Velocity Shift
–By Tempest-Races -
Chapter One – What We Want.
"So, that's Benny Chain's place right?"
Matty got that sinking feeling in his stomach. That same old feeling. Yet another job interview going great, until the fact that his only experience in the work world consisted of being the president of various now defunct companies was brought up. Companies that were thinly veiled attempts by his father and Uncle Teddy to give him something to do. Something that didn't involve him being a part of the family business outright, just on the sidelines, doing something almost legitimate for men with no legitimate purpose.
"Yes, that's correct. Yeah, he owns it." Matty fidgeted nervously.
"So, are you related to him?" His interviewer looked just as nervous.
"Yeah, he...He's my father."
"Well that's a pretty close relation..."
Matty fought with the man, but as he figured, it did nothing for him. Like all the others the man interviewing him assumed he was trying to work his way into the company to help his father, one of New York's most notorious Mobsters take it over. Nothing was farther from the truth for Matty. That was just the life he was trying to break away from.
"I'm here for a fucken job." Matty sighed.
"I have nothing for you." The man opened the door to his office. Matty knew he was dismissed and left the room, head hanging, totally unsure what he was going to do about yet another failure.
He drove his black Sedan De Ville home to his family's sprawling mansion in suburban New York and after driving up the horse shoe shaped drive, parked at the front door. He walked straight back to the kitchen through the beautiful home.
"Not another one Matty." Storm Demaret sighed as her older brother violently threw his attaché case down on the counter and threw off his coat.
"Yeah, another one." Matty Demaret opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, tearing the top off and guzzling half of it down in one gulp. He hated the pity in his sister's voice. He sat dejectedly at the breakfast counter in the family kitchen.
"Why do you keep doing this to yourself?" Storm walked up behind her brother and started to kneed his shoulders, seeing the tension there and hating to see him putting himself through the day after day torture of trying to get a job outside the family business when he was a Demaret and the whole state knew where he came from, where his background lie. Matty looked up at her over his shoulder and she saw how much the latest rejection had hurt him.
"Because it's all I've ever wanted to do Storm and you know it. All I ever wanted to do with my life was work with ball players, and no matter what I do it's never gonna happen."
"Yeah, well we don't always get what we want." Storm wrapped her arms around her brother's neck from behind him and leaned her chin on his shoulder. "Sometimes we just have to make the most of what we do have an realize that what we want isn't gonna happen."
"You talking about wanting in the business or wanting Taylor Reese to notice you're not a little girl in pigtails anymore?" Matty asked, laughing. "Ouch!" His laugher turned to a cry of pain as his sister slapped him upside his head.
"I don't care what Taylor Reese notices." Storm answered indignantly. "I'm talking about the fact I want in the business and I'll never get a chance because I'm a girl. You don't want in but he'd hand the whole thing to you in a heartbeat if you did."
"No he wouldn't Storm. Hell, I'm Matty Dimes. He'll never forget what Teddy told him about that night when I was 12 with Bobby Boulevard. He's never gonna let me in the business but because of his business I can't get a job in anything else." He turned his earnest eyes to his sister. "Run away with me? Come on, we'll run to a state where no one's ever heard of Benny Chains, where no one ever learned to fear the last name Demaret. Huh? Will you come with me Storm? You can make money racing that crazy car and I'll get a job with a sports team. We can move to LA or Chicago."
"Nope. I like it here. I love Daddy, even if he is hardheaded and stubborn."
"Yeah, and you're his daughter alright." Matty sighed, looking at his much loved younger sister.
"Shut up." Storm laughed softly in his ear, knowing her brother was right.
"Well, I gotta go bring him and Teddy their lunch. God, this is what I'm reduced to. Going to job interviews and bringing my father his sandwich. What a life."
"But you drive a Cadillac!" Storm parroted her father. Matty laughed despite himself.
"Yeah, and I'm about to drive it right down to the store and get the old man his lunch."
"You want me to come with?" Storm asked, standing up away from her brother's back. "He'll go easier on you if I'm around."
"No, you stay here. Taylor's supposed to come by and I know you'll wanna be here to greet him if I'm not back in time."
"I don't know why you insist on thinking I have a crush on your stupid friend Matty." Storm sighed in anger and looked away from her brother's eyes.
