I hope that you will have fun reading this chapter! I won't be home for the next couple of days, so the next update might take a week…………….sorry.

Thank you for all the reviews, they really encouraged me to keep up with this fic!!

Review?

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Thoughts

"Bro?"Pulling the key out of the lock, Lilly stepped into the small hall of their apartment. No answer. Brian wasn't at home, yet. The girl shut the door behind her back and walked into her room where she put her bag on the armchair and sat down on her bed to take off her shoes and socks which Lilly threw into the nearest corner. Looking at her window she thought about opening it and smoking a cigarette on the fire escape, but eventually, her conscience told her that she couldn't do that again, so she merely opened the window, leaning her forearms on the windowsill to look outside, a little breeze playing in her hair. The noise of the city seemed to calm her down, at least for a couple of minutes, she then started thinking about her brother's behavior.

What am I supposed to do, now? I'll just have to listen to him, that's it. I can't do anything else except for listening to him. I can't change his mind, he has already made his decision. He would never allow me to do such thing, that's for sure. Actually, I don't wanna know what's exactly going on, it would only make me feel worse. He says that everything's going to be alright, I'm not so convinced, though. I mean…………I don't want to see my brother in Chino but neither do I  want to see him lying in a coffin. That would be hell. Utter hell. Why can't we just be some ordinary siblings? I will even do without the racing, if that's what it takes. No more hide and seek…………..why did Brian become a cop? Couldn't he just become a mechanic? Then, we wouldn't have all of these problems which only seem to get worse every day. I don't wanna lose my brother! There has to be some way out of this! The job is dangerous, that's why Bilkins wanted Brian, because he knew that my bro would do it without thinking about it. So, maybe there is nobody as good as my bro – present company excepted – still, they could have taken one of their own, at least for the role of Brian's partner. Rome is a great driver, he taught me how to hot-wire a car when I was barely eight years old, for God's sake! Nevertheless, he is hot-headed, way too impatient for his own good, this could get both of them, him and Brian, into serious problems. Of course, Brian sees all of this as a certain kind of second chance for their friendship, he wants it to be the way it was before he became a cop and before Rome was locked up and before……………….before Dad began to beat me up. How I wished that this was possible, but it isn't. Brian will never be able to forget what the police taught him, a part of him will always stay a cop. Rome will never be able to forget what the time in jail taught him, a part of him will always stay a prisoner. What about me? I guess that I'll never be able to forget my father, how drunk he was that night. It was late night. There was piercing thunder and garling lightning. I knew that I should have stayed  in my room. My father didn't favour cowards. Nevertheless, I walked down the stairs to drink some milk. At that time, I still remembered my mother very well………..better than I do today. She always told me to drink something whenever I couldn't sleep. But I never made it into the kitchen.   His fists taught me what pain was, that it was useless to scream or to cry and a part of me will always stay the small child, scared of thunderstorms, of yelling men, incapable of defending herself. I never talked to Brian about this night, never. I don't know why. I think I'm just scared to remember the fact that I was so helpless………….so useless. Why wasn't I able to do anything on my own against him? He was drunk, not aware of certain surroundings………….. I could have escaped………..perhaps. But it was other people who helped me………….I didn't do a thing to get my father behind bars, I did nothing.

That's why Anders' words hurt so much. You can't win by yourself. He's right. It's my brother who helps me to win, it's always been him. I drive his cars. I win because his cars are better than all of the others. I'm not going to ask Brian, if I can drive the Evo. To be honest, I don't wanna drive races anymore while I got this damn Anders in the back of my head, telling me that I'm useless………reminding me of Dad. Maybe I should try to do without races for a while, getting some distance might give me the time to develop new interests. I don't wanna race tonight…………..I don't wanna race anymore.

Checking her watch, Lilly saw that it was almost seven o'clock, so she decided that she could just as well take a shower while her brother was……………somewhere.

She thought about going to "The Club" tonight as she lowered a towel on the ground in front of the tub of the middle-sized bathroom. Locking the door to keep any unexpected visitors out, Lilly turned up the radio standing on the lowest of the three shelves they had fixed soon after having moved in. She took off her clothes and laid them properly on the chest of drawers that stood under the shelves and then sat down on the edge of the tub, taking the showering head into her left hand while she turned on the water with her right hand. Standing up, Lilly shut the shower curtain and held her hand under jet of water to feel its temperature. The liquid was hot, it hurt a little when it touched her skin but she didn't mind. Sometimes, Lilly needed something that would distract her from her problems, even, if it was merely for ten minutes. Shutting the world out, forgetting about all of her troubles.

