The Royal Contract

Lance removed his helmet from his head, taking deep breaths to inhale the fresh air. Letting his hair fly with the wind as he cleared his mind.

“I only did my job,” Lance answered sarcastically, moving away from his car. But before he could get far, he turned to the crew. “I want the car ready to run in thirty minutes.”

He stepped quickly away from his team to return to his locker room to refresh before his next run. But he could feel that Rick was not yet through with him as he followed him inside.

He nodded to the other drivers who he passed by on his way, congratulating him for a good run. Some of them might be envious of him, while others might hope he would mess up someday.

“Are you sure that is a good idea?” Rick walked in front of him as he opened his locker to get a towel to dry the sweat on his face. Lance grabbed the bottled water Rick pushed in his hand, removing the cap in one twist, chugging half of its content. Still, he did not answer him right away, enjoying the water coursing down his body.

Then, he sat down on the bench in the middle of the lockers, trying to relax his body before his next run. On the other hand, Rick moved to his locker and leaned his big body on its door as he faced him.

.....

“What?” He looked up from his slumber. His face must be a picture of irritation, judging from the reaction on his friend’s face. But he did not wait for him to answer his question.

He could not stand to look at his friend, so he laid down on the long wooden bench, putting his arm across his face and pretending to rest his eyes.

“Is this something to do with that chic? That media lady that you brought here.” Rick continued talking even if he acted like he was not interested in listening to him.

“Did he ditch you, or did you dump her? But from the way you are acting. It might be the latter.” Rick answered with a snicker on his lips. “I hope you banged her good before it ended.”

He opened the bottled water he held in his other hand and drank a few gulps before staring at him again, trying to get a reaction from him.

From his stance, he implied that he was not leaving until he got to the bottom of the problem.

That was Rick. He would snoop into all his secrets, not content to only learn a few of them. He wanted whatever was bothering him out in the open because he never liked surprises. That was what made him great at his job.

“She dumped me.” Lance finally mumbled, still confused as to why. “Happy?” He knew that was uncalled for since his team captain was only looking after him.

“I would be happy if you were not acting like a devil was lighting your ass.” Rick chugged the rest of his water and threw the empty bottle into the canister on the corner.

It flew as if it would land in the middle, but it still bounced on the edge of the trash bin and landed on the floor. Rick did not care since someone else would pick it up. But his eyes focused on him as he waited for him to tell him more.

“We were doing ok. Except for the few minor hiccups, we seemed to be clicking.” He unhooked his arm from his face and sat again, facing his mentor. “I liked her, and she seemed to like me.”

He looked up momentarily at him before pushing his face on his palms, rubbing them to release his frustration.

“Then, what happened? I doubted that you did something that would offend her.” Rick knew him too well.

He was not a guy who would fool around or do anything intentionally to hurt a girl. But somehow, he still managed to do something to make her end what he thought was going so well.

He did not understand why.

Her reasons were so unreasonable.

Then, why did he run out of her apartment like his ass was on fire? Rick was right. The devil was on his tail and was about to burn him into hell.

“I think I did.” Because he realized he was not ready to answer her question.

That unreasonable question.

Why would she ask him that?

How could she ask him to give up his birthright? It was not as if he was giving up the throne, but it was a legacy that his family had handed down to him.

For what, for her.

Although he never saw his father eye to eye, still, he could not turn his back on him because of a girl. Could he?

But could he also give her up? Thinking about the woman who he turned his back on and left in her apartment.

Suddenly, he was concerned that he should have been more patient and taken the time to think this through. He should have asked more questions than just accepted the words that came out of her mouth.

“Well, I am not good at advising on a relationship. But one thing I know about it, you have to follow your heart.” Rick stated as he walked away to give him some time to deal with him alone.

He stood from his seat before his thirty-minute was up, walking towards the door, ready to make his next run. He strode to the pit stop to face his crew. He could see that his car was ready for another round.

“Guys, park the car. I am leaving.” He was still racing today, but not at the tracks but on the street.

He had to rectify what he messed up because he did not look at the big picture. He had to get to the bottom of this. He doubted that Eida would decide on something as big as this with just a whim.