The next morning I woke up and dressed into ripped Jean short shorts, plain tight black tank, and my Kimber strapped to my side. My brothers car needed a little tune up so I grabbed his tools, opened the garage, laid on the bench, and rolled underneath the car to get started. After I finished underneath I moved so I was bent over the top fixing the NOS.
"Where I'm standing, this is a great view." I herd Vince's voice behind me followed by another chuckle
"Couldn't agree more." Leon added
Turning I seen Vince, Leon and Dom all watching me with smirks. Putting the hood down I turned to them, "It's not nice to sneak up on a girl with a gun you know."
"We'll keep that in mind." Dom smiled, "We were actually coming to talk to you about the job you mentioned before the pigs showed up."
Nodding I started to put the tools away and wipe down the grease, "Figured. I was going to come find you later on but since your here you've saved me the trip. What do you wanna know about it?"
"What we would need to do for starters." Vince walked over so he was leaning on the car next to me, "How big the payout is and what you get out of it."
"Something tells us this is personal." Leon added
"Something being Hector right?" They all looked at each other, "Right. Of course. Well my old team and I pulled a job on the De Lucas. We swiped two cars filled with drugs and traded it with a rival mob for half a million. Safe to say the De Lucas weren't happy about that. Somehow they found us, attacked us, took the half a million we got from the other mob, and two people got killed. We can split the money. Taking them out is a good bonus to your rep."
"They killed people that meant a lot to you." Vince commented eyeing me close as I fiddled with Rems old necklace that hung around my neck, "So that means you want revenge. And that means you're going to get yourself killed."
I turned my sharp gaze onto him, "They murdered my boyfriend and my twin brother. Of course I'm pissed. Of course I want revenge. But I'm not stupid! There's one me and a whole mob of them! I'm not about to march in there and start shooting even if I do have you guys on my side."
"We understand that." Dom softened, "But the De Lucas are worse than anyone right now. If we do this job we have to make sure that you won't pull any stupid stunts."
"You know like running gun first charging straight for Jerry De Luca himself." Leon smiled slightly referring to the leader of the mob
My mouth dropped, "Wait... So your actually going to help me?"
"What?" Vince nudged me slightly, "Surprised we said yeah to half a million dollars?"
I rolled my eyes laughing at him, "Surprised you said yes to my personal problem."
"If it was my sister or Letty I'd be doing the same thing." Dom explained then motioned with his head causing Vince to move towards him, which saddened me for some reason, "I want you to follow us to my shop. Think you might fit in well there. You interested?"
"Like a job?" I asked completely caught off guard, "As a mechanic?"
"Yeah and racer. Obviously if you can beat me you need to be teamed up with us." Vince smirked as he walked over to Doms car
Dom laughed as he opened the door, "You just gonna stand there or you gonna drive?"
It has been a few weeks since I've come to LA and things were pretty good. We were trying to find the best way to pull a job on the De Lucas. Ever since the last one my team pulled they've upped their security. Like times 10. Twice as many guards everywhere and the boss never leaves without a group of men with him. I call my sister and Bruce every night to let them in on what's happening and I can tell she really wants to come down here with me but it's not safe. As much as I miss them I need to make sure she's safe. Bruce is still highly against this. He thinks I'm crazy with grief or something and I need to come back. Which maybe I am- or maybe I'm in shock. I don't know but what I do know is I need revenge.
In the meantime I've been working at Doms garage as his mechanic and driving in a few races to make some extra cash. Vince and I have been spending some time together too. Not like sexually or anything but we've been getting close. He's not really an asshole with me like he is with everyone else. Seeing the sweet side of him was refreshing and confusing for me because of Rem. Vince has made it known multiple times that he was interested but my guilt was stopping me from doing anything. He's not a shy guy and I'm not a shy girl but It just doesn't feel right when my boyfriend and my brother just died like a month ago.
Usually Dom would have me tune up his cars and the guys because I knew the best ways to work with the NOS. Right now though I was working on a clients civic. Some how this guy royally fucked his engine up so this was going to be a timely job. Either that or he pulled this shit straight from the junkyard.
My station was set up across from Letty's, who I surprisingly have gotten close too. She and I instantly hit it off. I had on my jumpsuit with my hair pinned up and was looking under the hood. My belt, with my Kimber, was perched onto a chair beside my tool box. Seriously never went anywhere without it.
