The next few days went by fast for the team, they spent most of their time working on the Supra, they wanted it ready by Race Wars, which was coming up fast. Mia and Jezzie spent their time at the store, while the rest of the team was at the garage. It had become too crowded for them all to be in the garage at the same time.
Jezzie leaned on the counter, looking at a car magazine when Jeff pulled up to the store. Jezzie looked up and sighed when she saw his car. She turned around.
"Hey Mi, can you get me a Corona?" She asked. Mia looked up from her Cosmopolitan magazine and nodded. She walked to the back and Jezzie turned around. Jeff sat at the counter.
"What can I get you?" Jezzie asked. Jeff looked her up and down.
"You look good." He said, smiling. Jezzie smiled, but inside she was scared. What would he do? Would he try to take her? She was scared she wouldn't be able to push him away.
"Sorry, but I'm taken. Seriously, what can I get you?" Mia walked up and gave Jezzie her Corona and then walked to the back. She had a feeling she shouldn't butt in on this.
"How about a Ham sandwich?" He replied. Jezzie nodded and went to make the sandwich. Mia stood next to her why she worked.
"Let me call Dom." Mia whispered, her back to Jeff. Jezzie shook her head.
"No Mia. If Dom comes here he'll kick his ass and get sent back to jail. We don't need that right now." Jezzie whispered back. Mia nodded and went back to reading her magazine. Jezzie finished the sandwich and put it on the counter in front of Jeff. He smiled and took a bite. Jezzie went back to reading her magazine.
"How long you been into cars?" He asked; he was still trying to make it seem as if he didn't know her. She looked at him. Like you don't fucking know, she thought.
"Ever since I was young. I grew up in Michigan, the land of the cars. I've always been into 2 things: Hockey and cars. When I moved here I got into cars more." Jeff took another bite and nodded.
"So all you've done out here is work on cars? No acting, no singing?" Jeff asked. Jezzie laughed.
"No way man. I can't sing and I certainly can't act. Cars are my life." Jeff nodded.
"How long you been street racing?" He asked. Jezzie thought for a minute.
"Only for a few years. Only since I was about 18 or 19, not too long." Jezzie went back to looking at her magazine. Why was she being nice to him? Why was she talking like they had never met and he had never done what he did? Why?
"So...I hope you don't mind me asking, but are you and Dom...together?" He asked. Jezzie looked up and laughed, tossing her head back. She pulled her head forward as a car pulled into the parking lot, next to Jeff's. She smiled.
"Oh god no. He's been my best guy friend ever since I moved here back when I was 14. He's my protector. He tends to get over protective sometimes though, but no." Jezzie looked up as Leon stepped into the store, his smile dropped from his face; a cold, mean look on his face. But Jezzie kept smiling and she looked back at Jeff. Jeff chuckled at Jezzie's comment.
"You're telling me, that the King of L.A.'s streets, is sensitive and protects you?" He asked, not noticing Leon was standing behind him.
"That's what I'm telling you. Every guy has their soft side, but trust me, you don't want to get on Dom's bad side." She looked back up at Leon. "Hey Lee, whatcha doing here?" Jeff turned around and smiled at Leon; Leon didn't smile back.
"We finished the Supra. Dom and Brian took it out for a spin, so I'd figured I'd stop by and say hi to my girl." He looked up at Jezzie. "Can I talk to you for a sec?" He jerked his head towards the back. Jezzie rolled her eyes.
"Yeah." She smiled at Jeff and walked behind the counter, going into the back room. "What the hell is your problem Leon?" She whispered.
"What the hell are you doing talking to him?" Leon fought to keep his voice below a whisper, but it was hard.
"He's here as a paying customer. He ain't making no trouble, so neither am I. And if you're smart, you'll do the same." Leon frowned.
"What the fuck? Why are you sticking up for him?" He walked towards her. "The man fucking raped you and you're here, being all buddy with him, laughing your head off." Jezzie shook her head.
"Leon...you're being stupid. Maybe he wants to be forgiven for what he did." Jezzie said, though she didn't believe it. She didn't know what he was up to, but it was like they were back at the party. She couldn't say no, she couldn't turn away from him. As much as she tried to scream, her screams were drowned out, no one could hear her scream. Leon was shocked.