"I know you better then you know yourself sis."
"Whatever. You know how you'll catch it from Dad if you're late." Storm watched as Matty got up and turned to leave. "Matty, what are you thinking?" Storm asked as her brother pulled on his coat. She didn't like the look in his eyes one bit.
"I'm gonna ask him to bring me in Storm. There's nothin else I can do. I can't live my whole life runnin his errands and I can't get a job in sports like I went to college for. What else can I do?"
"Matty, it's not you." Storm walked up to her brother and took his face between her hands. "You can't make yourself something your not just because you're discouraged Matty. There's a goodness in you and you can't help it if it's not in you to strong arm people and shoot them in the head." Matty flinched away from her plain speech. "See what I mean? You say you want in because you have nothing else but you can't even think about shooting someone. You can't help that you aren't that man Matty and I wish you wouldn't try."
"Stormianna, I love you but I'm 26 years old. I can't live in my father's house and bring him his lunch for the rest of my life. I need a job."
"I hate it when you call me that!" Storm growled, hating her full name and any mention of it. "I know Matty, and maybe you should move away, someplace where your name won't matter. But I can't go with you. Everything I ever wanted is right here. I'd miss you though. You're the only one who knows how to cheer me up when it all gets me down."
"I'm the only one who knows how to keep you outta trouble when you get in a killing mood you mean?"
Storm laughed. "Yeah, that's it. Well, you better go or you'll be late." She gave her brother a kiss on his cheek and wasn't surprised when he hugged her tight. He was the only one she was soft around. Anyone who was told Storm Demaret hugged and kissed her brother would laugh it off. She played her feelings very close, except when she was alone with Matty. They had a lot of love for each other. Storm figured it came from growing up without a mother and with a father who wasn't overly affectionate with them. She adjusted his tie and pulled his coat around his shoulders. "Take carea you Matty D."
Matty nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I should go. I'll see you later." Matty left the house, Burberry coat billowing out behind him.
Storm couldn't shake the feeling that he was up to something he wasn't telling her about.
As far back as Arabella Stormianna Demaret could remember she'd known what her father and Uncle Teddy did for a living. She knew what they did and she wanted to do it too. None of it bothered her. She was fine with the violence, the drugs, the gambling, all of it. It was in her blood. The Demaret family was one of the 5 original Mob families of New York and Storm was proud to be among them.
Her brother Matty on the other hand was not. Storm blamed her Uncle Teddy for it but she told no one that. She knew without being told that all they would do was laugh at her. Laugh because she was just a female and in their minds she wasn't capable of analytical thought. She'd railed against it since she was 16 years old and she'd continue to fight it till the day she died. She, unlike her brother, didn't have anything else she wanted to do with her life.
Storm didn't think that Matty ever would have had the personality to do what her father did, no matter what, but it hadn't helped that her Uncle Teddy had put Matty in a basement room with an old family friend, put a .38 in his hand and told him to kill the man who'd put his dad in jail. Matty was only 12 when their Uncle Teddy had decided this was a great idea. Matty hadn't been able to do it. He just couldn't. It was true that he'd been a child when it was asked of him, but Storm also knew that if Teddy had done the same thing to her at 12 she'd have put a bullet in Bobby's forehead. And that was the difference between her and Matty. It couldn't be helped. Such was life. The situation had broken Matty inside, watching them cut Bobby's tongue out of his mouth, and knowing they killed him even though they'd said they'd only rough him up a bit. It had taken Storm years to get him to put it mostly behind him. The thought depressed her like nothing else could.
Then with a giggle at her own expense she remembered that Taylor was coming over. Much as she tried to convince Matty otherwise she had a very large sized crush on his friend Taylor Reese. Taylor worked for her father on occasion and ran some gambling rackets of his own. He was big, bad and beautiful in her opinion. Storm had been trying to catch his eye for the longest time but he still looked at her as Matty's annoying little sister. Taylor was just as criminal as she was and she could never figure how he'd become such good friends with her gentle brother. The two really had nothing in common.
