Mac takes a road trip
AN~ One more chapter and then there's a time jump to get them into their twenties :)
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"Can't you see, whoa, can't you see,
what that woman, she's been doin to me."
Can't You See by Marshall Tucker Band
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Walter stepped out of the bar at closing, lit a cigar and looked towards the sound of Mac's truck coming down the road behind the building. He walked towards the road as he saw the red truck coming around the corner like a bat out of hell and wasn't surprised. He had heard him fighting on the phone with someone, and he had an idea what someone it was and it was late. It didn't seem like the kid was heading home either, Walter did not need this bullshit. He waved his son down and it was clear to him Mac was not pleased to stop and talk.
Rosie had remarked earlier to him that Mac drank five shots of whiskey in a row and had been on his phone texting all night while Walter was in his office doing paperwork. Something was going on, but Walter knew that already. He had an idea of where his son was headed, he didn't exactly approve.
The kid had been acting sketchy all week, looked like pounded shit, and now he was acting like the devil was on his tail the way he was driving. Mac slowed down when he saw his father and leaned out the window, but he didn't shut the truck off.
"Hey, sorry I thought you were still inside," Mac said.
Walter peered into the truck casually with just his eyes and observed a duffel bag on the seat, an unopened bottle of Southern Comfort and a carton of cigarettes. Those items were probably snatched from Walter's apartment upstairs where Mac still kept some belongings, a throwback from when he stayed there every other weekend.
"Where you going in such a hurry son?"
"California," Mac grumbled under his breath, but Walter heard him. So it was true what everyone said about them, Walter hadn't been 100% sure.
"What's that girl got a golden snatch, got you running outta here like your ass is on fire ?" He asked with a laugh.
"That's your niece you're talking about like that," Mac growled.
"That's your cousin you're fucking," Walter stared him down in his signature way that could make anyone feel uneasy and like shit all at the same time, "Like that." He said with a raise of his eyebrows.
Mac looked down at the steering wheel and back up at his father. "Ain't illegal."
"Your mother know?" Walter asked, "HER mother?"
Mac shook his head, "No one knows."
"They'll find a way to make that my fault too." Walter laughed and that was all Mac needed. If his father was laughing then it was a good day.
"Just keep it to yourself old man a'ight?"
"Sure," Walter replied, "Like everyone in town doesn't already wonder about you two anyway." Out of the corner of his eye, Walter saw Martin sneaking around outside in parking lot, next to the bar. Martin always offered to walk Rosie to her car any time he was there at closing and was now just coming around the corner, after making sure she drove away safe.
You took care of your own here, kept them safe. Rosie was like everyone's crazy Aunt and Martin especially enjoyed her wit and talking to her; he had also witnessed Mac's heavy drinking, drunk texting and peeling out after the fight with Lucy on the phone. He didn't know who he was fighting with because Mac was way in a back corner for privacy, but he had an idea.
Walter and Mac switched to Spanish when Martin approached, something they did sometimes if they wanted to speak to each other privately in a crowd. It depended on who was around though, Marco was fluent in Spanish, Martin and Stanley were not.
Martin stopped to light a cigarette and then walked towards them to see what the big ruckus was about.
"La amas?" Walter asked, "Estás Enamorado de Ella?" ~You love her? Are you in love with her?
"Si," Mac replied,"'Estoy Enamorado," ~Yes, I'm in love with her
"Well," Walter smiled, "Pobre Diablo." ~Poor bastard.
Mac nodded, he was in love and he was a poor bastard indeed, even he knew that.
"See you in a few days," Mac said and motioned towards Martin with a short snap of his head, "Look out for that Chismosa." ~Look out for that rat.
Walter nodded and slapped his hand on the hood of the truck, "Be safe."
As Mac pulled away Martin walked up behind Walter and stood next to him
"Just cause Y'all speaking that Spanish shit don't mean I don't know what's what. This is going to be a problem." Martin sighed, "I can just feel it."
"That's the power of good pussy, man, it's an entity unto itself," Walter merrily laughed, "For now I'm not going to do a thing about this, he comes back and does his job, all is gonna be fine." He nodded to Martin, "If not," He crossed his arms, "I'll handle it."