Yesterday, Sam had phoned her to tell her that his father had received an offer from the enterprise he was working for. Sam's father had been given the opportunity to built up a completely new five-star hotel…………..in New York, so the family would have to move. Sam had said that he had liked her to know because he hadn't wanted to hurt her feelings…………..that he had been sorry.

That had been her second cigarette that day.

The water burnt on her skin but she didn't hiss through her teeth, she just continued to wash her hair, her body. The pain distracted her from her restlessness, her fear………….everything that hurt from the inside. She would have to go to "The Club" tonight. It was Monday evening and they offered each Monday, Wednesday and Thursday special courses which lastet longer than the usual ones. Tango. Today, she felt like tango. Fast steps, her partner's breath on her skin, the rhythm of the music………… tango it was.

Maybe, Will would be there. He was her favorite dancing partner because he wasn't just some show-off who was all riled up. At 6'2, he was rather tall and his body was in perfect shape, muscular but at the same time very flexible. His dark liquid eyes always sparkled when he danced. He shaved his head and would wear a headscarf, if he hadn't. Will was 24, a little younger than Brian and his skin was the deepest black Lilly had ever seen while his teeth were flashing white. She really liked Will due to him not being like all of the others. Most men who danced things like salsa, tango or waltz were either horny jerks or snobbish scrubs. When she had gone there for the first time to dance salsa, it had been merely Will and Raymond who had wanted to dance with her, because Lilly hadn't bothered to wear a dress………….she never wore dresses. Everything she needed was a pair of high-heels, nothing else. She didn't mind that an older man like Will would come so close to her body…………..he was gay! He lived together with his boyfriend in an apartment a few miles away from Tej's garage. They had two cats and were a really cute pair. Unfortunately, Will's boyfriend, Thomas, claimed that he had two left feet and that was why he wouldn't dance with Will.

Feeling the water burning down her back, Lilly felt released. At least she had a plan for tonight and that was way better than having no plan at all.

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Opening the door of their apartment, Brian already heard the sound of running water. So, his sister had to be taking a shower. He shut the door and went into the kitchen where he stopped directly in front of the sink. Regarding the tap, an evil grin tucked at the corners of his mouth.

Turning on or not turning on. Making Lilly hate me by stealing her all the warm water or being an adult. Hard question. Though………..perhaps I really shouldn't, it wouldn't be right to joke around like this after I've been disappeared for almost two days. I better wait for her to come out of the bathroom, then, we order……..what do we want to order? Some Chinese? Nah, I want some real stuff. Pizza, yeah, that sounds good. We didn't have any for…………three weeks. Lilly was so busy during the last two months: lots of homework, projects, exams, I'm totally pleased with the fact that, by the end of the next week, her vaction finally begins. Rome and I will be free men……….this summer's gonna be great. I'll have to search for a new car, I don't think that they will allow me to keep the Evo. That means Lilly and I will pore over one catalog after another, checking out every possible garage and car sale……………just like we did it last time when I bought the Skyline, it's gonna be so much fun. We haven't spent much time together lately, I don't want her to feel neglected or anything. Only within the last few months since we're here, she has grown up so much, getting more beautiful each day…………gaining more attention from guys each day. Well, this Sam seems to be okay, nevertheless, I don't want her to…………I mean, she's still so innocent! Next year, she's already becoming 17. It's about time that she gets an own car, but she has to make this decision, I can merely watch and pray. I'll ask her, if she wants to drive the Evo tonight, when Rome and I have our little private race with the guys we already met at Verones. I hope that she doesn't yell at me as soon as I tell her about this race. It's better when she doesn't know about my plan. The less she knows, the safer she is, although Bilkins promised me that she wouldn't get involved. I'd kill Verone, if he dared just so much than touching her. He can't be trusted, it's the certain gleam in his eyes whenever he looks at Monica. If he ever looks at my baby that way…………..The water's out. Maybe I should knock and ask her, if I can already order. Good idea.

Leaving the kitchen, Brian heard music coming from the inside of the bathroom, therefore, he knocked a little louder than he usually did.