On that thought she ran up the stairs to her room and changed into her workout clothes. She was going to go a few rounds with her punching bag for an excuse to answer the door to Taylor in nothing but bike shorts and a sports bra. She couldn't help herself; there was something about him that made her go out of her way to catch his eye. She wasn't that girl, the one who primped and simpered over guys, but something about Taylor made her forget all that. She knew it was a hopeless cause as much as she knew that she was going to show off for him every chance she got until she got what she wanted. If her upbringing had molded anything into her personality it was her outlook that as a Demaret she always got her own way. She changed her clothes, turned on some music and started beating the hell out of her EverLast heavy bag.
"Not earning? You think people stopped fuckin, and bettin, and borrowin this month? What's the matter with you?"
Matty sat on the park bench and took his father's abuse in silence. It was the only way his father seemed to know how to talk to him lately.
"Pop, I got a handle on the low level stuff, keeping the taxis runnin and overseeing the crap games. It's time for me to step up."
"You brought us the sandwiches. What else can you do?"
Matty sighed in frustration. His father would never see him as a man. He'd always be a scared 12 year old in the old man's eyes. His sister was right though, he'd never really enjoy stepping up to the next level either, it'd break him in the end. He just didn't see what else he could do.
But not Storm. If only he could trade places with her he would. If he was a girl he'd have no trouble getting a job outside his family because no one would ever assume a girl was a tough for the old man. And Storm could be the son the old man needed to continue the family name. Giving up on convincing his old man he could handle more responsibility for the time being he walked away.
He got in his car and drove off to find his cousin Chris. As Matty watched Chris ham it up with a few pretty girls he could only smile. His cousin was a notorious ladies man. Always a charmer and in trouble with his old man for it more then Matty was in it with his dad over not being more interested in the business.
They climbed into Matty's Cadillac and started off toward the small airstrip where their good friend Johnny was flying his small Cessna into town. They were going to pick him up and have a night out. After they found the fourth member of their group, the infamous Taylor Reese, who was going to meet them at Matty's house later. Chris continued to bemoan his situation, which mirrored Matty's in subtle ways, in the car.
"But he's still named Scarpa and where does that leave me? With a small piece of a restaurant and all the hassles of his old life."
"We're nothing but errand boys."
Chris could only nod.
Storm heard the phone ring over her music and ran to answer it.
"Demaret residence." She answered, feeling stuck up like she always did when she answered the phone in the manner her father insisted on.
"Storm, is your brother home?" Her father's voice came over the line.
"No Dad, Matty went to bring you some lunch. Is something wrong?"
"No, nothings wrong. Matty was already here but I need to talk to him. I was hoping he'd know where Taylor was. I heard he finally got to collect on Big Variety and I wanted to know why he busted up all the machines in the joint. I guess whatever works if it makes that damn fucker pay up next time." Her father cleared his throat after remembering who he'd just talked to using 'crude' language. He had a dream of turning his daughter into a lady, and one of the ways he tried was to try and protect her from the shadier aspects of her own life.
"Well, sorry Matty's not here. Anything I can do for you dad?"
"No, just tell your brother I'm looking for him if you see him."
"Why don't you just page him?" Storm asked, knowing her brother had a pager for when her dad really did need to talk to him.
"It's not that urgent kid. It's not like you not to know where he's at." Benny 'Chains' Demaret often wondered why his two such different children were so close.
"Well I think he had plans with Chris after he brought your lunch so you know how long he could be."
"Yeah. I'll track him down later. You be home when I get home Storm?"
"Maybe." Storm didn't want to give a solid answer. Her dad could lean toward over protectiveness. Not to mention she had plans later. Plans that did not involve her dad knowing what she was up to. Besides, she knew he'd go to the bar with Teddy at the end of the day and she'd just pretend she'd already been in bed asleep if he asked her about it.
"Alright." Her dad said good bye and hung up.
It was clear to Storm he was preoccupied with something other then her. He'd never have let her off that easy if he wasn't. He'd have wanted to know where she was going and with who she was going out. And she didn't want to tell him. She already knew his opinion on her extracurricular activities. She went back to her workout with a shrug.
She'd just gotten a good sweat going when there was a pounding on the door. She grabbed her towel and raced to the front foyer. Throwing open one side of the double doors, still breathing hard from her punching bag and the run through the huge house, she found Taylor standing on the steps.
"Matty here?" Taylor asked from behind darkly tinted shades. He didn't bother with hello or how are you. Taylor was a man of few words.
