Velocity Shift
By TempestRaces
Chapter 11 – Missing You Missing Me
Storm woke up with a groan. She fought to remind herself the room wasn't really spinning, it was just her senses that were off. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been so hung over. It was a harsh reminder of one of the other main reasons why she didn't drink. She always paid through the nose the next day. She started to sit up but fell back onto the bed with a heartfelt moan. Every time she vowed never again but yet eventually there always came an again. Will I ever learn? Storm mused as she berated herself mentally. Of course her illness kept all her other issues off her mind. For now.
Why won't the room stop spinning? She thought as she lay in Taylor's bed in abject misery. She was glad she was alone as she fought to get up out of the bed ungracefully and with little success. She knew if she didn't make the bathroom she was going to make a big nuisance of herself because she had to be sick, and it had to be sooner then later. She moved toward the door of the bedroom, using the various furniture throughout the room for support. Just as she would have reached the doorway Taylor's form filled it.
"I was just coming to check and see if you were still alive." He took in her slightly green appearance. "Are you ok?"
Storm shook her head no and moved to push past him. It was clear he didn't quite grasp how dire the situation was because he didn't move out of her way.
"Well what's wrong?"
Storm looked up at him with panic spreading over her face. If he didn't get out of her way pronto he was going to get a very nasty surprise. She moved to push past him again. "Gonna be sick." She croaked out.
That got Taylor moving. He flattened against the wall to let her dash by. She made it to the bathroom in the nick of time, hitting her knees on the floor and making an offering to the porcelain god.
Taylor came in and sat on the edge of the tub, gathering her hair out of her face and rubbing her back as she retched again. "Why did you drink so much if you can't hold your liquor?"
"I didn't know how much I was drinking. Devon and CJ were buying my drinks and I just kept finding my glass full. I don't drink like this, ever." Storm moaned as she rocked back on her heels. She figured some cosmic force didn't think she had been mortified enough for one day because she promptly fell on her butt on the cold tiles. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to comprehend how unfair it was for her to both be violently ill in front of Taylor and then fall on her derrière in front of him in the same minute of time. She happened to glance at Taylor and he was clearly fighting a fit of laughter at her expense.
His chin was quivering like he was fighting tears and his shoulders were shaking. He snorted in his attempt to keep his laughter contained. It was the last straw for Storm. She both hated the fact she was about to cry in front of him again, and figured it served him right for laughing at her.
It started with a sniffle as she looked down at her lap, her hair shielding her face from his laughing black eyes. Then her shoulders started to shake and her chin started to quiver. Before she knew it she was sobbing like a baby with her arms wrapped around her legs and her head on her knees.
Taylor moaned to himself. Now he'd really gone and done it. He'd made Storm cry more in the last 72 hours then she had in the previous twelve years he'd known her. "Don't cry Storm. I didn't mean to be mean."
"It's bad enough I'm sick as I am then I fall and then you laugh at me!" Storm wailed. She honestly couldn't stop crying but she knew she was also pushing it over the top to really stick it to Taylor.
"I didn't mean to laugh 'Ella." Taylor moved from the edge of the tub to the floor and sat behind Storm, wrapping his mobile arm around her and kissing the crown of her head awkwardly. "You just looked so shocked when you fell back. I wasn't laughing at you exactly." Taylor knew he wasn't making it better but he was no good at these things. "Please don't cry. What's up with you anyway? Is it gonna be that-"
"If that sentence ends in 'time of the month' and you finish it I'll make you regurgitate your nuts. Consider it fair warning." Storm hiccupped out, cutting him off in a watery yet decidedly mad voice.
Taylor chuckled softly. She'd be about the only female on earth he'd actually believe could get close enough to carry out the threat. "Fair enough. Seriously Storm, what's up with all the tears?"
"If you somehow came to find out your dad wasn't really dead, that your mom lied to you about these last twenty years do you think you could just take it in stride?" Storm asked, her face still pressed against her legs.
Taylor sighed against her neck. No he couldn't. He didn't know what she was going to do about it, and as such he didn't know what to tell her. "I know I couldn't. But I know you and Matty would be there for me. And we'll be here for you Storm."
"Matty can't be anywhere for me in this because he's just as in the dark as I was. But guess who'll end up getting to enlighten him. Jesus Taylor, you know what happened to Matty because he had to live with Teddy. Technically Dad shoulda found a way to send us both to our mother, but instead he sent us to live with our satanically evil uncle."
"Much as I hate to say it Storm you need to have this out with your dad. He's the only one with the answers. Then someone does have to tell Matty."
"The way I feel about Pop right now if I ever talk to him again it'll be too soon."
"You don't mean that 'Ella. This is your dad we're talking about. You think that man walks on water and that the sun rises out of his ass."
"I use to. Now I'm not so sure. I always thought that there was a line he wouldn't cross. A line between how he ran his business and how he looked at me. And Matty. I thought that family was different but he treated me just like any other employee who pissed him off."
"If you were just any employee who pissed him off by telling him to fuck off you'd be dead right now."
"Maybe, but you should have seen him when he told me that my mother didn't have a right to be a part of my life because she committed the sin of deciding she didn't want to take him back after he ripped her away from her four year old son and newborn daughter and sent her away on her own for years. He seems to think he can play god with everyone. I never thought that mentality was how he saw me'n Matty at the very least. How wrong I was."
Taylor sighed angrily. He still couldn't go kill her father for her so he had to do something to take his mind off the rage that was building. "Come on. Up off the floor. You're going back to bed with a big glass of water and sleeping until you feel better." Taylor stood up and picked Storm up onto her feet.
