Driven by Ambition, page 24
“Yes, you’ll keep me warm.” Freddy burrowed up against him and the roar of desire was tempered by the fact that he was in his parent’s house.
“God, I feel like a teenager, sneaking around.”
Freddy laughed. “It does have the feel to it, especially with the posters of cars all over the walls.”
“Ergh.” Jaxxon plucked Freddy’s hands off his waist and got out of bed to turn off the light, then slid back inside. The dark of night was softened by the sole street-light outside his window. Artificial yellow light snuck between the edges of the old curtains and the window frame, casting a warm glow over everything.
“This is nice.” Freddy stroked his hands all down Jaxxon’s side, then squeezed his hip. He growled under his breath.
“We can’t.”
“Oh?”
“Aside from the logistics on this small bed, this is my parent’s house and the walls are quite thin.”
Freddy reached up and placed his palm gently over Jaxxon’s mouth and whispered, “then we will have to be very quiet.”
Desire roared to life, threading in his veins, and centred in his cock. The pressure of Freddy’s hand on his lips added to the sense of rebellion at doing this with Freddy in his parent’s house. He was an adult. His parents adored and accepted Freddy. Logically, he wasn’t getting away with anything—and didn’t need his parent’s permission either—but his body had already decided that it was hotter to let Freddy keep him quiet in case someone overheard them.
“We wouldn’t want your wonderful parents to think that I’m taking advantage of their son.” Freddy’s whisper sent a shiver across his skin, and he gasped as Freddy dragged his fingernails down Jaxxon’s chest. Suddenly his lungs felt airless, and he sucked in a breath but that only pulled Freddy’s palm tighter against his mouth.
“Shhh.”
He licked Freddy’s palm, loving the way his nostrils flared as he tried not to make any noise either. Freddy responded by curling his fingers around Jaxxon’s hard cock and stroking. Too lightly. Jaxxon wanted more and he shifted his hips. Freddy tightened his grip, then slid his thumb over the end of Jaxxon’s cock. He hissed.
“Quiet.” And then Freddy shifted his other hand away from Jaxxon’s mouth, leaving him free to make noise, making his choice to stay quiet. Freddy slid his hand down his throat, drawing out ragged breaths from Jaxxon, and just as he wasn’t sure he could hold back a growl, Freddy kissed him. Jaxxon grabbed onto Freddy, letting his hands do the talking that he couldn’t, needing to touch every piece of him. They rolled together into the middle of the tiny bed, with Freddy covering Jaxxon. Not being able to make noise made it feel more frantic, and he poured every pent-up moan into their kiss until he was going to explode with the need to cry out. The streetlight touched Freddy’s brown hair with a golden glow, like gold paint on dark polished wood.
“Come for me.” Freddy used his knees to create enough space between them for his hand, holding their hard cocks together. It was dry and too rough. He needed relief not this desperate delicious agony. He spat in his hand, and pushed Freddy’s hand out of the way, using the wetness to make it more comfortable for them both. Freddy covered his hand with his own and he had to pinch his lips together to strangle the groan that wanted to escape.
“Shh. You can come quietly.”
A desperate little laugh escaped. Freddy couldn’t even stop talking when he was trying to be silent.
“I can, but can you?” He wasn’t certain he could, but he knew Freddy would thrive with the competition. Sure enough, Freddy buried his face against Jaxxon’s neck and let out of breathy cry, muffled by Jaxxon’s skin, as he came. It was all it took for Jaxxon to follow, his body shaking. Stars shone behind his eyes with the joint pressure of release while withholding any sound. His throat felt full of air and he tried to ease it slowly, closing his eyes to focus on the task.
“Do you think they heard?” Freddy asked, after a while.
He opened his eyes to see Freddy’s cheeky grin and glowing expression. “I hope not, but probably.”
“Did you lose your virginity in this bed?”
“Freddy.”
Freddy’s grin grew. “I love it when you say my name like that.”
