Page 58

Rocco made his way through all the smiles, the slaps on the back, and the cheers. People were saying things to him. He could hear sound, but he couldn’t make out any words.

Where is she?

Soon he would be up on that podium, celebrating not only his win in this race but for the entire season. Frantically, he scanned the crowd.

And then he saw the dark hair and that small hand reach up and sweep back a strand that had fallen in front of those dark eyes. His heart raced. His hands itched.

Nico.

“Nico!” he shouted.

She smiled and waved. “Congratulations!” she cried in order to be heard above the roar.

He pushed through the crowd and grabbed her arm. How in the hell was he going to find some place private? And then it hit him. He weaved into the complex, made a quick right, and ducked into a restroom with her.

“Just tell me one thing, Nico. You didn’t make that move, collide with Clarke for me, right?”

She stared at him a moment and then burst out laughing.

“I didn’t sacrifice myself for you,” she said. “Clarke hit me. I didn’t hit him.”

He sighed. “Oh, okay, good. I mean it’s not good you crashed. But—”

She shook her head. “I know what you mean. I’m not the Little Mermaid. I’m not turning myself into sea-foam.”

He frowned. “Huh?”

She bit her lip. “Get over yourself.”

He grinned. “I don’t know if I can. I’ve got kind of a big head.”

Nico lowered her eyes, but he caught the corner of her lip twitch.

“It’s okay to smile, you know.”

Nico lifted her chin. “I know.”

“So, you didn’t hurt anything?”

She shook her head. “Just my pride.”

He placed his hand under her chin, feeling her soft skin beneath his calloused fingers.

She flinched, but she didn’t pull away.

He lifted her face and peered into her eyes. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Uncle Rocco! Where are you?”

He groaned.

Those girls have the worst timing.

Nico opened the door.

“There you are,” shouted Beatrice.

The girls stepped inside and looked around.

“What are you doing in the girls’ restroom, Uncle Rocco?” Sofia asked.

He frowned. “The girls’—”

“Most definitely,” said Beatrice.

He looked around. No urinals.

Sofia waved her hands. “Forget it.”

Beatrice did likewise. “To be sure. We need to talk to you, and it’s private.”

Sofia held the door open, and Beatrice shoved Nico out.

Nico stood with Charles. She held Templeton in her hands and was petting him. Charles had driven to Texas so that Templeton could join them for the last race of the season.

“So, he’s going back to Blue Jet Lightning.”

Nico nodded. “That’s what everyone’s saying. You can hardly blame him. It’s like playing for the New York Yankees instead of the Bad News Bears.”

Charles sulked. “Yeah but the Bears are so sweet. You want to root for them.”

“Well, good, because I’m still here.”

“Right!”

“Nico!”

Nico turned around to see Celeste and Dario. She made a move to hug Celeste, but then realized she was holding Templeton and handed the rat to Charles.

After hugging them both, Dario pointed at the rat. “Is that Templeton?”

Nico nodded.

Celeste gave Dario a look. “I told you there was a Templeton.”

Dario shrugged. “Okay, you were right.” He paused. “You did really well, Nico. That was just some bad luck there toward the end.”

“Yeah. But I think it might have been partly my fault. I really wanted to pass Clarke to be up on that podium with Rocco. I think I went for too much. But I feel good about the season overall. I’m just happy I’ll be coming back next year.”

“And you won’t be a rookie,” Dario said.

“That’s right.”

“And you won’t have to worry about Mickey,” Celeste said.

Nico’s heart sank. “Oh.” She swallowed. “Rocco told you.”

They both nodded.

She sighed. “Well, I can’t say for certain. He might still show up. But if he does, I’ll deal with it. I’ll have to.”

“I don’t think so,” Celeste said. “I think he’s gone. For good.” She looked over her shoulder at Dario. “How did Rocco put it?”

Dario opened his mouth, but Celeste had turned back around and was already speaking.

“Quote: ‘ I paid him off, put him on a flight, and told him if he ever came near Nico again, the next time he got on an airplane it would be in the cargo hold in a body bag.’”

Nico blinked. “He did that?”

Celeste nodded. “He did.”

Dario placed his arm around Celeste. “They’re about to have the podium celebration. I want to catch up with Rocco before he goes up there.”