"I'm never gonna feel better again." Storm mumbled as she used the edge of the sink for balance as she washed her mouth out and then allowed Taylor to help her back to his bed and tuck her in. He was back with a huge glass of cool water a minute later and watched while she drank it all, and used some of it to take two Tylenol.
"Ok, now back to sleep so it stays down." Taylor told her as he took the glass out of her hand.
"Stay here with me until I fall asleep?" Storm requested, looking up at Taylor with her big, hurt green eyes.
"Shove over then." He requested rather than answer her and crawled in after her when she made room. He waited until she was clearly deep in sleep and then got back up. He headed to the living room and called Matty's cell phone.
"Hello?" Matty's worried voice came across the line.
"Stop worrying about her, she's here with me."
"Thank god. How'd you find her? Dad says she was just in her room when he went to bed."
"Found her at that club she likes so much."
"Chris said she never showed up."
"She was there. She was loaded outta her damn mind and I took her outta there before Chris showed."
"Storm was drunk?"
"Yeah. Very drunk." Taylor didn't want to go into the whys with Matty. He knew it was Storm's story to tell her brother how she saw fit. She also didn't want to tell her brother what she was doing in the club at night. Matty would see red and Storm would not appreciate him telling her brother what she did and Taylor knew it. "I guess her friends were buying her drinks and she didn't know how much she was drinking."
"Makes sense then. Storm doesn't get drunk. She says she's too scared of what she'll do to someone someday if she's not in control of her actions."
"Can't blame her." That was also the reason why Taylor didn't really partake of alcohol beyond the occasional beer with the boys.
"Dad won't tell me anything about what they fought about. Not the first time or what they fought about last night. I'm worried about it all and I found out why Dad's in such a bad mood lately."
"Why?"
"I'm not gonna go into it over the cell. I'll tell you when we meet up next. I don't know what to make of it and you honestly know my Uncle Teddy better then I do at this point in my life."
"It involves Teddy?" Great, Taylor thought. Just what I need, trouble with Teddy Deserve.
"Yeah, but we'll talk soon. I assume you'll be dropping Storm off at her car and not driving her right home?"
"Even if she didn't leave her car someplace you know I'd never drive her home when your dad's there."
"Well, about that. Storm told him about the two of you last night. I guess she figured that Teddy already would have told him. He doesn't seem mad about it at all. I don't know if it's because he figures he better leave well enough alone with Storm or because he just honestly thinks you're a good match for her. But in either case he's not pissed."
"Is that good?"
"I think so. Storm's his baby girl. He's worse about her then me if that's believable. Of the two of us he's way more protective over Storm, even though she's the one who's shown time and time again she can handle herself. If he was gonna have a problem with her seeing you he wouldn't have been hiding it. He wouldn't have been able to. He'd have been ready to kill you on the spot. He seemed surprised, but not unhappy. There certainly wasn't any ranting and raving out of him over it."
"I honestly don't know what to make of that."
"Me either but I'm not worried about it. I am worried about my sister though. Is she really ok?"
"Yeah, she's asleep. I'll let her know you wanna talk to her when she wakes up."
"Ok, talk to you later then."
"Later." Taylor hung up his phone and sat down to watch some TV while he let Storm sleep.
xox
Matty sat down hard on the couch in his room and hung his head into his hands. He thought back on the scene he'd experienced with his uncle the several nights before.
"This little bid on the handball court. You know, talking about being ready? You meant that shit right?"
"Yeah."
"Cause we been down this road before, Matty."
"I was twelve years old Teddy. How long you hold that against me, huh?"
"Time to move past it?"
"Yeah."
"You think so?"
"Fucken A."
"So do I and I told your father that."
"You did?" Matty questioned incredulously and watched as his uncle nodded to the affirmative.
"Really." Teddy motioned with his cigarette. "Remember the problem we were talking about?"
"Shortages?"
"Right. Georgie Yarkas out in Spokane is floating your father some wood for the short term but we gotta go get it and we got no one we can trust. We're still hashing out the details but you could be involved. I did what I could Matty, it's on you to convince him."
Matty looked at his uncle Teddy in shock. He was getting his shot. He watched as Teddy poked him softly in the chest and turned to leave. "I'll see you at the hall later?"
"Yeah." Matty stayed where he was, leaning on the damp brick wall of his father's gentleman's club..
Teddy turned back to him, as though he realized he had forgotten something as a after though. "Matty?"
"Yeah Teddy?"
"Let's not talk about this with your sister, huh? She'll just worry and make everything more difficult then it has to be. Especially in the moods she'll be in over the fights with her father. Ok?"
"Sure Teddy." Matty had known his sister wouldn't like it and had gladly agreed not to tell Storm anything. She'd forbid it and Matty felt he had no choice.
They each went their own ways with their own thoughts. Matty had a sick feeling in his stomach. He told Teddy, his father, his sister it was what he wanted but he knew damn well it wasn't. It was sheer desperation of ever getting anything else, not a love of the game that had driven him to this point. He had nothing else. Nothing but his father's name and a knowledge that a man had to earn money to earn his keep.
Matty thought back and realized it had been five nights previous that he'd talked to his uncle outside Pizzo's. His chance to talk to his father about the job hadn't come until three nights later, last night. That meant it had been five days since his last failed interview and only five days his sister had been dating his best friend. Where had the time gone? It was crazy to think how long that week had felt. It felt like he'd been living with the knowledge of what he was going to attempt forever, felt like he'd been watching his sister deal with her own personal hell forever. He remembered the meeting with his dad and knew it was part of the reason why he was still upset. To say it hadn't started well was an understatement.
