Velocity Shift

By – TempestRaces

Chapter 3 – Seeing Through Her

Taylor looked up and down the street Pizzo's was situated on looking for Storm. He had no idea what her car looked like unless she was driving her big black Cadillac. He only knew what that looked like because Matty drove its twin. But if his assumptions were correct about what the evening would see them doing, she was not driving her Caddy.

Storm saw him looking around and rolled down her window.

"You comin?" She called from the driver's seat. Taylor walked up to the car and got in.

"Why is the driver's seat on the right hand side of this thing?" He growled, not happy with his reversed position or the fact that he wasn't the one behind the wheel.

"Because it's imported from Japan." Storm answered, smiling. She couldn't be more proud of her car or its origins. If it was just a regular old Nissan she likely wouldn't have wanted it after all.

"What's wrong with cars from the USA?"

"Nothin. I just wanted this one. It's unique and faster then lightening. You ok?" Storm noted with humor the way her driving was making Taylor hold onto the door handle.

"Fine." Taylor answered, sounding gruff. "You don't believe in gettin dressed up when you're headed out?" Taylor finally got around to commenting on her outfit.

"I do, I just also believe in not having my father tell me to go change at my age." With that Storm took her hands off the wheel and using her knees to steer caught the hem of her sweater in her hands and pulled it off over her head, revealing a black tube top with detached sleeves that ran from her wrists to upper arms.

Taylor still didn't see how such a fancy shirt went with tear away track pants. She revealed the mystery for him when she put one hand back on the wheel and used the other to tear the front section of the pants away from the back, revealing figure hugging black hipster pants with flared legs and about 6 inches of her flat stomach. Taylor knew why she would have worried about getting out of her house. If her dad had seen her she wouldn't have.

"Better?" She asked with a cheeky grin as she put her hands back on the wheel and downshifted, her feet passing each other as the clutch came up and the gas went down, the car speeding up.

"Where we going?" Taylor asked instead of answering her question.

"Business district." Storm answered and signaled, taking an off ramp. She knew full well he just didn't want to have to give her a compliment on her outfit. He wasn't that kind of guy. She knew if she ended up dating him in any sense she'd never be able to expect flowery compliments and romantic gifts out of him. He was too much like her, too practical and good at hiding his feelings close to his heart. What he didn't remember was she'd seen him with Matty. He was capable of emotions, he just didn't like to show them. It was clear he had a lot of love for her brother. He took care of Matty like the two of them were brothers not just friends. He was even sometimes physically affectionate with Matty, giving him quick hugs and slaps on the back. But they'd been friends a lot of years and she hoped that one day Taylor would grow that comfortable with her.

"That where you meet these friends of yours? Friends you don't want Matty or your dad to know about?" Taylor peeked at Storm out of the corner of his eye, gauging her reaction to his neat sidestep around answering her question. He knew he should have told her she looked good but he wasn't that kind of man. He'd never been good at playing the nice guy and he wasn't going to start being good at it over some broad.

"I meet friends there, among other things." Storm gave Taylor a look that clearly told him she didn't appreciate his attitude one bit. "And my brother and father don't dictate who I roll with. I'm grown up Taylor Reese, and if you don't see that it might be best for you to shove off now." Storm growled the last bit out, getting irate with Taylor's I'm-here-to-keep-you-outta-trouble attitude.

The way he talked like he was along to supervise not be with her was getting on her nerves. Sure, her father wasn't happy when he caught her racing, and her brother did tend to hate her doing anything that might hurt her but she was an adult, not a child and she wouldn't put up with Taylor trying to treat her like she needed a keeper around. Taylor simply avoided the issue by ignoring her ultimatum.

"You plannin on racin this car tonight Storm?"

"If someone wants to make it worth my while." Storm answered, her tone flat. It was becoming more then clear that Taylor was in fact along to make her life hard. He didn't approve and he thought he could stop her. "Listen Taylor, if you're here to try and stop me or because you think I need you along to save me from myself I may as well let you out now. This is part of who I am, and I'm old enough to make that decision for myself. You're not my dad, or my brother and I don't need you acting like them, trying to make up my mind for me, aiight."

In Taylor's mind the girl didn't know her own mind well enough to know what was good for her. She had no business racing her car in the streets. She wasn't some common criminal, she was Benny Chains daughter. Didn't she know what would happen to her if she was caught? It wasn't like the cops would take her home to mom and pop John Q Public, tell on her and let her off with a slap on the wrist. They'd hold her and try to pump her for information on her father and his business. Information Taylor was quite sure she'd have since try as he might; Benny never had been quite able to keep his daughter out of his business life. Telling Storm any of that was not going to endear him to her, and he knew it just might get him kicked out of the car straight to the curb out in the middle of no where. He held his tongue with effort.

"I just don't like racing that much, let alone on city streets. I'm not here to try and stop you."

