Commitment Collection 2- Ignition; Turbo Charged; Pole Position, page 19
part #4 of Commitment Series
Kyle
I’ve been officially in my position as number one mechanic at Judd Racing for two weeks when the gym is ready for opening. Elliott and I are taking one final walk-through with Florian before the official launch later in the day.
It has that new rubber smell, a bit like a new carpet, all pristine. “I wonder how long it will continue to smell this fresh?”
“Not too long if me and my team are doing our jobs right,” Florian grins, standing with his chest puffed out and his hands on his hips surveying the space.
“We did well,” I say. I say we because these last few weeks when the building was constructed and needed kitting out, the burden fell to Florian, as my hands were tied up with running the garage. We have all manner of free weights and machines.
“And here it is.” Florian begins walking again, guiding us over to the pièce de résistance.
“It’s an odd-looking contraption, isn’t it?” I mutter.
“It’s genius. Can I be the first to use it?” Elliot doesn’t wait for us to answer; he hops on the seat and works the leg weights. “I love how the position replicates a driving position, and we can set the resistance to tone those particular body parts that need additional attention.” He turns slightly pink in the face.
“I can see we still have some more work to do to get you race fit again, Elliott.”
“Hmm.”
I fill the silence that could turn awkward if Elliott has time to grow defensive. “I think this will be great for the driver academy, too. It’ll give the young kids more of a feel of what it’s like to handle a car. The computer programs they’re all using nowadays don’t do such a great job of demonstrating just how high the level of fitness needs to be.”
“Ah, here you guys are.” The glass door slams behind Jessie. “I was hoping I wasn’t going to have to look in the sauna.”
We chat about how great the place looks and do a fair amount of self-congratulating. It’s deserved: we’ve built something amazing, but this symbolizes the start for us, and no one in that room has missed it.
“What time is the press turning up?” Elliott asks.
“In two hours. Axel will meet their bus with me and then we’ll each look after half of the group. He’s been fully briefed on the party line. This will be a great first outing for him. It’s not too difficult, and he’ll feel like he’s contributing while having me here as backup. I hope you’re ready. They’ve got quite a taste of the party atmosphere that seems to follow your press events after the logging festival.”
An hour and a half later, and I’m all washed up and ready to meet and greet the press. We’ve closed down the factory for a few hours and invited the team along to enjoy the launch. Elliott has to make a speech.
“This isn’t going to be a long one, because I am actually not the one to thank for this amazing space in which you stand today. The truth is, I left this to my wonderful partner, Kyle.” He gestures to where I stand in the crowd.
I could slap him as the temperature of my face rises and then spreads to my neck. I’m burning up. The place erupts into cheers.
“He worked tirelessly on this project with Florian. Between the two of them they have a passion for fitness and understand that it’s these small things that make the difference between a team being good and a team winning championships. This space is big enough to accommodate everyone who works at Judd Racing. But space alone won’t win championships. That’s why we’ve recruited a team to train these team members so we’re giving the mechanical structure of the car the best possible. Please welcome Florian to the stage.”
Florian ambles up to the microphone as though speaking in front of a group of strangers is the most natural thing in the world. “Hello and thank you for coming.” His words sound soft with the lilt of his accent.
Another cheer.
“I don’t have much to add really, only that this place is meant to be used. Sure, it’s wonderful now, but it will be even more so when it stinks to high heaven and you’re desperate to bolt right out of the door. That’s when me and this team here,” he points to a row of five newly employed personal trainers, “are doing our jobs well. We will not be your friends, but we will always have your back.”
He bows and passes the mic back to El. “Now, Florian and his team will show you around the facility, and our wonderful drivers will demonstrate a little of what their training involves. Please ask any questions you may have, and Kyle and I will see you at the reception.”
As the group of journalists takes off after Florian, as individual elements of one moving mass, I find my place next to Elliott. We walk over to the reception area where we have drinks laid out.
“This was a good move, Kyle. I doubted you for a while, but you nailed it. Having a reception is great idea, too. You never know when we’ll need to bring in extra cash by allowing the local rich and famous to buy overpriced memberships. It seemed like an unnecessary waste when you first proposed the idea, but you were right. Plus, it works well for these types of occasions.”
“Hey, I got your message loud and clear, running a world class race team costs.” He nudges me while collecting a glass of champagne from the counter and takes a sip as we watch the bare-footed journalists exploring the swimming pool on the other side of the glass wall.
Elliottt
The rest of the day goes well. A little too well. We have trouble clearing a few of the hardcore reporters out, even when the bus is parked up outside, tooting its horn.
Eventually Axel manages to get them on board, brownie points to him and the charm he switched on with admirable ease. While he and Jessie escort them back to the railway station, I stand outside with Kyle and Florian, waving them on their merry way.
“Phew, they’re like a bunch of locusts descending,” Florian mutters. “Look at my lovely gym.”