When he'd shown up at the hall he'd been in a good mood, saying hello to the staff. He knew they all loved him. What wasn't to love? He never took out his frustrations on them, not like his father and sister. He noted Storm's conspicuous absence from behind the bar. She never worked the hall anymore. It had started long before her clashes with the old man but she was nonexistent from their business life now. She was always too busy doing her own thing with her car and whatever the hell else she was into and Matty knew it was another reason why his father was testy. He could run all the game he wanted about Storm and her need to stay out of the life, but he was really happy to have her involved, at least in the ways he wanted to let her be involved. But now she was more involved in her own world, with her Russian friend Ivan and her new relationship with Taylor and Matty knew his father was missing his daughter. He always grumbled about her involvement around the life and then went out of his way to show her off to his cronies, how well she could shoot, run game, organize things and scheme. How very Demaret she was.
Matty's good mood had lasted him the whole way through the restaurant, after he'd said hello to Vito, and all the way downstairs past the exuberant craps game his father's cronies had going. He'd even managed to grin at his uncles offer to 'help himself to a cummerbund'. Then he went into a closed door meeting with his father and uncle.
The ensuing scene in his father's office had done little to alleviate Matty's sense of impending doom. "You need this money picked up from Yarkas in Spokehan I'm your guy."
"The answer's no. You get detected crossing state lines with all that lumber and feds trace you back to me, I'm fucked here."
"Listen I can get this done for you. Marbles has got a plane he can fly out and pick it up."
"Better that way. Besides, it's a simple fucken run." Teddy moved from the couch he had been sitting on over closer to Matty. Matty looked at his uncle in shock, not having expected to get any further assistance out of Teddy.
"Hold on! Marbles? He is half an idiot and that is the good half."
"Come on, he's in he's out." Teddy further championed Matty's cause. It was making Matty decidedly uneasy. Why was Teddy so gung ho to help him out all of a sudden?
"Alright pop listen to me would ya. I swear to god he's turned it around. And I'll oversee the whole thing. Give me this much, I can get this job done."
"Matty, I hate to knife you here but it's my experience a guy gets something done because he has to. Now maybe it's my doing, the way I raised you in privilege and such, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what it is you need! Not for nothing but most guys go in for it 'cause they ain't got no other way to survive."
Matty looked at his father. Really looked, and he didn't like what he saw. The old man still saw him as a scared twelve year old who couldn't put a bullet into an old family friend's head on the circumstantial evidence presented by his uncle. He'd tried to live the live of an everyday citizen and he couldn't do it. No one would look at him twice because of his father. From where he stood Matty had no choice, just like all the guys his father was talking about. He couldn't see where he had another way to survive either. No one would hire him and he wasn't willing to live off his old man's charity forever.
"Oh yeah." Matty nodded like he understood. "Well neither do I."
Benny looked at him, and Matty felt like he'd really looked for the first time in a long time and saw something beyond the 12 year old kid he'd been told didn't have the stomach for their life. At the end of the meeting he and Marbles had been charged with getting the money from Spokane to New York. The sense of doom Matty had started the whole operation with hadn't abated. He was still literally sick to his stomach over the whole thing. He'd gone home to bed right after, trying to get his mind off it all.
So that was why his father was in a permanent bad mood. Someone was stealing his money and he had no one he could trust to go after the replacement cash. No wonder he was short with Storm lately. Her antics had all been on top of the stress of not knowing what he was going to do about his money and who was taking it. Matty sighed. His chance to step up. He should be on cloud fucken nine. So why did he feel like he was sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic with no hope in hell of getting to the surface ever again?
xox
Teddy sat on his leather couch with a smile on his face. His nephew had fallen for the bait hook line and sinker. Kid thought he had nothing else. He couldn't see the facts right in front of his face. Benny loved the kid without rhyme or reason. Matty could live in the old man's house and eat his food for the rest of his life and Benny would never say a thing beyond his typical grumblings, talking just to hear himself. Matty, his only begotten son.
Which brought his only daughter to the front of Teddy's mind. If she stayed occupied with Taylor, like Teddy figured she would, and out of her brother's life then things would surely go according to plan. Of course Storm had never stayed out of her brother's life before but they did say there was a first time for everything.
If Benny ever woke up himself and realized it only made sense to let Storm step up then Teddy knew his plans would all be screwed but he was fairly confident he could finish his operation before that would ever happen and then it would be irrelevant.
Yes, Matty Demaret had to end up out of the picture. Storm too for that matter. Death for one and marriage to a man who could finally control her for the other. Then Teddy would be free to eliminate their father and finally take over the business. He knew were he a normal human he'd feel some guilt over killing his sister's son and imprisoning her daughter into a loveless marriage. With an evil smile he thanked the fates he wasn't a normal human being. With his sister permanently out of her children's lives she wouldn't even know what was going down, let alone be able to come to their rescue.
Marbles was bound to fuck the run up, leaving it easily plausible for Teddy to take him out for his fuck ups. Marbles never did anything right and he never would. He was just one of those people in life who didn't seem to be able to act smart to save their own life. And of course, in this case, if Marbles didn't manage to act smart it would mark the end of his.
