Chapter 37 - Telling the team
"How the hell am I gonna tell my team we've had boatloads of money all this time and I never told 'em?" Dom asked Torrie in her car on the way home. Torrie could tell he was really nervous about telling them he'd kept this from them. She thought perhaps he was right to be. After all, they had all risked their lives for that money and he'd kept it a secret. Torrie could see why he'd done it, she hoped the team would too.
"Just tell 'em. Tell 'em that you felt you had to because it wasn't like you could spend it till the controversy died down. Maybe they knew already and didn't care." She told him. Dom gave her a look like he didn't buy that in the least. "You'll tell them. They'll get over it if they care. You'll buy a new car and get it ready. Everything will be fine."
"But both Letty and Vince got hurt over gettin' that money and it was all my idea to do the stupid trucks in the first place." Torrie gave him a look quickly and then turned back to the road.
"Well Dominic, you'll just have to be honest. That's all you can do. You need a new car. Unless we're gonna find some way to make that Maxima of Vince's really run the 9's Jesse promised him, which doesn't seem likely." Dom laughed. Torrie smiled while she watched the road.
Dom figured all he could do was wait it out and tell his team. He couldn't buy a wrecked car, he didn't want to wait that long to have a car again and the paint job he would need would take them weeks to do, let alone the mechanical stuff. And it was gonna cost money. "So, do you think that pretty girl who owns the parts store will give me a good deal on the parts I need if I sweet talk her?"
"Oh, I think she's gonna make you work a lot harder for a discount then just a little sweet talk. She's gonna make you sweat for a discount." Torrie gave him a wink.
"Sounds like I better rest up before I ask then."
"Oh yeah, you better get a good nights sleep the night before you ask her for a discount."
They pulled up to the garage and walked in. Everyone was just finishing up.
"We need to have a team meeting." Dom started. "There's somethin' I need to tell you all." The team looked around at each other like they knew this wasn't gonna be good. Torrie went and sat on the couch with Vince, figuring that if anyone was gonna go nuts over the news it would be hot headed Vince.
"Well Dawg, don't leave us hangin'." Leon said. Dom let out a big breath and started his story.
".So all that money is still in the bank. I didn't tell you guys because I didn't want you to take your share and leave, breaking up the team, or decide you didn't want to run the garage and the store anymore. I just liked life the way it was and I didn't want it to change. I'm sorry." Dom stammered out the last part. He knew he had stuff to be sorry for but he still hated to say it.
"Wow." Letty seemed speechless.
"Boy." Mia was in the same boat.
"So this means you can go buy your new car now and order all the parts right now and we can build you a new car with the best of everything." Jesse already had specs and parts and build ideas running threw his head. He didn't care about the money.
"Well Dawg, I see why you kept quiet for awhile but I'm still sorta mad you never told us when things cooled down ya know? But it's gonna be fine. I'm not too mad." Leon was sincere.
"I can't believe you let us think that the money was gone Bro. I really can't. I mean, it's not your money, it's our money and you just kept it from us all. I know why you didn't say anything at first I guess but.No I don't know why you didn't tell us right away man. You think we'd tell people? Or we weren't smart enough to know we couldn't go crazy spendin' it? Damn it Dom. This was a damn selfish thing to do." Vince got up and started to walk out of the garage.
"V, wait." Dom called out but Vince kept walking. Dom started to go after him.
"Dom, no, I'll go. I'll try to make him see." Torrie said. Dom nodded sadly. Torrie did have this connection with Vince. Maybe she'd be able to make him understand he hadn't done it o be selfish. Torrie ran after Vince.
"V, wait up." She ran up behind him.
"Torrie, I need to be alone right now. I don't wanna hear it." He said when she started to open her mouth to speak. Torrie got this look on her face and Vince knew he was in for it for basically telling her to shut up.
"Well Vincent you're gonna hear it so stop walking and shut the fuck up." That got his attention. Torrie didn't swear that often, or that harshly. And she never called him Vincent. She knew he hated it.
"Ok then, I'm waiting for you to tell me somethin that will make this better then." He stood beside his car with a belligerent stance.
"Vince, you big hard headed, hot tempered, Italian," She fished in her head for a word that was suitable to call someone who had acted impulsively but not without good reason. "boy who tends to lean toward being a jerk sometimes." Vince half smiled at her description of him. "I know it's hard for you but do you think you might have listened to him. I mean really listened. He didn't tell you all because he didn't want you guys to leave him. He didn't want you all to take the money and run. He didn't want you all to decide workin' in a garage was boring or beneath you and decide not to work with him anymore. He was just trying to keep things the way they'd always been." She took a breath and walked closer to him. "Don't you think that was a valid way to feel? I mean poor Dom hadn't had a lot of stability in his life for a while there had he? He lost his dad and went to jail all in the same week, he had fights with Letty all the time. His team and racing was about all he had and every time he races to this day he has to worry about losing and not even having being LA's best racer as stable in his life. You guys were it."