“Yeah, when you said you wanted the place to be used, you weren’t thinking as a drinking den then?” Kyle collects a few stray glasses as he teases Florian, placing them back on the reception desk.
“No, quite the opposite.”
I smile. I love that he’s so passionate about this project and our plans in general. It’s important. “But hey, it was good. I think everyone got the message loud and clear that we’re putting the work in to be the best.”
Social media was lighting up while the journalists were still here, as they tweeted pics of them working out with drivers and swilling champagne. Some were even snapping away during my speech. But, it’s only when we’re back in the office that we have the chance to go through their posts in any kind of detail. Jessie will pull together a report later, but I’m always eager to see the tone myself. I’m dipping in and out as a new alert pops up while I work.
It’s really positive, and as the afternoon draws on, the posts become more detailed. There’s a lot of comment about how far we’re pushing the team and our technology forward in such a short time frame, how our investors are supportive of a long-term project and some fun pictures of the journalists trying their hand at the custom-made machine to test race day readiness seep out too.
And then I see the next post.
I jump out of my chair and I march right into Jessie’s office, not stopping to check who is in there with her. I just barge right on in.
“What is this?” I’m lit like a firecracker, shoving my screen under her nose. I don’t wait for her reply. “Have you read this post?” My fuse is well and truly lit and the sparks are sizzling. Jessie has no time to duck for cover, nor does Axel who is seated in front of her desk, pad in hand. I shake my phone again at her, and then at Axel, as though that is enough of an explanation for my sudden and out-of-character rage.
“We’re just talking about it now,” Jessie explains.
I am shaking. I haven’t felt an adrenaline rush like this since I was taken out by Brad, my team’s other driver, years ago. “You need to do more than talk about it. You need to find out who the fuck gave them this information.” I slam both hands on her desk, leaning over and panting. My brain isn’t processing thoughts properly, and words are just rampaging around, fighting to be released in any order. I take a step back, face them both with my hands on my hips and breathe.
The pair is silent until my raging ceases. It’s only then that Jessie tries again. “We want this like a hole in the head too. Don’t worry. We’re on it.”
Axel must wonder what on earth has plundered into the office, because he sits like a dumb mute watching the scene play out. But I don’t even see him. My focus is on Jessie, polished behind her desk. “Fix this, Jessie. I do not employ you so that the press can cover whatever the hell they like about us.”
“Elliott, we are on this. Axel and I were just chatting it through and trying to work out how they even got hold of this information. Once we find where it has come from, I’ll let you know. OK?”
“This had better not carry on. How do we know what else they’ve got their hands on? This is specifically why we didn’t want any of them in the main building yet. We don’t have our acts together, so we can’t manage their information feed if they see things lying around. We thought about that, we planned for it, so how did this happen? Someone must have told them, Jessie.”
“I agree. But we can’t achieve much by spending time shouting at each other. Go back to your office and let us deal with this. We’ll shout you as soon as we have any more information.”
She’s making sense, so in lieu of anything else to bluster about, I turn and walk towards the door, leaving them with an idle threat before finally walking out. “You better had.”
Kyle
Elliott is in a foul mood that night. There’s no satiating him with promises of favorite dinners or smooches in front of the TV. Not even sex is in the cards.
“I can’t believe it. We go all-out to provide state-of-the-art facilities for the team, and some little weasel goes and tells about how we’re frittering away shareholders’ money. I wouldn’t mind, but we’re living in a fucking RV so that we can be the main investors.”
He’s right. I can’t make this better. That whole press fiasco today cost a small arm and a leg in itself, but no one is berating the free champagne that made them loose enough to talk crap about us once they left. I’m as hopping mad as Elliott, but I need to remain calm. Otherwise this whole camper could explode, such is the force of his frustration.
“I get it, El. You’re doing everything you can, and then someone shits on you. But it’s happened now. What can we do? You can’t put out that we’re sinking everything we have into this. It’s none of their business.”
“This is just what Chase wants.”
“Of course it is, but if all he can say about us is that we’re spending too much money on improvements, then so be it. That reeks of jealousy to me.”
“Do you think he’s behind this?”
“Who is to say in this industry? There’s too much money involved for it not to be dirty. I wouldn’t put anything past anyone. Under the facade of all the smiling TV interviews on race day, every single team is here to win. You know that better than anyone. Don’t let it bother you. This won’t be the first time things don’t go one hundred percent the way we’d choose.”
“I know you’re right. But...”
“But, nothing. This will die down.” I walk behind him and press my thumbs into his shoulders. He groans, tipping his head forward, allowing me to run my fingers up the back of his neck, catching in the soft, loose hair that usually covers his collar. I bend and run kisses up the tight sinews that run up his neck. “You’re still built like a driver. Your neck is so strong.” I place my lips against him again, feeling his shoulders relax down as he allows me to eat away at his tension.