The happy buzz in his ears got a little louder. “Did you just ask me that question, so I’d say your name with reproach?”
“Yes.”
“Freddy.” He was rewarded with a kiss. A kiss that tasted like Freddy and home and everything he had ever have wanted and had been afraid to hope for. He’d assumed he’d never find someone as obsessed with his work as him, that his relationships would forever be doomed to fail because he was always travelling, always thinking about work, and now he had Freddy who was equally as obsessed with racing as him.
“Let me clean us up.” Freddy shifted off him and he missed his weight.
“Okay. But come right back.” He shifted the sheet, so it didn’t land in any of the mess; cum painted on his stomach, and when Freddy wiped him clean with a soft dry piece of cloth he let his eyes close slowly. Freddy slid back onto the bed, curled up against him and the possibility of doing this forever with Freddy was Jaxxon’s final happy thought before he drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 27
Freddy wanted the summer break to go on forever. He’d gone online and applied for his provisional driver’s licence and now just had to sit the tests for the next stage, but he was allowed to do driving practice immediately, so he’d spent a week helping out in the bakery. When he’d put a message on his social media that he’d be driving the delivery van for a week, they’d been inundated with orders, which resulted in Jaxxon directing him around Liverpool as he delivered baked goods to people and let them take photos of him, always making sure the van’s logo was in the background. What was the point of having millions of followers online if he didn’t use it for helping the people who’d so easily included him in their family?
“What time is our flight?” Jaxxon had to be back at Gamble Racing headquarters tomorrow.
“The chopper will be ready in an hour.” They stood in Jaxxon’s bedroom, packing up after an amazing lunch with Jaxxon’s parents. He’d wanted to take them out for lunch today, as a thank you for their hospitality this week, and they’d gone to a brilliant restaurant. Jaxxon kissed him on the forehead, and together they gathered up their stuff before walking down the steps to the van. Freddy had wanted to book a ride share, and not take up more of Jack and Rosie’s time, but Jack had declared that he could take them in his van.
“What took you both so long?”
“I think they were kissing again. Look, our Freddy is all flushed.”
Freddy wanted to bottle up Rosie’s laugh and take it with him. “Thank you for having me this week. I’ve had the best time.”
“My sons are welcome anytime.” Rosie wrapped him in a hug and he breathed in deep. She was so warm and motherly and he was so grateful that this could be his family now that it took him a few minutes to realise that she’d used a plural.
“Sons?”
“Yes. Jaxxon obviously loves you and I can see why. You are my son too, for as long as you want to be.”
His chest was going to burst. “Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
Jaxxon joined their hug, squishing Freddy between him and his mother. “It’s true. I do love you, Freddy.”
He choked on his tongue. “Why did you have to declare that now? In the middle of the street?” In front of Jaxxon’s parents. Freddy could hardly respond in the way he desperately wanted to with Jaxxon’s parents watching.
“I’m not taking it back.”
He wriggled out of their hug. “Don’t you dare. I love you too Jaxxon and your incredible family and as soon as we get somewhere private, I’m going to show you exactly how much.” He refused to look at Rosie, partly wanting to suck that comment right back into his head where it belonged, and partly content with blurting out his feelings in an oddly sexual way for this situation.
Jaxxon winked. “Promises.”
“Boys.” Jack cleared his throat. “Come on, you’ll miss your flight.”
“Thanks, Papa. Ma, I’ll text as soon as we land.”
After a few more hugs from Rosie, they finally got into the van. Freddy settled into the seat, letting the happy buzz float around him, like that one time Nanny Belle had cleaned up his knees when he’d fallen off his bike and made him feel like someone cared about him. Jaxxon’s family gave him that same feeling and they weren’t even being paid to do it. It just was, which made it even better.
