CHAPTER TWO: BAHRAIN
Sara
Melbourne was hot, but Bahrain’s a freakin’ frying pan. Heat rolls off the track in waves. Andy and Carl walk ahead in linen shirts from the Caliber summer catalogue. They could almost be twins from the back. It’s exactly the kind of panty-melting perfection the brand needs. I look left to Andy’s butt, right to Carl’s. It’s butt tennis, back and forth, back and forth. Hell, I could play all day.
I take a break from team duties to meet suppliers over lunch. Bahrain is a beautiful city, the architecture leaning towards the extreme and obtuse, a giant art gallery, culture mixing with futurism.
The funny thing is, I constantly have to stop my mind from wandering to thoughts of Andy. It’s stupid. He’s arrogant, a player. Those lines? I mean, who’d he pull those from? Barney Stinson?
They were kind of working for a moment there.
Yes, a moment—misguided and foolish. It takes more than a bit of swagger and a good suit to win me over, not that I’m ever going to wind up as a scribble in Fortes’s black book of sexual conquests. I’ve seen the kind of girls he goes through and I definitely do not want that badge of honor for my belt.
Back in the safety of the hotel, I take a long shower, let the water and a lone finger take care of my rampant libido. My last lover was a shady guy I met in a Chicago bar after too many rusty nails. Suffice to say, that didn’t end well.
Pity it wasn’t Andy.
I mentally slap myself for the thought. I look down at my fingers, still lingering over the juncture of my thighs. “And you guys… tsk, tsk.”
I’ve got bigger things to worry about than Andy’s ‘measurements’. There are press kits to compile, an email inbox heading for the quad digits and a wardrobe of clothes to assemble. No one said it would be easy. The jetlag was an unexpected pain in the ass, but so far things were going as well as could be hoped. This is what I’ve always wanted, to become the Carmen Sandiego of the fashion world. I thought keeping boys like Andy and Carl on a leash would be hard, but so far neither has made my life difficult. Carl, especially, is the epitome of a gentleman, which makes me question his air-headed choice of girlfriend. I mean, really, who dates a girl whose biggest hit is ‘My Ass, Your Ass’?
I towel my hair dry and open the wardrobe. The press conference before qualifying is two hours away.
“My darlings,” I tell the assembled wool and cotton, pleats and cuffs, “time to get to work”.
*
I bump into Steven on the way to Andy’s suite.
He smiles, eyeing my chest. I don’t think the guy knows my eyes are in my head. “Sara, how’s everything going?”
“Well.”
“Caliber’s happy?”
“They are.”
“The boys are behaving themselves?”
“Surprisingly, yes.”
Eyes up and… there we go. Yep, that is my face.
“Well, if you need any help, especially with Andy, you let me know and I’ll whip him into shape.”
Steven may be the Goodall Team Manager, but I can’t imagine he’d be able to whip anyone into submission, let alone Andy. Rumors were rife of the tension between the two of them last season. As early as this morning people were speculating on social media that Andy’s already shopping around for a new team.
I look past him, holding a pile of clothes. “Sorry, I’ve got to…”
Steven steps aside, eyes dropping again. “Sure, go through.”
I squeeze past him and make my way up to Andy’s suite on the top floor of the hotel. I don’t know how he managed the best room at The Domain. The thing has to be upwards of ten grand a night.
But I do know. His family’s rich from ranching and he’s rich from racing. He’s been around money his whole life.
I knock on the door.
His husky voice comes from beyond. “Enter,” a sultry summons.
I open the door and step in, fumbling and almost dropping the shirt and cap I brought for him to wear at the press conference.
I collect myself. “I’ve got some items here for—”
I stop midsentence as my eyes lift. Andy’s standing with his back to me, one hand against the glass that looks out over the bay and diplomatic area below, which is fine, except for the fact he is one-hundred-percent, shield-your-vagina naked.
He turns around and I drop everything.
There’s no missing that.
“Sara,” he smiles, “what a surprise”.
My cheeks are on fire as I turn around, hands sweeping behind myself on the carpet for the shirt and cap.
“Allow me.”
His voice is close, way too close. I sense him stopping beside me. I glance behind myself, enough to see he’s found a towel to wrap around his waist. Still, he’s crouched, the dark space between his legs daring me to look deeper.
Do not, Sara Elizabeth Young.
I stand. “I’m so sorry.”
A highly detailed image of his appendage/third arm flashes through my head. It’s going to be seared there for all time, fodder for my spank bank. Do girls even have spank banks?
He sits on the back of a sofa. “No need to apologize. I just got out of the shower.”
I keep looking down. “I see that, yes.”
I detect a hint of amusement in his voice. “Can I get you anything?”
How about a quickie?
I flick the devil on my shoulder away and hold out the clothes, my business cap firmly in place, doing my very best to ignore the sculpted, moist chest only feet away dotted with watery diamonds. He’s tatted up more than I expected, the ink faded with age. “I’m fine. I have clothes for the conference press, uh, press conference.” Get a grip, girl! “The cap’s really nice.”
