ALICE Ch 95

Alice doesn’t like press conferences, and she hasn’t done enough of them to be comfortable. Fortunately, Glynda does not trust her at all and fully intends to do all the talking. Alice is cool with that. She just wishes that she didn’t know what Glynda’s up to.

“As point leader at the moment, we’ll start with Freedom,” the F1 rep says, gesturing graciously to Matt Berry, who indicates Erica.

“Matt, is legal action against Diorgasm under consideration?” Erica asks without hesitation.

“Legal action?” Matt raises an eyebrow. “How absurd. Why?”

“Underhanded tactics.”

“There’s nothing underhanded about a mutually beneficial arrangement,” Matt counters. “This is the first time in Formula One history that drivers from different teams have endorsed the same product. It’s interesting. It’s just the sort of thing that a new team would want. Why would it be a problem?”

“Are you saying that you were aware that Diorgasm had approached Ms. Wilde as well?”

“Absolutely,” Matt says, and Alice has to look away. He’s lying. Freedom is in luck with having an actor in charge. Alice doesn’t have to look at Glynda to see how annoyed she is. She’d been hoping to look strong here. Now she’ll have to settle for not looking weak.

“And FUTA Racing?” the organizer prompts, turning to Glynda.

“What was the question?”

“Any consideration of legal action against Diorgasm?”

“Of course not. As my counterpart at Freedom Racing stated, Diorgasm is doing nothing but helping. Diorgasm’s brand aligns closely with FUTA and adding a photogenic person to the mix,” Glynda adds with a wave toward Val, “…at no cost to us isn’t cause for complaint.”

Alice tries to keep her expression neutral. It looks like both teams came here with the exact same game plan, but Glynda probably has the edge. The FUTA brand is inherently a little horny, so this is more believable coming from Glynda. On the other hand, Matt is selling the hell out of it.

“Alice,” one of the journalists says.

“Huh? Yeah?” Alice perks up and Glynda shoots her a warning look. “What’s up?”

“Are you looking forward to working with your former teammate?”

“Oh, Val?” Alice shrugs. “I mean, we aren’t super close these days, but sure. Maybe we’ll get a chance to catch up.”

FF1

Alice is relieved to leave the conference. It’s not until they’re back in the car that Glynda’s fury becomes apparent. She doesn’t even say anything; there’s just this change in her demeanor. Alice cringes and tries to scoot away from her.

“You tell that French wagon that if I see her set foot in the paddock she’ll be stayin’,” Glynda snarls at Alice, pointing one finger at the floor of the car. “Get on, then,” she snaps at the driver.