“We’ll see you later?” Celeste asked as they walked away.

“Sure.” Nico smiled.

Although she wasn’t at all sure.

“This is wonderful, Rocco.” Carolyn beamed. “Another trophy! And next year, with us—just think of what we can do. You, Anker, and Ceci! We’ll be unstoppable!”

“Yeah, about that—”

Dario came up from behind and slapped Rocco on the back as they announced his name. “Hey, they’re calling your name. Get up there. This is it. Go get her.”

Rocco smiled and mounted the podium.

After the champagne celebration, he waited for the inevitable questions. And for once, he got exactly what he wanted from the press. He couldn’t have scripted it any better.

“So, Rocco, rumor is you’ll be leaving Maverick Racing and signing up with Blue Jet Lightning for next season? Can you confirm that?”

“I’ve been thinking about it. Blue Jet is so prestigious. They’re the team a kid grows up dreaming about. Like a fairy-tale princess. Snow White, for instance.”

What the—

“Uh, what was that?” she heard Charles say. “Did he just say Snow White ?”

Nico looked around at the puzzled expressions of the faces in the crowd—the press, the fans, the teams.

“Snow White’s like the perfect woman,” Rocco said, “a true fairy-tale princess—sweet and kind, innocent and naive. Not at all like her stepmother, the queen, who’s not sweet and kind, definitely neither innocent nor naive.

Actually, crafty—even conniving. You can bet she’s not going to wait around for a prince to come and save her. She goes after what she wants.”

Nico looked around. She couldn’t spot one mouth that wasn’t gaping.

“This has got me thinking. Who would you rather have in your corner? Who’s really going to have your back? Snow White or that queen?”

What is he doing?

“Do you know what happens to that stepmother, the queen? In the original version? They put a pair of iron shoes into hot coals and the queen is forced to wear them and dance until she falls down dead. For what? For turning into a haggard witch and offering Snow White an apple? It’s a pretty clever way to teach your kid not to accept food from strangers.

It’s not her fault Snow White was too stupid to get it. ”

Charles whispered in Nico’s ear. “Has he gone mad?”

Rocco grinned. “I think I prefer a different kind of fairy-tale princess; a princess more like Diana Prince, Marla Drake, or Harley Quinn.”

“Or Jessica Jones,” shouted a voice Nico recognized as Sofia’s.

“Or Jessica Drew,” she heard Beatrice shout.

“Or Saturn Girl,” they shouted in unison.

“Aha!” Charles said.

Nico swung around. “Aha, what?”

“I know what he’s doing.” Templeton had popped his head out of Charles’s pocket. He looked at Charles and then at Nico. His black eyes were bright, and he was bobbing his head up and down.

Charles smiled. “You know too, don’t you, Temple?”

Nico wrinkled her brow. “You do?”

“You don’t?”

Puzzled, her only response was to stare back at him.

“Nico, don’t be Snow White. It’s not a good look on you.”

“Like a woman,” Rocco went on, “carrying on the legacy of Formula 1 drivers like Lella Lombardi and Maria Teresa de Filippis. A woman who’s got what it takes to get to Formula 1 and works her ass off to stay here.

A woman who not only has to endure a lot to get to Formula 1 but has to endure even more once she’s made it.

The kind of woman who won’t quit and inspires hope in others, like my nieces Sofia and Beatrice. ”

Nico felt her eyes mist. She sniffed.

“Here,” Charles said, tapping her shoulder.

As she turned, he handed her a tissue. She could hear the reporter shout again.

“But wait, Rocco! You didn’t answer my question. Is it true? Are you leaving Maverick for Blue Jet?”

When Nico turned back, he was no longer on the podium. He was gone.

She’d see him again next season. He’d be racing, and so would she. But they’d no longer be teammates. It would be different.

She sighed. She was happy for Rocco. Really, she was. But now it hurt too much to be here.

“Come on, Charles, let’s go.”

Charles gripped her arm. “Not just yet.”

He was smiling at something over her shoulder. When Nico turned around, she saw Rocco standing there, smiling down at her.

“I’m not going anywhere, Nico. I like my team. Can you put up with a— What did you call me?”

Charles leaned over Nico’s shoulder. “An annoying, arrogant, asshole, prick.”