"What? Shit heads like him don't want to be forgiven, they just want to make things worse. I don't get you. One minute you're all nice to Brian, then you're a bitch to him, and one minute you're scared shitless of this asshole and now you're protecting him. You need to get your head screwed on straight or get off whatever drugs you're on." Jezzie's mouth dropped open, she couldn't believe Leon just said that to her. Leon turned and walked out of the room, walking through the store. Jezzie chased after him, she caught him and grabbed his arm and tried to make him face her.
"Leon. Stop! Come on Leon! Listen to me!" Leon jerked his arm away and kept walking. "Lee...please." Jezzie begged. She walked after him again, following him out of the store. She tried to grab his arm again, but she missed. He opened his door. "Jesus Leon, please! Why are you doing this to me?" She screamed. He stopped and turned to her.
"ME? ME? You're doing it to yourself Jez!" He climbed in his car and drove off, leaving Jezzie crying in front of the store. Mia rushed out of the store and wrapped her arms around Jezzie's shoulders.
"Jez, don't cry. Please don't cry." Mia whispered. Jezzie wrapped her arms around Mia and they stood in front of the building, Jeff watching them with delight.
Leon sat on a bench next to the street, overlooking the ocean. He ran a hand through his hair, sighing. He couldn't believe what he had just done. He had never yelled at Jezzie and he just did, and worst of all, he made her cry. He hated it when women cried, especially when Jez cried. And he practically just called her crazy. He knew he was going to get hell from Dom when he went home later, and frankly, he deserved it.
Leon had no idea what she was going through, none of them did. And Jezzie was right, Jeff wasn't making any trouble, so he shouldn't have been an ass about it. Leon leaned his back and closed his eyes. After a few seconds he felt someone sit next to him. He pulled his head forward and opened his eyes.
There was a beautiful girl sitting next to him, her eyes were red and puffy, tears had stained her face. Her long blonde hair stuck to her face. The girl looked at him then looked down.
"I'm sorry, I hope you don't mind if I sit here." She said; her voice was small and light, but beautiful. Leon was taken aback by her. Why would she choose to sit by him when there were plenty of empty benches?
"No, no it's ok. I don't mind." Leon had to force himself to look away from her. She looked out at the ocean.
"Thanks. I think I was being followed, so I thought it would be safer if I sat next to someone." She explained. Leon nodded.
"Then it's definitely ok. A pretty girl like you shouldn't be scared like that. I'll sit here for as long as I can, ok?" He said. She looked up at him, a big smile on her face.
"Thank you so much! I really appreciate it." She said eagerly. Leon looked at her and smiled.
"No problem."
Jezzie and Mia stood there for what seemed like hours, but was only a couple of minutes. Then Vince pulled up. Mia let go of Jezzie and watched as Vince got out of his car, a concerned look on his face.
"You two ok?" He asked. Dom and Leon told him about what happened to Jezzie and about the guy who came looking for her. He didn't know what the guy looked like though, so the fact that Jeff was sitting right behind them made no difference to Vince. Jezzie and Mia didn't know that Vince knew about Jeff. Mia looked at Jezzie, she was nodding.
"I'll be fine Vince." Jezzie choked out. Vince nodded, only half believing her. The three walked into the store, Mia and Jezzie walking behind the counter, while Vince sat next to Jeff, only a seat between them. Vince and Jeff both watched Jezzie. Vince was concerned, while Jeff was happy. If Leon and Jezzie broke up then he'd be free to take advantage of her, he could have his way with her...again. Jeff took a bite of sandwich; no one noticed he was smiling at Jezzie.
"So Vince, what brings you over here?" Jezzie asked, trying to put on her best smile. Vince chuckled. Jezzie started to clean the counter with a hand towel; she was trying to keep busy.
"I wasn't sure if Spilner was at the garage or not, so I'd figured I'd stop by and have some tuna." Mia, Jezzie, and Vince laughed. Jezzie threw the hand towel at Vince; he caught it.
"Please Vince, you know you don't like the tuna." Jezzie said; Vince nodded.
"Yeah, ok." Jezzie took the towel from Vince and tossed it on the back counter, she then went back to looking at her magazine. Jeff took another bite of his sandwich, watching the scene unfold before him. He took the last bite of his sandwich and stood up, taking a few dollar bills out of his pocket.
"Thanks Jez. I'll see you at Race Wars?" He asked. Jezzie nodded reluctantly.
