46 Blacktop Obsession
"Everything okay?" Brian asked, knowing Shadye looked a bit different. He couldn't put his finger on what was different, she just looked not herself.
"Yeah, as good as it can be." She said with a nod.
"Want to elaborate?" Brian asked quietly.
"No, but thanks for the concern." She looked at him, rubbing her eye and then her ear. He nodded.
"Cool, just offering." He said, turning away from her in case they were being watched.
She looked at Tej, who was chilling at the front and then she looked at Roman, who was eating an apple.
"It's beautiful out here at sunset, isn't it?" She asked, sitting by Roman, patting his leg intimidatingly.
"It's alright. Where are we going?" He asked skeptically.
"Does it matter? You're with me. That's all you need to worry about." Shayde grinned slyly, making Roman roll his eyes nervously.
"You keep repeating this." Roman said, rolling his eyes.
"You keep asking." Shayde bantered back.
"Man, something about this just seems suspect" Roman shrugged.
"You're suspect." Shayde retorted.
"How old are you?" Roman asked, shocked at how she was being.
"Old enough." She replied, grinning at Roman.
"Sure seems like we are doing something illegal." Roman mused, shaking his head.
"What, you never did anything illegal before? Kaidyn said you had quite the record." Shayde raised an eyebrow.
"Well, yeah I do. But you're a…" Roman laughed, making Shayde look at him and bend down to his face.
"A what? A girl?" She asked, holding his gaze. "Girls can be quite dangerous. I thought you learned this life lesson already." Shayde smiled.
"Bruh, I just meant..." Roman grasped for words, not sure what her intent was. Tej grinned and shook his head. He hadn't seen Roman shook like this in a bit. "How does Kaidyn know anything about me?" Roman asked, it was just dawning on him what she had said.
"She's a great researcher with a computer." Shayde said with a smile.
"So I hear from her stint in juvie." Brian laughed.
"Supervised computer time is never a bad thing, right?" Shayde laughed, trying to be funny.
"Supervised makes sense." Brian agreed.
"Tej, when we get to where we are going, I need you to follow me on this boat and keep up with me when we head back, cool?" She asked, sitting back for a minute.
"Yeah, no problem." Tej nodded, not into asking questions or worrying about what was about to happen.
"See, Roman, you need to be more like Tej over here. Just do and not ask. It'll get you further than asking too many questions." Shayde gave him a friendly pat on the shoulder, harder than she intended to, making him look at her in surprise.
"You okay, girl? Did you mean to hit me that hard, man?" He asked, rubbing his shoulder.
"What do you mean? I barely tapped you." Shayde replied. "Wow, you are a big baby." She rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, okay." Roman shook his head as he rubbed his shoulder. "That really hurt." He admitted.
"Wow, and to think I wasn't even trying to hurt you." Shayde reasoned, making Roman look at her suspiciously again.
"She gonna kill us bruh, I know she is!" Roman leaned over and whispered to Brian.
"She can hear you." Shayde said in a sing song voice, raising an eyebrow.
"She needs to stop being so scary." Roman shook his head, shivering.
"Scary? OH, I am not being scary. I can show you scary if you want." She promised, her arms folded.
"Watch your words, Pearce." Brian warned with the shake of his head.
"I think, you know, I think I am good." Roman nodded, making Tej laugh out loud at him.
"Roman couldn't be quiet if he tried." Tej remarked.
"Man, shut up, you don't know me, Homie!" Roman retorted.
"Oh, I know you. I know you all too well." Tej shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Thanks to Brian's ass, I know you." Tej complained.
"You're welcome." Brian grinned. Shayde looked at Brian grinning and looked out at the water. She hated how much he reminded her of her best friend. She absolutely hated it.
"Do you guys always travel together on long trips?" She asked, looking at Tej.
"Hell no. I prefer to travel solo. He's a mess to travel with. We just rode to Cali together." Tej explained.
"Safety in numbers, Bruh." Roman said, sounding paranoid.
"Numbers doesn't always mean safety." Shayde countered.
"Whatchu mean by that?" Roman asked, stopping his fiddling with his water bottle.
"You can lose more people with numbers. Numbers don't mean anything. Sometimes they can be a liability." Shayde reasoned.
