Chapter 19: The Calm Before The Storm
A/N: Hey guys. This is a very long update because I wanted to get this done with. This is just the crap I felt that was necessary to get on with the other half of my story. I'm excited. Thanks to all the readers and reviewers for sticking with the story. Love ya guys!
Matty gripped on to V's shirt and pulled him towards her. "I won't sit back and let him hurt her, over your dead body," she barked. He shook his head and sighed. "He'll never lay a hand on her and if he does, he'll be the dead body we'll be worrying about," he replied. She glanced at him with uncertainty in her eyes. It was the first time he was spoken to her in a decent tone in the last month and a half. She nodded and stepped back, her arms crossed over her chest.
---
Dom dropped the balled up fist to his side and shook his head. "Bring that back around for me one more time, because it sounded like you said that you slept with my best friend and got knocked up. Am I correct?" He yelled sarcastically. Letty reluctantly nodded, her body shaking.
"When I got the phone call, I thought no way. That it was probably a mix up and that the doctor really meant Matty or some other whore, but you I wouldn't have expect it from, not in a million years!" He walked over to the bed and sat down slowly on the corner, breathing deeply. Letty dropped to her knees in front of him and placed her hands on his knees. "I was lonely and stupid, Dom. I didn't mean to get caught up, let alone pregnant. I'm so sorry, baby," she cried.
Dom shook his head and tears began to drop down his face. "Every time I cheated on you, I promised myself I wouldn't do it again, but somehow it would happen 2 or 3 nights later, but I never took it as far as fucking someone you knew, let alone of your best friends!" He yelled. "It hurts, I know it hurts. I lived the pain ever since we met, Dom, but I've never let the other women get in between the two of us," she whispered.
"Well guess what, it's not a woman between us Letty. It's a baby, a freaking baby!" She sobbed uncontrollably, gripping onto his thighs for dear life. "Get out," he whispered, staring into her eyes. He stood up and walked over to the window, glancing up at the sky. "We can work this out, Dom," she pleaded. He glanced back at her before continuing his trance outside of the window. "Get out, it's over," he whispered.
---
Matty and the rest of the team watched as the Letty came down the stairs, her face tear stricken and her body shaking. She simply grabbed her car keys off of the coffee table and walked out of the font door, without saying one word to any of them. They listened carefully for a few minutes for any noise from upstairs, but heard none.
Matty glanced over at Vince, a sad look on her face. She shook her head softly and made her way towards the basement. "Don't worry, things will work themselves out," he said, following her into her room. "Yeah. Things don't work themselves out, V. People work things out or else the world would be one big mess. She's out there by herself in the world. Someone needs to make things right," she blubbered, climbing on to her bed.
"Get a grip and a clue, Mat. She'll come back when she's ready. Not everyone is so overdramatic like you and not everything is the end of the world," he replied. "Go to hell Vince and on your way over there why don't you buy a fucking clue! If things worked themselves out, you wouldn't be the asshole you are," she yelled back.
"Get on your meds as soon as possible because you're a complete bitch when you're not on them," he said, walking out of the room and slamming the door shut behind him. Matty groaned and flipped back on to her bed, cursing him.
---
Matty placed the alarm on her car and crossed the street. She pulled out a key from her back pocket and opened the padlock on the big aluminum siding gate in front of her. She rolled the gate up and revealed a large room full of furniture and boxes, the items she had to put in storage due to her relocation. Upon entering she was bombarded with many memories and feelings. Each piece of furniture held a significant memory in her heart.
With the money Hector and her had scammed off of some rich kids that didn't have a clue about racing, she bought her four post bed. It was dark cherry wood and she loved sleeping in the king size mattress. Hector had sold bootlegs for a week to buy her some 400 count Egyptian cotton sheets, while she ran numbers to buy the matching comforter.
