

Again, I felt the heated stare of Sabino, and again my heart skipped a beat, I glanced up at him, he did not smile just continued to stare his lips set in a hard line.

“What’s up with your face Sab” I heard the Australian Mark Johnston shout, he seemed like a fun man, with a quick wit, “You always smile mate, you look like I have just beaten you on the last lap!” Sabino turned and smiled at Mark “You wish you could ride that fast” The company laughed except for Adamo, who had a look of annoyance. Emily turned to me smiling “it this a little daunting for you Nat?” I had to admit that it was more than a little. I was annoyed that even though I had done nothing other than say hello, Sabino looked at me as if I was something he wanted out of his sight, and what angered me even further was how much that bothered me.

“Oh! I am just a little tired” I said smiling at Emily. She was so easy to like.

“Your friend, Myla is it? She is undaunted, she is getting right in there” I turned to look at Myla who was now all but sat on Adamo’s knee as he was stroking her thigh. I sighed and shook my head. “hmm I can see”.

“Don’t worry Nat, we are used to the “Racer Chasers” around here, and Adamo is happy to give them their one night of pleasure before going off to his adoring public” Emily informed me. The tension between the people sitting at this table and the new addition to the party was tangible, I made a mental note to ask Sam if he knew why.

As the night ended, we all said our good buys, Myla decided to share a cab with Adamo, and when he offered, I went with Sam giving me a chance to speak with my big brother.

Sam looked at me with excitement “Nat, I cannot believe how lucky we have been tonight” I looked at him and asked, “What is the story regarding that Adamo, and is Sabino always hard-faced and miserable?” I was too sleepy and had a little too much Bacardi, to beat around the bush regarding this, or to hide my annoyance, or was it hurt I was feeling?

Sam looked at me concerned, “Nat, Adamo was a world champion, however over the last few years he has hardly won a race because of Sabino, he took the racing world by storm. Adamo is known to play mind games off the track, to try and rattle any competitor, however, none of his efforts with Sabino worked as he wanted, they just washed over him. Those guys are competitors, not friends. As for Sabino, he comes across as all smiles and friendly a nice guy on TV, and so when I was introduced, he was very friendly. I don’t know why he turned the way he did, something obviously upset him, maybe something to do with Adamo” he ventured. I found it hard to shake the feeling it had more to do with me. I thought to myself how narcissistic that would sound if I ever said it out loud, however, I was unable to shake the feeling, again It was probably due to the mixture of tiredness and excitement of the day.

As we entered the Hotel Lobby Myla stood arm in arm with Adamo, she smiled and waved snuggling closer to him, it reminded me of a young teenager with their first boyfriend. She shouted over to me “See you at breakfast Nat” She winked and walked towards the stairs Adamo in tow. Sam looked stone-faced. “She has no respect for herself, how could any man form any serious feelings for her” he muttered to himself.

As we stood at the reception desk waiting for our room keys, I heard Emily shouting over “Night Sam and lovely to meet you Nat, we must have a catch-up tomorrow if you're free” I smiled and waved I looked forward to speaking with her again.

Colin her husband was talking to Sabino behind, I overheard Sabino saying “I do not need this distraction, it will be dangerous, I cannot let myself get involved”

I looked over and again he stared back at me, only this time he looked a little embarrassed and said “Oh f**k” Colin laughed, and responded “Welcome to the world of new temptations”

Sabino's point of view

As I looked up and saw her standing there, she was a vision of perfect beauty. Her slim figure in that tight red dress showed off every perfect curve. Her breasts were outstanding and just thinking of her gave me a tingling that cried out for release. Her long brown hair and natural beauty were beyond compare to any woman I had ever seen, yet she was unassuming, she had no clue how just one look would drive any man wild. Why was she even here, who was she, a girl I did not know existed before this evening, yet now I knew she could be the death of me. Unlike many of my fellow riders, I had taken many steps to avoid female distractions, to be the best of the best you needed 100 % focus on your riding and training. I had noted many times how riders had lost focus, or concentration leading to crashes or loss of form when they had the outside trappings of female attention. I was more determined than ever to not let that happen, especially not for a young English girl who I couldn’t even remember her name. When she glanced at me, I could see the confusion in her eyes, that she did not understand why I had been so rude.

It would have been easier to forget her, had she been another ‘racer chaser’ or Paddock Girl, but from what Emily had said, she had no clue who anyone was, and had only watched one race in her life, a race we all chose to forget, as to dwell on any riders mortality, was to dwell on your own, and I needed not to have fear. I had to push faster and faster, being afraid or distracted of any kind can result in serious injury spoiling a season, or worse, it can cost you your very life. The last thing I need right now is that glorious girl in my life, l needed to leave this hotel if she is staying here.

Thankfully, she had gone up the stairs so for now I was able to concentrate on forgetting she exists.

