Chapter 211
NUCA-
I could not believe Valentina was standing in front of me.
I knew I had been drunk when I told my mother the hotel details as well as my suite number.
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Drunk and stupid and still tasting Charlotte on my mouth. I had not expected the girl my mother kept pushing to just appear in my suite
unannounced, smiling like she had been invited into a life I had never offered her.
I saw Charlotte leave.
I did not get a good look at her face. I tried to stop her. Her name was already in my throat.
Valentina blocked the path and started talking.
Damn it.
Could she not tell by now that I had no interest in her?
She reminded me too much of my mother. Persistent. Blind to a closed door. Unable to take a single step back even when the room was screaming at her to leave.
“I know things back home were quite awkward between us because of your parents. Especially your mother.” She said it like confidence could rewrite everything that happened. “But it doesn’t have to be that way here. We are alone. It’s just the two of us. Your mother isn’t trying to force us together. Why can’t we maybe try and see if we can make this thing between us work?”
I looked at her like she was insane.
What thing between us?
There had never been a thing. I had never given her that impression. Not a look. Not a touch. Not a sentence she could reasonably twist into hope.
“In case you didn’t get the memo back home,” I said, “I have no interest in you, Valentina. I never did. I never will.”
She frowned. Then she stepped closer, her voice shifting into something she must have thought was seductive.
“I don’t mind having sex before marriage. Even though your mother is against it. I’m open to doing that with you. Here. The room is already empty and I know about your reputation and the needs you have. I can be whatever you need this week.”
Disgust hit me so fast it almost made me laugh.
Not heat. Not temptation. Just a cold, ugly turn in my stomach.
“I’m not interested in marrying you. I’m not interested in dating you. I’m not interested in having sex with
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you.” I kept my voice flat on purpose. “I’m trying not to be rude because you have feelings and I don’t want to hurt them. But you’re overstepping. Leave. Give up now. It doesn’t matter what my mother does. I am
going to be with you. I am never choosing you. Please understand that.”
Her face went tight.
I watched the moment she realized I was being honest. The exact second she understood she did not have a chance and never had.
She grabbed her purse and left without another word. I would be expecting a very angry call from my mother later. I did not care.
The door shut harder than it needed to.
I let out a breath that did nothing. Why did my mother have to send her here? And what the hell did Charlotte think after watching her walk in like she owned the suite?
I rushed out.
Hall first. Too empty. Then the lifts, jabbing the button like that would make the doors open faster.
Lobby after that.
I kept searching.
I had to find her and explain that I had not asked Valentina to come. That I had been drunk and weak and my mother had used it to her advantage. That Charlotte leaving that room after seeing Valentina enter was the last thing I wanted.
Then I saw her.
Charlotte.
My best friend.
Drinking.
Again.
And she wasn’t alone.
This time not with my brother.
She was seated next to Nico Shaw.
Of course it was another F1 driver.
The anger and jealousy took over so fast I stopped walking in the middle of the lobby like an idiot.
In that instant I understood something I had been lying to myself about.
Last time I had not gotten pissed because it was Marco. It apparently had not mattered that it was my brother.
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I was simply angry seeing her with any other man who was not me.
Marco. Nico. Anyone.
As long as it was another man, I was fucking pissed.
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She had her back half turned to the lobby, glass in her hand. The place was already packed. Race week always made hotel bars feel crowded and alive. Nico said something. She almost smiled.
Almost.
My hands curled into fists.
I did not like seeing her smile at other men. I did not like seeing her with other men, period. If that made me selfish and a lunatic, I did not care.
I had asked her to pretend we had not kissed. Pretend the talk about sex had never happened. Pretend my mouth had not been on her throat and my hand had not been between her legs.
I deserved the view I was getting.
She could have been upstairs. In that suite. Under me. Having the kind of rough, passionate, loud sex that would have left her unable to walk properly for days. Destructive. Hot. Messy. Ours.
Instead, because of me, she was here drinking with yet another man.
Nico had a bowl of popcorn in his hand.
I had no idea where he had gotten it. I did not care. He looked like a man watching a show he had paid for, fingers lazy in the bowl, eyes flicking from her face to the lifts like he already knew I was coming.
I crossed the bar.
People moved. I did not apologize.
“Charlotte.”
She looked up.
The almost smile died on her face immediately.
I almost winced.
Why would her smile die after seeing me? It was usually the other way around. I walked into rooms and she lit up like I had not spent years being an idiot. Now I got a flat mouth and eyes that had already decided I was the problem.
Nico leaned back, amused in a way I hated, and tipped the popcorn bowl toward himself like this was intermission.
“Vescari. You look like you lost something.”
“I need to talk to her.”
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Charlotte set her glass down too carefully. “Not here.”
When upstairs, Now.”
“I’m waiting for Blair.” She snapped it. Sharp. Tired. Hurt under the snap. “And Olivia.”
“You can wait after.”
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Nico whistled low and ate a piece of popcorn like we were the entertainment. “This is quite good. Are the two best friends actually fighting? Should I get a bigger bowl?”
I ignored him.
Looked only at her.
“I didn’t invite her. I told my mother where I was because I was drunk and stupid. I sent Valentina away. came to find you.”
Charlotte’s mouth stayed a flat line.
She did not believe me. I could see it. The same way I could see last night still sitting behind her eyes.
“You found me,” she said. “I’m having a drink with a friend. That’s allowed in the version where we pretend nothing happened.”
I stiffened.
The word pretend hit harder in public. Harder with Nico watching. Harder with her sitting next to a man who was not me and looking like she would rather stay there than come back upstairs.
“Am I missing something here?” Nico asked, delighted, popcorn halfway to his mouth.
“Because this is starting to feel like the part where the real drama begins.”
“Charlotte.” It came out as a growl. I did not bother softening it. “Come with me now before I make a
scene.”
Nico’s eyebrows went up. He looked between us, then popped another piece into his mouth, slow on
purpose.
“Oh, he’s going to make a scene,” he murmured to no one. “Olivia is going to be so annoyed she missed this.”
Then he mentioned something about a bet I did not give a fuck about.
Charlotte’s hand on her drink tightened.
I did not look away.
I was standing in a packed Barcelona bar, jealous enough to shake with rage, watching my best friend sit with another driver because I had been too much of a coward to keep her in the room.
“Now,” I said again.
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Nico smiled into his popcorn.
Charlotte did not stand.
Not yet.
The whole bar felt too small for the fact that I had asked her to pretend, and she was doing it with someone else.
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28 Fri, Sep 25 TF.
The Hockey Captain’s Unwanted Wife
Dex Morgan
Dex works to elevate each story with clean writing, emotional balance, and thoughtful flow for readers.