Everything Julien has built?—
“I am so sorry,” Hugo continues. “But I need to ask you to, um, minimize it.”
“Minimize it?”
“Yeah. If a reporter asks, maybe you could just laugh it off? Play it cool or something. You can say the Humongo thing and just… keep it contained.”
“Contained.”
Julien’s entire eRacing career that he built from the ground up without a single mention of his brother is one ‘Romeo and Juliet’ joke away from crumbling away in his hands.
Just laugh it off.
“Hey, I get it. I know. Again—I’m so,so, sorry. That’s why I stopped the penalty.” Hugo flips his glasses back down to his nose and forces a smile. “And now you have a pole position in Formation 1! That’s incredible! It has to be worth something.”
Worth something? Sure. Worth destroying the entire life Julien created outside his brother’s name? Less sure.
Still, there’s something that doesn’t add up. “What’s in it for Amir? Why did he back down? He hates Lorenzo.”
Hugo’s eyes widen for a blink before he schools his expression. “I discussed with him different, um, race strategies.”
Julien can read him too well. That’s why they never would’ve worked. “A benefit for McLean if I’m leading the race, you mean.”
“I just said something to shut down the investigation. That’s all. Whether it’s true or not is a completely different?—”
“Tell me.”
“I don’t think that’s really necess?—”
“Please, Hugo. Just say it.” This is so pathetic. They’re both adults. “Why is it better for McLean if I’m in the lead?”
Hugo exhales, his eyeline flitting away. “I told him if you’re in the lead, Thomas will defend for you. If he defends, the field bunches up. When the field bunches, McLean does better because we lose pace in the straights.”
And the only place to pass is in the straights. It has all the hallmarks of a Hugo strategy.
Julien nods. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yeah, whatever.” The damage is already done. “I’ll tell the reporters about Juliet and Humongo, so you don’t look like such a woman-hating piece of shit.”
Hugo visibly deflates with an exhale. “Fuck, thank you.”
“I won’t hold up the pack for you, though,” Julien warns. “And Thomas definitely won’t roll over and let me win. He loves me, sure, but not as much as racing.”
“Well, obviously.” Hugo scoffs and he finally sounds back to normal. “I mean, that was our problem too. I just needed something to tell Amir.”
Our problem.“Right.”
“Anyway, you might want to talk to Ferraro’s PR team. Julien might be some quiet and unassuming reserve driver, but Romeo is very open and honest about everything.”
“Noteverything.”
“He gave a guy a blowjob in Australia.” Hugo’s eyebrows raise, challenging him. “You should probably mention that to someone. People screen-record everything nowadays.”
“It was ahandjob, don’t be dramatic.” Fuck. That's gonna be an awkward conversation. “Thanks.”
Hugo hums in reply. “So you and Rafael seem rather close, huh?”