Of course that wouldn't be enough to justify taking Matty out, but it wouldn't be too hard for the kid to meet with an unfortunate accident. And then when his daughter was whisked off to the old country and married to one of their distant relatives in Sicily Benny would be almost beside himself with grief over losing both his children. That would be when Teddy would move in and finish him too, turning the Demaret empire into the Deserve empire.
Things would finally be the way they were meant to be.
xox
Matty called up Johnny Marbles first thing when he woke up..
"Marbles I got us an opportunity. I need you to fly out to Feld's Field. They'll be a guy there named Gorgie Yarkas. He's gonna hand you a bag. Now don't open the bag, don't look in the bag, don't let go of the bag. Only stop for fuel and get right back in your plane and fly straight home to me. You got it?"
"Yeah Matty I got it."
"Marbles?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't fuck this up."
xox
Storm woke up feeling much better then the first time she'd risen. She got dressed in her same clothes from the evening previous and went to the washroom. When she was finished there she headed out to Taylor's living room and found him watching TV. He looked up at her entrance.
"You look better."
"I feel better. You wanna drive me to my car?"
"Sure. Let's go." Taylor picked up his keys and they headed down to the van. Taylor started it and watched Storm out of the corner of his eye. "What's on your mind?"
"My mother. I have to meet her Tay. I can't just know she's down there and never find out what happened. Why she never came up to New York. Why she abandoned me and Matty. I need to hear from her what went on."
"You just gonna show up on her step or somethin Storm?"
"I guess. I was thinking that I'd drive down. Take longer and I need a break from all this anyway. I want to know what she has to say before I talk to Matty. No sense hurting him by telling him she's alive if she doesn't want anything to do with us."
"You don't have to protect Matty from every hurt Storm. He's 24 years old. He won't break."
"Maybe not, but there's no sense in telling him and then telling him she doesn't want anything to do with us."
"I really think you should tell him either way. If you don't you're just doing what your father did. Protecting him because you think it's the right thing to do. Did you or did you not tell me that you think you should have been allowed to make up your own mind on the topic?"
"I did, but I just don't know. I'm gonna go meet her first Taylor. Then I'll tell Matty either way ok?"
"It's your life Storm. I won't interfere. I'm just sayin I think he has to know."
"That's two things I like about you Taylor. You keep your nose outta other people's business and you give me info straight up. You don't sugar coat shit and I appreciate that."
Taylor shrugged. "Other people's business gets you killed in this life and telling fairy tales eventually does the same thing."
"Either way, other then the whole Ivan thing you keep your nose outta my affairs and that's rare when you're me. Most of the guys in my life can't wait to meddle. I like people who keep it real."
"Don't get me started on the whole Ivan thing." Taylor growled, not willing to let her think the issue was closed in his mind.
"Ok, ok, don't start on me now. I got enough on my plate as is. I won't be doing too much for him until I get home from Miami anyways."
They pulled up beside her car and Storm was glad to see it was unmolested. "I'll talk to you later."
"Don't flee the state without letting me know you're going. Since you ain't telling Matty and I'm bettin you ain't gonna be doin too much talkin to Benny you better let me know you're leaving. Someone needs to know where you are Storm and since you already told me it may as well be me. Ok?"
"Sure." Storm's eyes looked uncertain when he brought up her actually making the trip to Florida.
"You want me to go with you?" Taylor didn't know where the offer came from since he really had no desire to do so but he wouldn't take it back once it was made. She might need moral support.
"No, I'll be ok. It's not that far a drive and I'll either be welcomed by my loving mother or told to take a hike by a woman who doesn't want shit all to do with me. I'm better off doing it alone. I'll call you when I'm on the freeway."
"When you leavin?"
"This afternoon. No sense putting it off."
"Ok. Later."
"Yeah, later." Storm moved to get out of the van. She paused and turned to look back at Taylor. "You gonna miss me? Even just a little?"
Taylor didn't know if she was serious or teasing him. He didn't want to answer like she was teasing in case she wasn't and he made her cry again. He thought for a second. "Well, maybe just a little."
"Only a little?" She questioned as she moved to the edge of the captain's chair she was sitting in and leaned in toward Taylor.
"Well, maybe a bit more then just a little." Taylor went along with her teasing, finding it better then when she was sobbing on his floor.
"How much more?" Storm asked, forcing her face into a wide eyed, breathless look of anticipation of his answer.
"At least this much more." Taylor answered and held up his first finger and thumb a few inches apart.
"That's not that much more."
Taylor shrugged, as though to say take it or leave it. Storm got an unholy light in her eyes. Taylor feared for what was to come. She stood up in the confines of the van, bent over by the low roof and leaned in toward him, placing her hands on his shoulders. He wasn't sure if he was going to like where this was going. She kissed him with a feather light touch, teasing his lips really, before she moved on to feather little brushes of her lips against his jaw bone, ear, and neck. He fought a groan what she was doing to him made him want to let loose.
She moved back out of his reach abruptly and opened the door, jumping down to the pavement below. "I think that'll make sure you miss me more then this much." She parroted his hand movement and grinned.
"Get back in this car right now." Taylor growled, the only thing on his mind finishing what she started.
"I got places to be. Miss me while I'm gone and we'll talk when I get home." She dashed around to her car, started it up and took off, the whole while Taylor sat in a stupor in his idling van, wondering what bizarre power Stormianna Demaret had over him that no other female ever had in his entire memory of his life.
xox
Storm got home and dashed up to her room. She pulled a duffle bag out of her closet and started tossing clothes into it. It's warm in Miami right? She asked herself as she packed haphazardly, trying to pack what she figured she'd need if she ended up staying awhile. Jeans, tanks, track pants, tee shirts
"What are you doing?" Matty asked from his position leaning on the doorjamb of her room.
