Testing is all over social media and the word on the street is that I’m set up to win the championship again. To be fair, our car did outperform the rest, but not by the wide margin the press would have the public believe. There’s also still way too much time before the start of the season for our competitors to play catch up.

However, on the upside, I am all over the media. My profile rating is the highest it has ever been and requests for me to make audience appearances are sky rocketing. If I capitalize on the next few weeks before the start of the racing period, I should be able to earn enough to cover Daisy’s proposal.

I’m riding high, but I should have known better than to believe my own hype.

“Elliott, have you seen this?” We’re propped up in bed, checking our phones before we start our day and Kyle sounds less relaxed than he was thirty seconds before.

“Huh?” I reach for the screen Kyle has angled toward me. “What’s this?”

Instead of answering me, Kyle waits for me to absorb the video.

“Shit! I’d better phone Jessie.”

Kyle nods. He’s sitting more upright now. “He must have forwarded the footage on before we got hold of his phone.”

“Fuck.” I ball my fists and hit them against my head. “I thought this was dealt with.”

“Clearly, fucking not.”

I make the call, ready to fess up to Jessie, but she’s already seen the home movie of Kyle and me in the toilet.

“It’s not ideal Elliott. Your popularity rating has plummeted overnight. But, at least it's your partner you've been caught with. There's always a bright side.”

“He disappeared; I hoped we’d heard the last of this,” I repeat my thought from earlier.

“Yeah, but these types are slime balls. They wait in the wings until you’re top of the media popularity polls and then hit you when it hurts the most.”

“What are my options?” I ask, placing her on loudspeaker so Kyle can also hear.

“You don’t have many. You can hide, or come out fighting. Be seen with Kyle and we’ll release statements that you’re in love lalala and try to turn this around. But, you know the act of shagging in a bathroom is illegal in the UK even if it is with your partner. It doesn’t look great.”

I turn to Kyle. “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t know. Do I need to decide now?” Kyle asks.

“Ideally, yes, we have to stamp this coverage out ASAP,” Jessie replies.

There’s a moment of hesitation where we both consider our options. “I don’t think we’ve done anything wrong,” I say in the end. “Let’s face it, we’re both consenting adults, we live together, and we’re in love. It could be a lot worse. I don’t mind coming out fighting.”

“But, if we do that, you’ll have to answer for your illegal actions,” Jessie warns.

“This is why it’s always good to keep your nose clean, Elliott. I’m so pleased you didn’t go ahead with Daisy’s investment. Imagine how this would look then.”

The bottom falls out of my stomach and sweat that wasn’t there a second ago now prickles between my shoulder blades. I pull at my collar as the room closes in on me.

I’ve not gotten around to telling him yet that I said yes to Daisy. It hasn't been the right time. We’ve just been so busy with work, and his shift patterns have been all over the place,. It’s just not been convenient.