Chapter 2.
Memphis waited on the line with baited breath for the ultimatum to be laid out before him.
"You cost me two years of my life Raines, an' therefore should pay for it. We got a score to settle. Don't you think that's fair?"
"Well as far as I can see, it was you that broke the law and therefore you cost yourself."
"Shut the hell up Raines!!! You really don't wanna be messin' with me right now! You think that bike is the only thing I can blow up? Next time I might get your girl!!"
"Okay, Okay." Said Memphis quickly "I'm listening." As much as he hated to give Johnny the satisfaction of controlling him, he wasn't about to jeopardize Sway's life for the sake of his pride. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you out of my life Raines. I don't ever want to set eyes on you again. You see, I considered just smokin' your little woman outright, but decided to give her a chance. That way, if I didn't get her, you'd know I was serious. I want you out of Long beach Raines. You and your little posse you got goin' there. And I want that garage and your flat. It's hard to find work when you just got out. The boosters think you're a liability, and for some reason my local super store don't wanna know me." He paused waiting for a response from Memphis "You still listening to me Raines?"
"Yeah. Yeah I'm listening." Memphis looked back at Otto's garage. He thought about the life he'd just built up here. About Otto and Junie. About his Mum and her happiness that he was home (and honest). He thought about Kip and their ongoing battle to help him leave boosting behind. He thought about Sway and how every morning he woke up next to her in their home, and she told him how happy she was. Could he really just collect their lives up and put them in a removals van as easily as he could their furniture? Then Sway flashed into his mind again. He couldn't risk her, but at the same time he couldn't shatter her world and move it somewhere else all because of some stunt he'd pulled two years ago. Then he had an idea.
"So if I don't leave long beach, you're going to kill my girlfriend. Is that what you're saying?"
"Yeh Raines. Do you want me to spell it out in the sky?"
"No I get it. Its just." He paused
"Just what? What's so hard to understand about that? You leave, the girl lives."
"Well don't you think, for a notorious Boost such as yourself, that that seems a little, you know, weak?"
"What!!!!! Raines, you got a hearing problem or something."
"No, no, no." Memphis shook his head "Its just, wouldn't you prefer to drive me out of long beach in a way that's gonna earn you respect and get you back onto the guest list of those Boosters you said won't employ you anymore?"
Johnny was quiet for a second. Memphis knew he had hit the spot.
"Go on, I'm listening."
"Well, how bout you give me till, lets say midnight tonight, that's four and a half hours, to think up a bet that gives me a chance of staying."
"And why would I want to do that? And don't give me all that street-cred shit, cause I aint buying it. Why would I want to give you a chance when I could just as easily get rid of you, no fuss?"
"Because this way, you could win something too. The winner stays in long beach and gets," Memphis quickly thought up a suitable figure "$10,000 from the loser, and the respect of winning. What do you think?"
"$10,000 aint much Raines."
"Yeah, but you just came out of jail so you can't have made that much money in the last two years. Besides this aint about money is it, really. Like you said, we've got a score to settle. Lets settle it."
"Call me at midnight and we'll see what you come up with." Johnny hung up and Memphis shut off his phone.
He couldn't help realising that in the space of a two-minute call, his life had been turned back upside down. That scared him. He sighed and turned around back towards the garage. Sway was stood leaning on the doorframe; the look on her face told him that she had only caught the second half of his conversation.
"You fucking hypocrite." She hissed shaking her head "All you've been teaching Kip about staying clean, and as soon as your old playmate comes back, you're all out for settling damn scores!"
"Sway," He tried to reason "Its not what you think."
"The hell its not! You know how hard I have to work to stay clean?"
"I know Sway. I…."
"I don't wanna hear it. You aint dragging me back into this shit Memphis. I've been jerked around by you one too many times."
"Sway." Memphis took as step towards her, but she walked back into the garage. Before he could reach the door, she had returned with a set of keys in her hands.
"Sway please." She stormed past him and Memphis realised that the keys belonged to Eleanor. "Sway, what are you doing." He asked warily.
She spun around and stared at him viciously "What, so you can revert back to the life, like that," She clicked her fingers "But I can't?! I'm going for a joyride."
And with that, she unlocked the Mustang, jumped behind the drivers seat and tore out of the driveway. Memphis flinched as she threw the car into a bend and disappeared leaving a cloud of dust in her wake. He wasn't flinching for the car though; foremost in his mind was the worry of Sway driving when she was angry. He had discovered the problems that this posed earlier in the year, when she had driven off on her bike after a they had had a fight and crashed it into the back of another driver. She had been lucky to escape with minor injuries, a broken collarbone and numerous bruises, but that was all it was, luck. He didn't want to find out if her luck would hold out a second time, and ran into the garage to get a set of cars keys.
