Velocity Shift
By -TempestRaces
Ch. 6 –Wash away her Sins
"So, where to?" Storm asked Taylor as she started her car and waved good-bye to Devon.
"Pizzo's. Gotta get the van." Taylor leaned back and fished in his coat pocket. Storm could only tell he was digging for something, not tell what since she was picking it up in her peripheral vision.
"Sure. Glad the joint's closed by now."
"Only if you're lucky. You see any big black Caddy's you take off as quiet as you can." Taylor cautioned. "Sometimes it takes Benny til late to close down."
"No kidden. I know my father's habits pretty good. Besides, you'd be in just as much shit as I would." Storm caught a funny smell on the air. She sniffed again, not quite able to place it. She was about to ask Taylor if he smelled it too when she glanced over at him.
He had a lit cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He took a drag, exhaled then answered her. "No shit. Can't believe the things I let people talk me into."
"Yeah. Whatever. No one smokes in my car. Out the window with it now." Storm used her power window master control to lower his window for him in advance. With a few choice words mumbled under his breath and a death glare her way Taylor complied.
"You know I was stuck in some stupid club with you all night right? I really need that smoke." Taylor sighed.
"OK, I'll get you to your car as soon as possible then." Storm dropped a gear and swerved out to pass the car in front of her. She darted around him and back into her own lane. "I didn't know you had such a terrible time." She floored the car again. Again she swerved.
Another car fell victim to her flashing rims and roaring exhaust. Taylor fought the need to grab the door handle.
"Calm down. I just meant that I didn't feel comfortable smoking in there and it's been awhile since my last cigarette ok. Shit, do you take everything so personal?"
"No."
"You gonna be mad at me for the rest of the night?"
"Night's over pal. It's almost 3am. Besides that it's really over for us cause here's your van." Storm stopped her car with a squeal next to Taylor's Van. "There you go."
"Thanks. I'm gonna follow you home. Don't drive too fast."
"I can drive myself home."
"I know you can. I'm following you anyway."
"Suit yourself." Storm watched as Taylor hopped out of her car and climbed into his own van. She listened it the van start with a growl and watched as Taylor put the car in gear. She zipped her car out of her parking spot quickly before Taylor could move and took off.
Storm was all mixed up about her feelings and as any amount of indecision tended to do it had put her into a foul mood. She wanted to hate Taylor for how he'd treated her all night long. But how could she hate a man who kissed like he did? She hit a button which turned her CD player on. Turning the volume way up always helped her relax. Something about the pounding of the subwoofer and the way everything else just receded into the background.
As the sounds of U2's Vertigo filled the cabin of her car she leaned back and wished she didn't have a strict no drugs rule in her life. She could really use a hit of something from where she sat looking at her own life. Something to calm her the hell down and relax her ass before she had a nervous breakdown. She had a lot on her mind.
Her brother seemed determined to fuck his life up messing around in a world he had no business in and she seemed determined to fuck up her own messing around with a guy she had no business messing around with. But she just had this feeling, this gut instinct, that Taylor could be so good for her. But when she sat down to think about it she just didn't see how, it was just one of those intangible things that you knew, but didn't know how. There was no logic to it. As far as personalities went he couldn't be worse for her.
She couldn't stand people bossing her around. She hated to be treated like she was somehow less then able to make up her own mind based on being a girl. Really, she mused, hadn't that attitude that girls belonged at home breeding children one after the other gone out with the 1900s? Not in her world. Not where men still thought they had to 'bring home the bacon'. Storm knew her father would be irate to know she worked for her money. She figured he had some idea she was up to something but he'd likely convinced himself she made her money gambling or running some small time racket like gambling.
If he knew the truth he'd have kittens.
Of course he did know about her racing. It was another thing that in his mind was for men to do. It was fine for men to race on tracks but women had no business doing it. Anywhere. Sometimes Storm was surprised he'd given her the Cadillac for her 16th. But then again she couldn't be the only one in her family who didn't have her own car for her 16th. Updated every few years of course.
For all her bitching she knew she had it better then the rest of her female cousins. Her cousins all hated her because of it too. Storm had never figured out if it was because her dad was the boss and theirs all worked for him or if it was because she got away with so much. She knew, as much as she said she hated it, she took advantage of her position as Daddy's little girl. The cousins all wore dresses to church on Sundays and got married in their early 20's to suitable men. Here Storm was, 20 already and nobody suitable on the horizon.
