AN: With Much love to Ian—Or Knight, if you prefer ;)—for being my most loyal and supportive fan of this story, here we go again. Why? 'Cause I wanna. Much love to everyone else who reads. Comments, questions, suggestions, or concerns can be directed my way in reviews or via e-mail.
The Funeral of a Good Girl
By – TempestRaces
Chapter 10 – On Car Culture Mating Rituals and Building Dreams
With a jealous look, because going back to sleep was something he'd have loved to be able to do, Vince headed to the bathroom and got in the shower. When he arrived at the breakfast table along with everyone else, freshly showered and not snapping everyone's head off to boot Mia looked at him in speculation.
"You're in an awfully good mood this morning, V."
"I'm ok," he answered around a mouthful of hash browns. He caught her narrow-eyed look his way. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not allowed to wake up in an ok mood once in awhile?"
She just shrugged.
"Jesse not coming down to the shop today?" Leon asked the group in general.
"Trouble says they have plans today," Vince answered before he could think better of it.
"Why do you insist on calling that girl Trouble? She has a name," Dom said.
"Yeah, and now she has a nickname. She likes it. Besides, she is."
"You got that right," Dom mumbled.
"Do I have to give you a right eye to match your left?" Vince asked in a deceptively cheerful tone of voice. He was willing to tease, and take some good natured teasing. The serious tone in Dom's voice set his nerves on edge. He wasn't willing to hear his friend put down his lover. Again, it was one of those things he wouldn't allow himself to analyze too deeply.
"I'd like to see you try."
"Lemme eat first and I'll help you out there."
"I'm not going to fight you, Vince."
"Likely the smartest thing you said in a long time," Vince said, again almost too cheerfully.
Dom growled. Letty looked from her boyfriend to one of her best friends. "Let it go you two. Shit! You all act like there's somethin' wrong with two adults havin' a little hot sex," she grinned at the shock on the faces around her. Vince winked at her cheerfully; glad to have someone on his side.
"How do you know its hot sex?" Vince asked, wanting to piss Dom off even farther.
"I heard you two the night before last at about six am when I went for a drink. I heard enough to know what kinda sex I was hearin'."
Vince had no control over the flush that started to creep up his neck. Letty had heard? That was unsettling. Letty, the tomboy who had tagged along behind he and Dominic in everything they did as kids. Letty, the woman who was now sleeping with Dominic, and had always seemed as much like a kid sister as Dom did a brother. That Letty knew what he sounded like in his room when he wasn't alone. It was weird.
She laughed at his discomfort. "Besides, it'd be hard to miss the bruise the size of Texas on your neck, right close to your shoulder. She a biter, V?" Letty wasn't done embarrassing her friend yet. "I know she's a scratcher 'cause you didn't stop wearin' tank tops after you started sleepin' wit her and the battle wounds show. They also seem to be multiplying on a daily basis." She lifted the edge of his tank top to peek under. "Yep, some of these are definitely fresh. I think Mia has her answer to why you're so happy. You definitely got a better wake up call than the squeal of an alarm clock this morning."
"Uh," Vince struggled for a way to answer that one with Leon staring right at him, smirking, and Mia staring at him with a look of intense shock on her face. It was clear she had just picked up on the bruise, complete with teeth marks, marring the skin of his neck.
Letty let him off the hook with a laugh, delivered through a huge grin, and a slap off his back. "Just don't let us get used to happy in the morning Vince, or we'll never let Temp go home. Fuck, there've been some days I woulda paid her to make you this happy. No matter how she had to go about it!"
The whole scenario just flabbergasted Mia. Not only was Vince sleeping with Jesse's cousin—something she had known happened the once, at any rate—apparently he was so good at it she was scratching the skin off his back and biting him hard enough to wound him elsewhere. That side of Vince wasn't one she had ever allowed herself to see, let alone think on. He was so rough and tumble in everything else he did, how could he possibly be good at sex? Good enough to make a girl so loud they could be heard from the basement stairs. Good enough to make her bite and scratch at him in passion. It just didn't bear thinking on. She looked over at Vince again. He sure did look uncomfortable. But he was also definitely happy with his current lot too. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen him fit to talk to before two cups of coffee and a full breakfast. If she didn't have her misgivings about how Vince saw the relationship he had with Tempest, and about how he was still chasing after her, even though he was actively sleeping with someone else, she might even be happy to see Vince happy. But the whole way he'd hooked up with Jesse's 'baby girl' just left a bad taste in her mouth, even if it didn't really seem to bother Jesse.