***
Sway floored the Mustang along the freeway. She was furious, a fire burned inside her chest and she found it hard to slow her breathing. She didn't have a short fuse, but when it blew, it blew! The engine roared and the sound of the sexy car soothed her slightly. Then she thought of Memphis, and the promises he had made her, and she thought of Johnny B and her bike.
Josephine. The image of her beautiful sleek black Yamaha lodged in her mind. She clenched her jaw so tightly it made her teeth hurt and her eyes narrowed.
"BASTARD!!" She screamed pounding her fists on the steering wheel. The clock read 110mph. She stroked the nitrous boost in the shifter and a sly smile crept across her lips.
"Come on then Eleanor baby," She swung the GT500 around a Porsche doing a pitiful 80mph in front of her and stopped level with it in the next lane. The businessman in the drivers seat glanced across at her and winked. "Burn baby burn." She said to herself and blew a sultry kiss to the suit as she slammed her finger down on the red button.
***
Memphis ran into the garage.
"Otto I need a car." Otto looked up at him. He was kneeling on the floor picking up some of the fallen tools.
"What's been going on out there Memphis?" Asked Otto standing up "Sway said you sent her inside. Why? What's happening? What's gotten her so mad?"
"Johnny B rang." Said Memphis rummaging in the desk draw for Otto's car keys. "He wants us to leave Long Beach. That explosion was Sways bike."
"I'd gathered that."
Memphis straightened up looking around the wreckage of a garage. Where were the damned keys?
"Well have you thought what would have happened if Sway had left Rachel's two minutes later?"
"Oh shit." Said Otto squeezing his eyes shut and massaging his temples with his thumb and forefinger.
"Exactly. Oh shit. If we don't leave he says he'll kill her. And I believe him." He shuffled through the key rack. The ford, a Shelby AC cobra up on jacks, and set of the door keys. "Otto where the hell are your keys?"
Otto ignored his question "So you're going to leave?"
"No I persuaded him to take a bet with me. I have to get back to him at midnight with a suitable one."
"And this is the only bit of the conversation Sway caught right?"
"Bingo." Said Memphis "And now she's fuming and has gone off in Eleanor."
"Oh god. This just gets better" Otto shook his head "Angry Sway and speed don't go. You remember what happened last time?"
"Its all I can think about" Memphis shuffled papers around on the workbench hoping to locate the keys there.
"You got any nitrous in her?"
Memphis looked up at Otto.
"Exactly why I need your car."
***End chapter 2***
Memphis waited on the line with baited breath for the ultimatum to be laid out before him.
"You cost me two years of my life Raines, an' therefore should pay for it. We got a score to settle. Don't you think that's fair?"
"Well as far as I can see, it was you that broke the law and therefore you cost yourself."
"Shut the hell up Raines!!! You really don't wanna be messin' with me right now! You think that bike is the only thing I can blow up? Next time I might get your girl!!"
"Okay, Okay." Said Memphis quickly "I'm listening." As much as he hated to give Johnny the satisfaction of controlling him, he wasn't about to jeopardize Sway's life for the sake of his pride. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you out of my life Raines. I don't ever want to set eyes on you again. You see, I considered just smokin' your little woman outright, but decided to give her a chance. That way, if I didn't get her, you'd know I was serious. I want you out of Long beach Raines. You and your little posse you got goin' there. And I want that garage and your flat. It's hard to find work when you just got out. The boosters think you're a liability, and for some reason my local super store don't wanna know me." He paused waiting for a response from Memphis "You still listening to me Raines?"
"Yeah. Yeah I'm listening." Memphis looked back at Otto's garage. He thought about the life he'd just built up here. About Otto and Junie. About his Mum and her happiness that he was home (and honest). He thought about Kip and their ongoing battle to help him leave boosting behind. He thought about Sway and how every morning he woke up next to her in their home, and she told him how happy she was. Could he really just collect their lives up and put them in a removals van as easily as he could their furniture? Then Sway flashed into his mind again. He couldn't risk her, but at the same time he couldn't shatter her world and move it somewhere else all because of some stunt he'd pulled two years ago. Then he had an idea.
"So if I don't leave long beach, you're going to kill my girlfriend. Is that what you're saying?"
"Yeh Raines. Do you want me to spell it out in the sky?"
"No I get it. Its just." He paused
"Just what? What's so hard to understand about that? You leave, the girl lives."
"Well don't you think, for a notorious Boost such as yourself, that that seems a little, you know, weak?"
"What!!!!! Raines, you got a hearing problem or something."
"No, no, no." Memphis shook his head "Its just, wouldn't you prefer to drive me out of long beach in a way that's gonna earn you respect and get you back onto the guest list of those Boosters you said won't employ you anymore?"
Johnny was quiet for a second. Memphis knew he had hit the spot.
"Go on, I'm listening."