Her father liked Taylor. He was the kind of man that it was easy for Benny to like. He did what he was asked, he didn't fuck up and he didn't have a lot that he wouldn't do if it was asked of him and the right amount of cash was on the table. He'd be the perfect guy to 'make' but it'd never happen. Not with his mom being Jewish. His father was all Italian but it wasn't good enough to the knockaround guys. Nothing but pure Italian decent was ever gonna be good enough to put Taylor into Benny's shoes. And just as his blood wasn't pure enough to be 'made' it wouldn't be pure enough for Benny to accept him as a son in law either.
Not that her father's no would stop her if she wanted to marry Taylor. And not that Taylor was likely to ask her anyway. But Storm knew that if she were married to Taylor any shot she had at getting in with her dad would be lost, tossed away. He'd disapprove of the marriage and he'd toss her out of the family concerns on her ear. He'd never disown her. She knew that as much as her father bitched about her unconventional actions he was secretly proud of her take no shit attitude. It was the Demaret attitude and it skipped right over Matty. He might even come to accept Taylor as his son, might. But he'd still never let Taylor be more then the hired hand he was.
She was very indulged by her old man, many would say too indulged, but even her father's indulgence for her had a definite limit. She could push him so far with disobeying him and doing things he'd rather she didn't but there was a definite line in the sand and Storm wouldn't cross it. She'd seen her father in rage and it wasn't pretty. He wasn't an intimidating man in stature and his day to day demeanour wouldn't strike fear in any but the timidest soul. But send him into his 'business' persona and it wasn't hard to see how he'd gotten to his position. He was all business and that included his son and daughter. A fact that Matty had been introduced to time and time again since it seemed like Matty was always pissing the old man off in some way just by being himself. Not that Benny ever scared Storm, but that could be solely because she never pushed him past the line she was so aware of.
Without realizing it Storm had been gaining speed as she mused. She was going pretty fast on the highway out to her suburban house. She saw Taylor was flashing his lights from a piece behind her. She could only surmise he was having issues keeping up. With a sigh she downshifted and let him catch up, forcing her body to listen to her brain. Not her heart which was telling her to toss it into third and roar out of there as fast as her Toyos would take her.
xox
Taylor pulled his van out behind Storm's car in traffic and followed her round tail lights out through the city. The first thing he did was light a smoke and take a very refreshing drag. What a night! He wanted to kiss the steering wheel of his slow but steady and reliable Dodge Van. He was very glad to be behind the wheel.
Being in control of the van made him feel like he had control of is life again. A feeling that had been sorely lacking out with Storm in her world. Her world and his world were two totally different places.
What the hell had she been up to in that club? He knew she'd been handing out something, but what? She totally drove him crazy. Every time she opened her mouth he wanted to wince. He pretty much knew what she said was going to antagonize him or put him down, or criticize something he was doing or saying at the time. Or had done or said at some point in his life.
What was so wrong with staying home and being a god damn woman to the girl? Why did she have to act like she was Matty's brother not his sister? Being good at what she did was no excuse for her to be doing things she shouldn't be. Hell, for 99 guys out of a hundred what she was trying to do was lose lose. There wouldn't even be a statistic on it for women because they didn't do what Storm wanted to do. Sure, they might be the brains behind a husband's brawn, but as for stepping up as the boss of the organization all on their own? No way.
But when he kissed her. Oh boy.
None of it mattered then. Taylor'd had his fair share of girls in his life. It was easy for men in his position and in his world. The girls all threw themselves at the men of the mafia. Some because they got off on the danger element, some to see what they could get out of it, some because they wanted to marry into the wealth and power, and still others just because they thought it sounded fun, thought it would be a rush. The mob had its groupies just like rock stars. It was just the status quo to guys like Taylor and Chris. Matty had never gone after those girls. Taylor had a theory he was looking for a girl like Storm to be with long term. Matty Demaret didn't have the temperament to pull off a hundred one night stands week after week.