"Packing. I'm going on a road trip for awhile Matty. I need a break."
"Who's going with you?"
Storm thought a minute. If she told him she was going alone would he freak out at her? But if she told him Devon he'd be on the phone to the other man the second her back was turned. She figured she'd just have to have faith in her ability to control her brother and tell him the truth. "No one. It's a spur of the moment thing and I'm just going. It's only a few days."
Matty wanted to protest but in actual fact Storm being out of the state was just going to make his life easier. He wasn't going to have to worry about lying to her by omission or lying to her about anything if she caught him working for Teddy. "Well, if you're sure you'll be ok alone. Drive safe."
Storm looked up at Matty in shock. "That's it? No hell no you ain't goin alone, no I'm coming with you?"
"You sound like this is something you really need to do."
"It is. I'll call you when I get where ever it is I'm goin." Storm's light green gaze clashed with her brother's dark one. Something wasn't right. This was not the overprotective Matty she'd come to know. He should be pitching a fit, telling her there was no way she was going alone. He should be telling her to take Taylor or Devon, anyone, but no way was she going alone. Something was up here, but she didn't have time or energy to deal with it. Taylor was always saying Matty could take care of himself so this time she was just going to have to leave him to his own devices to do his thing. Her brother looked away first.
"Ok. Take carea you Storm. You're all I got."
"Same goes for you bro." Storm and her brother hugged and Matty left the room, struggling with his own emotions and his fear of where his sister was running too. Why did she have to decide to take off now, when there was no way on earth he could go with her, keep her out of the trouble she always got herself into.
What if she did something stupid on some other place where he wasn't around to calm her, sooth her, keep her out of trouble? Damn girl was just as like as not to shoot people who pissed her off when she was mad. She needed him, or second to him Taylor, to keep her out of trouble and out of court and jail. But she had to grow up someday and it might as well be now, Matty figured, since there was nothing he could do about it anyway.
When her brother left the room Storm fired the CD player on and cranked the volume. It started out blasting 'You Belong to the City'.
'Cause you belong to the city
You belong to the night
living in a river of darkness, beneath the neon light
You belong to the city
you belong to the street
Its in your moves, its in your blood
Storm finished her packing, singing along and finally zipping the bag closed with a confident motion that she didn't really feel.
Unbeknownst to her, her father was watching her from the open bedroom door, wondering where she was going, yet figuring he knew in his heart the only place it would be. She was running away from him to find her mother. The parent who, while had let her down, hadn't done it of her own free will. The song on her stereo changed from the old Glenn Frey hit he was familiar with yet still surprised his daughter liked to some rap tune that left him totally out of his element. He watched his daughter fill her bag, her movements so much like his own.
You pierced a hole in my heart from all the pain you caused
With no direction you left your first born lost
Give or take a few
Cause my hate for you
Grew, …
Through blood, sweat, and tears
I wanted to be just like you
My father figure…
How the fuck do you sleep at night?
Knowin you wronged the only thing you ever did right.
The answer was he didn't sleep at night because she was the only thing he'd ever done right, and he had wronged her terribly. He was successful at his job, but his job was to be professionally wrong. He was always on the wrong side of the law, wrong side of any moral judgement call. He'd done wrong by his son, by his wife, by everyone but his daughter. She hadn't been broken by her uncle and he'd raised her to be strong. But now he'd wronged her like he ended up wronging everything else in his life. He watched as she closed her bag, sunglasses flashing on top of her head in the long, riotously curly hair, so much like her mother's, until you figured in the blond colour he hated so much on his daughter. Her jeans hanging around her hips and one of those little tee shirts she loved baring the small of her back to the world finished out her look.
He had thought, that by letting her run wild and indulging her every whim he was showing her how much he cared about her but he knew now he was wrong. He should have showed her he loved her in normal ways, not tried to use material things and a lack of active parenting to show her instead. And now she was walking out of his house, out of his state, and perhaps even out of his life.
xox
Storm shouldered her bag and stood up. That was that. She only had to gas up the Skyline and she was leaving New York. It was her city, her home. She belonged to the city and it to her. But now she was leaving it all behind. It never would have happened before her falling out with her father. She never would have been parted from her empire state, but now she knew there was something she needed that she simply couldn't find at home, even in the city that never sleeps. She turned to leave the room after silencing the stereo only to find her father in the doorway.
"Father." Storm said in her frostiest tone as she watched her father block her exit. "Do you need something?"
"Don't go throwin that fancy education you got in my face with those big words and proper accent now Stormi girl. Where you goin?"
"My name is Storm and it's none of your concern. I'm goin and I'll be back when I'm back." Storm answered in her very street slang accent and started toward the door, fully intending to push her father out of her way.
"We both know where you're goin Stormianna so why don't you just put my mind at ease and tell me so I'll know for sure you're safe while you're gone."
"Taylor knows where I'm goin so I'll be fine."
"Why don't you take him with you then?"
"Cause I don't want to take him with me." Storm stood with a hand on her hip, not wanting to discuss the matter with her father any more.
"But why? I don't want you out there alone Storm. There's too much that could happen to you."
"I'm not taking him with me because I'd rather leave him home here for Matty to protect him from the shit you and Teddy tend to throw around." Storm finally answered brutally and watched as her father's face fell in hurt. "I'll be fine on my own. The worst thing that ever happened to me happened right here, and I've proven time and time again I can take care of myself."