The client, Alex, was standing beside his car looking at the engine and then back at me pleadingly. He looked like he was a few years older than me, pretty cute, but obviously clueless to cars, "So what's the diagnosis? Can I ever drive it again?"
"You got a lot of tedious problems here man. Your engine won't start because you've got corroded battery cables, and your fuel filters clogged like big time. The blue exhaust smoke is coming from an engine oil leak that I need to find. You got spark plugs and wires that are worn out and damaged. It keeps overheating because the cooling fans broken, so is the radiator hose, and you got a coolant leak." Crossing my arms I eyed him, "Not to mention all of the other problems with it we discussed yesterday. You seriously dropped the ball when it came to keeping up with maintenance."
He groaned, "I know! Im just not a car person. Too busy for all of that so I guess I just let it get bad. It's- it's really not even my car. My dad had it for awhile and he left it to me. Can you fix it? It kind of means a lot to me."
"It'll take a minute but yeah. Not impossible just tedious." Giving him a smile I walked over to my tools to get started
"Thanks! I really appreciate it, Calleigh." He gave me his best smile, "You know I'm not use to mechanics being so pretty. Usually they look like-"
"Like what?" Letty interrupted as she came in and walked over to us, "Better think before you answer, pretty boy."
He swallowed, "I just meant I'm not use to having an attractive mechanic work on my car. Just appreciating my good luck here."
Letty rolled her eyes at me as I chuckled and started working on his car, "Damn. I don't think you're use to having any mechanic work on your car. What, did you wait 5 years before getting a tune up?" She scoffed, "And you even managed to burn out the engine prime time."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm a fuck up." He sighed, "But Calleigh's my savior. If you fix this I owe you big time."
"More like big money, pretty boy." Letty replied for me as she walked over to her station
"Well that too." He clears his throat, "I was actually going to ask you something before I left."
"And what's that?" To be honest I wasn't really paying attention. Once I get into my zone it's hard to pull me out of it. Pursing my lips I looked to him, "You should think about fully remodeling this car. Find the right people you could make it look brand new. Like it did when your dad first bought it."
Nodding he shrugged, "maybe you could do it. We could discuss it over dinner tomorrow?"
"This ain't a place to pick up chicks, pipsqueak." Vince growled from behind him, causing the both of us to jump, "Take that shit to the burbs where you came from."
Me because I didn't even see him come in. I was too wrapped up in scrapping the parts of the car to notice. Alex was apparently to caught up in trying to ask me out to notice. Which was disturbing enough. Looking over I could see Letty smirking from her car. She was enjoying this awkward little moment.
"I didn't-"
"Customers aren't supposed to be back here anyway." He sneered, "We'll call when the cars done." When he still didn't move Vince growled, "Beat it." He jumped, nodded, and took off.
Rolling my eyes at vince I shook my head, "Well that was unnecessary. He was just-"
"Being a creep." He glared, "So what? Now your fucking your customers or something?" He scoffed, "Nice."
"Excuse me?" I squeaked dropping my tools to the ground, "And what the hell is that supposed to mean?! That I'm some kind of whore or something?"
"So tell me, exactly how much semen do you have to swallow to become that stupid?" He crossed his arms and glowered at me bitterly
My face went red with shock and anger. What the hell is wrong with him today? He's never said shit like this to me before!
"Seriously Vince, if you bitched any more id think you were on your rag or something." I scoffed, "What crawled up and died in your ass? Huh?"
"Nothing. I'm just saying flirting or fucking with the customers won't make you a better mechanic. Why don't you try doing your job and not the customer?"
"All I heard was 'Blah, Blah, Blah, I'm an asshole.' Now," I pushed him back, "Get the fuck out of my face."
"Okay. Okay." Letty came over and stepped in between us, "Seriously you two done making out now? If Dom hears any of this shit he'll blow a gasket. Calm down."
Scoffing Vince turned and nearly ran Leon and Jesse over as he stormed out of the garage. Picking up the tools I dropped I looked to Letty scowling, "what the hell was that about?"
"What's wrong with V?" Leon asked coming over to us, "He was in less of an asshole mood earlier."