"You mean you'll have me handle it, don't you?"
"Not one action from you, cholo, not unless I say." Walter cautioned, "And wipe that jealous expression off your face, its so fucking obvious and I'm not gonna stop him from beating your ass next time, you got me?"
"Got it, boss," Martin replied and stamped his foot on the cigarette he threw on the ground.
/
True to her word Lucy was not at home when he got there and she wasn't answering his calls or texts. Now he had to hunt her down. She knew he was coming and she had gone out, it was like flipping him the bird. He smiled at her bravery to do that, to hang up on him and ignore him, most girls didn't have that kind of nerve. But Lucy did, she always did.
He wasn't used to being ignored by the fairer sex and if he thought about it, that was part of the appeal she had. She knew him better than anyone on the planet and she didn't take his shit and he wasn't going to take hers. A girl that didn't take his bullshit, and that he had loved since he was two years old, that was the girl he would drive twelve hours for.
He knew they weren't done fighting either, and he still drove all that way, to fight with her; there was something wrong with him, he was sure of it.
As he stood against the wall of the store, with one foot up against the bricks, smoking, he was still as mad at her even after all that time to think and a shitty drive. He had earbuds hooked into his new iPod, and was listening to an old song Walter liked, hence he heard it all his life. It had a badass flute riff right in the beginning and it built to an amazing crescendo. It was how he was feeling at the moment, and his old man had some good taste in music, he had to admit that. He closed his eyes and let the music flow through him and looked up at the smoggy sky.
In his back pocket was another iPod for Lucy, loaded with all her favorite songs, he hoped she would accept it.
"Who would be a poor man, a beggar man, a thief...if he had a rich man in his hand?" He actually liked this song a lot, "And who would steal the candy from a laughing baby's mouth...if he could take it from the money man."
He waited and smoked until she came out with Carla and Melody and they actually noticed him first. Lucy had been texting, and not him, and when he saw that he ripped the earbuds out of his ears and threw down his cigarette.
Carla elbowed her, recognizing him from the numerous pictures Lucy had shown her over the years and he was even better looking in person. Lucy looked up from her phone and didn't smile; the anger radiated off of him even from feet away, all three girls felt the waves coming from him.
"You got company Lucy," Carla said after he pushed off the wall and walked towards them. Christ, Carla thought to herself as she watched him, he walks like he knows he's got a stick of sexual dynamite in his pants. He had a natural swagger that was making her blood boil.
"Oh for fuck's sake Mac I told you..." Lucy protested.
"Yeah and I told you.." He grabbed her by the arm, "Introduce me to your friends Luce," He demanded.
Lucy huffed and he gripped her arm harder, it would leave a bruise, his fingerprints would be on her again and he liked that. Carla's mouth hung open, still transfixed by his cocky walk, and pushy, but not too pushy that he wasn't hot attitude.
"Mac this is Carla and Melody." Lucy acquiesced, "Girls this is my cousin Mac," She wanted to add some snappy expletive to the introduction but knew she didn't dare, he looked rough and he looked pissed, ready to snap. But then he changed on a dime.
"Charmed," He said and took each girl's hand in his and kissed them one after the other, sliding his eyes up slowly to make direct eye contact with each girl separately while he kissed her hand. Next to him, he could feel the anger radiating off of Lucy now, and only he knew why, then he smiled, "Excuse us, ladies, would you, we got something to talk about."
Mac knew what made her mad, and he used it, he might have been drag assed tired but he knew how to push her buttons. He could charm the pants off any girl, he knew that already, when he wanted to. He could work his eyes and a girl would follow him anywhere and Lucy knew that too.
"Sure thing," Carla said softly, still looking at him, transfixed by his gaze, "See you at school?"
Lucy nodded and said a polite goodbye to her friends, even though she was seething at his effort to make her jealous. It was so juvenile, and they weren't like that, but it had worked. She couldn't believe he had flirted with her friends, if she ever did that, there would be hell to pay.
As he pulled her away Melody turned to Carla, "Guess he found out she banged his friend."
"If I didn't know better, I'd say he was jealous," Melody replied.
