Fast and the Furious: Diesel Queen

Chapter 4: Off Grid

I was now a part of a crew, but as Dom says this is not a crew this is my family. I admire how close he is to everyone here. He doesn't favor anyone, but everyone here has a job to do. After the trial run, I got down to putting some modifications to my rig. I was up on the sleeper installing a turbo wing when I looked to see Roman watching me.

You got to have some muscle to help take care of a truck. There are a lot of parts on her which means there a lot of things that can go wrong. If you turn on the radio to any radio station you will hear that there is a stalled rig that is blocking up a lane on the highway, "Can I ask you something?" He asked, "what do you do when you're not hauling?"

I can't say my relationship with Roman is close, but I can say he is fun to hang out with, and have as a passenger, "Well...I do like to work out, I have to keep in shape just like my rig," I replied, polishing the pouncing lioness hood piece, and moving down to tighten the bolts on the hubcaps just to be on the safe side. I went around the rig to check over things, and polish the wheels to a shine. I looked to see him smiling that handsome grin of his. I grabbed my belt, and pulled up my tight black leather pants.

I was wearing my regular leather pants instead of a side-buckle ones. Both of which I love equally for their comfort and toughness. With my polishing rag in hand, I put my hands on my hips at my nice and clean rig that was ready for a job, "That's cool, it's good to see someone who takes care of themselves the same way they would treat their ride, I respect that," said Roman, "now c'mon mother-trucker, you treated me to riding shotgun with you, and now it's my turn," said Roman, and sneaked a tap at my butt.

Most ladies would jump at such his gesture. Letty would probably punch his lights out. I just take it as a friendly gesture. I mean, it's just my butt, "Where are you taking me?" I asked, leaving my rig's side and following him out of the garage. I passed by Letty whom gave me the 'bad' eye. I am going to have to talk with her sooner or later.

"I know a good place around here, c'mon let's go," Roman replied. I shrugged my shoulders, and decided to go with him. If this is his idea of taking me out on a date, hey I'll take it. It was a nice sunny day out, and not a cloud in the sky. I got into the passengers seat of a 2015 Corvette Z06 in shark grey metallic. It's nice to see another monster.

"With a ride like this, shouldn't I be wearing a bikini?" I asked, buckling my seatbelt.

"Hey, you're fine just the way you are," Roman complimented, and we were off. I was amazed at what 650hp and 650 ft-lbs of torque feels like. Our first date was at a local Red Robin. I often stop at the one in Mountain View for a bite to eat. It is a pleasure to see that Roman is a gentleman as he let me through the door first. As we sat down, I couldn't help but smile, "I gotta ask you something, how do you pronounce you're last name? I tried wrapping my head around it, but I still need help," he asked, I chuckled.

"Ethinesikas, my mother's Quebecois and my father's Greek," I replied, trying to help him out, "met out of college when my mother was on vacation in Paxos, and everything just went like clockwork," I added, Roman nodded. A waitress came by to take our orders. The sautéed 'shroom burger is my favorite along with habanero tabasco sauce on French fries. What can I say? I am a lady with an appetite, "so what about you? I bet a man like you has had some ladies in the past, yeah?" I asked, Roman lightly smiled.

"Nah, I didn't date much in high school or anything, my momma always told me to wait and be patient, and before you know it, the right one will come around," Roman replied, the funny thing is my mother told me the same thing. I guess that kind of advice goes both ways. I took a bite of my burger, and wiped my mouth as I swallowed.

"That's very good advice, mon amie," I said with a subtle wink to him. I placed my hand on the table, and Roman placed his hand on mine. I grinned, and gave him a flirty eye. The date went very well in my opinion. When we came back to the garage, I saw Han opening up the hood of my rig, and comparing the turbocharger's size to his hand.

"So uh...Marina, do you think we can do this again sometime?" He asked, scratching the back of his head. No, I am not going to drop my pants for him after just the first date. I am not that desperate for companionship. I walked up to him, and placed a kiss on his lips. I smiled a grin as I looked into his eyes, and went inside to check on the rig and I was happy to see that Leddy didn't slash the tires. I headed inside to get a beer, and Letty was right there waiting. Leddy did not look to be in a very good mood.

"What do think you're doing? You don't belong with us, you don't deserve to roll with us," said Letty,

"Last I checked, your opinion of me does not count for the entire crew," I replied, not letting her intimidate me. Letty just glared at me, and left the kitchen. I left the kitchen and went back to my rig to enjoy my beer sitting down at the steps to the cab. I heard a pair of footsteps coming toward me. It was Dom. I looked at him, and looked down at the beer in the bottle before taking a sip. Dom crossed his arms, and lightly smiled as he shook his head. He must have seen what happened between me and Leddy.

"Don't let her get to you," Dom reassured me, "it's nice to see you trying to get along with everyone, you're the first trucker we've ever recruited," he explained to me. I nodded to his words, and took a drink, "just answer me this one thing," he asked, I turned to him as if to say 'yes?', "were you really carrying 10,000 gallons of explosives down I-10?" he asked. I stood up, and went into the cab to hand him my logbook. Sure enough, the tanker unit of Tovex was on there. He closed it, and gave it back to me.

"Hey, I'm from Canada, we don't lie," I said, sitting back down to finish my beer. Dom put a hand on my shoulder, and left to go inside. When my beer was empty, I climbed into the sleeper of my Pete. I switched my leather pants and tanktop for a white t-shirt and Nike shorts to get some rest. I wonder what kind of job Dom has planned for us?

Dom told me on the phone that he would pay me better than any of my clients. He never said how much. Honestly, it doesn't matter if you are working with good people. The next morning, I woke up and showered inside before getting dressed. With my tight Reptile Alligator Leather leggings and a fitted black tanktop, I was ready and Dom was waiting outside my rig, "This is your first job with a Peterbilt, I need to know if you're with us," asked Dom, I nodded a single nod to him, "alright, Lioness, then let's do this,"