I turned to Carlos my chief mechanic, and best friend, “Thank f**k she has gone! can you see if we can move hotels tomorrow?” Carlos nodded, “It may be difficult Sab, but yeah I will see you in the morning” I knew he would try his best, for me. But Barcelona was very busy, with tourists and racing fans descending on the city. I could return home till the motorhome arrived at the track on Thursday however that was days away, and with various appointments for my shoulder, fitness tests and the filming for the TV build-up here in the city, travelling the 140 Kilometre trip home each day was not practical for my pre-race preparations.

I had been unable to hide my anger as Adamo had put his arm around her beautiful shoulders, something Carlos had instantly noted. He was so in tune with my every mood, it was part of his job, to know his rider’s innermost thoughts before the rider knew himself. What I didn’t realise is that my competitors had noticed as well, I did not like to show weakness of any kind. With just a few seconds meaning the difference between glory and back of the pack, any information they could glean on or off the track to beat me gave them an advantage. Colin was my teammate; he had noted my reaction and had asked what the issue was. I reluctantly told him I found her attractive, but that I had no time for any such concerns. I am sure she had heard me say about not needing the distractions in the hotel foyer, and I was sure she knew I was talking about her. Something in her eyes made me feel that I had betrayed her, a girl I did not know, a girl whose name I was choosing not to remember. However now as my teammate and competitor he had this information and given Emily had taken a liking to the girl, I knew that this could be used as a small weapon to c***k my armour.

As I climbed into my king-size bed, in the ostentatious penthouse suite, which was specifically chosen not for luxury or prestige but only for the size practicality of having so many team members, physios, and doctors I needed to help keep me on top form. I suddenly felt alone, my mind drifting to the shape of her body, her smile, her eyes, and the look of confusion she had given me, my body instinctively reacted at the thought of her; I turned on my front causing the metal plate in my newly repaired collarbone to ache, the pain felt good, a reminder of how a loss of focus could hurt, and was more effective than a cold shower to weaken my lustful needs.

The next morning, I awoke as I opened the long drapes the sun shone through the window, it was a beautiful day. I wondered if I should have breakfast in my room alone, however, it was important for the whole team to eat together. The bonding of a team was as important as hitting the perfect apex, to build up trust and to have a bond as close as family was crucial in finding even just a hundredth of a second on the track. I was the Pilot of the motorbike, but without my team of mechanics I could never achieve the greatness I needed to keep on winning championships, I quickly showered and as I soaped my body I thought of her, that she would soap me down one day, again my lustful desires distracted me, even just a brief thought of her excited me so much, it was more than a small distraction. Thankfully I heard the door open Carlos shouted “Ola” I finished off and got into my knee-length black shorts with the team t-shirt which was Black white and Purple with the sponsor logo on the back.

“Ola Carlos,” I said as I walked into the sitting room, Carlos looked at me, “You look tired Sab, did you sleep okay?” he questioned, I did not want to answer that my sleep had been of her and that the dreams had distracted me. I nodded trying not to give anything away.

“I have been calling other hotels, I am sorry, but we will have to stay here at least one more night, will that be okay? “Carlos looked concerned as he told me. This was an annoyance, how could I not think of this girl, if she was staying in the same f*****g hotel! As if he knew my inner thoughts, Carlos started to speak about the doctor’s appointments today and offered that we eat in my penthouse suite this evening, to avoid any outside distractions. I was grateful for his suggestions, but something inside my head nagged that I needed to see her again, whether I wanted to or not. I pushed that thought aside and asked about the new setup for the bike.

“We have made some adjustments on the chassis Sab, you will need to see what the feeling is like on Friday during FP1, hopefully, it will help with the chatter you get on the straights” I nodded, talking about the bike and the weekend ahead helped to refocus my mind to the most important job of winning my home race on Sunday.

Carlos and I left my room, my mind was now completely focused on the task at hand, and I was looking forward to meeting up with my team at breakfast. We headed for the elevator chatting about the new rules that were being introduced this race regarding penalty points and how they could impact the starting grid positions should you get caught out. The Elevator stopped at the fifth floor, and as the doors opened all my hard work to forget vanished. She stood before me, dressed in a royal blue swimsuit with a white pair of shorts, and a see-through white top over her swimwear obviously to try and protect her modesty, It failed, making her even more attractive. I sucked in the air audibly as I looked at her. My eyes met hers and I noticed a beautiful fleck of hazel in them, she had no make-up on, with her long hair in a ponytail. She took my breath away. I decided to smile and be polite, I did not want to see disappointment in those eyes ever again. As I went to greet her, she turned on her heel with her back to me, she was staring ahead at the closed elevator doors. My body reacted instantly to her presence, my hair standing on end. I started to breathe rapidly, I could not take my eyes off her. Carlos made a small cough in my direction, I looked at him and he shook his head at me, his unspoken words, spoke volumes he was willing me to look away, and to focus, not be distracted. I couldn’t help but feel that no matter what, I was going to remain distracted, and I had to find a way of dealing with this situation, and fast.