"I'm still pissed. But not as pissed as I was when you put it that way. I don't know how you do it Torr."
"Do what?"
"Make me forget I wanted to kill someone." They laughed.
"V, I mean, you live rent free, you eat the same food that magically appears for Mia to cook as we all do, you don't pay a bill, you get paid to work here, you never once figured that Dom has been carrying us all in a way for as long as we lived here? I don't think it is too much of a stretch to just forgive him this, do you?"
"I guess not." Vince said with a sigh. The fight had been leaching out of him ever since she pointed out Dom just hadn't wanted to loose the team.
"Good boy. Let's go back inside so Dom can stop worrying he lost his best friend over some stupid money." Torrie took his hand and started to lead him into the garage.
"Hold up. Why aren't you pissed? He woulda taken your car if you didn't come live with us and work for us. He accused you of slacken' off when you knew we needed your help. He coulda hired staff so you wouldn't even have needed to work at the garage, he coulda paid off the bank for you but he made you work and gave you a hard time over it. How come you're so on his side?"
"Why? Because paying off the bank is my responsibility not Dom's. Because I raced in a race I had no business being in and lost. That was my own stupidity at work. Dom gave me a way out when I needed a house to live in. And more then anything, he gave me you guys. I had next to no family and Dom gave me a huge, car crazy family to care for and have take care of me. I owe Dom a lot. He made me grow up."
"You are one smart girl." Vince hugged her. "That put my issues with him in better perspective." They headed into the garage finaly and Vince told Dom he wasn't mad anymore. Dom smiled.
"Well then, we still need to find me a car." Dom said.
"What did you want to buy? You must have an idea that you needed us to know about the money before you put it in action right?" Leon asked.
"Yeah, I have an idea but I don't know if you guys will think I'm nuts or not."
"Is it a skyline?" Leon asked with a hopeful look.
"No. A Mazda RX-8."
"Cool." Jesse said. "No one races one yet. You'd be the only one for a while."
"How the hell am I gonna tell my team we've had boatloads of money all this time and I never told 'em?" Dom asked Torrie in her car on the way home. Torrie could tell he was really nervous about telling them he'd kept this from them. She thought perhaps he was right to be. After all, they had all risked their lives for that money and he'd kept it a secret. Torrie could see why he'd done it, she hoped the team would too.
"Just tell 'em. Tell 'em that you felt you had to because it wasn't like you could spend it till the controversy died down. Maybe they knew already and didn't care." She told him. Dom gave her a look like he didn't buy that in the least. "You'll tell them. They'll get over it if they care. You'll buy a new car and get it ready. Everything will be fine."
"But both Letty and Vince got hurt over gettin' that money and it was all my idea to do the stupid trucks in the first place." Torrie gave him a look quickly and then turned back to the road.
"Well Dominic, you'll just have to be honest. That's all you can do. You need a new car. Unless we're gonna find some way to make that Maxima of Vince's really run the 9's Jesse promised him, which doesn't seem likely." Dom laughed. Torrie smiled while she watched the road.
Dom figured all he could do was wait it out and tell his team. He couldn't buy a wrecked car, he didn't want to wait that long to have a car again and the paint job he would need would take them weeks to do, let alone the mechanical stuff. And it was gonna cost money. "So, do you think that pretty girl who owns the parts store will give me a good deal on the parts I need if I sweet talk her?"
"Oh, I think she's gonna make you work a lot harder for a discount then just a little sweet talk. She's gonna make you sweat for a discount." Torrie gave him a wink.
"Sounds like I better rest up before I ask then."
"Oh yeah, you better get a good nights sleep the night before you ask her for a discount."
They pulled up to the garage and walked in. Everyone was just finishing up.
"We need to have a team meeting." Dom started. "There's somethin' I need to tell you all." The team looked around at each other like they knew this wasn't gonna be good. Torrie went and sat on the couch with Vince, figuring that if anyone was gonna go nuts over the news it would be hot headed Vince.
"Well Dawg, don't leave us hangin'." Leon said. Dom let out a big breath and started his story.
".So all that money is still in the bank. I didn't tell you guys because I didn't want you to take your share and leave, breaking up the team, or decide you didn't want to run the garage and the store anymore. I just liked life the way it was and I didn't want it to change. I'm sorry." Dom stammered out the last part. He knew he had stuff to be sorry for but he still hated to say it.