Dom saved Vince from finding a suitable answer to Letty's statement when he stood up. "Let's get to work. We don't need to be sitting around Mia's breakfast table to have this kind of conversation. You expect dirty, filthy talk outta men in a shop, not in front of their families at breakfast."
"Chill out Dom. It's not like you and I haven't had a few wild nights."
"We're allowed Let. It's part of the whole dating relationship." Her words finally broke the upset look off his face, replacing it with a grin.
They all left for the garage, piling into their separate cars for the drive, not one of them willing to be driven rather than drive.
Once Vince had gotten dressed and left her alone in his room, Tempest did fall back asleep. Her body felt like Jello and she couldn't imagine getting up without a power nap to recover.
Sprawled on her tummy with a pillow under one arm and her head was how Jesse found her just over an hour after she'd fallen back asleep. Her hair was everywhere and it was hard to miss the numerous small bruises on the sides of her neck, not to mention the larger one on her nape. Jesse found himself wishing that her and Vince would work their shit out so that they both realized they wanted to be together for more than two weeks. He was still caught up in his opinion that meeting a guy would be the thing that finally pushed her into a desire to pick up and move countries.
He threw himself onto the bed beside her and sighed. He wondered if the bouncing she'd done when he'd landed would be enough to wake her. She flipped onto her back with a sigh.
"What time is it?" she asked in a sleepy voice.
"Ten," Jesse answered.
"That's not so bad," she said, yawning as she did so. "What's the plan for today J?"
"Thought we'd go to the garage."
"You work in the garage every day."
"But not with you. I got a surprise for you at the garage. We'll go see it and if you don't wanna stick around than I'll pick somethin' else, ok?"
"Ok," she agreed, still slightly confused by his desire to take her to his work. "Should I just get dressed, or should I get dressed to work on cars?"
"To work on cars, I think."
"Ok, lemme get a quick shower and we'll go."
"I'll get ready." He stood up off the bed. "What the fuck happened to the alarm clock?"
"Um." Her eyes darted from the abused clock to Jesse's blue gaze and back again. "Well," she started to speak and stopped again.
"Never mind. I don't wanna know," Jesse groaned. He could tell from the look on her face he really didn't want the details. He left the room and heard his cousin start the shower a few moments later.
After Tempest showered she headed back to Vince's room wrapped in her towel and started to paw through her clothes. She settled on a pair of her navy blue work pants, which like over half her pants were about three sizes too large, a sports top and a navy blue work shirt left open over her top. She figured if she got hot she could take the shirt off and if she got really involved in some mechanical job she could do the shirt up. She put her hair up in two messy buns on the back of her head and left the room. "I'm ready!" she called beside Jesse's door.
He came out, wearing stained jeans and a ripped tee shirt. "Let's go."
They headed up the stairs and out into the hot sun. Tempest stopped beside the passenger door of the Jetta.
"You gotta take your own car. I'll go careful so you can follow me."
"Why can't I just ride with you?"
"You just can't."
"Fine," she gave up with a sigh. So much for spending time with him. He started down the street and she followed. She realized she recalled the way there and passed him at her first chance. She arrived a few minutes ahead of him and stood beside her car, waiting to rub it in. "That thing's as slow as a city bus," she called as he walked up to her from where he'd parked the Jetta.
"It's no Skyline," he answered, taking her teasing in a good natured, Jesse way. He led the way into the shop. He turned to look at Tempest inside the door. "You go to work in a bra and pants big enough to fit a man up home?" he asked, again unimpressed with her choice of attire.
Realizing she had her work shirt tied around her waist because it had been so hot in her car, Tempest knew where he was coming from, but she decided to brazen it out. "If the boys I work with have been good, sometimes I forgo the pants and just wear my bikini panties to work. But only when they really deserve a reward."