What the hell, Sara? ‘The cap’s nice’? Really?
Andy takes the cap, trying it on, strands of wet, inky hair poking out the sides. “Yeah, it is.”
“Limited edition, calf leather. It tested really well amongst the 20-40s.”
Like he cares.
“I see.” He’s smirking, knows he’s got me backed into a wall here.
I’ve got to get out of this room before I either burn alive or suffocate on my own stupidity.
He holds the cap in his hand. “How much does it retail for?”
“Three-ninety-nine.”
“Jesus, dollars?”
I nod.
“And I thought the twenty bucks I paid for a Starter in high school was rich.”
Like you couldn’t afford it. “I suppose it is expensive in context, but our brand has a certain… reputation.”
He stands, tossing the cap to the sofa. The towel slides down just enough to show off the defined vee that makes my mouth water a little with the idea of tracing that indent with my tongue. “What about my reputation? You don’t think it will damage your brand?”
“I can’t speak for…” I don’t even know what to say. Each word is my head is punctuated with ‘Cock! Cock! Cock!’. I need another shower—freezing cold, stat.
I start to back away. “I’m just going to go.”
“Stay, let me say thanks for the cap.”
I turn and flee. “I’ve really got to—”
I close the door and press against the back of it.
My heart is flapping in my chest. I’m sweaty, and feel like there’s a cattle rod up my ass energizing my entire body.
I’m still coming down from whatever high it is as I pass Steven again at the end of the hallway. He’s leaning against the wall, phone to his ear. “Yes, one million,” he barks, hanging up.
He sees me and pockets the phone, guilty but for what I do not know. “Did you see Andy?”
“I did,” more of him than anticipated.
“Good. I let him know you were coming up.”
It sinks in. So Andy knew I was coming, and thus the cock stunt.
I smile with this knowledge. Two can tango, Andy Fortes. Two can tango.
*
The press conference goes well, Andy is his usual cheeky self and a great contrast to the vast emotional emptiness that is Carl Heinz. Business and Pleasure, as I’ve named them. You couldn’t find two men more polar opposites.
Under a clear sky Andy qualifies in pole position, Carl placing second. The one-two is great for Goodall and, by association, Caliber.
I watch the race from a corporate box high in the grandstands, the sandy, desolate expanse of the Bahrain circuit stretching out before us. The crowd is thin, mostly men. In many parts of the track it’s a ghost town, all show and no substance, another grand structure in the middle of the desert for nothing other than to prove a point.
Race-wise, it’s a re-run of Melbourne. Andy wins easily, Carl unable to close the gap. The people in the box around me seem excited if only because a win by Goodall is a win for their various brands. And I’m right there with them. Just a month with the combination of Andy and Carl has done wonders for our younger female demographic. It’s the kind of tense, alpha rivalry that ladies eat up. Throw in a half-peeled race suit, a spot of grease, and our stock will fly off the shelves.
The image of Andy greased up flickers in the back of my mind, his suit stripped away completely and… Jesus, get a grip, Sara.
I ignore the flicker of excitement between my legs and lift up the binoculars, spying Andy emerging from the cockpit of his car fist-pumping the air. In the background Carl watches on. Normally, he’s the picture of calm, but something’s changed. Two second places in a row have turned his expression sour. He’s not upset, not disappointed.
He’s jealous.
I leave the box and find my way back to the hotel. The post-race party awaits and with it a chance to get the mighty Andy Fortes back.
*
We’re at an actual palace, a swimming pool bigger than a football field lit sky blue outside, the lights of Bahrain twinkling in the distance.
It’s an odd mix for a party. Men in traditional Arab dress flirt with scantily clad grid and promo girls while western men in suits do the same, the few women here for business, like myself, are cast into the corners, forgotten.
“Relax.”
I spin and find Andy standing before me. I resist the urge to tell him he looks good, because he does, biting my lip. “Congratulations on the win.”
He shrugs it off. “Just another day in the office.”
“Some office.”
“It doesn’t even have a coffee machine.”
“You don’t strike me as a coffee drinker.”
“No?”
“Espresso, maybe.”
He looks me up and down, eyes lingering longer than they should on my hips. “Short and strong, you mean?”
It’s true I’m a good foot—nearly two—shorter than him. “Bitter,” I retort.
He laughs. “You think I’m bitter?”
“I was talking about coffee.”
He nods, stepping closer. “So was I, but I prefer my shots with liquor in them, if you know what I mean.”
His response makes me want to roll my eyes, but the way he says it still makes my nipples pebble under the magenta satin of my dress. “Does this sort of shameless flirting always work for you?”
He doesn’t pause for even a second to think. “It does.”
“And you think it will work on me?”
Curious. “No.”
“Then why try?”
“You only need to look at the way I drive to know everything. You want to get to know me, the real me? Watch the race tomorrow.”
“When did I say I wanted to get to know you, real or not?”
He winks. “You didn’t.”
He evaporates into the mix of the party. I was hoping to one-up him with brains, but yet again it feels like I’ve lost somehow.
