All Chapters of THE F1 CAPTAIN'S FORBIDDEN TUTOR : Chapter 11 - Chapter 17

Lillian:Before I could respond, Caleb walked back into the living room, carrying three glasses of water on a pretty ceramic tray."Food will be here in twenty minutes," Caleb announced, setting the glasses down on the table. Wait.Food?!My stomach sank.I had completely forgotten one very important detail. If dinner arrived, there was a good chance the storm would keep getting worse and if the storm didn't let up...I might be stuck here all night.My eyes slowly lifted.Drake was already looking at me.Caleb took the seat right next to me, "So, Lilian, now that my first subject test is over, what are your plans for the weekend?""I have a violin recital at the conservatory on Sunday afternoon," I explained, taking a small sip of water. "It is just a small performance for the department heads.""I will be there," Caleb offered instantly, looking directly at me. "I want to hear you play an actual piece instead of basic scale exercises."I blinked, surprised by the sudden invitation.

Drake"I know. Sleep well, Lilian. Clothes have been placed in the closet for you." Without another word, I turned around, walked out of the room, and closed the doors behind me.If I had stayed there any longer…•••••••••••••••A week ago:The telemetry screen on the monitor read three-tenths of a second slower on Sector Two.I didn't move my eyes from the digital line. The red trail belonged to Griffin. The blue trail was mine. Sector Two was a long right-hand turn at the track in Monza, the kind of corner where you either trust the force or you lift off the throttle and hand the lap time to the opponent on a silver platter.Well, I didn't lift and I would never lift. But Griffin was taking a tricky angle, cutting across the strips with an aggression that was going to tear his front tires to shreds before Lap Fifteen."He's pushing the compound too hard," Marcus, my chief engineer, said over my left shoulder. He pointed a grease-stained finger at the screen. "Griffin knows he can't

Drake:The music echoed through the empty house. It was clean, emotional, and entirely uncontrolled... everything I spent my life avoiding. My hand tightened over the railing until my knuckles went white.No. I shouldn't entertain such thoughts.I remembered the way she had spilled her drink down her dress at the fundraiser, looking at me with absolute fury instead of apologizing. Then there was the backstage hallway. The way her skin had burned under my fingers when I brushed her hair away from her face.My jaw tightened.She was a distraction. A dangerous, unnecessary complication during a season where I needed total focus to keep Griffin from taking the championship.That should have been enough.It wasn't and the realization irritated me more than it should have.The rain outside the penthouse suite didn't stop. It battered the double-paned glass with a relentless downpour, turning the city into something else. I stood by the table and poured myself a drink.Behind me, the double

Drake:"I know," I said. "He was looking at his pad."Immediately, Lillian let out a short, bitter sound. "I knew it. You don't have to say it like that.""Like what?""Like I'm pathetic.""You aren't pathetic," I said, leaning forward slightly. "You're just inefficient. You waste time hoping people will hand you things you ought to demand. I see it in the way you work.”I waited to see her reaction. Unfortunately, she didn't look impressed. "Well, not everyone operates like you, Drake Sterling," she retorted resentfully.I scoffed. She was right. Not everyone took charge when needed. I was one of the few in the entire world. She better respect-“Listen to me, you jerk. Some people wait for things to happen naturally, while some people care about whether the other person actually wants them around.""And how is that working for you?"Lillian flinched. The reaction was tiny… but I caught it."Stop," she whispered shakily."Why?" I asked, pushing off the desk. I walked around the mahog