"God, you're even more evil now than I remembered," Jesse groaned. "I don't want to think of you that way. You're more like a sister than a cousin to me and I really don't need the mental image."
She untied the arms of her shirt and shrugged it on before doing up two buttons over her stomach, leaving a deep v over her cleavage and across her stomach. "Better?"
"A little."
"Ok, what's the surprise you dragged me into a garage over when I'm on vacation from another garage?"
"Back here," Jesse said, leading the way to a back section of the garage floor.
She followed him through the maze of toolboxes and cars, ever conscious of the stares from Dom, Letty, Leon and Vince. When they reached the back area, Tempest found it to be covered by car parts. "You want me to sort, catalogue, and store your inventory for you on my vacation?" she asked, her eyebrow cocked in disbelief. There were a shit load of parts in front of her and she couldn't imagine what else he would want to do with them.
"No, I want to help you build your Skyline in person, not over the internet." Jesse grinned.
"This stuff is all for the Skyline?"
"Unhuh," he answered to the affirmative.
"Where the fuck did you get it all? Please don't tell me that someone," she glanced at Vince and Leon in turn, "found it when it fell off the back of a truck."
"Nothing like that. Me'n Leon went down to Harry and told him about the car and about the fact you already had some interest from HKS and Veilside. He asked me what kind of parts I wanted to put in it, so I told him what we'd already kicked around. He had all the shit you see here sponsored by the end of the day and on overnight shipment."
"Harry?" Tempest asked in shock. She knew she'd get a lot of her parts sponsored, but not her whole damn car. She really didn't know what to say.
"He owns the parts store that Dom does all his business with, 'The Racer's Edge.' He'd appreciate it greatly if you'd put the name of the store on the car for as long as you're down here, but other than that since he already had all the contacts at all the suppliers he didn't mind organizing the parts."
"A lot of this shit is bolt on. We could have my car done by when?"
"Tonight."
"No shit?"
"No shit. It'll take us 'til ten if we do the upper end, the valves and cams, and the lower end with the forged pistons and upgraded rings, but it'll still be done tonight."
With an ecstatic squeal Tempest launched herself at Jesse, who caught her. She proceeded to rain kisses all over Jesse's face, which rapidly turned red. "Thanks J."
"No sweat. I can't wait to see the look on the faces of everyone at races when we roll up with two Skylines."
"So this was more about braggin' rights at races than about doing a nice turn for your poor cousin, huh?"
"No, of course not. I wanna be able to roll with you, not drive you around all over L.A. cuz."
"In that case, let's get'er done!"
"Yes!"
Tempest tossed Jesse her keys and let him pull the car into the shop. While he was doing that she started taking inventory of the parts on the floor and across a shop bench in the rear. She found a set of TEIN coil-overs and a TIEN pillow rod camber kit to match. There was an Apexi exhaust, Apexi downpipe, and a matching straight pipe to replace her catalytic converter. She found Brembo brakes for front and rear with the trademark gold callipers, four piston at that, huge cross drilled rotors and ceramic pads to complete the set. There was a huge box from NISMO. Unable to help herself she opened it and peered inside. She found a set of NISMO cams, a set of NISMO pulleys, NISMO timing belt, and a NISMO clutch and pressure plate. From HKS she found two huge turbos, a huge front mount intercooler along with all the needed plumbing, a new wastegate and blow-off valve, and a cold air intake. There was a NOS Sportsman direct port nitrous system able to handle up to a hundred and fifty horsepower shot with two ten pound bottles.
Jesse came up behind her. "What'd ya think?"
"I think my car is going to be the fastest car in my whole country when I go home."
"You gonna kick a little ass down here before you go?"
"Hell yes!" she laughed. "You know it." They high fived each other with matching grins.
"Let's get started then."
They took the hood off the Skyline, setting it carefully aside so the paint wouldn't get damaged, and got ready to start working on the engine. Leon came over. "Want a hand?"
"What'd you think cuz?" Jesse asked Tempest.
"The more the merrier, if you're not going to be blowing off work over it." Tempest shot a covert glance at Dominic. The last thing she wanted was more trouble with the large man.