"Nope. He said to tell you to wait for him til he gets back." Storm stepped out of the doorway so Taylor could come in.
"Where is he?" Taylor asked, pushing past Storm into the house and giving her a head to toe look behind his glasses. A look she couldn't see. The little brat he'd gotten to know was no more. In her place was a filled out woman who'd lightened her naturally dark hair to a toffee color and looked good with her athletic figure. But she carried more muscle then he liked to see on a woman as a rule. Had a smarter mouth too, for that matter.
"Don't know." Storm called over her shoulder as she headed toward the kitchen, listening to Taylor's footsteps as he followed her through the house. She noticed that Taylor had slid his glasses off his head and into his hoodie pocket on the way through the house to the kitchen.
She grabbed a bottle of water and opened it much as Matty had an hour or so before. She threw back her head and guzzled her water. When she looked at Taylor again he was watching her with a deal more interest then she was use to out of him. She moved around to the island and put her hands flat on the top.
"So, my dad said you smashed up Big Variety pretty good." Storm started to make conversation.
"Word gets around fast." Taylor leaned back on the counter.
"It does when the big boss is your dad, yeah." Storm replied. Taylor grunted his only response.
"Well, what did I interrupt when I got here?" Taylor asked, taking in Storm's glistening skin and exercise gear.
"I was going a few rounds with my punching bag actually." Storm finished her water.
"You box?" Taylor looked surprised, but only mildly. The only emotion Taylor Reese did stronger then mildly was angry. And it took him quite a while to loose his cool then too.
"Yeah, and run, and kickboxing too." Storm leaned on the counter. "What about you?"
"What about me what?"
"What do you do to keep in shape?" Storm gave Taylor a look she was careful to keep only mildly suggestive as she gave his tight white tee shirt a glance.
"I break things." Taylor looked serious.
"I see." Storm answered and turned to leave the room. "You wanna watch some TV till Matty gets back?"
"Well I guess I don't wanna stand alone in the kitchen." Taylor answered and followed her into the den.
"I'm gonna go change. You can pick something to watch." Storm tossed the remote in Taylor's direction.
"You don't have to change on my account." Taylor looked up from the TV screen and caught the remote.
"If my dad came home and caught me 'entertaining' in these clothes he'd shoot me. I'll be right back."
"You expecting him any time soon?" Taylor was not in the mood to play nice to Benny or Teddy, and Teddy went almost everywhere the old man did.
"No, not really." Storm turned back from the door. "I'll be right back." She left the room quickly and headed to her bedroom. After grabbing a quick shower she returned to find Taylor watching a televised base ball game.
Taylor looked up as she entered the room wearing low rise blue jeans and a figure hugging babydoll tee that bore a logo reading 'Vito's Garage: Let us hand torque your nuts' Taylor rose on her entrance, lately remembering she was the boss's daughter and he really should try to be a gentleman around her. He wasn't one, but he figured he should put on an act around her at least. She waved him off with an exasperated look.
"Don't act all proper on my account." Storm glanced at the TV. "You and my brother and watchin Baseball."
"You can pick something else." Taylor tossed the remote control at Storm out of no where and she caught it without missing a beat.
"I don't mind if you're already watching this." Storm offered, fighting a giggle at her offering to let someone else have their own way in her house. Taylor was the only one that wouldn't have heard 'oh my god I'm not watching another few hours of that depressing game' as soon as she walked into the room.
"I don't care either way." Taylor felt the need to put some distance between them. Even talking nicely about TV had made him feel things were a little too cozy. "So when was your brother getting home?"
"All he told me was he had to go get Chris and Marbles first and he couldn't pick them up till after he spoke to Teddy and Dad." Storm looked upset at the mention of her brother talking to her father.
"What's wrong with Matty talking to his father?" Taylor gave Storm an unreadable glance.
"He..." Storm trailed off, realizing she didn't really know Taylor that well. Did she really want to be sharing her secret worries with him? She knew by logic that Taylor had to be able to keep a secret. But would he keep hers? And from Matty at that.
"He what?" Taylor prompted her to continue.
"He was going to ask Dad to let him step up to the next level." Storm sighed. She watched with interest as Taylor rubbed his mostly bald head in seeming worry. He looked up to see that worry mirrored in Storm's gaze.