"Yeah Jeff. I'll be there." Vince's head snapped up and his eyes grew cold. He stood up, standing in front of Jeff. He balled up his hands.
"So you're Jeff, huh?" He asked. Jeff was confused, how did this bozo know who he was?
"Yeah, what of it?" He asked, still confused, starting to get a little afraid of Vince.
"Well, if you know what's good for your punk ass, you'll stay away from DT Automotive, away from here, and definitely away from Jezzie. You come near her again, and I will personally kick your ass!" Vince said, pounding his fists together.
"Vince!" Jezzie yelled. She was confused, how did he know? Who told him? When did he find out?
"Sure buddy, whatever you say." Jeff said, walking around Vince and to his car. Vince turned his body and watched the guy drive away. Finally he turned back to Jezzie.
"What was he doing here?" He asked; he was ignoring the fact that Jezzie was glaring at him, her arms crossed across her chest.
"Eating a sandwich V! Jesus! Why do you guys have to do this? First Leon and now you?" She yelled. Mia was watching them. Mia was personally on the guy's side, she didn't like Jeff being around, she had a feeling he was watching Jezzie whenever he could.
"That punk shouldn't be hanging around you J! What if Mia hadn't been here? He could have taken you like that!" He snapped his fingers. Jezzie growled.
"I can take care of myself Vince! Just leave it alone!" Jezzie turned and walked back to the back room, throwing herself on the chair and burying her head in her arms and crying. Why couldn't they just leave it alone? He wasn't doing anything; he was just eating a sandwich.
But why was she sticking up for Jeff? Maybe it was because before he raped her, he was one of the nicest guys in school. Sure, he was a jock and he was popular, but he made an effort to be nice to her, something none of the other popular kids did. Even after he raped her, she couldn't help but be drawn to him. She was losing control again...she couldn't say no to him. She couldn't tell him to leave her alone. She couldn't do anything but whatever he said.
It was like 7th and 8th grade all over again, except this time...she was losing the only family she had.
"My name's Leon." Leon said, looking out over the ocean.
"Silvia, but my friends call me Sylvie or Silver because I used to have Silver hair." Leon looked at her and smiled.
"That's cool." He looked at what she was wearing, worn out blue jeans, old white converse shoes with yellow stars, and a tight blue shirt with the words 'Bite Me' across the front. Her nails were small and bitten; her lips had tiny scabs on it, probably from where she would bit her lips. He noticed that she had her left eyebrow pierced, a blue spike sticking out of it.
"Say listen, do you want to come back to my house for dinner? Mia's going to be cooking spaghetti tonight, I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Leon said. Sylvie looked at him, confused.
"Who's Mia? You're girlfriend?" She asked, Leon laughed and shook his head.
"No. Dom and Mia are the two that own the house. Mia is Dom's younger sister. Me, Jesse, Jezzie, Letty, and Vince live with Dom and Mia. We're a team, a street racing team. Come on, it'll be cool. We'll watch a movie afterwards, and then I can drive you home or whatever." Leon said. Sylvie thought about it and then smiled.
"I'd love to." Leon smiled and stood up.
"Awesome, you'll like em. Mia's really nice, she's like the mother of us all, even though she's the youngest. Come on." Sylvie stood up and followed him to his car. She got in on the passenger's side and he got in on the drivers side. Leon forgot to mention that Jezzie was his girlfriend; it slipped his mind.
When Mia and Jezzie came home from the store, nobody was there yet. Jezzie went up to the bathroom to wash up her face. She pulled her hair into a ponytail, to get if off her face and then she turned on the water and splashed some on her face. She looked in the mirror and studied herself. Her eyes were red and puffy, from crying almost non-stop for the last few hours. She splashed some more water on her face and then dried her face. She kept her hair pulled back and went downstairs. Letty was sitting on the couch, watching TV. Jezzie sat next to Letty.
"Hey Let." Jezzie said.
"Hey girl. How you doing?" She asked. Jezzie shrugged.
"Ehh...say, you wanna go clubbing tonight? We gonna be out in the desert for a few days, figure we might as well get drunk before then." Letty chuckled.
"Cool. It'll be fun, no guys, just you an me." Jezzie and Letty were watching Lifetime, Golden Girls was on. Letty and Jezzie loved that show; they thought it was hilarious. The door opened and closed, but the girls didn't look up.