It was only mid-afternoon when they landed at the Gamble Racing headquarters. The last time Freddy had been here was late at night last winter. Lucien Grenville had collected him from the hangar, and he’d walked into absolute chaos to discover that Lucien had punched Gamble Racing’s old engineer’s son, because he’d been sabotaging their cars. Curiosity had ruled that night, which was all journalistic instinct and chasing down a story. It couldn’t be more different to today, where he wanted to go home with Jaxxon and share this incredible sense of belonging with him. He wanted to belong to Jaxxon. He glanced over at Jaxxon, who was staring out across the test track at the massive workshop.
“You aren’t going in there.” Freddy nudged Jaxxon. The helicopter took off again, temporarily filling the air with noise.
When it faded, Jaxxon turned to him with a frown. “Work?”
“No work until tomorrow. I have plans for you.”
Jaxxon kissed him on the cheek. “Oh no. I already made plans for tonight.”
“You did?” He held his breath.
“Yes. I planned to take my boyfriend to dinner, then show him exactly how much I love him.”
Laughter bubbled out of him, with a tiny bit of relief. After a week with Jaxxon’s family, he ought to have known he was teasing.
“Hey. You stole my plan.” He reached out and held Jaxxon’s hand as they walked down the driveway from the hangar.
“Where are you taking me? I thought I said no work tonight.”
“My car is parked outside the workshop. I travelled with the team to Hungary from here.”
“In a truck?”
“Yes. With the logistics team.”
“Do you do that often?”
Jaxxon blew out a noisy breath and Freddy curled his little finger around Jaxxon’s finger. “Yes.”
“Because of the sabotage issue?”
“Yes and no. Not because I think it will happen again. I try to spend time with all the different parts of the team as often as I can. It helps me understand their jobs and discover any potential problems before they arise. We have around six hundred people on the staff here at Gamble Racing.”
“It’s a lot to keep track of.”
“Yes. The sabotage was a unique problem; I honestly don’t think we’ll encounter something like that again.” It went unsaid that the sabotage had been caused by someone closely connected to Socrates, whose loyalty was legendary, but sometimes had consequences.
He tightened his grip on Jaxxon’s hand, threading his fingers between Jaxxon’s. “You are allowed to criticise Socrates.”
“It’s not about that at all. The sabotage wasn’t the fault of his leadership; Reggie’s son made his own poor decisions. It’s more that Socrates and I have different strengths as leaders and different styles, and I didn’t mean to criticise him when I said that I spend time with all the members of our team.”
“Socrates is certainly a unique person.”
Jaxxon shook his head. “Very true.” He breathed out heavily and Freddy wanted to reassure him, but he didn’t have time as Jaxxon continued.
“I’ve been thrown into this role without as much preparation as I planned. I thought I’d be race engineer for a couple more seasons, then perhaps another management role, before becoming Team Principal. Now I have to learn the business quickly, and by spending time with each division, it helps me get up to speed faster.”
“Your promotion certainly surprised everyone in the paddock.” It had come out of nowhere and he recalled how he’d struggled to write the profile on Jaxxon.
“It couldn’t be helped. No one could have predicted that Socrates would have a stroke, or why.”
“In the context, it made sense that he would promote someone internal.”
“Yes. I’m not complaining about it; it’s just been a huge learning curve. Lately Socrates has tended to promote people slightly before they are ready... Victor started the trend.”
“Do you think it’s a bit of a hangover from clinging onto Reggie for too long?” Freddy admired Socrates loyalty to his old engineer but it hadn’t been good for the team and the whole paddock had been speculating about when Reggie would get replaced for a few years.
“Perhaps. I think Socrates believes in people’s potential, and his loyalty to Reggie was about that more than clinging to the past.”
Freddy wanted to know more but his phone rang. “Hold that thought. It’s Georgia.” He answered the phone.
“Freddy. Oh my God. Um, first a trigger warning, but you need to look at the photo I’ve just emailed you.”
“Okay?” What the hell kind of photo was Georgia sending him if it needed a trigger warning.
“Now. Put me on speaker and do it now.”
He swallowed and hit the button, holding his phone out so Jaxxon could hear too. “Hold up. What’s the trigger warning?”