"Yeah he was pretty excited about a new injector system I was going to install today." Jesse walked over to his station but looked to me curiously, "What happened?"
"Calleigh happened." Letty laughed, "She won't give Vince the time of day."
Grumbling I started on the car again, "If he thinks calling me a whore is going to help him out then he's an idiot."
"He got jealous." Letty explained, "Jealousy and anger aren't his best qualities."
"Why'd he get jealous?" Leon asked surveying Alex's car then nodded, "oh it's because of that guy that was here yesterday about this junk car huh? Probably hitting on you again."
"Again?" I turned to him curiously, "What are you talking about?"
"From the moment he came in here last week he's been hitting on you, dude." Leon rolled his eyes at me
At first he and Vince were both hitting on me but as Leon and I got to know each other we became more like siblings. Which was nice because I was always upset about Jay. Dom and his crew were quickly becoming like a second family. Hopefully when all this De Luca business was over I could bring Zoey down here to meet them. She'd love Mia and she'd probably be in heaven with all the boys. Maybe I shouldn't bring her down here then...
"No he hasn't." Wiping the grease off my hands I raised a brow, "He came down here for his car not for me."
"Maybe at first. Jesse was supposed to fix it up but once he seen you bent over the top of Dom's car he asked to switch to you." He laughed at my expression of irritation, "Smooth, I know. What's even more funny is that every time he tries to ask you out you're too zoned out too notice. You've ignored him every time until today but I guess V interrupted before you could answer."
"Vince does notice though." Jesse added from his car, "And he gets even more pissed off every time it happens."
Rolling my eyes I took off the overalls I was wearing revealing my tight Jean shorts and tight button up grey shirt. It was buttoned half way so it stopped just above my black bra. "Vince is crazy if he thinks I'd give that guy a chance. He doesn't even know how to change his own oil."
"I think he's more pissed you won't give him a chance, Calle." Letty chuckled from under her car
"Ugh. Whatever. I'll be back."
Walking i stormed out of the shop and to the Diner where Mia was working. That's where Vince and the guys usually are at if they aren't at the shop. If Vince had been there I probably would've laid him out a new one. He wasn't there though. Mia was the only one and she was behind the counter finishing up some homework. She looked up and smiled when she seen me.
"Just missed him." She nodded at the door, "He sped off a few minutes ago probably heading back to the shop or the house. Seemed pretty pissed at you though."
Grumbling I took a seat across from her, "Yeah well he's crazy."
"Something about you going out with a pansy pretty boy?" She stuck her hands up, "His words not mine."
"That's not even true! He's getting all worked up over nothing! Some client keeps asking me out but it's not like I'm going to say yes." Shaking my head I looked at her sadly, "I can't say yes to Vince either though."
"Calleigh, I may not personally know your brother or your last boyfriend, but I do know they'd want you to be happy." She put her hand over mine, "And I know Rem would want you to move on and be as happy as you can be. Everyone sees how you light up when you're with him, even he does, why not just give him a chance?"
"Because... It's- if we were to get together I'm afraid it would just be a rebound or a fling or something. I really like him." Groaning I put my head on the table, "Like a lot a lot. I'm such a shitty person. Instead of trying to figure out a way to the De Lucas or mourning over my dead brother and boyfriend I'm worrying about a new guy. A new, hot, amazing, short tempered, infuriating guy!"
"Maybe that's what you need right now." I looked at her curiously and she shrugged, "You've been obsessing over the De Lucas or throwing yourself into the shop and at races. When you're not doing those things you're moping around all sad. Unless Vince is there. You need a break, and to have a good time. You need something good to look forward too."
Sighing I nodded, "You might be on to something Mia." Smiling I leaned up to hug her, "I don't know if I'd be able to get on sanely without you here. You remind me of my little sister back home. You two would get along like besties if she was here."
"Why isn't she down here then?"
"Too dangerous!" I explained, "I'll bring her down here when I know she's safe. For now she stays home with Bruce. You going to the races tonight?"
"Yeah Dom's racing tonight." She rolled her eyes as she started to clean up, "You're going right?"
"Maybe." I shrugged, "Need some time to think so I'll probably just meet up with you guys at the party."