"It's not too busy right now. If we jack her up while you guys do that, I'll start the brakes and suspension stuff."
They took his advice. Jesse and Tempest removed the heads from the engine and started to install the upgraded cams and valve springs while Leon started on the suspension. They managed to get the strengthened pistons into the engine without removing the block, which saved them some time. By the time the cousins were putting the engine back together, Leon was working on the brake system. They did the exhaust together before dropping the car off the jack stands and installing the turbos, intake, and intercooler. Tempest, unused to so much engine work, flopped on her back on the floor before propping herself up on her elbows to watch as Jesse and Leon wired in the new turbo timer, boost controller, radar detector, air/fuel, water temperature, vacuum, and charge status gauges and installed the nitrous system.
"You done in already, Trouble?" Vince asked as he crouched down beside her.
"Yes," she groaned, falling off her elbows so she was again prone on the floor, looking up at Vince. "I do front end, brakes, suspension, and electrical back home. We have an engine specialist so I never have to do any of this stuff. All the clearances and tolerances and lashes have to be so precise. It's a lot for the head to take. If I ever see another piece of Plastigauge it'll be too soon."
"I know what you mean."
"So," she said, looking up at Vince. "Is this what you do for a living? Work for Dom?"
"Not so much, no. He asked me to help out while we were short Jess and I said I would. If I had'a known how dead it would be, I woulda said no."
"I thought Jesse said the Saturday I showed up was busy."
"It was. Saturday always is. The losers who can't work on their own car show up to have Dom do their dirty work."
"I see. So what do you do when you aren't doing favours for Dom?"
"I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you."
"Ha ha." She gave him a sarcastic look. "Seriously. What, are you some sort of assassin for the government or somethin'? I mean, if you are they must not require very accurate shooters, but is it that top secret?"
"Kinda." He let her poke at his skill with a firearm slide. He didn't want to hear about how she'd beaten him again. "Let's just say I work for some people who pay very well to have someone who knows how to handle themselves in close situations and knows how to keep his mouth shut."
"I see," she answered, watching her cousin and his friend work on her nitrous system. "Does that pay good?"
The fact she seemed genuinely interested and not put off shocked him a bit. He had to guess she got he was implying he was someone's hired muscle for a living. Someone who didn't need him to help them uphold the law, but rather the exact opposite. "Yeah, it wouldn't be worth doing, and running the risk of getting caught every day if it didn't."
"I suppose. So why is it you know so much about cars and can work in the garage if it isn't what you wanted to do?"
"It was what I wanted to do, once upon a time. When Mr. Toretto taught me about cars I did think it was what I was going to do with my life. But then he died and Dom and I found out we're too much alike to work together day in and day out so I had to find somethin' else to do. It works out pretty good for us, really. So why'd you get involved with cars? Hang around them with your dad or somethin'?"
"Never knew my dad. He and my mom got a divorce when I was like six months old. He took off and I've never met him. She says she was just as well off to be rid of him and I don't even remember him so I'd have to agree with her. No, I dunno what got me into cars. I was interested in American heavy metal when I was a kid, like twelve. Thought I was gonna get a mustang convertible, sixty seven to be exact, and restore it perfectly. Didn't happen, but I took shop in high school. Then I started university right out of high school. Cars were a hobby for me. I was going to be a veterinarian. But I flunked out of university after one semester and ended up in college in Auto Tech. Couldn't shake the idea that was what I was meant to do. I just finished in April and walked into my job with GM. I'm slowly building up hours to get my interprovincal red seal."
"You like what you do?"
"Yeah. Cars don't talk back. When they act up there's a reason why and I like figuring out what it is."
"You any good?"
She looked up at him to gauge his seriousness. He seemed totally serious. "Yeah, I'm good. I'm related to Jesse." She grinned.
"You as good as he is?"
"I could be, if I learned to trust my gut and not second guess everything I ever thought or did. I think too much."
He nodded. He had to agree with her in some respects. There were things she definitely over thought. "They're almost done with your car."
"I know. I know you can't tell, but I'm excited. I'm just too tired to get up and dance right now."
"And dirty. You're gonna have to rush to get ready for races. We should be there by eleven and it's already nine thirty."