"If you say so." Benny moved out of her way and Storm marched down the stairs and out the front door.
She could feel his eyes on her back as she strode down the driveway. She turned around to face him from beside her car. She was feeling a strange sensation she wasn't familiar with, and was guessing it could very well be depression. She wasn't familiar with it at all. "I'll be back when I'm ready. You betta take care of my brother cause if I find out anything happened to him while I'm gone I'm holding you accountable and you might just find yourself finding out first hand what it's like to sleep with the fishes." Storm watched her father's breathe hitch at the implication and knew she was again pushing him farther then was safe just to see what he'd do. She figured she was so close to her car he'd know there wasn't much he could do before she'd be inside with the doors locked.
"Storm, I know you're still mad at me, hell, I'm still mad at myself, but do you have to run off mad like this? Parents and children fight. It doesn't mean you have to take off like this."
"I have a mother! You let me think I killed her for 20 years! We didn't just fight pop."
"I never told you that you killed your mother. Where'd you get that idea Storm?" Benny looked like something had occurred to him. "Did Teddy or Theresa tell you that?" He growled, knowing that Storm would never have to worry about her aunt again if that old bag had put the idea into Storm's head. Benny would kill the old bat himself.
"No, you did. You told me she died having me. She died from a brain aneurism from giving birth remember? That was the story you always told. So if she hadn't had me she still woulda been alive." Storm had never told anyone of her guilty feelings on that matter. She knew it wasn't rational, that her mother couldn't have known she was going to die from having her baby, that had she known after she was pregnant she would have had Storm anyway, and that anything could have ruptured the aneurism not just giving birth. But still, she'd grown up knowing that because she had been born her mother had died.
"Women die having babies Storm. That's just how it is. It doesn't make it the baby's fault. If you'd ever told me you felt like this I would have explained it all."
"Yeah, cause you're a fucken easy man to approach. I mean, just look at what happens when I have a bad experience and try to talk to you about it." Storm threw her still bruised cheek in her father's face and both felt better and much worse when he grimaced.
"I'm sorry Storm I really am. I got a lotta shit goin down right now and I know I'm irritable. I can't say I'm sorry enough for that but are you gonna hold it against me forever?"
"Might notta if I hadn'ta found out you also kept my mama from me for years after you didn't have to all cause she didn't want you no more. So what? So she was finished wit you. Was she finished wit me'n Matty too? Or did you force her to be because she thwarted you and you reacted like a spoiled child too used to getting his own way?"
Benny had the good sense to look embarrassed. "I told her not to come around if she wasn't going to live in New York permanently. All she had to do was live here. I never told her she had to live in this house or stay with me. She didn't want to leave Miami so I told her she wasn't going to be a part time parent. That was her choice."
"Will Cara tell it the same way?" Storm asked, eyebrow raised, still shouting at her father from the driveway while he stood on the porch. At her father's chagrined look she knew she had her answer. He was still embellishing the tale to make himself look better and the only way she was getting the real answer was to go and ask her mother for it. "I thought not. I'll see you when I see you. Remember what I said about Matty. And don't say anything to Matty about where I went. It I want him to know about our mother I'll tell him when I get home." Storm got into her car and slammed the door, tearing off down the drive and off toward her uncertain future.
xox
Marbles touched down in Spokane while it was raining. He wasn't put off by the weather though. This was his shot, his one opportunity. Once Benny and Teddy saw that he could be valuable to them he'd have it made. He knew they paid well when people did services for them. He got out of his plane and walked up to an idling black limo. An older man with white hair got out of the back unaided with a bowling style bag in his hand.
The man wouldn't let go of the bag until he'd delivered his message. "Benny Chains said to tell ya, don't fuck this up."
"I know, only stop for fuel. Don't worry, I'll keep her on the barber pole the whole way back."
Marbles took the bag and got into his plane. He took off without incident and headed up into the sky. The cloud cover broke up over Idaho and the sky showed its beautiful vista to Johnny. Now this is why I fly, he thought with a smile. When it was just him, his plane, and a clear sky Johnny felt like he owned the world. Now if I was just going home to a good job and a good woman life would be pretty perfect. He crossed over Idaho into Montana and realized his fuel stop had to be soon, but not immediate.
He finished his last swig of Coca-Cola, grimacing at its warm texture and flat taste while tossing the can onto the floor. He felt another one of the all too familiar cravings gnawing at him. He'd told his cousin Matty he'd been off blow for 7 months and he had only been mildly exaggerating. He still occasionally snorted with Chris, but where he had been an addict he was back to recreation. But his nerves were preying on him and he felt the need for a hit to steady him. "Come on, stay alert." He coached himself.
He flew another few minutes and the craving got to be too much to bear. In a half hour he was going to have to land in some small Montana town with a bag full of something that Benny Chains only trusted his son to pick up for him. That was a huge amount of responsibility. He was in over his head, he realized in that moment. He was Johnny Marbles; he fucked everything up. What had he been thinking to think he could do this job? "Well, just one." He told himself as he took the little cardboard envelope out of his pocket and took a hit right out of the packaging. The plane dipped a bit as he coughed but he levelled her out just fine. Then he banked left and enjoyed the clear sky.
He landed in a small town known as Wibaux and hollered at the attendant for 54 gallons to top off the plane's tank and headed for the terminal to pay. He had Benny's bag in his hand. No way was he leaving it in the plane, not when he didn't know what was in it.