"Lilly?"

The girl nearly jumped at the sound of somebody knocking on the door due to her not having heard her brother coming home. She had just stepped out of the tub, her long wet hair clinging to her back and was about to grab a towel to dry her body. Calming down, she tought about cracking the "not here-joke", but it didn't seem right to her. "Yeah?"

"How about Pizza?"

"Kay."

"As per usual?"

"Yeah."

Well, she didn't yell at me, that's good, but she was kind of unwilling to talk more than necessary. Let's see how this works out. Now: order food!

Lilly stood in front of the mirror above the sink. She had already dressed and was now brushing her hair so that she could wear it in a braid. Her skin was slightly red from all the hot water, she felt better than she had before, though. Hearing Brian ordering Pizza reminded her of the fact that they hadn't had a video or a DVD evening for some time now. They would eat fatty hot Pizza, drink beer or Coke or whatever they had at home, and they would watch almost everything: science-fiction, fantasy, action, horror, comedy…………but no romance, they hated romance.

Looking at her reflection once more to check, if her braid was okay, Lilly opened the door of the room and stepped into the hall.

"What do you wanna drink?"Brian asked from the kitchen where she joined him to take a look at the offer of their fridge. Some Budweiser, Corona, juice, Coke, water, milk. Why did they have so much to drink in there?!

"Mmm……..Coke",she shrugged. If she really wanted to do some tango tonight, she would have to be awake.

"Ya sure?"Brian eyed his sister and she immediately recognized that look: it was his "c'mon, I know you want a beer. I won't be mad at you, if you drink one"-look. A tiny smile appeared on her lips.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I want a Coke."

"Okay",the man took a bottle of Coke and one of Corona out of the fridge, shut the door and they both went into the living-room. Sitting down on one corner of the extremely comfortable couch, Lilly saw her brother smiling at her.

"What?"

"It's nothing", he answered, sitting down as well, placing the bottles on the small table in front of the couch,"it's just………..Rome couldn't believe that you're…………you."

"Confused much",Lilly grabbed her Coke and opened the bottle to take a sip from the dark liquid.

"He couldn't believe that you've grown so much",Brian turned to look at her,"as soon as we've sat together in the Evo, he didn't stop asking questions 'bout you. Within five minutes we had talked more than on our way back to Miami."

"That's………….strange",the girl nudged her brother's side with her toes,"what kind of questions did he ask you?"

"Kinda like……..pretty much everything",Brian shrugged,"school, driving skills, boyfriends………..he missed you."

"I missed him, too",Lilly took a deep breath,"you gonna tell me why he's here?"

"The whole story or the summary?"

"Every single detail."

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"I'm done",the girl said, having just taken the last bite of her piece of pizza,"so tonight, you'll win these guys' cars and then what? Want me to give them a new spraying?"

"No, you don't have to",Brian took a sip of his Corona,"you can come with me, though. I don't want the new cars to be wrecked after just having won them. We need good drivers."

"So take Tej 'n Suki",Lilly shrugged. She wasn't planning on going to some race tonight, she wanted to go dancing, but her brother just looked at her, a little confused.

"C'mon, baby",he grinned, thinking that she was joking,"you haven't driven the Evo, yet. This would be your chance. I know you want to."

"Not everything is about cars, bro",had she really just said that? Lilly saw a spark of hurt in her brother's eyes and came up with an explanation for her not wanting to join him tonight,"Crash asked me to check out this new jazz club with him. I already promised it."

"Oh",Brian looked down, playing the sad one,"okay."

"Stop pouting!"The blond rolled her eyes while her brother grinned.

"Shall I take you there?"

"No, you don't have to", Lilly rose from the couch and picked up the empty carton standing on the table. Carrying it into the kitchen to throw it away, she didn't notice Brian's frown.

So, she's still mad at me. I'll have to do a lot of begging to make her forgive me. Why can't she understand? I don't want us to be like that, it seems so wrong. Not everything is about cars. That doesn't sound like my baby. I'll take care of that after the job is done, I just have to.

Lilly was already in the bathroom, brushing her teeth. Her hair had dried during the last hour, so she opened the braid to see how she looked.

Okay, she thought, I don't need to brush it again.

