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What I can’t get Mason to see is that his father should be proud of him merely for being the man he is. For accomplishing so much so quickly, for being a role model, for being a good human.
But I’m determined to make Mason realise that. And free him to embrace the man he already is—and can be—both on and off the track.
“Are you ready for this? The media will be waiting,” he says, interrupting my thoughts.
I stare straight ahead at the entrance to the paddock. The photographers are right on the other side of those turnstiles. They get right up in your face, capturing your arrival, and normally I’d be dealing with that as I entered the paddock with Caleb.
But because I’m off this weekend, Caleb has a handler from the communications team working with him today. Paloma will be the one facing the cameras with my brother.
Whilst I’m greeting the media for the first time as Mason’s girlfriend.
“I’m ready,” I say, squeezing his hand.
We reach the security area and put our credentials up to the scanners. I enter the paddock first, followed by Mason, who quickly reaches for my hand again. The photographers get to work, and questions are immediately shouted at us as we make our way to the motorhome.
“Mason! You’re with Catherine?”
“Catherine! Are you dating Mason?”
“When did this happen?”
“Has this been kept a secret?”
“What do your parents think, Catherine?”
“Mason, is it weird to date the boss’s daughter?”
We don’t respond. Instead, we let our joined hands do the talking for us. We’ve decided not to address our relationship with the media and let our actions speak for themselves. It’s worked for Isla and Caleb, and once the drama of me being a Collings and Mason being our number-one driver wears off, I think we’ll fall into the same existence that they have. There’s always an interest, but at some point, it will be old news.
But this morning? We are breaking news. All I can hear is clicking. All I can see is videographers walking backwards in front of us to capture footage of the newest scandalous couple in the paddock.
I know we’ll be all over social media very soon. And so will my custom CM T-shirt.
We reach the sanctuary of the motorhome, and Mason ushers me inside. “Christ, that was more stressful than Castle Corner,” he quips.
I chuckle at his exaggeration. Castle Corner, or turn eight, is one of the most dangerous spots on the Baku track because it’s so narrow. But then again, this whole city circuit is a challenging, high-stakes course where cars can go incredibly fast—and have little room for error.
Mason grabs a table next to one being shared by Caleb and Paloma. Isla is off shooting a breakfast feature in the city, and I’m not going to lie, I’m jealous she’s getting local coffee drinks and unique pastries to eat this morning.
“Hard launch complete?” Caleb asks as I sit down next to him.
“Yes,” I say. Then I look over at the pretty brunette sitting across from him. “Hello, Paloma. Thank you again for filling in for me today.”
“Oh, it’s my pleasure,” she says, and I see that her eyes are flicking over my shirt.
I sit down for a moment and pull out my phone. I did a bathroom selfie from the hotel this morning, and I have it in all my social media drafts, ready to go now that we’ve officially entered the paddock. I’m going to set this to live, then go get my breakfast.
Of course, my phone is still blowing up from Mason’s mum’s post this morning.
My fingers fly across my phone keyboard as I post everything. Everyone will see my T-shirt as part of my outfit of the day. Oh, I hope I’ll come back to a tonne of comments about it!
“All right, the posts are up,” I say to Mason, who is still scrolling through all the messages on his phone. “I’m going to get my breakfast.”
Lovi, one of our canteen waitresses, comes by and places a plate in front of Mason, as his nutritionist always has everything made in advance for him. Then she puts a cup of coffee beside it.
“Thank you,” he tells her.
“Of course. Do you need anything else?” she asks.
