“Are you sure?” Billy questions in an equally calm voice, but I know he’s actually kind of panicking.
“Yes. Stay out there.”
And then I tell Antonio the same thing as he nears the pit lane.
“What?” Antonio barks.
“Stay out.”
“Rocco? Rocco! I need to pit,” Antonio replies, ignoring me completely.
I curl my fists into balls and turn to Rocco. He looks at me with confusion and frustration on his rugged features, and then he stands up and folds his arms across his chest. “You heard your Principal.”
I know it’s killing him to back me up. I rip off my headset again and walk over to Rocco, he covers his mic and I whisper, “There’s too much debris. They’ll call a red flag. If we stay out, Billy keeps the lead.”
Dario interjects from his seat next to Rocco. “I don’t think it’s enough debris.”
“It is.”
The duo frown.
“I’ve made the call,” I say firmly and storm back over to my seat and put my earphones back on.
Then, two laps later, still under the safety car. I hear Billy’s voice crackle over the radio. “It’s getting harder. I don’t think I can finish on these, Frankie.”
“I know. You won’t have to,” I promise. “Trust me.”
There’s a long silence before I hear him say, “Okay.”
And then Antonio fills my ears. “I can’t. This is bullshit. Rocco, I’m losing a perfectly good opportunity.”
“Pit. Pit.” Rocco’s voice startles me.
“No! Stay out!” I cut in tersely.
“Pitting,” Antonio replies. “Thanks, Rocco.”
Antonio pulls into the pit. I stare at the screen in disbelief. The pit crew is not ready and panic ensues. Panic for everyone except Rocco and Antonio. I pull off my headphones and walk over to Rocco. “Leave.”
“Excuse me?” Rocco looks truly shocked. Like he thought I would just roll over and take it. He clearly has never paid an ounce of attention to me on any level, or he would have known better.
“Get the fuck out of my garage. Now.”
“My job is to—”
“Get the fuck out now because if you think I won’t call Nick and forcibly remove you, you are wrong,” I reply, cutting him off and stepping even more into his space. “Just like you were wrong to conspire with that obstinate child in the driver’s seat of 61 instead of listening to me. Now, one last time, get the fuck out of my garage.”
Rocco’s entire face fills with a look of disbelief, but a flicker of fear is more than apparent in those smoldering eyes of his. He knows he’s made a fatal mistake. Fatal for his career. I turn to the corner of the garage, where Nick is standing. I wave him over. He starts stalking right towards us and almost looks gleeful at what is going to have to transpire.
Dario is staring at me with his mouth agape. Rocco hurls his headset across the garage and storms off, swearing loudly. Nick pauses and turns and walks back to his corner. I put on my headphones again, and everyone around us tries to pretend that didn’t just happen.
“What’s going on? Where’s Antonio?” Billy’s voice fills my ears.
“Tony is in the pit,” I reply calmly even though I have to ball my hands up to keep them from shaking. “You just stick with the plan and don’t worry about it, Billy. I’ve got you.”
“Okay.”
He doesn’t sound like that’s the answer he wanted to give, but I appreciate he gave it anyway. And then, an instant later, as Antonio is finally making his way back on the track, now in sixth because of the pit stop, a red flag is announced. Too much debris on the track, and we’re going to have a re-start. Billy will be able to change his tires and will be on pole now when the races begins again. Antonio will start in sixth instead of second where he would have been if he’d listened to me.
