I'm not dead, I promise. Although, sometimes... one's never really sure. This probably sucks, but I gotta get back into the swing of it all. And I have places I want this to go, so... bear with me my people. Thank you for your constant support. Love!
Myra stretched out her long legs and sighed, glancing over at Mia who was in the same position as she just a foot to her left. The sunny California sun was blaring down on them nicely and Myra was sure she would be beyond baked in twenty minutes' time.
"So, you talk to him yet?" Mia glanced over, giving her an apologetic smile. Myra only shook her head, staring out at the back of the house behind them. She hadn't spoken to Vince in a week. An entire seven days, no conversation. It had taken him the first two days to pick up on it. At first, he just thought she was busy, but when she slept on the couch again for the second night in a row, he woke her up, trying to put her back into their bed. But she refused.
"I think you should just talk to him." Mia sighed, stretching out a little more and tucking her hands behind her head. She had nothing to worry about, everything with Brian was going wonderfully, including his relationship with Dom.
"I don't know Mia. I just don't know." And that was the truth. She didn't know what she wanted to do. A five year on and off again relationship was looking her dead in the face and she was surprised that she had gotten this far. But she didn't like lies. Lies were something that lived in her past life with her parents, and they didn't have room in her future.
"Well lookie here." Leon stepped out of the back of the house and howled, rubbing his hands together and licking his lips as he walked towards them. Myra rolled her eyes, sitting up straight to give him a better glare. Mia only laughed, rolling over and flicking him off. "Yo Myra, Vince is looking for you." His voice was pleading too, his eyes asking her to just speak with the man.
When Vince was upset the whole unit felt it. He was a hurricane of emotion, a disaster waiting to happen if tipped just a little too far. It was something she really enjoyed about him, but currently she could care less. She didn't have much time to process her response to Leon as the subject in question stepped out of the house himself. He hadn't shaved in a week, not that he ever looked groomed, but it was worse than normal. His eyes were rimmed red from the nights of drinking that he indulged in so he was out before her.
Mia sighed as she pushed herself up off the lawn chair and gathered her things. She gave Myra one last smile before heading past Vince and into the house, Leon following just behind her.
He just stood there for a moment, staring down at her, and then he sank into Mia's chair, the metal groaning under his weight. Myra couldn't look at him. She had built up these flashes of red heads and blondes and brunette's in her head, and she couldn't look at him for fear she would see traces of them on his skin.
"Just talk to me baby. Tell me what I did." His voice was pained, the strain and stress evident. Myra gathered her things, wanting to escape this moment entirely. She realized it wasn't fair, not telling him directly what was bothering her, but if she was right on her assumptions then he should be able to piece it together. And even then, she hoped him smart enough to realize she had caught him in a few lies already.
She started towards the house but Vince was up on his feet and holding onto her arm before she could pass him. She tugged but he held firm, applying just enough pressure to get her to stay.
"Baby please, I need you. I need to know what I did so we can fix this."
"I don't think you can fix this." Myra turned to look up at him, shaking her head. There were tears in her vision but she refused to let them gather up and fall. She willed them away, glaring at him, angry that he could make her feel this way. Her heart raced as he tried to pull her close, to comfort her, to hold her, but she shook her head again, telling him no, a whisper. The air was caught in her lungs and she shakily breathed in and out. "Wherever you've been going at 2 am is your business now. Whatever you've been lying to me about is on you. I can't take anymore lies. I thought you, of all people, would understand that."
He let her go this time.
Dom stood just in the kitchen as she entered, eyes staring out at his friend who was throwing a tantrum in the back yard. Myra was shaking, standing there in the bask of the A/C, tears threatening to spill.
"He's not cheating on you." His voice broke the silence and Myra glanced over at him, catching his eyes. It felt like years had passed since he had told her she would be the sole owner of his properties. The house they stood in hers, the shop they worked in hers. It dawned on her then that Vince wasn't the only one lying. "Somethings you just don't need to know Myra. Trust."
"Liars are scum Dom. You lying to me too?"
She already knew the answer though. No sense in asking. She could see it in his eyes, that thought he was thinking about, the moment he was debating telling her what was going on. But he wouldn't, the stern line of his lips staying firm.