I knead his tight muscles, asking for nothing in return other than to ease the tension out of my man so that he can feel more like the person I know he is. His shoulders are rock solid, the muscles feeling like bone under by thumbs. I take one forearm and wrap it in front of his chest, drawing him back until the warmth of his back radiates across the small space between my contracted abs. I ignore the tension building. Elliott needs my knuckles in his shoulders right now more than he needs my bulging shaft jabbing him from behind.
“That feels amazing,” he groans.
“You feel amazing.”
He turns to me, running his fingers up the inside of my top, caressing the toned curves of my abs. “You’re always here for me, whatever happens.”
“Hey, this happened to us. Don’t forget that project was mine. I’m glad I didn’t get the pool buried underground in the end. That would have been a topic of conversation.” I brighten the mood with a light laugh. The reporters are gone from our little camper van, and the focus is back where it belongs, on the two of us.
Elliott
The next day Jessie is waiting outside my office as I arrive.
“I couldn’t sleep. I’m sorry about yesterday.” She says before I’ve unlocked the door.
“Me neither.” I turn to her over my shoulder. “But you’re lucky Kyle calmed me down.” My grin tells her the full story.
“Oh, Jeez, do you two ever stop?”
“Hey, you’ve got a lot to thank him for. Without him I could be in a way worse mood now.”
“Anyway,” she rolls her eyes. “I just wanted to say that. And that I’m working to understand where this came from, although it’s going to be difficult to find the source. We’ll need the reporter to give us a name, and they don’t like doing that.”
“I understand. But it’s not important anyway. We just need to ensure that it doesn’t happen again. In the future, full briefing notes must be handed out to everyone who has any contact with the press. And it must be made clear that the messages we’re putting out are not to be diverted from, nor embellished upon. Is that clear?”
“Of course. It makes perfect sense.”
“Don’t worry about it. We have a lot of new people around. I’m sure this wasn’t malicious. It just feels that way when you’re so personally involved, but I can see how someone could easily say the wrong thing with the right intentions. We should have thought about this happening. We have spent so much time working together and being aware of how the press can twist anything you say that we just missed it because it’s second nature to us, but it isn’t like that for everyone, and we just need to be more vigilant in future. And I’m talking about me as well as you.”
“El, this is personal for me as well you know. Don’t forget that. I love what you’re doing here. The last thing I want is for something bad to happen for whatever reason. No more oversights, I promise.”
She heads to the door, meeting over.
Two hours later, she’s back.
“Elliott, there’s been another release. The journalist who made the social media post yesterday has gone to town and done a full blog. There’s more figures included. They’re talking openly about profits and losses, with a focus on the losses. Nothing that won’t be in your company accounts, but they’re not public knowledge yet, and the angle is most definitely not how we would sell the figures in your annual reporting.”
I sigh. “Let me see.”
Jessie places a printout on my desk and I rub my eyes, struggling to focus.
She’s right. This is not good. It sells us out to our competitors in terms of what we’re spending, what we plan to spend, and how this is impacting on the bottom line. We’re running in the red, but nowhere does it say that this is my personal loss.
“I need to come out and respond to this. It sounds like I’m frittering away other people’s money. Which I am not. And that I do take personally.”
“You can’t come out and plain respond. We need to attack this with a barrage of positive stories. I want to picture the drivers in the gym. Let’s make them the stars of this investment. Give the message that we’re behind their futures, etc. I want them doing interviews ahead of the race season. I want to be in control of all of their social media accounts. I will run the life out of them. You will be interviewing with the press about the apprenticeship we’re doing. We’ll wheel Axel out and get him on TV with you. The two of you can appear on morning TV talking about how investment in a company now can structure a future on so many different levels, blah, blah, blah. Got it?”
“Sure. When is Axel having his media training?”
“I wasn’t going to pay for the outsourced training yet. I wanted to see how he pans out first, but if you’re happy, I’ll train him myself this afternoon. I’ve been around enough to know that he’ll be ready.”
I take a mental step back. “Are you happy with him?”
“Of course. Why?”
“Because if we go down this path, there’s no turning back. Axel will be with us for the long term. We can’t fire him when he’s been our savior in time of need. If you’re happy with that, then so am I. But, we’ll find a different way if you think there is any chance at all that he may not complete his probation.”
“Elliott, Axel is going to be great. We will keep him on the team.”
“Go organize it then.”
Kyle
We’re down in London. Jessie got Elliott the gig to take Axel onto Breakfast TV, so I’m taking the opportunity to check on the house development while he’s been interviewed at the studio. Now, we’re grabbing some alone time and hopefully an amazing lunch in a swanky place we don’t visit anywhere near enough.
“I love this place. Remind me why we don’t come anymore.”
“Because, Elliott, we now live two-hundred miles away and it’s not convenient.” I place my hand over where his lies in the middle of the table.
“Well, we should make more effort.”
I ignore his blabbering. I’m eager to know about this morning. “Tell me how it went then?” I can’t wait.
“It was good. Axel was a professional, talking about how well we’re treating him and explaining how his background has impacted on his drive to do well.”
