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Jesse had been listless for as long as I had known him, but right now, despite the upheaval of the last week, he seemed pretty damn happy. This morning, we’d left him giving a bottle to Bobbi-June, and later, he had plans to finish the bike he’d started working on last year in the very impressive garage at Rocco’s mansion.
Tally chewed her lip, but nodded. “I don’t want him to think I’m taking advantage of him for free childcare.”
Gah, this woman. Pulling her from the cockpit of the car, I dragged her into my arms, kissing her softly. “I promise you, if he had any issues, he’d let you know. But in case you miss the gooey way he looks at that baby, she’s got him wrapped around her tiny finger, and she can’t even burp on her own yet.”
“Are you making out with my wife, Davis?” A teasing voice came from the doorway, and I rolled my eyes. Rocco calling her his wife was… difficult.
“Our wife, Passero,” I taunted back, ignoring the stares of the other mechanics.
Tally blushed bright red as Rocco came over, twirling her softly and kissing her cheek, just beside her lips. “Our wife. Slip of the tongue.” He winked, using that husky tone he only seemed to use with her. Everyone else got either monosyllabic Rocco, or grumpy Rocco, but the more I got to know him, the more I wondered if his gruff, give-no-shits facade was just that—a mask to hide behind.
“Are you here for more sim testing?” I asked him.
Rocco shook his head. “No, Antony has an announcement.”
Tally gasped. “He picked a new driver?” Rocco nodded. “Do you know who it is?” Another nod, then he mimed zipping his lips.
She huffed. “Am I going to be mad about who it is?”
He looked between us pensively, then shook his head. “He’s young, but has a lot of potential. Antony wanted him in before track testing got fully underway, so he could ride the sims while you and I test the cars.”
Valeria appeared in the garage. “Come on. Mr. Barbieri is announcing a new driver in the conference room.”
Rocco waggled his eyebrows and followed along behind us. We ran into Stephie in the hall, who quickly wrapped an arm through Tally’s. “Who do you think it is? Do you think he managed to woo another Formula One driver over? Poach someone from another team?” She looked over at Rocco. “Does one of your boy toys know?”
I huffed a laugh at being considered the boy toy for a woman at least two years younger than me. Rocco just shrugged.
Stephie screwed up her nose in disgruntlement as we piled into the conference room, staff already lining the walls. At the front of the room was Antony, Ari Rome, and a kid I couldn’t name but recognized from somewhere. He was young, maybe eighteen or nineteen. He had floppy, curly hair and a big smile on his face.
“Holy shit, it’s Mickey Macguire,” Stephie breathed.
I leaned over to Rocco. “He looks like he’s ten.”
Rocco chuckled beneath his breath. “You aren’t far off, my friend.”
Stephie looked over her shoulder. “He’s nineteen. He was the shining star of the iCar Development Program.” I raised an eyebrow at her, and she flushed pink. “What? I do my research.”
Ari Rome whistled to get the room’s attention. “As I’m sure you’ve all guessed, we’ve secured the second seat for VANT Racing, and I am absolutely elated to welcome Mickey Macguire to the team. I’m sure you’ll all give him a warm reception.”
We all hollered and clapped, and Mickey went pink. So young. What would it have been like to achieve everything I wanted by that age? I was like, three years older, and it felt like an entire generation.
Antony waved a hand to calm everyone down. “To celebrate filling out the team, we’ll be having after-work drinks. Well, except Mickey, who is still a bit too young.” The team laughed, and Mickey flushed even more pink.
“But not too young to drive a car at 240 miles per hour around a race track,” Rocco muttered to me out the side of his mouth. I mean, he made a good point. That was a pretty insane double standard. Though I was fairly sure Rocco had been drinking red wine with his Wheaties as a kid.
Antony was still speaking. “We’ll begin testing the cars after the Christmas break, and I’m sure you’re all as excited as I am to see these machines we’ve worked so hard on come to life.”
Ari and the team talked more about what would happen in the lead-up to the season, what the execs were doing, what the principals were doing—all crap that had little to nothing to do with the rest of us.
Finally, Antony ended the meeting. “All right, get back to work.” He spotted our group in the crowd. “Tally, can I see you in my office?”
She looked over at me and Rocco, her eyes wide with dread. What the hell could that be about?
THIRTY-FIVE
TALLY
My walk to Antony’s office was kind of terrifying. What if he was going to tell me he was letting me go? What if Brick had finally gotten to him, and he was going to fire me just because that old fucker hated me? What if my marriage to Rocco was causing too much negative publicity and he needed me gone?