She nodded and went back to cleaning as I walked out to my car. It was getting late so I knew the guys and Letty probably closed up the shop and were at the house getting ready for the races. Deciding to skip out I drove down to the beach. Heading down I perched up on a rock looking out to the ocean.
Pulling out my cell I dialed a familiar number, "Hey Calle."
"Zo," I smiled, "How's it going down there?"
"The usual. We miss you. Bruce doesn't really know how to get on without Jay or Rem. Or you for that matter." She sighed, "Are you coming back anytime soon?"
"Probably not. We still haven't found a way into the De Lucas circle." I cleared my throat, "Zo I have a... Dilemma.."
"Dilemma?" She asked curiously, "Why do I have the feeling this is about the new guy you always talk about?"
"I don't always talk about him." She laughed, "Shut up."
"What's the problem, Sis?"
"I think I really like him."
"Okay... Not hearing the problem."
"Hey, Zo, remember Rem?" I said sarcastically, "The man I've been in love with for like ever."
"Calleigh... Rems dead. He's gone." She said softly, "You need to move on. You were already... Moving on even before he died."
"What?"
"You wanted to leave, remember?" She sighed, "Calle, what your feeling, I think it's just guilt because you blame yourself for Rem and Jay dying. Rem... He would want you to be happy."
"Not this soon-"
"Yes. Calleigh if it feels right it feels right." She got quiet for a bit, "So does it feel right?"
"I don't know. I haven't- we haven't-" I stopped talking getting quiet, "I'm just-"
"Scared." I could almost hear her nodding, "I know. It's how you were when you first started seeing Rem. Just follow your heart. You'll know what's right."
Taking a deep breath I smiled, "Okay. Maybe you're right."
"Of course I'm right! I'm always right!" She giggled, "Same time tomorrow?"
"Sure. Love you, Zo."
"Love you too, Calle."
Smiling I hung up. She always made me feel better. Somehow always new what to say. Getting up I headed over to Doms where the party was now in full blast. Walking in I seen Letty and Leon sitting on the floor drinking a beer, playing a video game, their normal after race ritual. Dom was laughing at something Jesse was saying and Vince wasn't in site.
Mia squealed and came over to me, "You came! I was beginning to think you ditched out. Went home or something."
Rolling my eyes I smiled at her, "Of course I came. I wouldn't leave like that. Just needed a little space." Looking around at the crowd I frowned, "Where's Vince?"
"He's upstairs moping in his bedroom." Doms voice boomed from beside me, when I turned to him he grinned, "He's pretty upset about you."
"I swear he's more sensitive than a woman sometimes." I rolled my eyes
"More upset over what he said to you than Alex." Dom shrugged, "You know-"
"That he didn't mean it?" I nodded, "I know. I suppose you think we should get together or whatever too huh?"
"I think it might be a good idea if you think it might be a good idea." He smiled and swigged his beer, "You never know."
"Enough talk." Mia piped pushing me a little, "Go talk to him."
Shaking my head I headed upstairs a bit nervous. Ugh. I hope I know what I'm getting myself into. Stopping at his door I tentatively knocked before opening it and stepping through. He was lying on his bed, shirtless might I add, just staring up at the ceiling. He looked over to me when I came in but stayed laying down. I leaned on the dirt once I closed it and stared at him.
"Didn't see you at the races." He locked eyes with me, "Thought you took off."
"No. Just went to the beach." I shrugged coming over to sit next him, "Had some things I needed to think about."
Nodding he gently brushed a strand of hair behind my ear, "About earlier-"
"It's fine. I know you didn't mean it." Laughing a little I rolled my eyes, "I'm starting to think we just live to drive each other crazy."
He smiled, "No. What drives me crazy is other guys falling all over you."
Looking deep into his eyes I tried to squash any fear or guilt I had, "And whys that?"
"You know why."
"I- I need you to say it. To tell me. Show me. Make it real." Shaking my head I tried to stop the tears from falling, "This is hard for me Vince. The last man I loved- he's dead. My family is broken. There's pieces of me missing that I- I have no idea if I can ever get back, but when we're together I don't feel that way. I can't explain it."
Grabbing my neck he pulled me down and crashed his lips with mine. Fireworks exploded around me. It started out slow caring and loving but soon exploded into passion. Deepening the kiss I moved so I was straddling him, my hands roaming his chest. You could guess what happened next...