She left the room, not wanting to be around any of them anymore. Her body shook as she headed upstairs, tucking herself away in Mia's bed. Her body shook as she pulled the blankets close. It was much too hot to be curled up tight inside layers of blankets, sun kissed skin still radiating from the warmth; but she didn't much care anymore. Her family was lying to her.
"You coming tonight?" Mia leaned against the door frame to the little office tucked in the back of the auto shop. Myra looked up from the invoices she was filing, putting some order to the papers she had been neglecting for the last four days. She didn't want to see Vince, and Vince was always at the shop. But the guilt of knowing Mr. T would be rolling in her grave because she missed so much work made her go in that following Friday.
"I don't know yet."
"Come on Myra, it'll be fun. I know you're still upset, and I don't blame you." Mia sighed, stepping into the room and taking a seat on the stool. She ran her fingers over the fake leaves of the potted plant on the edge of the desk, a faint smile on her lips. "Dom has always been a big brother to you, you know? I don't know if you've noticed it, but he treats you like he treats me. And sometimes he doesn't tell me things because he thinks he's protecting me."
"Mia, I don't want to –"
"I know, you don't want to talk about it. But come on Myra, you can't be angry forever. He loves you, you love him. He's your brother for god's sake. Just have some faith in him." Myra wondered if Dom had paid Mia to come in here and say that. If he had persuaded her to put in a word so he could stop staring at her from a distance, stop biting his lip every time he wanted to make a comment or ask a question.
"You driving?"
"Hell yes, I don't give Brian the pleasure of having a bitch in the passenger seat."
Myra chuckled, standing up and stepping over to Mia. She wrapped her arms around her small frame and pulled her in for a hug, which was eagerly returned. "Well, I'll have the pleasure of being your bitch tonight then, I guess."
"Good. I need someone to get ready with. Letty's not much of a girly girl these days."
Myra found herself sitting on the hood of Hector's car, the very man beside her, eyes bouncing around the crowd. People were flocking to the races, Dom back, Brian now in the circle, the unbeatable duo. More faces from overseas than usual, he was inspecting the crowd.
"You lookin' for someone in particular?" She bit into the beef jerky stick she had brought with her, Hector looking over at her as though he had forgotten she was there. He smiled, nodding his head as he returned his watchful eyes to the people around them.
"Someone told me Tran was coming out to inspect the competition for Race Wars."
"You damn well know Tran has better things to do then hang out with us trash." They shared a chuckle, Myra watching as Brian made his way over to them. The blonde smiled, Myra scowling at him almost instantly. She didn't much care for him, and she didn't much care to hide it. After weeks of him being in the house, of being around her family, and of wiggling his way into Mia's heart, he had safely secured himself a spot with Dom. "What do you want pretty boy?"
"Now come on Myra, you ever gonna be my friend?"
She shrugged, not really knowing the answer. Mia had begged her on more than one occasion to be nice to the man, and she was inclined to try for her.
"Give the white boy a chance." Hector patted her leg, nodding off at some guy who waved him over. He got up, leaving the spot beside her empty that Brian easily slid into. Myra tried to ignore him, biting into her beef jerky, eyes bouncing around the circle. Vince was just across the way, sulking in all his broodiness, leaned up against his car. He was staring, constantly staring, ignoring all the people around him.
"So you and Vince called it quits?"
"I'm not a fan of a liar, Brian." Myra glanced over at him, staring him in the eyes. "You a liar, Brian?"
"Not that I know of."
She nodded, looking away from him.
"You know Mia talks about you all the time. I actually didn't know until yesterday that you guys weren't actually sisters." He cleared his throat, watching her steadily. "She said you moved in across the street a few years back, and then you were just... there."
"Yeah." Myra smiled, thinking fondly of the times when it had all started. When she had been young, when cars were fun not money, when racing was a thrill, not something to watch. It had all changed though, through the years of taking over the store and shop, of keeping everything floating for when Dom got back. It had all shifted in her head and she had been in a bubble before, not aware of it all until recently. "Dom is the sun, and he pulls you in with his gravity. Once you're in the rotation you ain't leaving."
"I get that."
"You're stuck too." She gave him a faint smile, seeing past him into the crowd. Mia was smiling, standing next to her brother as he talked to Edwin. "You trying to suck up to me for Mia, Brian?"
"Can't blame a man for pleasing his woman."
"Suppose I can't." She finished off the beef jerky, pushing herself off the hood of the car and stretching. "Come on Brian, let's go socialize and act like Toretto's."