On his way up to the little shack posing as the airport's main building Marbles noticed an impossibly tall man standing in the window. As the man turned into the sun's dying rays Marbles saw them glint off the star on the man's shirt. Sheriff, ah shit. Just what he didn't need. He took the little envelope of cocaine out of his pocket and let it blow to the wind behind him. Something about the look on that cop's face. The cop turned away from the window and Marbles knew he had to think fast. He saw the pile of luggage waiting on the next flight to be boarded and tossed his bag into the pile.
He figured he'd only be a minute while he paid and then he'd grab the bag on his way back to the plane. He wasn't thinking clearly; a direct result of the blow he'd snorted. Had he be in his right mind he'd have realized several other plans made more sense. Take the bag back to the plane and say he forgot his money. Take the bag with him knowing the cops couldn't search it without a good reason. But none of this occurred to Marbles in that second. All that did was he was high, carrying some unknown illegal substance, and that cop looked right though him with each glare.
He pushed into the terminal bagless and walked up to the lady at the desk. He rudely interrupted her conversation with the Sheriff, wanting to get back to his bag as soon as possible. "Fifty four gallons of hundred octane low lead please."
"That'll be one sixteen ten sir."
"You can just keep the difference." Marbles said after pulling out a roll of hundreds and peeling two off.
"Don't be ridiculous sir." The homely woman at the counter replied with a smile. "Let me get out my strongbox here."
"No really, it's gonna take too long." Marbles looked around nervously.
"Why are you in such a rush?" The tall, very intimidating Sheriff asked with a frown. He scared the hell out of Marbles.
"I got a…a schedule." Johnny stammered out as he looked out the window and saw the bags were all on the plane.
"I have your change." The woman finally said.
"No really it's ok." Marbles said as he headed for the door.
"Take your change son." The Sheriff interjected in a no arguments tone. Marbles turned around with an internal moan and waited for the woman to count his change back to him.
"Don't see too many hundreds around here." She said with an apologetic smile, sorry for the trouble she was causing him by delaying him while she made out the eighty odd dollars change.
Marbles finally pocketed his change and ran out of the little building, only to see the plane whose luggage he'd stashed his bag with in the sky, flying away. He jogged up to the attendant on the tarmac. "Where's that plane going?"
"Last flight of the day, only place they go is Billings." The man went back to his work and Marbles looked around, unsure what to do. He realized he'd have to beat the plane to Billings so he hopped in his Cessna and that is what he did. Even though he watched every piece of baggage come off the conveyer belt and watched every passenger who disembarked he did not see the little brown and tan bag he so desperately wanted to see. He flew back to Wibaux. No doubt about it, he was going to have to call Matty. He walked over to the pay phone and started dialling. Matty answered on the other end.
"I swear to Christ Matty, I swear to fucken' Christ!"
"What did you do?"
"I swear to Christ I didn't turn my back for a second."
"What are you sayin' to me, huh?"
"I stopped to get fuel. Now I didn't leave the bag in the plane I tell ya that much, but these cops…"
"Cops? What cops?"
"They looked right through me and it was like they knew every single thing I'd ever been guilty of. I couldn't double back to the plane, it woulda been too obvious. I had to make a decision, walk right into them, expose your father, or stash the bag."
"Listen to me! Who the fuck has the money Marbles?"
"Matty, I have no idea."
"Alright where the hell are you?"
"Wibaux Montana."
"Ok W-e-e-b-o…"
"No W-i-b-a-u-x."
"X?"
"Yeah x, what do you want me to do now?"
"Don't do anything, we're coming out."
Matty hung up and Marbles sat looking at the phone for a second before he hung up too. He'd really messed up this time.
xox
Storm first stopped for gas at her local Texaco. Then she left New York and drove into New Jersey on the New Jersey Turnpike. Jersey was familiar too. It was like New York without the hard ass attitude but with all of the smart ass and an even worse accent. She'd had friends in school that bussed in every day from 'Jersey. 'Jersey was close enough to home that if she'd been able to stop there it would have been ok. But she didn't stop there and it didn't take her long to blow through it.
Then she pretty much flew through Maryland. She stopped briefly on the outskirts of Baltimore to buy a Pepsi and use the rest room. Then it was back in the car and off toward Washington, DC. She would have driven right past it but she needed gas so she paused long enough to dump a tank of super into her Skyline.
She was very well aware she was running on autopilot. She only knew she had to escape from her life, from her father and getting the real story from her mother seemed like the best thing she could do. It was also an excuse to leave New York. It was something she knew she wouldn't do on her own without a good reason.
The pump turned itself off and she removed the nozzle from the tank. She went in to pay for her fuel, missing all the looks she got along the way. It was a stand out car and she was a striking woman. She was in her own world and none of it mattered. She got to the head of the line and set down her litre bottle of Pepsi and package of white chocolate Reese Peanut Butter Cups.
"That everything?" The teenage clerk asked her as he stumbled over his own words.
"No, I had twelve gallons of super on pump 10 too."
The clerk rang in her order and told her the total. She handed over her Visa card with a sardonic smile. The bills for her plastic went right to her old man. Why not let her father pay for her little trip south? It was his fault she was going. As they waited for the transaction to process the clerk finally got up his nerve.
"What kind of car is that?"
"It's a Nissan Skyline."
"Never heard of it." The kid replied.
"I don't suspect you would have. It's from Japan." Storm leaned in closer to the kid over the counter. "It's illegal." She whispered with her eyes wide and a conspiratory tone to her voice.
"Wow, really?"