Rocco laughed. “All that?”

Charles smiled. “It’s really quite impressive when you think about it.”

Rocco nodded. “It is. So, can you put up with all that next year?”

Nico stared. She heard the word loud in her head— yes, yes, yes! But when her lips parted, no sound came out. Until she flinched from a shove in the small of her back.

Charles leaned in and hissed in her ear. “Nico Angelini, so help me, if you insist on leaving your brain in Brainerd, neither Templeton nor I will come to visit.”

Right.

She smiled. “I think I can manage.”

“And what about the year after that?” he asked.

She blinked. Did she hear him right?

“What?”

“What about the year after that? Can you put up with the annoying, arrogant, asshole then too?”

“Prick,” Charles’s voice came from behind her.

“What’s that?” Rocco asked.

Nico cleared her throat. “It’s annoying, arrogant, asshole, prick.”

He chuckled. “Right. Well?”

She smiled. So hard her teeth hurt.

“Is that a yes?”

She blinked, suddenly realizing she hadn’t said anything. “Yes, yes, yes.”

“And the year after that?”

This must be what it feels like to be a bird and have wings.

Please , she pleaded with her eyes as she gazed up at him.

Not now. Don’t play misty now.

And then she had a sudden thought that squelched any tears.

“What did Beatrice and Sofia tell you?”

He grinned, shaking his head. “I can’t tell you. I promised I wouldn’t.”

“I don’t believe it! They promised!”

“Yeah, but they’d crossed their fingers behind their backs. I didn’t, so I’m obligated to keep my promise.”

“Crossed their fingers behind their backs,” Nico scoffed.

Charles tapped her on the shoulder. “That does negate a promise. It’s something that’s understood universally. It’s like some kind of law of nature. In fact, I think I read that somewhere.”

Nico shook her head and turned back to meet Rocco’s gaze.

“I’m sorry I didn’t give you a chance to explain, Nico. I should have. I was just so—”

“Angry. I understand.”

“No. Not angry. Hurt. But I realized something. You holding yourself responsible for what others did when you were just a kid is as ludicrous as me thinking Carolyn is responsible for me being an F1 driver.”

She smiled. He was right. It was.

“I wouldn’t change a thing, Nico Angelini.” He paused. “Well, no that’s not entirely true. Maybe one thing.”

She knitted her brow. “What?”

“I’d have made that last shot at Drink and Dive so fucking difficult, there would’ve been no way you could’ve made it. Then I’d have gotten what I really wanted.”

Feeling her cheeks burn, she hung her head, smiling until she heard his next words.

“Because of all the things he wanted,” Rocco said, “he wanted her most.”

Nico looked up at him and frowned.

“The little prince,” he said. “He never would have listened to her. He never would have cared what she thought of him, and his head never would have gone back to the way it should be so he could run and journey with her to all those places he wanted to go.” Rocco took her hand in his.

“It’s because he loved her. But it’s more than that.

It’s because of all the things he wanted, all the things he could ever want, he wanted her most.”

And suddenly Nico felt as though they were in an insulated bubble and no one outside it could reach them.

No one except for Charles.

Of course.

Leave it to Charles to penetrate that bubble. One shove from behind, and pop —Nico burst out into the real world.

And , she thought, the real world isn’t really half bad .

Now she couldn’t stop the hot tears as they flooded down her cheeks.

“And she never would have gone to the castle day after day, refused to bathe and feed him, or push him around in a carriage.”

He grinned. “Now that’s real devotion.”

She laughed and then grew silent. “Because of all the things she wanted, all the things she could ever want, she wanted him most.”

“Hey,” a voice from the crowd shouted, “is there something going on between you two off the track?”

“Yes!” Rocco yelled, not taking his eyes off hers.

“Prove it!” someone else cried.

“Prove it!” other voices in the crowd cried until the crowd began chanting.

“Prove it! Prove it! Prove it!”

He pulled her in so close, she felt his heart beating against her own.

As she lifted her face, he cupped her cheeks. And when he held her face in his hands and those hands reached around and grazed that scar, this time she didn’t stiffen or flinch. She welcomed his hands.

They’re exactly where they should be.

“Make an honest man of me, Nico.”

She leaned in as he did. And as her lips brushed up against his, she whispered, “As you wish.”