“It’s a photo of Chester.”
“Why do should I care about that?” He didn’t want to see that smug face.
Georgia clicked her tongue. “This is important and that’s why I gave you the trigger warning. You don’t have to look at it. I can just tell you what I saw.”
“Why are you looking at photos of him anyway?”
“I check out his social media once a week to make sure he’s fulfilling the conditions of his restraining order.” Georgia doing her job with such competent focus on the details was why he employed her, and he breathed out slowly, rolling his shoulders to ease the sudden tension in them.
“And you saw something?”
“Yes. Take a look.”
Jaxxon frowned. “Why not just tell him?”
“Indulge me. Trust me. You want to see this for yourself. My description will not do it justice.”
“Fine.” He slid his thumb up to switch apps and had a look at his emails, opening the one from Georgia and clicking on the jpg attachment. The photo showed Chester standing in a nice room with white walls, grinning at the camera. He wore one of those Henley shirts that he favoured. Freddy shuddered and was about to growl at Georgia and ask why she was wasting her time when he spied ... His gasp whistled as he pointed at the background of the photo.
“Is that Socrates’ trophies on the cabinet behind him?”
“Yes.” Georgia’s enthusiasm rang clearly through the tinny speakers of the phone.
“Chester has Socrates’ trophies? And he just put them on his social media for everyone to see?”
Georgia cackled. “I imagine he forgot they were there. This is such a thirst photo.” He could hear her eyes rolling.
“Congratulations on finding the missing trophies.” He would never have suspected Chester, except... “Do you think he picked these because of me?”
“Yes. Absolutely. All three missing trophies have a connection to you, and I think he wanted you to pay him attention by trying to find them.”
“It makes sense. You were the presenter at our car reveal and Seb drives for your old team.” Jaxxon mimed slapping his forehead.
“What do we do now? Freddy fought the instinct to make it all go away—that was his privileged upbringing talking—and tried to quiet his breathing until he could help.
“Gamble Racing needs to take that image to the detective working the case.”
Freddy nodded and forwarded it to Jaxxon. “I’ve forwarded Georgia’s email to you.”
“Go get him, Freddy.”
“Thanks for this, Georgia. I really appreciate how you’ve always got my back.”
“It’s my job.”
“You know it’s more than that.”
“Yeah, but let’s not get too sappy until we have the trophies returned to their rightful owner.”
Freddy glanced over at Jaxxon who had one eyebrow raised. “That’s fair. We will get right on to it.”
“Good luck.” Georgia hung up.
“I think this will ruin our plans for dinner.” Freddy just wanted to hang out with Jaxxon with all the happy feelings of the last week.
“Don’t say that. Let’s duck into the workshop, sort this out, and then we will continue with our plans. Only one question remains.”
“What’s that?”
“Should I tell Socrates or wait until we have the trophies in our hands?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that I want to help fix this. If it’s really Chester continuing to target me by hurting the people around me, then I can’t keep paying other people, like Georgia, to keep sorting it out for me.”
Jaxxon spun Freddy around and hugged him. “It’s okay to ask for help when someone is stalking you.”
“I’m not just using my privilege to avoid dealing with it?” He knew Jaxxon would tell him the truth.
“There’s two pieces to that question. Yes, you have privilege in that you can afford to pay someone to help you. No, you aren’t avoiding dealing with it. You are looking after yourself.”
He rested his head on Jaxxon’s shoulder for a while before standing upright. “Thank you.”
“Now, let’s get this sorted quickly so we can go to dinner. I want you to spoil me.” Jaxxon kissed him on the forehead and all those good fluttery feelings of belonging returned. But first, they had some work to do...
Chapter 28
Two weeks later, Jaxxon parked his Jag outside his cottage in Syresthorpe and walked inside, breathing in deeply.
“Freddy. That smells amazing.” Like charred chilli and fresh tortillas and something a bit sweet too. His sweet tooth could always pick out those notes in anything.