"Um hum." Storm batted her eyelashes at the kid, having some fun with him. She knew she could play up her blonde looks when she felt like it. Sometimes she wished her hair was still the natural dark mahogany colour because it had definitely set off her light green eyes better then the blond did but the blonde made people think certain ways about her, under estimate her.
"How'd you get it here then?" The boy asked and it was clear that Storm had his total attention.
"I brought it in through Canada and faked the papers."
"My mother works at the DMV, I think they'd catch that kind of thing."
"Oh, but I'm not from here. I'm from New York City." Storm answered as the printer started spitting out the slip for her to sign. The clerk handed it over with a pen and Storm took both from him, signing A. Storm Demaret with a flourish in her flowing script. She handed them back to the clerk and started for the door.
"Hey, are you…!" The kid trailed off in shock.
Storm turned back to him with a grin. She didn't answer, simply winked and gave the teenage kid a jaunty wave. She climbed into her car and squealed off. She actually felt good to be recognized for who she was this time. It had gone a small way toward lifting her out of her funk. She wasn't a nobody after all. There were people who knew who she was. She knew that would change, that the farther she got from home the more of a nobody she'd become but in that moment it didn't matter.
She drove farther away from home, merging onto the I-95. It was almost a thousand miles she'd be on the I-95 and she zoned out. It was when she realized she was almost asleep at the wheel and it was 12 am she decided to stop for the night. It was only a few more miles to Richmond Virginia so she decided to just push on until then and stop for the night in Richmond. She made it without incident and checked into The Jefferson. Since her dad was paying she figured she'd go all out. He could afford it and it wasn't like she was hiding from him so she didn't have to worry him tracking her with the card.
She got a few strange looks from the desk staff. She didn't know if it was the late hour, the rumpled state of her clothes, which weren't up to the standards of the average guest of the establishment anyway, or her name on the card slip and she didn't care. She just wanted a soft, clean bed for the night. After a few moments of doing paperwork she found herself in a very nice room. She didn't waste any time but climbed right into the bed and promptly fell into a deep sleep.
xox
Matty tried but he couldn't get a plane to take him to meet Johnny right away. The best he could do was the next morning at 10 am. He booked three seats, hoping that Taylor and Chris would be able to go with him. He had to stop himself from booking four. It hit him hard to realize Storm wasn't there to go with him. With her at his side, he knew he could handle it but he was flying solo on this one. He didn't even know how to find his sister and he wouldn't bother her with this. It was his fuckup and she didn't even know he was into it.
He called Taylor the second he hung up with the airline.
"Yeah." Taylor answered his phone in his typical gruff fashion in his typical gruff voice.
"Taylor." Matty sighed dejectedly, unsure where to start.
"What is it Matty?" Taylor's normally unshakable voice took on trace amounts of unease. "Is it Storm?"
"No, she took off for where ever she decided to go already but as far as I know she's fine. I have an issue Taylor."
"What is it Matty?"
"I took a job for Teddy and my old man. Just a small job, move a package from Washington State to here. I made the mistake of getting Johnny to fly out after it. He lost it Taylor. It's got half a million in it and he lost it."
"Jesus."
"Yeah. Remember that issue I told you about that has my dad in such a fucken pissy mood?"
"Yeah."
"Well, the issue is someone stealing from him. The money was a loan to float him until he figures out who it is and gets caught up. Now Marbles lost the money in some fuckwad town in Montana. I need to go out there and straighten this out Taylor and I'm hoping you'll come with me."
"Of course Matty."
"Good I got us booked on a flight tomorrow at ten. I'm gonna call Chris and get him too if I can. God I wish Storm was here."
"It's no big deal Matty. We'll straighten it out. Don't worry. You gonna call Scarpa?"
"Yeah, I'll call him. Thanks Taylor."
"Um." Taylor grunted, nothing else to say.
"If you talk to my sister before I do, would you tell her to take care of herself, and don't mention this to her? Ok?"
"Sure, but I won't hear from her."
"Ok, I'll pick you up tomorrow around 9 ok?"
"Yeah, fine. See you then." Taylor hung up and so did Matty.
He got his cousin on board and went to bed. He didn't do too much sleeping, worried as he was about his sister, his father's money, and how he was going to get it back.
xox
Marbles, not knowing what Matty was going to do or when he was going to show up ended up sleeping in his plane, curled up in the back like a small child.
Taylor, back in New York, went to bed and didn't find much rest himself. He was mostly worried about the mess that Marbles had gotten himself, and by proxy Matty and the rest of the guys into. But thoughts of Storm did enter his head. Where was she? Was she smart enough to get off the road and sleep the night someplace? Or was she, in typical bull headed Storm fashion trying to plow through the twenty straight hours of driving this trip would require of her? Thankfully Matty had no idea where she was going or he'd hit the roof.
And what had Matty been thinking of getting himself into this situation. It was a fucken mess and that was all Taylor knew. On that note he drifted off.
Elsewhere in New York Matty Demaret fell into a troubled sleep, arm rapped around a pillow and a frown on his face.
Benny Demaret sat up in an armchair set in the bay window in his room. He had too much on his mind to sleep. Where was his daughter? What was happening to his money? Did he make a huge mistake trusting the job of getting the cash to New York to Matty?
Storm was the only one who slept well, surprisingly. She died when her head hit her pillow and slept like a baby. But her dreams were full of scenarios she envisioned for when she reached Miami. Since she never remembered her dreams it wouldn't matter by sunrise anyway. At least, if it did, she'd never know