Not that Taylor lived that way either. But the fact was he could have had he wanted to. He wouldn't feel guilty over taking what the girls offered. And offer they did. Taylor smirked when he thought of the two bleach blondes from the club that had come onto him. One of them had the face of an angel and the other had the rack of a hooker. If he had'a been able to make them into one woman he might have been more then tempted by what they were offering. But then he'd looked out and saw Storm about to start dancing with her friends. The way she looked with the concentration on her face had reminded him of how she'd looked in her race.
He was willing to bet that Storm chased the adrenaline rush because she got off on it in more ways then one. He'd be tempted to let her take him to races again just to watch her do her thing. But he was never going to a club with the girl again. Not only because he hated the scene either. He figured the less he knew about what she was into the better off he was. Didn't she know if her father asked him point blank if Storm was up to something he couldn't lie? You didn't lie to Benny Chains unless you wanted to die.
Russians!
What the fuck was she doing for Russians? Ok, maybe they weren't quite the sworn enemies they had been at one point. They still were not the kind of people that Benny would want Storm involved with. Not to mention she knew this very well. She'd looked almost guilty for it when he'd called her on it in the club.
"It's my job, how I make my money."
Her words circled around in his head. He was back to her actions again. What the hell had she been doing in that club for the Russian?
He looked woke up out of his thoughts and realized that Storm was almost a half mile ahead of him and flashed his lights at her, trying to get her to slow down. There was no way he could catch up to her as fast as she was going. He saw her tail lights blink and he realized he was slowly catching her.
They pulled into her neighbourhood at the same time. He expected Storm to pull up to the main gates of her house but she didn't. She turned down a side street that bordered her home and pulled up to a back gate. It opened on silent rollers and she pulled in. She motioned him to follow her in and he did.
He could see why she picked the back door. The back driveway lead right up to the garage. There was little to no chance anyone in the house would hear her coming home from this angle. Storm used another button on her remote and clicked the garage door open. She pulled in and after she exited her car she walked out of the huge garage and clicked the door closed. Taylor watched her as she walked up to the van.
"Ok, you did your boy scout duty and followed me home. You happy now?"
"Storm." Taylor sighed. "Why does this gotta be such a production?" Taylor pulled the van out of the way and got out with a frustrated sigh. He walked up to Storm and stopped a few feet away.
"Because you spent the whole night trying to change me or wishin you weren't even out with me."
"I didn't spend the whole night wishin I wasn't with you."
"Oh yeah? When weren't ya?"
"When I was doin this." With that Taylor leaned his head down. Storm watched his mouth coming toward hers. She unconsciously parted her lips. She wanted to find out if the thing between them had been real, or just a product of the moment they'd found at races. Could he really make her feel the ways she thought he could.
His lips met hers as his hands found her hips. As soon as his tongue touched her lower lip her arms wrapped around his neck. It was involuntary. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he could make her crave his kiss but she couldn't help herself.
When she stopped being a passive player in their game and kissed him back it drove Taylor slightly insane with lust. He used his grip on her hips to back her back against the end wall of her garage into the shadows. He felt her hands roam down his back over his ribcage then lower. And then suddenly her hands were on his bare skin, under his shirt.
He broke their kiss on a moan and started to nibble down Storm's neck. When she bent her head to do the same to him he stopped kissing her with a groan. Where they were headed was not somewhere he ever wanted to go with Storm Demaret, let alone outside in her yard against a garage. Her harsh breathing echoed in his ears along with his own.
"Taylor…" Storm couldn't believe what she was about to do.
"I know. I should go." Taylor sighed and moved slightly away from her, toward his van. He watched as her face fell.
"I guess you should." Storm answered, her upset over thinking he was again regretting her colouring her words angry red. He walked back up to her and cupped her cheek in his hand.
"What were you gonna say?"
"Nothin." She mumbled and looked away. "Nevermind."
"'Member, you can't lie to me. What was it?"
"I was gonna ask you up with me." She looked up at Taylor, unsure of herself for one of the first times in her life. What would she do if he turned her down? It would be the singularly most embarrassing moment in her life.
Taylor groaned. She sure knew how to push his buttons. But there was no way he could go home with her to Benny's house.
"But since you were no doubt about to tell me that being here was a mistake anyway maybe you should go." Storm looked down at her feet.