"Yeah, ok." Storm glared at him, not buying it for a second. "You can wait at the warehouse while I race then. No one says you have to tag along. Besides I don't need to haul your extra 200 pounds around wit me anyway." It was Taylor's turn to glare. The evening was fast disintegrating around him. He couldn't figure out what he had been thinking asking her out. Then he remembered how she'd looked in her little sports top and shorts while she'd been all sweaty. He'd been thinking with his wrong head. That explained it all.

A man could get in a lot of trouble that way. He tended to forget that while a woman might look good on the outside, most of them were shrews inside. None more so then Storm Demaret who was too use to having the men in her life wrapped around her pinkie. It might do her good to meet a man she couldn't own hook line and sinker. He decided to try and play nice just a bit and see where the evening went. Maybe something good would come out if it. He would be more sure of it if he thought she could keep her mouth closed for 10 minutes in a row.

Storm stopped her car with a squeal beside her best friend's Mazda MX-6. She stood up out of her car and shut her door, watching as Devon, her friend, did the same. Truth told she was glad to get away from Taylor's oppressive mood, even if it was only for a few minutes.

"Hey girl!" Devon exclaimed, taking in Storm's appearance. "How you doin?"

"Good. How's you?" Storm asked, falling into her street language and easy ways as soon as she was surrounded by her friends and the familiar atmosphere of the racing scene. It was getting late in the year and they'd soon be done racing for another season. Everyone packed it up and put their cars away in late November, in preparation for ice and snow. Storm would soon be back to driving her Cadillac but the thought of it didn't impress her. It wasn't her style.

"I'm good. I thought you were gonna be a no show." Devon wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulder and started to walk her away, over to where the people were deciding who would race who and placing their wagers. Storm shrugged him off.

"I had to pick up a friend tonight." She turned back to look for Taylor and found him standing next to her car, looking out of place in his white undershirt, and looking uncomfortable to be there. "Taylor!" She called like an order and waved him over. He came with a decidedly unfriendly look on his face, not happy with her tone or his feelings of discomfort. "Taylor, this is my friend Devon. Devon this is a friend of mine and my brother's, Taylor."

Taylor just looked Devon up and down and Devon gave Taylor an appraising look. He leaned over to Storm's ear.

"He's cute. He play for the L's or the D's?" Storm giggled despite herself, knowing full well what her friend was hinting at, even if Taylor was blessedly ignorant. Storm said blessedly because she knew if Taylor knew he'd be throwing punches.

"The L's I'm afraid." Storm linked her arm through Taylor's, showing their relationship. Taylor gave her an unreadable look, but since she was looking at Devon he could only glare at the top of her head. Devon pouted. Devon was into the D's, which stood for dudes. Storm smirked, knowing her friend was jealous.

"I'm going to go talk to CJ. There's a new guy here tonight. You should ante up Storm. He's got deep pockets and you could take him."

"We'll see Dev. You're my agent, go work it out."

"Yessum." Devon walked off to find the man who ran their races named Charles James or CJ. He was a man who'd been building tuner cars and finding 5-0 free spots for the racers of NYC for years. He'd helped Storm build her own car and he hooked her up as often as he could. It wasn't everyone who could boast they'd been the exclusive parts supplier for a Skyline.

Storm had found out about Skylines in the early 90's and decided she wanted one. No Demaret ever paid full price for a car so she knew there was no way she was paying the obscene amount she was told it would cost her to bring one into the states legally. She researched it further and found out she could use some of her dad's contacts to lie about the date of manufacture of an early GT-R and bring it into Canada. Then a few more dollars bribed a few bureaucrats and got her legalization papers falsified.

For that reason she didn't go too flashy. The car was an 89, the first year for the GT-R model. It was, however, the year the car was lightest and less encumbered by extra gadgets it didn't need. She'd upgraded all the important things like her turbos and fuel system with CJ's help. He also wondered where her money for paying for all her mods had came from, but he knew better then to ask questions. Storm was grateful that her father had insisted she keep her face out of the papers and TV news programs. It had helped her keep her family identity from the street scene. So CJ helped her build her car over the span of a few weeks, and then it took a few more weeks to paint.

And bingo, she was the proud owner of the only Skyline in NYC. She kept her identity on the low, knowing that she and her family didn't need the press. Her life as Storm the racer and her life as Storm Demaret never mixed. Only Devon knew who she really was and he'd never tell. He was in the closet about his sexuality from his own prominent family and he had as much to lose as Storm did.

Storm wasn't the best racer but she won enough to make it worth her while to keep doing it. She had a hard time hiding where she got all her money from sometimes. People looked at a person funny when they lost two grand and didn't even bat an eye. But they chocked it up to her having a good poker face most of the time. She was known only as Storm to the racing world and she'd painted her car to fit the name. It was a dark midnight blue with storm clouds on the roof. From the clouds many bolts of lightning were striking down, and around the hot white bolts of light the car was painted a misty purple. There was a band of car at the bottom painted like an ocean, where the bolts were striking down to.