"I'll try to talk him outta it." Taylor assured Storm gruffly, knowing just as well as Storm did that Matty didn't belong.
"No, you can't." Storm was quick to protest Taylor's plan.
"Why not?" Taylor looked shocked at being told he 'couldn't do' something by a girl.
"Because he'll know we talked about him and it'll hurt his feelings." Storm retorted, picking up on Taylor's displeasure at her telling him what to do. "Besides that, Dad'll never take him anyway."
Storm started to pace around the room. When she paced close enough to him Taylor stuck out a foot and tripped her. He was sick of watching her go round and round the room. But he couldn't let her fall on her face so he caught her as she fell.
"You need to sit down and stop worrying." Taylor told the girl he still held against his big chest.
"That was dirty Taylor Reese." Storm told him, wide green gaze meeting his black one. Storm was very aware of being held against the chest she'd fantasized about so many times but she kept her outward appearances cool.
"You were makin me dizzy." Taylor growled, fighting his urge to lean closer to her face, maybe even see if she could use her mouth to kiss as well as she could use it to talk smart. He leaned toward her and her lips parted. He stopped right before he would have made contact. This was his best friend's sister and the daughter of his boss. What was he thinking? He couldn't make out with her in her father's house. Hell, he shouldn't have anything to do with her anywhere. She was looking up at him like she very much wanted him to continue, not stop. "Storm?"
"Yeah?" She breathed, wondering what was coming.
"I'm goin out to have a few drinks with your brother tonight but he's got plans after. Can I take you out?" Where the hell had that come from? He couldn't date Matty's sister!
"Um." Storm fought a brain fog at having finally been asked out by Taylor. She realized he was starting to look like he expected her to say no and was none too happy about her rejection. "I'd love to but I have plans already. You could join me if you wanted."
"What kind of plans?" Taylor growled, wondering if they involved other men.
"Well, Friday's are my day to um...Well...I take my car for a drive on Friday nights. If I don't show up at our meeting place by 12 my friends'll get worried. But if you wanna come that'd be cool."
"Ok." Taylor agreed, telling himself that he was only keeping her out of trouble. It was clear from her expression that she knew her father and brother would not approve of whatever it was she had in mind tonight. "Should I meet you somewhere or what?"
"I'll pick you up. Around 11:30 ok?" Storm looked up with the question in her eyes. Would he let her pick him up? Would he get into a car she was driving?
"Ok, pick me up at your father's bar. I'll be there with Chris and Matty." Taylor set her free from his arms and she went with a little pout.
"Sure." She answered, taking a step back for some much needed breathing room.
Just as the two had sat down in separate areas of the couch and picked some cable movie to watch Matty came into the house, Chris and Marbles in tow. Storm stood up to greet her brother, cousin and their friend.
"How's my favorite cousin?" She asked as she gave Chris a quick hug.
"Good. How's my most beautiful cousin?" Chris gave Storm a cheeky smile.
"You can't pick me up Chris; it'd be against several moral and state laws." Storm laughed.
"Oh yeah, I forgot that part." Chris gave Storm a quick peck on her cheek and shot Matty a look. A look that made Matty check out his sister's shirt.
"Storm, where do you get those shirts?" Matty huffed. Even if his sister was 22 he hated to see her do anything to make guys look at her like they wanted her. She was his little sister and he wanted her to stay the precocious little girl in pig tails forever.
"What? There's nothing wrong with it. It's a legit business in Queens and it's a real thing. Only hand torqued nuts have the proper amount of pressure on them. It just makes Vito's a good garage." Storm laughed at the look in her brother's eyes.
"Well, don't let dad catch you wearin that." Matty admonished, knowing his father's reaction would be worse then his had been. He turned to his friend, who was still seated on the couch. "Taylor, you ready?"
Taylor stood up.
"Yeah, let's go." He joined his three friends in the door of the living room. Storm followed them to the front door, watching as Taylor swaggered out last.
"Be ready. I can't be late!" She called softly, knowing instinctively that Taylor wouldn't want Matty to know about their plans. Taylor gave her an almost dirty look as he walked away, claiming the front seat of the Caddy for himself.