"Don't go gettin your panties in a twist Storm. I can't go home with you up into your dad's house." He moved back in front of her and put a hand back on her hip. He felt another one of those revelations he didn't want to share coming on. "I really want to take you up on your offer but we'd both be dead if we got caught Storm, adults or no."
"I know." She sighed. "I don't like your ass that much anyway."
"I know you don't." He gave her a quick hard kiss. Things were going way too fast for his comfort. "I'll call you."
"I won't hold my breath." She called back softly as though she knew that he was desperate for some distance. On that note she walked up the back lawn of the house. He watched her hips sway as she strode confidently up her lawn. No one would know if she was upset from the confidence of her gate, that was for sure.
Taylor watched as she shimmied up a drainpipe to an upper level balcony. He figured it must be her room because she climbed in the window and then a light flicked on. He got in his van and left.
He had a lot on his mind. Where was this thing with Storm goin? He couldn't just play around with Matty's sister. He knew that for a fact. It would likely be best if he forgot all about her right now and just moved on with his life. His attraction to her was too dangerous. Of course, he'd never been the guy to run from danger and Storm had never been the girl to play things safe. Who knew where things would go?
xox
Storm changed quickly out of her tight pants and top into a pair of boxers and a tank top. She threw herself on her bed and flicked the TV on. She was fairly sure that at 3:15am there was nothing on but she was too keyed up to ever go to sleep. She was flipping past MTV when there was a faint knock on her door.
She got up and padded to the door. "Who is it?" she called softly.
"It's Matty. Who else comes to your door at 3am?"
Wouldn't he like to know? Storm smirked, but rather then answer Storm opened the door wide and invited Matty in wordlessly. He walked into her room, dressed in similar clothes and stretched out on her bed.
"Well, do come in and make yourself at home brother dear." Storm said as she walked over to the other side of her bed and stretched out beside Matty.
"How was your night?"
"Was ok. I won 3 grand."
"Taylor enjoy goin to overdrive?"
"How'd you know about that?" Storm asked, an eyebrow raised in question.
"Chris called. He said that he and Marbles saw you and Taylor dancing together at 2:30 and things were lookin pretty cozy."
"Shit, I forgot about Chris and Marbles." Storm huffed and closed her eyes as she lay back on her pillows. "Taylor's gonna have a cow."
"Why?"
"Because his friends saw him slow dancing with a girl in a dance club that's why. Not really his style don't ya think?"
"No, it's not, but he likes you." Matty ruffled his sister's hair affectionately. "Though god knows why."
"Damn, why does everybody try to say he likes me when he spends the whole time we're together trying to change everything about me?"
"He does?" Matty looked really surprised.
"Yeah, he does. He hates the fact I wanna work with pop. He hates my car and the fact I race my car. He hates my club and he hates the work I do for Vanya."
"Well, you can't expect any of us to be happy your working for the Russians Storm."
"Why? Pop won't let me work for him so why shouldn't I work for Ivan? For that matter Pop wouldn't let me date Taylor if I asked and cared what he thought of it so why shouldn't I just say fuck Taylor and date Vanya's son while I'm at it? Either way pop's not gonna be happy 'bout it. Christ Matty, you know what it's like to run around day after day with no purpose to your life?"
"I know. Trust me I know. What is it you do for this Ivan guy anyway?"
"A bit of this and that. You don't need to know so don't ask me anymore ok?"
"Ok, ok." Matty sent his sister a sly look. "I'd say you and Taylor did a bit more then some close dancin huh?"
"What are you on about loser?"
"Well, your bottom lip is all swollen and you have these little red marks called hickies all down your neck." Matty laughed.
"Shit! I do?" Storm got up and walked over to her mirror. "That idiot!"
"Ha." Matty's face turned grim. "You can't do this Storm."
"Do what?"
"Get around with Taylor like this."
"And why not?" Storm put a hand to her hip and cocked one leg onto her toes. "When did you start caring who I dated?"
"Because of who you are and who he is. You'll mess up everything for him in the long run if you stay together Storm. I mean, he can't fall for you. How could the two of you ever be together long term?"
"It's not an issue Matty. We both know we're not the forever type. Nothin for you to sweat."
"Don't throw dad's lines in my face baby girl. I've been hearing them for four years longer then you have. You could love him Storm. I see it in your eyes every time you look at him. He's just the type you like. Strong, smart, loyal." Matty's green eyes were uncertain. He was worried about the situation and it showed.