"God," she groaned. "I hate to rush."
"I want you to do me a favour."
"What?"
"Leave the Skyline here for the night and ride with me."
"But they put all this work into having it ready tonight."
"I know. But they'll be cool with it. Ok?"
"I'll ask them and we'll see, ok?"
"Sure."
He really didn't have the anger she would have expected from him when she wouldn't commit to doing as he asked. With a shrug she let it go and walked over to Leon and Jesse. "Would you guys mind if we left this here for the night? I forgot I made another commitment for tonight."
"No sweat. We don't have to try and rush to finish it then. We'll finish it up in the morning. You look tired."
They caved a lot easier than she had expected and she had some questions on that front. But her need to tease Jesse about telling her she looked tired took priority. "Thanks Jesse. That's just what a girl wants to hear before she goes on display at some sort of bizarre, car culture mating ritual where the females are all judged on their looks."
"Sorry. I'm sure you'll look better after you shower and change out of your shop clothes."
"Nice try at a save, Jess."
Leon laughed at Jesse's discomfort. "Yeah dawg, don't you know you never tell a girl she don't look good."
"She's not a girl, she's my cousin," Jesse protested.
"She's still a female, moron," Leon laughed.
"She's a female who needs a ride home if she's expected to show up and be conscious at races tonight and not wearing sweat pants with grease on her nose and in her hair. Who's drivin' me home?"
"Come on Trouble. I'll take you home and we'll leave these two yahoos to lock up the shop. I don't have the codes anyways."
"Yeah, go ahead with Vince," Jesse said, giving Tempest a shove toward the door. "We'll see you guys at home in a few."
"Shit, what? Do I have some communicable disease?" Tempest asked as she was forced out the door.
"No, they just know how long it takes chicks to get ready and they don't want to be late. The sooner you get home, the sooner we get to leave and they know it."
"I'm not like Mia, I don't have to primp and preen for six hours to get ready."
"But you do need to shower, fuss with your hair and get changed."
"I don't fuss with my hair."
"You can't leave it in these messy balls on the back of your head either." He flicked one of her messy buns with his finger. He saw down the back of her shirt, saw the bruise he'd left her with. Something, some emotion ran through him. Pride, but with something more. He'd marked her as his. He shrugged, figuring it was just a guy thing.
"No I can't," she answered with a roll of her eyes before taking off her dirty shirt and balling it up so she could climb into the Maxima. She didn't want grease off her dirty shirt to get all over the seat. "That doesn't mean I fuss either," she finished after Vince got into the car.
He started it and zipped out of his parking spot, before racing off down the road. "Still takes you longer to get ready than it does a guy."
"I can get ready as fast as any dude out there."
"No you can't."
"Haven't you learned your lesson about challenging me yet? I've taken you at every challenge you've issued and come out on top every time."
"Some times you come out on the bottom, or in front, or on the side too," he reminded with a suggestive look.
"You're just a sick pervert with sex on the brain twenty four seven."
"When you wear a little gym shirt and pants so big they're hanging off your ass in front of me all day, what am I supposed to think?"
"That I'm an efficient and talented technician who did as much work, if not more, than all the guys I was working with today."
He shot her a speculative look. "I know you're good at what you do. Did I ever say I didn't think you were?"
"No. But you do insist on objectifying me as a sex object every chance you get. I guess I just think there's a time and place for it, and a time and place to acknowledge that women have other roles too."
"I don't objectify you every chance I get. But when I see you like that I think about the sex we've had and the sex I want to have because it's been more than twelve hours since the last time. I want you when you're around. I can't help that. You're hot Trouble. I can't help that. I didn't make you that way."
She laughed. No one had ever called her hot to her face before. She liked it, as much as she knew she shouldn't be encouraging him to sum her up by the sex they had. "You could try to cultivate some affection for my brain too."
"I'll work on it." He parked the car in front of the house. "Now go and prove you're as quick as you said at getting ready. I'll shower upstairs and you can shower down."
"Ok." She got out of the car and ran lightly over the lawn, up to the front door. She ran in and with a quick wave at the people in the living room rushed down the stairs.