"But numbers can be safer if you have more people to help protect." Roman said confidently.
"Not if the other side has accounted for that and has way more numbers than your numbers. Then you are still not safe. Just saying, your statement is not completely accurate." Shayde shrugged.
"Some statement." Roman scoffed. "Is that why you and Kaidyn never travel together?" He asked, watching her closely for her reply.
"It's one of the reasons. If they come for me, I don't want her to get hurt by association. The odds are better if we are split up." Shayde explained.
"Strategy. I like it." Tej nodded.
"I need you guys to think like that since you are so dead set on coming with us to this place. I need you to stop and think before you make a move and always try to calculate the risks and the rewards. Nothing should be done on impulse at all. Or with emotion. I will let you marinate on that for a bit." She said, getting up.
"Marinate? That sounds good." Roman remarked.
"ROMAN!" Tej got up and thumped him. "Take this seriously, Dawg." Tej shook his head.
"Seriously, you got up just to come thump me in the head? Rude as hell, bruh." Roman rubbed his bald head.
"He's not wrong, Rome. She's being 100 percent serious. You got the loudest mouth and the biggest temper." Brian agreed.
"That's called good qualities. Rude. You are rude as hell too." He said, giving Brian a go to hell look.
"No, not good qualities. Think of where we are going like a chess game." Shayde said, shaking her head. "If you play with emotions and impulses, you will for sure lose. No one likes to lose, right?" She asked.
"That's true. I hate losing." Roman agreed.
"Yeah, so I just ask you to be serious and think over this for a few and make sure you really do want to go where we are going." Shayde explained.
"Where we going?" Roman asked, looking up at her as she stood overlooking the ocean.
"In due time, you'll know. I can't explain right now." She admitted.
"Dontcha think we should know before we get there?" What kind of Gandalf shit is that? In due time…" Roman mocked in a deep voice.
"You shall not pass if you can't be patient." Shayde joked, shocked Roman had watched Lord of the Rings to know enough of the line in the movie.
"You're real funny, Shayde." Roman rolled his eyes.
"Thanks, I am an undercover comedian." She promised.
"Sure, so funny." He rolled his eyes and said dryly.
"Brian, can I talk to you in private over here?" Shayde asked, checking her phone.
"Sure." He got up. He popped Roman on the back of the head. "Behave and chill the hell out." He leaned down and whispered before going to follow her.
"Oh, Blondie here in trouble?" Roman asked, laughing.
"Mind your business." Shayde pointed at him.
"Yes, Ma'am." was all Roman could say, shocked at her direct order in the tone she said it in. It was a bit frightening. She walked away, Brian following. They went to the opposite end of the boat.
"You having fun making my boy Rome so nervous?" he laughed, loving how Shayde was working Roman's nerves.
"Oh for sure." Shayde laughed. "He's too easy to fuck with." She smiled.
"Yeah, he's something else." Brian laughed.
"He's a mess, that is what he is. No wonder he and Kaidyn get along." Shayde mused.
"Yes, he's already claimed her as his best friend." Brian laughed.
"She's good at reading people. Everyone needs a best friend." Shayde smiled, her mind drifting to her best friend. She already missed him so much it was going to be hard to think about him not being able to call her as much.
"So, what's up?" Brian asked, folding his arms and leaning against the railing.
"I gotta get this boat when we get to where we are going." Shayde commented.
"Boat, huh?" he asked, watching her closely for her reaction. "We're on the boat." he grinned. She rolled her eyes at him grinning.
"Why do you always grin so much?" She asked, not able to concentrate for a second. She had to ask because the grinning was starting to get on her nerves.
"Gotta have fun in life, Shayde. Why can't I grin?" He asked, grinning, of course.
"You can. I just have not seen...many… who grin as much as you do." She admitted.
"I take it you know a guy?" Brian asked, his grin wider now.
"You might know him." Shayde admitted.
"I don't know anyone, remember?" He asked, reminding her he was not supposed to let anyone know he met Hawk or Shadow.
"Good answer." She replied with a smile. "Back to what I was saying. "I am lifting a boat. It's kinda a hobby of mine and I need this one done by tonight." She said, examining her nails. "I promised I'd have it delivered by the morning." She said with a shrug.