"Yeah, but you forgot annoying and totally unable to see me for me. Matty, don't panic. If things get over my head I'll just break it off with him ok? It's not like Taylor's likely to give two fucks anyway."
"Give Taylor some credit sis. He's got feelings. They're just buried as deep as yours are."
"My feelings are too un buried. Don't you know? I'm too volatile. I know you've been around when pop's been handing out the lectures about it."
"Yeah, till it comes to love and the mushy feelins."
"I love you Matty. That's not hard to acknowledge."
"Maybe not but you've had 20 years of practice sayin it too."
"I know. Ma-y was my first word. I heard the story." Storm smiled at her brother. He was easily her favourite person in the whole world and the fact that he always had been was something she wasn't allowed to live down.
"The day they let me hold you for the first time was the best day of my life. I was somebody's big brother. You don't know how much it meant to me. Some days, when I was older and it was like I had no reason to be alive I'd remind myself I had to be your big brother and it gave me a reason to keep up ya know? I knew you were counting on me. Especially when we went to live with Uncle Teddy. His wife tryin to make a lady outta ya couldn't have been much fun." Matty smirked.
"Hell no. I missed pop so much for those 3 years he was away. Just because I wasn't allowed to run wild and follow you everywhere you went. No matter how different we are Matty, you've always been my idol too. I was so use to you'n Taylor telling me to get lost and then turnin around and makin sure I could keep up and didn't get lost. Then Teddy's wife goes and says that I shouldn't be runnin around with boys like I was some grease-ball."
Storm crawled into her bed beside her brother and put her head on his chest. His arm came up around her shoulders.
"Hey, our play wasn't half as fun without you around to blame shit on. You were our permanent cop to our robbers, cowboy to our Indians. When you weren't around one of us had to play the shitty role."
"Yeah. And I got stuck playin Barbie dolls with my cousins. Lucky Italian bastard." Storm giggled.
"I'm not so lucky. You're still the only reason I'm around Stormi girl. If you weren't around I'd take the advice I've been given and move states."
Storm looked up at Matty. "If you think you'd be happier then you should do it. Move and get a job. What's Taylor always say? Go be a citizen? I'll be fine Matty. It's not like I can't travel to visit you where ever you end up. I refuse to be the reason why you get stuck livin a life you don't want to live. "
"My job's been to be your older brother so long I don't know how well I'd adjust to a new one."
"You'll always be my older brother Matty. No matter where we end up or what we do you will always be the only person standing up for me no matter what."
"Well, you take up for me enough, especially with the old man so I guess we're just even."
"Matty?"
"Wha?"
"I'm scared." Storm admitted quietly after glancing around as though to confirm they were still alone.
"Of what Storm?"
"Taylor."
"He do anything to you to make you scared?" Matty looked like he was starting to get angry.
"No, he didn't do anything to me literally. This guy…I mean, you and I both knew all those times I tried to convince you I didn't like him I was full of it. But I liked him based on the fact that he's always been out of reach and the fact he's pretty much the hottest guy I've ever seen. In reality we have nothing in common. I don't think I even like him that much. I'm pretty sure he doesn't really like me all that much either. But what he makes me feel when he touches me. Porco zio!"
"Ah sister mine, sounds like you like him more then you're trying to convince yourself and the world." Matty chuckled. Storm slapped his chest gently and yawned.
"Yeah maybe. Worrying about it made me tired."
"Ok. Night then."
"Night." Matty moved to get out of Storm's bed.
"Matty?" Storm's question checked him. He paused.
"Yeah."
"Gonna thunder."
"How do you know that?" She always knew but he'd never thought to ask her how before.
"I can feel it, smell it on the air. Can't you feel how heavy the air got? How much electricity is in it? It's gotta break Bro."
"Ok then." Matty lay back down on the bed and settled in to stay. Within seconds Storm was snoring beside him.
He knew he should be ashamed of himself for being scared of thunder and lightning storms. At his age he knew he should be able to suck it up and just live with the fact he didn't like them, but he was pretty much terrorized when it thundered, add lightning to the mix and he was in for a bad night.