"Well, how bout you give me till, lets say midnight tonight, that's four and a half hours, to think up a bet that gives me a chance of staying."
"And why would I want to do that? And don't give me all that street-cred shit, cause I aint buying it. Why would I want to give you a chance when I could just as easily get rid of you, no fuss?"
"Because this way, you could win something too. The winner stays in long beach and gets," Memphis quickly thought up a suitable figure "$10,000 from the loser, and the respect of winning. What do you think?"
"$10,000 aint much Raines."
"Yeah, but you just came out of jail so you can't have made that much money in the last two years. Besides this aint about money is it, really. Like you said, we've got a score to settle. Lets settle it."
"Call me at midnight and we'll see what you come up with." Johnny hung up and Memphis shut off his phone.
He couldn't help realising that in the space of a two-minute call, his life had been turned back upside down. That scared him. He sighed and turned around back towards the garage. Sway was stood leaning on the doorframe; the look on her face told him that she had only caught the second half of his conversation.
"You fucking hypocrite." She hissed shaking her head "All you've been teaching Kip about staying clean, and as soon as your old playmate comes back, you're all out for settling damn scores!"
"Sway," He tried to reason "Its not what you think."
"The hell its not! You know how hard I have to work to stay clean?"
"I know Sway. I…."
"I don't wanna hear it. You aint dragging me back into this shit Memphis. I've been jerked around by you one too many times."
"Sway." Memphis took as step towards her, but she walked back into the garage. Before he could reach the door, she had returned with a set of keys in her hands.
"Sway please." She stormed past him and Memphis realised that the keys belonged to Eleanor. "Sway, what are you doing." He asked warily.
She spun around and stared at him viciously "What, so you can revert back to the life, like that," She clicked her fingers "But I can't?! I'm going for a joyride."
And with that, she unlocked the Mustang, jumped behind the drivers seat and tore out of the driveway. Memphis flinched as she threw the car into a bend and disappeared leaving a cloud of dust in her wake. He wasn't flinching for the car though; foremost in his mind was the worry of Sway driving when she was angry. He had discovered the problems that this posed earlier in the year, when she had driven off on her bike after a they had had a fight and crashed it into the back of another driver. She had been lucky to escape with minor injuries, a broken collarbone and numerous bruises, but that was all it was, luck. He didn't want to find out if her luck would hold out a second time, and ran into the garage to get a set of cars keys.
***
Sway floored the Mustang along the freeway. She was furious, a fire burned inside her chest and she found it hard to slow her breathing. She didn't have a short fuse, but when it blew, it blew! The engine roared and the sound of the sexy car soothed her slightly. Then she thought of Memphis, and the promises he had made her, and she thought of Johnny B and her bike.
Josephine. The image of her beautiful sleek black Yamaha lodged in her mind. She clenched her jaw so tightly it made her teeth hurt and her eyes narrowed.
"BASTARD!!" She screamed pounding her fists on the steering wheel. The clock read 110mph. She stroked the nitrous boost in the shifter and a sly smile crept across her lips.
"Come on then Eleanor baby," She swung the GT500 around a Porsche doing a pitiful 80mph in front of her and stopped level with it in the next lane. The businessman in the drivers seat glanced across at her and winked. "Burn baby burn." She said to herself and blew a sultry kiss to the suit as she slammed her finger down on the red button.
***
Memphis ran into the garage.
"Otto I need a car." Otto looked up at him. He was kneeling on the floor picking up some of the fallen tools.
"What's been going on out there Memphis?" Asked Otto standing up "Sway said you sent her inside. Why? What's happening? What's gotten her so mad?"
"Johnny B rang." Said Memphis rummaging in the desk draw for Otto's car keys. "He wants us to leave Long Beach. That explosion was Sways bike."
"I'd gathered that."
Memphis straightened up looking around the wreckage of a garage. Where were the damned keys?
"Well have you thought what would have happened if Sway had left Rachel's two minutes later?"
"Oh shit." Said Otto squeezing his eyes shut and massaging his temples with his thumb and forefinger.
"Exactly. Oh shit. If we don't leave he says he'll kill her. And I believe him." He shuffled through the key rack. The ford, a Shelby AC cobra up on jacks, and set of the door keys. "Otto where the hell are your keys?"
Otto ignored his question "So you're going to leave?"
"No I persuaded him to take a bet with me. I have to get back to him at midnight with a suitable one."
"And this is the only bit of the conversation Sway caught right?"
"Bingo." Said Memphis "And now she's fuming and has gone off in Eleanor."
"Oh god. This just gets better" Otto shook his head "Angry Sway and speed don't go. You remember what happened last time?"
"Its all I can think about" Memphis shuffled papers around on the workbench hoping to locate the keys there.
"You got any nitrous in her?"
Memphis looked up at Otto.
"Exactly why I need your car."
***End chapter 2***