"So, we are out here to steal a boat?" Brian's mouth dropped open, clearly shocked.
"What? What's wrong with that, cop boy?" She asked, playfully pushing him.
"Nothing. I just find it funny. What got you into stealing boats?" he shook his head and asked.
"It's a hobby and it's easier than heisting cars and trucks, although helping Dom organize that stuff at first, it was fun." Shayde shrugged. "I told Dom the money was here in Miami but he chose to stick around Cali. Too much work for the little payout compared to yachts." She smiled.
"Nice. Working less for more money, hell yeah, I agree with you." Brian nodded, impressed.
"Yeah, they register them in foreign waters so they don't have taxes or fees and then when they get stolen, insurance pays them or maybe they don't, I don't know but they can't report them really because they are not in the US and since they don't register them in the US, they can't come after me and press charges." Shayde explained.
"I'll be damned." Brian said in amazement. "That's...wow, Shay." He said, scratching his head.
"What? What is it, Brian?" She asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.
"Genius." He grinned, impressed. "Your sister know about this?" He asked, shocked at the information she had just given him.
"She loves boat rides. That is all she knows. She doesn't need to know anything else other than I know lots of people and if you tell her anything different this will be your last boat ride." Shayde promised, putting her hand on her leg where she kept her gun.
"No worries, I am not gonna say a word." Brian promised, holding up his right hand like he was swearing.
"Can you trust those two to keep it on the down low? Cause if they keep their mouths shut, I can use the help." She said, looking at Tej and Roman. She pulled the gun out, making sure to show she had bullets in it. She knew they were getting close to the destination.
"Yeah, you got it. I trust them." Brian nodded, his eyes on the gun. "So, lifting boats. Who woulda thought." He laughed and shook his head, still in awe of Shayde. "So you don't really work for Sparco?" He asked curiously.
"Oh, I do. I keep it for the discount. Kaidyn keeps going through the parts on cars so the discount pays for itself and it's a good cover." Shayde laughed. "Plus, they let me work the schedule I want as long as I keep the orders coming, they don't care how I get the orders." She smiled.
"Nice. I loved it when I slang parts for Harry. Having access to fix up shit is a bonus." Brian grinned.
"But did you really work for him or were you just being undercover, cop boy?" She teased, raising an eyebrow.
"Nah, I really worked for him. Ask Hector." Brian laughed.
"Uh-huh." She folded her arms.
"Alright, whatever you need to think." Brian laughed.
"I really need you to understand how important it is to keep your word when it comes to Kaidyn. I can understand people lying and screwing me over, but Kaidyn's she's...she's a kid. She doesn't deserve to have liars around her. Nothing gets mentioned to Kaidyn. She's got enough of her own problems, she doesn't need to be drug into this. So if you are planning anything or turning on anyone now is your chance to walk away. I will do anything for her and it's important you and your boys understand this." Shayde warned. "She's why I needed to talk to you." She said, making sure the pistol was loaded.
"I understand. They understand. You have my word." Brian said, looking her in the eyes. "My word didn't mean a lot when I first met Dom and the crew. I learned a lot from him and I can say my word is all I got now but I mean it." Brian said, shaking his head. "I messed up and I really thought I was on the right side and that wrong was wrong. But it's not like that." Brian said.
"No, life's not fair and sometimes the right side is more crooked than the people from the wrong side. It's all about perception. Bad people can be good and people who seem good can be worse than the bad people." Shayde agreed softly.
"You got us, whatever you need, Shayde. We won't let you down." Brian promised.
"I appreciate that, Brian. Because I can definitely use your help. Kaidyn's kinda out of it downstairs because I had to um...medicate her." Shayde said, looking out over the water.
"She okay?" he asked, concerned.
"Yeah, she's okay. She should stay asleep honestly but I can't get on that other boat without warning you." She sighed, running a hand through her hair. She let it down and then used her fingers to comb through it and put it up in a messy bun on top of her head.
"She has panic attacks, right? We can handle her. No problem." He promised with a confident nod.