It all started when his mom had gone into labour in the middle of a bad storm. Though he hardly remembered her he distinctly remembered her crying and moaning as the contractions had hit her. He remembered that it had just been his mom and dad home with him that night and Benny had had no choice but take his 4 year old son with them to the hospital.
Matty remembered the fact that his sister had been born in the middle of one of the worse thunder storms New York had ever seen. Trees had been felled by it in Central Park. The rain had been torrential. The power had gone out more times then he, at four, had known enough numbers to count. He'd been left alone in a waiting room, scared and unsure of what was going on. His mom had been in pain when he'd seen her last in the car and he had no idea if she was better or ok since they'd taken her away. He'd been ordered to 'stay put' by his dad in the no nonsense tone of voice that always made him do just what he'd been told. He'd spend the time huddled in a chair scared out of his mind trying hard to 'be a man' and not cry.
But, since his sister had come out of it, it would have been ok. If not for the fact he'd never seen his mom again. She'd died giving birth to Storm. She'd lived long enough to chose her daughter's middle name, Stormianna in honour of the tempest she'd been born in the middle of, and then she'd had a brain aneurism and died.
When his father told him his mother was gone forever and wasn't ever coming back because she'd gone to heaven having baby Arabella Matty had been fully prepared to hate whatever a sister was. Because whatever she was she'd made his mother go away. At 4 he didn't understand how permanent death was. He thought that the baby had in some way angered his mom into leaving them forever. What other conclusion was his young mind to arrive at when they'd told him because Arabella had been born his mom was never coming back.
He'd felt that way right up until they'd told him to hop up onto the couch and then put her in his lap, telling him how to put his arms so he'd cradle her head and not hurt her. She'd been screaming blue murder when his father had carried her into the house. Little motherless bit of nothing that she'd been. No one could stop her, she just wailed and wailed. Then they'd decided to let Matty hold her. And the second she'd been in his arms she'd stopped crying, gurgled in her charming little baby way and grabbed his finger in her fist. He'd looked at her in wonder. A perfect little person right down to her tiny little toes complete with tiny little toenails and the cloud of almost black hair on her little head.
No one had even told Matty her name up until then with all the preparation for what to do about his mom.
"What's her name?" He'd asked his father.
"Arabella." Benny replied.
"Does she have a middle name like me?"
"Yeah, it's Stormianna." His father had admitted with a look of unpleasantness on his face. "Your mother made it up."
"She doesn't look like an Arabella." Matty'd looked up at his dad with a stubborn look on his face. "Did you pick it or did Mom?" He said mom in a half angry half sad tone of voice.
"I did. Mom picked Stormianna."
"I think her name should be Storm."
"Do you?" His uncle Teddy had asked, smiling. "You'd like to have a sister named Storm?"
"Yeah, like the thunder what took mom away."
"She's not much of an Arabella Ben. Too small." Teddy had said to his brother in law with a laugh.
"She'll grow into it. It's a good Italian name."
"My sister woulda wanted her called Storm."
"Then Storm it is." Benny had been too out of sorts about losing his wife and being stuck with an infant daughter to raise alone to give much thought to what his daughter answered to.
But even though he'd gotten his sister out of the deal, and gotten to name her, in conjunction with his mom of course, he still couldn't stand thunder. It didn't help that the night that the FBI, NYPD, and OCC had stormed his house and taken his dad away had been another horrible thunderstorm. He'd been able to tolerate them up until 12 but after the night they took his dad away he just locked up with fear during any sort of weather disturbance involving lightning.
Storm loved bad weather. He'd come to her room to spend time with her in storms more then once to find her soaked clear through on her balcony in the middle of the worst of rain, head thrown back just letting it pour on her. The one time she'd been feeling mellow enough to answer his questions about why she'd told him it was like the city was crying to wash away her sins and if Storm stood in the rain it might wash hers away too.
Matty pretty much figured he'd never be able to repay his sister for all the times she'd pretended it was her that was scared, that needed him to stay with her to keep her safe so that he wouldn't be embarrassed in front of his family or friends.
Just Matty and Storm, together against everything, including bad weather. As it had been, was, and if Matty had his way, ever shall be. His last thought as he felt sleep coming on, brought on by his sister's calming presence was that he was going to have to have a little talk with one Taylor Reese about how honourable his intentions were.