They watched as he pushed her into the truck rough, but not too rough, slammed the door hard and they argued as he walked around to the driver's side door. Mac banged his hand on the hood along the way and screamed something intelligible to her through the windshield. The two girls could hear them yelling and watched as they gestured wildly at each other but couldn't make out the words.
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They fought all the way to the hotel and she refused the gift he brought her twice until finally he just jammed it into her purse and told her to shut the fuck up. At every stop light he would turn and get right in her face or she got in his, there had been no hug hello or any kisses, they were both pissed for their own reasons. Eventually, they had a few calm words between them, mostly about his inability to comprehend all the people and traffic of LA. He made conversation with her because he had to, or else he was going to lose it and crack her one.
"You can't buy me with gifts, so stop trying, I'm mad at you!" But she took out the iPod and turned it on, "Oh great all your crappy Nirvana songs."
"Put your crap on it too, look under the file that says Lucy's shit music." He laughed, and when she didn't smile he continued, "Please take it, Lucy, I want you to have it, you can still be mad if you want."
"You sell drugs to buy this." It was not a question.
He nodded, "Some one's gonna do it Luce, might as well be me."
She didn't answer, but she did put the earbud in her ear, "I don't forgive you."
"I didn't think you would."
They were silent for a few minutes. Lucy didn't want to be complicit in a crime, but she wanted the iPod, it was the exact one she had looked at; how did he know? Did he know her that well? The answer was yes he did, he knew her likes and dislikes, he knew everything about her and she knew him.
"This sucks and this fucking traffic?" He raged, "I fucking hate this place."
"Welcome to MY world Mac."
"It's like every piece of land has been used up." Mac said, "I feel like a caged dog here."
He barreled into the parking lot and pulled her by the hand through it to the room he had gotten before he went looking for her. When he shut the door to the room and locked the door his eyes grew dark and fixed on her. She noticed the vase of pink roses, he always bought her pink ones because they were her favorite. It didn't change her mood though, this grand gesture didn't mean she still wasn't mad at him. The iPod wasn't getting him off the hook either.
"Call your mother and tell her you ain't coming home tonight ." He said as he walked towards her.
"And what should I tell her, jerk off, that I'm at a hotel with you?" Lucy answered back.
"I don't give a flying fuck what you tell her, she knows I'm here, who do you think told me where you were?" He stared across the small room at her, "We aren't leaving this room until we straighten this out."
"What are you gonna do Mac? Come here every time we get into a fight or you get pissed at me," She laughed, "It's kidnapping you know."
He was silent for a minute and Lucy could feel his soul deflate.
"Please don't say that Luce," He said softly and she didn't know why he had said that, but something in the softness of his voice told her she had hurt him. She had wanted to hurt him back, but the look on his face was pure pain, and she hadn't meant to go that far. It was just a joke, but it triggered something in him that she didn't understand.
"Well, is that what you're gonna do? Come here every other day, cause we fight a lot Mac, in case you didn't notice. You'll need another job just to pay for gas," She laughed, trying to lighten the mood and then he laughed, "You're gonna need a newer truck."
"If I have to, I will come here," He walked towards her unbuckling his pants, backing her up against the edge of the bed, "To keep you in line."
"Mac?"
"So where's this Mustang driving football player douchebag? Think I'll kick his ass while I'm here too."
"I'm not telling you," She laughed, "You think I'm crazy?"
He nodded, "Uh huh,"
He pushed her on the bed and climbed on top of her, straddling her legs with one of his on each side, then pulled her hands up over her head and held them against the mattress. She wasn't afraid of him, she had seen him like this before when he got riled up about something. Then his lips were on her neck and as much as she may have wanted to resist she couldn't.
"Now what do you say? Kiss and make up?" He kissed down her neck, sucking and biting along the way, "And a shower? Then we can try and break this bed." He pushed his dick against her, just for effect and emphasis, "Come on Carina, forgive me?"
She didn't answer right away, but he knew she would forgive him, they always forgave each other eventually.
"Don't you ever let me down again. I'll leave you if you do." She said solemnly.
"I'll try my best Luce, I swear to God, but maybe I'm just no good for you."
"You've been trying to warn me off my whole life Mac."
"And you don't listen good."
"I don't want anyone else but you." ~But sometimes I wish I did.
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Thank you for reading :) Let me know what you think.