"Hey you two." Dom said. The girls muttered a 'hey', but didn't look up. Dom chuckled and him and Brian walked past the girls, into the kitchen. "Hey Mia." Dom said.
"You think Dom'll ever stop talking to us while we watch TV?" Jezzie asked. The two girls laughed.
"Hey Dom. Uh...I need to tell you something." Mia said, she looked in the living room, Letty and Jezzie were busy watching TV. Mia pulled Dom and Brian into the farthest corner of the Kitchen.
"What's up?" Dom asked.
"Jeff came to the store today." Mia whispered. She saw his face grow red.
"What?" He yelled. Mia shushed him.
"He ordered a Ham sandwich. He was talking to Jezzie about something, I'm not sure what. But then Leon came into the store. He and Jez argued about something and then he left, after yelling at Jez and making her cry." She paused, as Dom's face got even redder, even Brian was starting to get pissed. "Vince came a few minutes later and when he found out that was Jeff, he told him never to come around again. Then Jeff left. But he said he was going to be at Race Wars." Mia finished.
Dom could hardly see; he was so pissed. The guy had the nerve to keep coming around, and now he was going to be at Race Wars? Dom sat down at the table and put his head in his hands. And Leon...damn him. Dom understood why Leon was upset; at least he thought he did, but to make Jezzie cry?
He loved Leon like a brother, but when it came to Jezzie, he loved her more. The front door opened and then closed a few seconds later.
"Yo Dom! You home?" Leon's voice rang out. Dom stood up, his hands balled into fists. He walked around the table and through the living room, Mia and Brian behind him. Dom stopped, Mia and Brian on each side. Leon stood at the door, a woman stand to his left, her head bowed down, looking at the floor. Mia's jaw was dropped.
"Yeah. I'm home." Dom said coldly. Jezzie and Letty still hadn't looked up from the TV; neither really gave a shit. Jezzie had a feeling that Mia had told Dom about what happened at the store, so she figured that was why he was being so cold.
"Hey Dom. This is Silvia. I ran into her down at the beach, somebody was following her so I figured it'd be better to get her away from there. Is it cool if she stays for dinner?" Leon asked. Dom was shooting knives at Leon; Leon figured it was only because of the girl. He ahd pushed the incident with Jezzie out of his mind.
"Well if she was being followed, then it's ok, but you better make sure it's ok with your girlfriend." Silvia's head jerked up at the mention of a girlfriend. She didn't want to intrude and get anybody in trouble. "Yo Jez." Dom said, not taking his eyes off of Leon.
"What? I'm watching the boob tube, can it wait?" Jezzie said, still immersed in the TV. Dom turned around.
"No it cannot wait." He said, annoyed. Jezzie sighed and looked at him.
"What?" She asked. Dom moved and Jezzie saw the girl standing next to Leon. "Who the fuck is she?" Jezzie asked, not thinking. "I'm sorry, who is she?" Jezzie hated to be rude to people she didn't know and she didn't want to think the worst thing, and she couldn't help but recognize the girl, she felt like she knew her from somewhere.
"This is Silvia. I ran--" Leon said; but Jezzie interrupted him. Jezzie shrugged and looked back at the TV.
"Whatever. Makes no difference to me." Letty chuckled at her. She knew Jezzie didn't give a fuck, as long as the girl didn't mess with Leon. "Me and Let are going out. We'll be home later." The two girls stood up and walked past the group and up the stairs to change.
About an hour later, both girls emerged from their rooms. Jezzie was wearing a brown top; it was held together by a clasp just below her breasts, it showed off her stomach and her cleavage. She wore a short brown leather skirt with a silver chain and brown knee high boots.
Letty was wearing a short black shirt, and a black see through lace shirt with a black bra underneath. She had her infamous flame boots on, which made Jezzie laugh. Jezzie's hair was pulled back into a long braid, while Letty kept hers down. The girls walked down the stairs and looked in the living room. Leon, Vince, Dom, Brian, and Silvia were watching TV. Dom looked up and saw them. He got up from the couch and walked over to them.
"Have fun." He said. They were surprised, but smiled and walked out the door and down to Letty's car. Dom stood at the door and watched them get into Letty's car.
He didn't blame Jezzie for wanting her to get away, and for some reason, he wasn't going to try and stop her. Normally he would make a big deal of them going out. They would get pissed at him and he would get pissed at them.