"Who's that guy?" Taylor grumbled out.

"Devon. Just a friend." Storm answered, preoccupied. She was really doubting the wisdom of taking Taylor with her to races. She wondered if he'd run to tell Matty and her father where they took place.

"You always let your guy friends put their hands on you?" Taylor growled. She was still holding his arm from when she'd called him over. He looked down at her, looking like he was ready for some exercise, namely breaking things. Things like faces and necks.

"Taylor, he's not after me. Don't sweat it." Storm waved him and his concerns off.

"He was awful familiar with you then."

"Taylor?" Storm looked up with laugher dancing in her eyes. Taylor Reese was jealous over her. It was a nice feeling to know he cared at least that much. He was jealous of her over a gay man but he was still jealous.

"Wha?"

"He's gay. Gay as gay gets. He's into guys. He's not after me." Storm gave up and laughed.

"So when he asked if I played for the D's or the L's he meant…" Taylor trailed off, strange look on his face.

"He wanted to know if you were on the ladies team or the dudes. I told him ladies and made it clear I was here with you." Storm grinned a mile wide and punched Taylor in the upper arm fairly gently. "You're funny when you're jealous."

"I'm not jealous. I don't like to see people putting their hands on my boss's daughter or on my best friend's sister." Taylor scowled.

"Sure." Storm drawled. She watched Devon make his way back over to them.

"CJ says you're in if you want in but it'll cost you three large."

"Take him this." Storm handed Devon a roll of money. Taylor glanced at the size of the roll in shock and waited until Devon was once more out of ear shot.

"Where did you get all that coin?"

"Here and there. Winnin races mostly. I save it when I win so that I can race again. I got my sources though. My dad hasn't bank rolled any of my racing or my car. I did it all on my own." And she was damn proud of that fact too. It was clear for all to see.

"How do you bank roll this little racing team of one Storm?" Taylor asked, not buying that she saved her winnings.

"Like I said, I save my winnings and I have a few things on the go to make some scratch. A girl of my age can't be asking her father for money every time she needs some now can she? And if I tried to get a job in society at large I'd just get more of the treatment Matty sees. You don't need to worry about where my money comes from."

Taylor just gave her another one of his looks she was fast coming to despise. The look that went right through her and let her know he knew she wasn't being entirely truthful with him. Devon made his way back to them yet again.

"You and the new guy, usual spot is out cause the pigs are onto it again. They're cracken down Storm and you know it'll be your ass if you're caught."

"Just shut up and tell me where we're goin if the usual spot is out." Storm sighed. Devon, knowing what would happen if the cops caught Storm tended to be just as overprotective of her as Matty.

"Over to Fifth and Broadway. It's exactly a quarter mile from the first set of lights to the fifth. Don't get caught."

"I heard you the first time Dev. You comin Taylor, or waitin here?"

"What happens?"

"I go to the street. I race. Hopefully I win; I come back here to collect my winnings."

"Can I come with you?" Taylor asked, hating to sound like he was asking permission.

"If you want to. You sounded like it wasn't something you'd wanna do."

"You sounded like you wouldn't want me along." Taylor countered.

"Well, really I don't need your extra weight in the car when I race but it won't make too much difference in my car. If you wanna ride along you can ride along."

"Ok. Let's go." Taylor got back into the car.

"Yes sir!" Storm mock saluted and rolled her eyes.

"Who is that guy?" Devon asked once Taylor was in the closed car and unable to hear them.

"He's a friend of my brother's. I had a crush on him and he finally asked me out but I'm beginning to wonder if it wasn't just a case of a pretty face and body making me not care about if we have anything in common."

"He's hot, I'll give you that. But he's so bossy."

"Yeah, and so am I. It's gonna make sparks fly."

"I hope you don't end up burned." Devon looked really worried and it didn't suit him.

"I can take carea me. Don't worry bout it." Storm grinned, thusly reminded she could in fact handle her own. She'd be fine.

"I'll try not to then. See you after the race?"

"You know it. I'll have to come back and collect my winnings."

"You going to the club after this?"

"Likely. Might have to run Taylor somewhere first though. I don't see Overdrive as his scene. Of course this isn't either yet here he is. We'll see."

"Ok, race safe."

"You know it." Storm got into her car. Taylor had his arms crossed and he was glaring out the window.

"Taylor, you gonna be mad at me all night? You knew why I was comin here when you got in the car."

"I'm just not sure you understand what would happen to you if the cops got a hold of you."

"They'd have to know who I was first and I have a fake driver's license for when I race. I got it on lock Taylor so stop worrying about it huh? Just sit back and watch me make the easiest three grand you ever saw made, aiight?"

Taylor only huffed in answer.

Storm pulled up to the line and rolled her shoulder, then cracked her knuckles. She hadn't been able to race in some time and she was looking forward to it. It might well be her last one of the season. What she didn't know at the time was it might be the last one of her life.