"Wow." Letty seemed speechless.
"Boy." Mia was in the same boat.
"So this means you can go buy your new car now and order all the parts right now and we can build you a new car with the best of everything." Jesse already had specs and parts and build ideas running threw his head. He didn't care about the money.
"Well Dawg, I see why you kept quiet for awhile but I'm still sorta mad you never told us when things cooled down ya know? But it's gonna be fine. I'm not too mad." Leon was sincere.
"I can't believe you let us think that the money was gone Bro. I really can't. I mean, it's not your money, it's our money and you just kept it from us all. I know why you didn't say anything at first I guess but.No I don't know why you didn't tell us right away man. You think we'd tell people? Or we weren't smart enough to know we couldn't go crazy spendin' it? Damn it Dom. This was a damn selfish thing to do." Vince got up and started to walk out of the garage.
"V, wait." Dom called out but Vince kept walking. Dom started to go after him.
"Dom, no, I'll go. I'll try to make him see." Torrie said. Dom nodded sadly. Torrie did have this connection with Vince. Maybe she'd be able to make him understand he hadn't done it o be selfish. Torrie ran after Vince.
"V, wait up." She ran up behind him.
"Torrie, I need to be alone right now. I don't wanna hear it." He said when she started to open her mouth to speak. Torrie got this look on her face and Vince knew he was in for it for basically telling her to shut up.
"Well Vincent you're gonna hear it so stop walking and shut the fuck up." That got his attention. Torrie didn't swear that often, or that harshly. And she never called him Vincent. She knew he hated it.
"Ok then, I'm waiting for you to tell me somethin that will make this better then." He stood beside his car with a belligerent stance.
"Vince, you big hard headed, hot tempered, Italian," She fished in her head for a word that was suitable to call someone who had acted impulsively but not without good reason. "boy who tends to lean toward being a jerk sometimes." Vince half smiled at her description of him. "I know it's hard for you but do you think you might have listened to him. I mean really listened. He didn't tell you all because he didn't want you guys to leave him. He didn't want you all to take the money and run. He didn't want you all to decide workin' in a garage was boring or beneath you and decide not to work with him anymore. He was just trying to keep things the way they'd always been." She took a breath and walked closer to him. "Don't you think that was a valid way to feel? I mean poor Dom hadn't had a lot of stability in his life for a while there had he? He lost his dad and went to jail all in the same week, he had fights with Letty all the time. His team and racing was about all he had and every time he races to this day he has to worry about losing and not even having being LA's best racer as stable in his life. You guys were it."
"I'm still pissed. But not as pissed as I was when you put it that way. I don't know how you do it Torr."
"Do what?"
"Make me forget I wanted to kill someone." They laughed.
"V, I mean, you live rent free, you eat the same food that magically appears for Mia to cook as we all do, you don't pay a bill, you get paid to work here, you never once figured that Dom has been carrying us all in a way for as long as we lived here? I don't think it is too much of a stretch to just forgive him this, do you?"
"I guess not." Vince said with a sigh. The fight had been leaching out of him ever since she pointed out Dom just hadn't wanted to loose the team.
"Good boy. Let's go back inside so Dom can stop worrying he lost his best friend over some stupid money." Torrie took his hand and started to lead him into the garage.
"Hold up. Why aren't you pissed? He woulda taken your car if you didn't come live with us and work for us. He accused you of slacken' off when you knew we needed your help. He coulda hired staff so you wouldn't even have needed to work at the garage, he coulda paid off the bank for you but he made you work and gave you a hard time over it. How come you're so on his side?"
"Why? Because paying off the bank is my responsibility not Dom's. Because I raced in a race I had no business being in and lost. That was my own stupidity at work. Dom gave me a way out when I needed a house to live in. And more then anything, he gave me you guys. I had next to no family and Dom gave me a huge, car crazy family to care for and have take care of me. I owe Dom a lot. He made me grow up."
"You are one smart girl." Vince hugged her. "That put my issues with him in better perspective." They headed into the garage finaly and Vince told Dom he wasn't mad anymore. Dom smiled.
"Well then, we still need to find me a car." Dom said.
"What did you want to buy? You must have an idea that you needed us to know about the money before you put it in action right?" Leon asked.
"Yeah, I have an idea but I don't know if you guys will think I'm nuts or not."
"Is it a skyline?" Leon asked with a hopeful look.
"No. A Mazda RX-8."
"Cool." Jesse said. "No one races one yet. You'd be the only one for a while."