It’s air-conditioned in here, but I’m feeling flustered. I take a seat next to a large marble statue of a puma and watch the party unfold.
“May I?”
I look up to find a young sheik gesturing to the chair beside me. He’s handsome in an exotic way, a faint hint of star anise tickles my nose as he sits.
He offers his hand. “Prince Ali Waddya Al’Khalifh.”
I take his hand. “Sara,” I reply, simply.
A flicker of amusement passes over his face. “Quite a mouthful, I know, but please, just Ali.”
“You’re a fan of Formula One, Ali?”
He holds me with obsidian eyes. “Of course. What man doesn’t like fast cars and beautiful women?”
I’ve travelled to the UAE before, met men like Ali. Like their Bugattis, women are prizes to be acquired. Still, I play along. “What do you drive?”
He waves it off. “I have many cars, one for every occasion.”
“A favorite, perhaps?”
He runs his fingers lightly over my arm. “I don’t play favorites, sorry.”
I pull my arm away. “I’m afraid you might have the wrong impression.” He probably thinks I’m one of the many pay-for-play Caucasian girls getting around the party, though perhaps better dressed.
He takes his hand back, reaching into his robes. “My mistake.” Here, he hands over a card with nothing but a phone number on it. “If you change your mind.”
He nods and stands, drifting back into the heart of the party under a giant chandelier.
Ew.
I spot Andy near the back of the room beside an alcove. He’s speaking to a man but doesn’t seem particularly engaged, as if he’s simply going through the motions. He does look good. I’ll give him that. The measurements were right, a touch out on the hips perhaps, but close enough. I noticed in Melbourne how the navy in the suit brought out the blue in his eyes, but the slate number he’s wearing tonight from our latest collection casts him in an entirely different light. He looks resolute, dark—a man not to be messed with.
You’d so go there. Why are you even denying it?
I would. Who wouldn’t? It’s like the guy was crafted by Michelangelo, stony chest and arms to match, a jawline so sharp you could cut diamonds with it, azure eyes deeper than the ocean. Cliché, maybe, but I could use one right now, anything to get off, but that’s the problem. I’ve worked too hard for this job for a one-night stand to screw everything up, and that’s all it would be. No long-term relationships, no respect for others—Andy Fortes is the playboy the world wants him to be. I’m not about to become part of his lore.
A woman in a striking strapless turquoise dress takes his arm and together they move deeper into the alcove.
Don’t get dragged into the politics. Don’t get dragged into the politics. I can’t help it. I stand and shift for a better look, but my path is blocked.
I see him turn on her, one hand next to her head. It’s hard to tell, but the conversation seems animated.
Another sheik approaches, smiling. I escape through the center of the crowd and place myself on the wall beside the alcove, moving so I can better hear the conversation between Andy and this mystery woman. I don’t even know why I care, truthfully. I’m not one to be swept up in gossip. Still, I crane my head out a little and listen.
Andy’s keeping his voice low, but I can make it out. “What the fuck are you even doing here, Stacey?”
“Working,” comes the slick reply.
Andy scoffs. “I bet you are.”
“Look, I’m sorry about the article. It was a mistake.”
“You made me look like a fool, Stacey. How did you say I was in bed? What was the phrase?”
“They wrote that.”
“But you gave them the story, right?”
“Like I said, a mistake.”
“You made me look like a fucking idiot.”
The woman waits before replying. “Andy, forget what I said last year, forget about the article.”
Andy’s voice strains, the anger getting to him. “Forget about it? Do you know the damage that one fucking article caused to my reputation? And what, because I rejected you? Because you needed some quick cash?”
She slurs out her words, practically fucks him with them. “One night wasn’t enough, baby. I wanted more then and I want more now. That’s what I wanted to tell you. Whatever you want, I’ll do it. Just tell me.”
No reply from Andy.
She lowers her voice. “Are you telling me you didn’t enjoy it, that you didn’t like my lips around your cock?”
I almost vomit on my Stuey Weitzmans.
“It was one night, Stacey.”
“I’ll blow you right here if you want.”
“Stacey,” Andy’s growing impatient, “I’m leaving”.
Her tone changes. “You’re a fucking asshole, you know that?”
“Goodbye, Stacey.”
“I’ll tell them you raped me.”
I stiffen. I’m close to kicking this girl’s ass all by myself if she thinks that’s going to win him over using those guerilla tactics.
“Go right the fuck ahead.” Andy storms out of the alcove clearly fuming. I press against the wall, make sure he can’t see me.
The woman, looking younger than she did across the room, emerges, shouting, “Andy! Andy!”
He ignores her and continues to walk through the crowd. A waiter offers him a flute of champagne, but he slaps the hand away, the glass shattering on the floor and a space opening up punctuated with short gasps.
I watch him disappear through the front doors pulling his jacket off.
The woman stops beside me. She looks sideways, up and down my body. For a second I think she’s going to bring out ‘What the hell are you looking at?’, but she simply snorts and walks off in the opposite direction.
I don’t really know what to make of it all. I expected drama to some degree, but damn. This is next level.
Guess that’s why they call it the circus.