Big snatched the hat off his uncle’s head, causing him to reach up a second too late to snatch it back.
“Hey! Hey! Hey!” His uncle waved his hands, mad that he’d been taken.
“It’s for a good cause, Zio.” Big set the hat on my head. “My wife needs something of mine to wear.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Uncle Flavio grumbled, running a hand through his messed hair.
Big kissed me and told me to enjoy the race. I was led toward an area where family and friends would wait. On my way, my eyes connected with Mario’s. He winked at me and grinned.
A sense, when it came to Big, had started to develop, and it made me turn my head a little. Big was watching and had caught what Mario had done. Outwardly, he wasn’t reacting, but I knew Big. He wasn’t going to just let that slide. I kept my face forward as I continued forward.
My pace increased when I saw Georgia waiting for me. She looked…beautiful, like she was glowing. We hugged like we hadn’t seen each other in years.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“Can’t walk all that straight, but I feel better than I have in a long time. Like he worked the kinks out or something.”
Our eyes held, but it wasn’t the time nor the place to talk.
“Oh!” She sucked in a breath. “Here. Check this out. Rocco showed it to me and he thought you might like it. I knew you would!” She pulled out her phone and worked some magic. A video came up. It was a compilation of videos of Big while he was in the cockpit driving and talking to Uncle Flavio. It was all from practices when he used to drive for the team.
Georgia and I started cracking up when Big would start to sing and Uncle Flavio would start grumbling and griping at him. I’d started to see this side of Big in Italy, though more romantic, but I loved hearing it. I could tell he was younger, enjoying the freedom he probably never had in Vegas. I loved that for him.
“I know I give him a hard time, Leo,” Georgia said, forwarding me the clips so I could save them. “But I think he’s all right in my book.”
“I know.”
“But don’t tell him!” She turned to me, her shiny new glasses giving me a glimpse of my reflection. “It’ll go straight to his head, and we already know howbigit is.”
Our laughter faded as Rosaria and Abree came to wait in the same area. It was easy to tell they were sisters, but I found Abree to be slighter, with more bird-ish features. She had a youngness about her that seemed like it would be with her even after she’d grown old. Rosaria’s physical appearance didn’t straight away give her age, but there was a maturity about her. I wondered if she’d had it since before she was able to talk. One thing that was striking about the both of them—and not in a pleasant way—was how they both seemed to look down on everyone else.
From the moment our eyes met, I knew Abree thought Big had to be insane for ditching her and marrying me. It wasn’t like he left her for me, but I don’t think it made a difference in her opinion. He’d decided not to marry her, so everyone associated with him should suffer.
It was so clear in her eyes.
Honestly, I didn’t want to be around her either. I didn’t like where my mind was going. What she and Big did together… But I wouldn’t have purposely put myself in this situation. She did it to try and make me uncomfortable.
Rosaria and Abree turned to talk to someone, and Georgia slid her hands up and made horns behind Abree’s head. I pushed them down right before they turned, but maybe because of the goofy looks on our faces, they narrowed their eyes at us.
“Just one tooth,” Georgia whispered to me. “Let me just knock out one. Or two. If the sister decides to get involved.”
“What did you say?” Abree said, her attitude bigger than she was.
I’d always enjoyed working at Dynamic because of the women. Life had chewed most of us up and spit us out. We bonded over it. Bonded over being female and getting knocked down, but I’d learned how to be strong over the years too. And both Georgia and I wanted to connect with the women who maybe didn’t recognize that same strength in themselves. Georgia and I tried to show them that even if life was hard, they could be stronger than their circumstances. Even if we had our weak moments—those were just moments. So, I’d dealt with a lot of girls and women who were hard to like at first, but I knew. They had gone through some tough shit.
These two—they were just bullies. And Georgia and I never put up with that kind of behavior. It was toxic.
And I really got it then.
Why Big decided to break it off and return to Vegas.
Georgia put her hands on her hips and took a step forward. “Not today, Satan’s Sister. You don’t want to start something with me you can’t finish. And I promise. I’ll finish it.”
It was like a standoff in an old Western. A few seconds after the metaphorical whistle and tumble weeds, Rosaria set her hand on Abree’s arm and they both turned away, shoulders stiff.
Georgia gave me a look, as if to say,yeah, I thought so.
Even though I knew they were intimidated by Georgia, because she never backed down and they could sense it, Abree kept flipping her hair and giving me side-eye glances. More like glares. Especially after she decided to look down at my left hand, and the ring Big gave me would catch the sun and almost blind her.