She would have to go soon. It was 8.15 and the bus which she had to get would come around 8.30. Spitting the "white stuff" – how she called it – into the sink, she washed her lips to get rid of the last bits of pizza and toothpaste. Everything she still had to do was to change and to put her high-heels into her bag, so that Brian wouldn't see them.

Leaving the bathroom, she alsmost crashed into Brian who wanted to take a shower.

Good, this way, he won't see how I'm dressed.

She settled for tight black jeans which were cut rather low and long, so that they didn't look that good with sneakers but great with high-heels, and a sleveless tight white top, revealing her belly but no part of her décolleté. Putting on her sneakers, she took one last look into the mirror she had in her room and was pleased, then, Lilly grabbed her high-heels and stuffed them into her bag. Opening the door of their apartment, she called: "I'll be back before midnight and don't worry, tomorrow, there is neither a first nor a second lesson. Teacher's ill." And she was gone. Brian stood under the shower, shaking his head and grinning. His sister knew exactly what to say while talking to him.

The bus station was merely 150 yards away from the house, so everything Lilly had to do was to walk around one corner and she could already see the sign. Having arrived at the station, the bus came. Perfect timing.

She always sat somewhere in the middle and due to the ride lasting close to 15 minutes, she had enough time to take off her shoes and sneakers and to put on her high-heels. She was somewhere around 5'10 / 5'11 high when wearing these shoes. They were merely made out of a heel, a sole and four thin straps; three over her toes and one around her ankle, nevertheless, she had paid 40$ for them, but the material was rather good – black leather, no plastic – so the price had been okay.

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Having stepped out of the bus, Lilly walked across the empty street, then left and after another 200 yards, she stood in front of "The Club", hearing music coming from the inside and went there to sign up for a course. "The Club" was a three-floor building and there were always people in the halls, either waiting for a course to begin or waiting for somebody or talking………….it was never boring. Lilly greeted whom she knew and then stopped in front of the "reception".

"Hey Mona",she smiled at the black woman sitting behind her desk,"how are the future mommy and her baby?"

"We're fine, I think he's gotten his father's legs, though. Doing a lot of kicking lately, I tell you",she searched in the PC for Lilly's card while caressing her "slightly fat" belly. She was eight months pregnant, now. "Which course?"

"17-3, Tango",the girl replied, hoping that the course wasn't full yet,"Will here?"

"Yep, 17-3, Tango, asked, if you were here, too",Mona never took her eyes off the screen, her fingers tiping,"you still got ten minutes left."

"Thanks, Mona. See you later this week?"

"Of course, if I was to stay at home, I'd only eat more than I already do",the woman smiled,"have fun, girl."

"Thanks, bye",Lilly went through another hall to get to the stairs. 17-3 was on the second floor. In the hall of the first floor, there was a drinks machine, so Lilly chose a bottle of water before she continued her walk to the second floor, where she discovered several familiar faces. Putting the bottle into her bag, she walked into the room on whose door was a sign saying "17". She was looking forward to getting her head clear.

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Brian swallowed. It was around quarter past 12 and Rome and he had just been tested by Verone. Fortunately, Detective Withworth hadn't been hurt all that badly by the rat, nonetheless, this kind of torture had been completely new to Brian. Monica had already gone and Verone was about to follow her when his mobile rang. He answered it and all of the sudden, his mood seemed to be way better than it had been just a couple of minutes ago. The way he smiled wasn't very pleasant, though, it reminded Brian of a hungry predator.

"Perfect. I'll be there, soon",the dark-haired man said and hung up before taking one of the flowers out of the vase standing next to the door. Looking at the white rose, he said: "They're already wilting. I have to let them be replaced by fresh ones. I always think that it's a shame when they die before having fully blossomed. How about you, Mr. O'Connor, do you have flowers at home? I personally prefer roses, orchids………my favorites are lilies, though. My mother used to keep them in our garden. Beautiful flowers."Putting the rose back into the vase, Carter Verone left the two men in the room to follow Monica. Roman found himself confused.

"What was all that shit about flowers, man?! He some kind of looney, or what?! Tell me, man",looking at Brian, Rome saw that the blond man's eyes were widened in shock, his breath unsteady,"yo, Brian, you there?"

Brian couldn't take his eyes off the small white rose that Verone had held in his hand. He was worried like he had never been before.

"Lilly",he finally managed to breath out before running out of the club. He had to get home! Fast!    

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