Chapter Eleven

"Come on," Letty said as she stood up from the bench. "Let's play some ball."

Jocelyn nodded and walked over to the basketball goal with Letty. Just as they were about to get started, Dom pulled up.

"I lied," he announced as he got out of his RX-7.

"'Bout what?" Letty asked. She tucked the basketball under her arm.

"We need to open the garage today."

"Dom, it's like 3:30. Don't ya think it's a little late?"

Dom shrugged. "We need to open the garage. Three cars are comin' in and we still have two in the back to work on. Jocelyn, do you feel like working at the store? Mia is at school and since the garage will be open, we might as well open the store."

Jocelyn nodded. "I can do that."

"Great. Letty you wanna run her over there?"

"Sure," Letty replied as she sat the ball down and went inside to get her keys.

"We're gonna have to get you a car, Joce. Do you mind if I call you that?" Dom said.

"Nah, it's cool Dom. Don't worry about the car. I'll get one by myself."

"V told me that you would like to get a Celica."

"Yeah, it'd be cool to have one of those."

"A customer brought one in the other day. He said that he was fixin' it up so that he could sell it. What if I bought it for ya and you pay me back by workin' at the garage and the store?"

"Dom, you don't have to do that."

"Yes, he does," Letty said as she walked out of the house. "Besides, I can't always be takin' your ass places."

Jocelyn smiled. "All right."

"I'll tell the owner that we're interested," Dom said as he walked back to his car.

Letty and Jocelyn walked to Letty's car and got in.

"When do you think that he'll be able to get it?" Jocelyn asked.

"Tomorrow."

Jocelyn smiled and buckled her seatbelt.

'My life is slowly getting better.'

Jocelyn stood behind the counter flipping through a car magazine. She closed it and moved it out of the way when she heard a car pull up. It was black Cadillac CTS.

"Can I help you?" she asked as a man walked up to her.

He was 6" tall maybe taller and had short brown hair. His eyes were a light blue. He had a clean shaven face. Jocelyn found herself slightly attracted to him. He was wearing a black suit with a gray button up shirt underneath it.

"Yes, you can," the man said as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun.

Jocelyn gasped and dropped to the floor as the man began to shoot. She covered up her head and brought her knees up to her chins. She desperately tried to press herself closer and closer toward the ground. Objects all around her were reduced to shards as they were hit with bullets. Jocelyn screamed as several bullets whizzed past her. One grazed her shoulder and blood began to run down her chest. Fear froze Jocelyn to her place; however intense pain quickly replaced the fear. Jocelyn looked down at her stomach and saw a small red stain on her shirt. The stain was slowly getting bigger.

'Oh God!' she thought as she pressed her hand over the wound.

Then, as quickly as the man started, he stopped. Jocelyn could hear him walking towards her. He was about to come around the counter, when the sound of a high performance engine filled the air. Silent tears began to stream down Jocelyn's cheeks. She heard the man's footsteps as he ran back to his car and jumped in. He started the car and sped off.

Seconds later, a car pulled up in front of the café. The car screeched to a halt. Jocelyn pulled her knees closer to her chest and began to sob.

Vince pulled up in front of the café and immediately knew that something was wrong. He quickly realized that there were bullet holes everywhere. The normally neat café looked like a tornado hit it.

"Jocelyn!" Vince screamed.

Vince could hear a person crying, but he couldn't tell where the sound was coming from.

"Over here," Jocelyn called out. Her voice was very low.

Vince rushed around the counter and found Jocelyn lying on the floor.

"My God," he said before he scooped her into his arms.

Jocelyn screamed out in pain. Vince glanced at her and saw that she had been shot in the abdomen and was losing blood, fast.

"Hold on. We'll get you to a hospital," he said as he ran to his car.

Jocelyn whimpered and pulled herself closer to Vince. Vince placed Jocelyn in the passenger's seat and kissed her on the forehead before saying, "It's gonna be okay."