"Brian, these are more than panic attacks. Sometimes we have to give her a shot to calm her down because she has flashbacks. They are sometimes so bad that she isn't in the present, the doctor says she may never get better. She got shot in the head and has been through a lot. It's more than panic attacks." She sighed. She was quiet for a minute. "Think more along the lines of a person on PCP. She has some violent flashbacks and she thinks what she flashes back to is real. She goes into pure panic mode. She can really hurt someone when she is in that mode. What you saw at the hospital is nothing." She warned.
"Damn, Shayde, I had no idea. I am sorry." Brian said, not sure what else to say. He hadn't realized just how much these girls had been through.
"You've been a cop, you should have seen how crazy people can be when they hallucinate, right?" Shadye tried to put it in a way Brian could relate to.
"I know what you mean. They think shit's real. It's a hard thing for them to get past." Brian nodded understandingly.
"If she starts tripping out, she'll need Tej or Roman to handle her. Not you because you are too nice and she will need someone who can control her." Shayde explained.
"I'm too nice?" Brian asked, looking shocked.
"Yes, pretty boy, you are too nice." Shayde laughed.
"Oh, you think I'm pretty? And Nice? My tinder should be lit then." He laughed.
"No swiping this way." Shayde laughed.
"That's some funny shit. You think I am too nice. That really does make my damn day." Brian laughed in amusement. "I turned Dom in, heisted banks, killed people, fought Vince for days and yet I am nice. I love it. Oh and I shot Verone too. But I am too nice." He laughed, really enjoying this.
"Are you done yet?" She asked with a smile. "I don't need a resume. You apparently already have the job." She laughed.
"Yeah, I am done." He grinned, trying to stop laughing.
"You are too funny, Brian O'Connor. But seriously if she has one of those episodes, She will kick, punch, bite, scream, or hurt herself or someone when she gets like that." She informed him, almost sounding like she was giving him a compliment.
"I'm not always nice." He laughed, shaking his head.
"You probably couldn't hold her down if she had one. No offense but you'll need them. Just saying, do yourself a favor and have them help." Shayde explained.
"I am pretty sure I would be the better option." Brian said, shaking his head.
"Don't say I didn't prepare you. This is just in case. But if she has an episode, she's gonna need to be told it's not real and if you can get her to hear you can have her count or look around. I will be a phone call away or you can call Hector. But I am hoping when she wakes up she'll be okay or she'll sleep until we get back. The meds I gave her won't keep her out a long time though." Shayde warned.
"We can handle it. I have medical training." He promised.
"I doubt you will have to deal with that but I just had to warn you in case." Shayde sighed, watching the boat she was heading to come into view.
"I'm sorry she's going through so much, Shayde. I had no idea it was that bad." He put his hands in his pockets as he became serious. "We will make sure she's good. I got you." He promised.
"Thanks, she's been through a lot." Shadye sighed. "It's not really fair but there is nothing I can do but hope she can get past it one day. Just please don't hurt her by doing anything that would mess her up more." She said, looking at the sunset. "I have killed for less than someone hurting her." She promised. "I'm trusting you guys." She said, hoping she was right to trust them.
"The last thing I would want to do is hurt her or you." Brian promised, looking her in the eyes.
"It wouldn't be good for you to screw us over." She reiterated.
"I won't. Anything I can do to help, I am here." he jumped up, getting ready to go back up front as he saw Shayde get up to move.
"Just do me a favor and make sure your boys want to be employed and that they keep their mouths shut and that is helping me a lot." She smiled.
"That won't be a problem." Brian nodded.
"Good, please make sure they know what they are getting into. I can't have Roman crying like a lil bitch saying he had no way out of this." Shayde requested.
"I will make sure we are good to go. I got them, they are no problem. They'll want to help, I have no doubt. He's only a crybaby on the outside but he's good." Brian promised.
"Here's our stop, Tej." Shayde said, getting up and walking back up to the front. She leaned over in the seat and pulled out a shotgun, putting it behind her across her shoulders.
"Tej, I need you to follow me and keep up. We gotta make this quick, cool?" She asked, moving to the edge of the boat to hop onto the much bigger yacht they were now beside. She jumped on the boat and nodded to Tej. He nodded back, ready to follow her.
"Dude, she just reminded me of Verone right there, Homie." Roman said, his mouth dropping and looking at Brian.
"Yeah, about that. We gotta talk, cuz." Brian nodded.