Hector and her had always looked out for each other, doing whatever was necessary to make the other smile. Matty walked over to a box labeled HECTOR and pulled out a black mink coat that he had won in a hand of poker almost 2 years ago. She slipped into it, loving how it smelled of cigars and him. She wrapped it tight around her small body and smiled at its warmth.
"Don't I look like a mighty cholo?" She said, mimicking her late brother. She placed her hands in the pockets and began to strut. She laughed to herself, thinking that this was the pick me up she needed. As she pranced around the room, her hands began to feel lumps in the coat. She pulled the coat off and spread it out of the bed, feeling the lumps that were spread all over the coat, especially the big arms.
"Hector, please tell me you didn't," she whispered, ripping one of the seams the coat had. She reached inside and pulled out a rolled up wad of money. She carefully slipped off the rubber band, revealing 25 or so 100 dollar bills. Matty shrieked in delight and began to pull out the rest of the money inside the fur coat. She quickly collected all the money and placed it inside an old purse she found, heading straight for the bank.
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Vince pulled into the hospital parking lot and parked his car. He power walked into the emergency room, stopping by the front desk to ask the room number. He thanked the nurse and practically ran towards room she had directed him to. When he reached the room, he found a male nurse drawing blood from Letty's arm. He leaned against the door frame and waited for him to finish up.
The male nurse smiled and exited the room, leaving the two of them alone. Vince had been the one to get the frightening phone call in the early morning. He was silently glad that he had picked up the phone and not thrown it into the night table drawer, sleeping for another two or so hours.
He walked over to Letty, who was currently laying in the bed, a bandage wrapped around her forehead. "What happened?" He asked, sitting at the edge of the bed. She cleared her throat and struggled to sit up. "Tell me that you wouldn't do something this stupid over Dom's ass." Letty scoffed and shook her head. "I would never give anyone that much power over me. I was blowing off some steam and decided to race some punk off the streets. He clipped me and sent me flying into a divider. My car is totaled," she said.
Vince chuckled. "Leave it to you to be worried about your car and not that fact that you just had a near death experience," he replied. He watched Letty and found the lost look in her eye that she was desperately trying to hide. "What's wrong?"
"Everything," she whispered, a sob escaping her body. He placed a hand gently over hers, as if guiding out a deep, dark secret that was ripping her apart. She swallowed a couple of time, getting a grip on her bearings. "I lost the baby, V," she whispered, her other hand gripping onto his arm.
V enveloped her with his arms, letting his friend since the third grade lean on him in her hour of need. He quieted her, whispering away all her fears, knowing that it took a lot to bring her to tears. In the last 24 hours she had lost her best friend, her baby and her ride. Times were rough.
---
Matty sat on the back stoop, a Snapple in hand, staring off into the distance. Mia nudged her softly, bring her back to reality. She chuckled and smiled at her distant friend, trying to figure her out. "If your worried about Letty, everything will work itself out," Mia said, taking a sip from her Snapple. Matty scoffed and shook her head. "Living with V down in the basement must be a nightmare for her, but he seems to have her back through all the bullshit. Dom will eventually forgive and not forget so that's not the biggest issue in my life right now," she replied.
"So what is?" Mia asked, leaning forward and making eye contact with her. Matty shrugged and took in a deep breath. "The short and easy version is that I'm pregnant, don't have a baby daddy, found some money, thinking about moving out, making something out of myself and being all on my own," she rambled. Mi nodded and thought over what she was just told. "I agree." Matilda did a double take and smiled. "Really? I'm not crazy or are you just saying that because you're scared that I'll flip out and cut somebody?"
"No. I think that you've made an important choice in life. Raising a child isn't easy. You need to get your feet on the ground and get serious. It's not gonna be easy explaining to your child why you got arrested last night for street racing. And plus, you won't be all alone. There is no way in hell that me, Letty, Jess and V will let you struggle. We're family," she said, throwing an arm around her.
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"Hector gave me my start in the racing world. He took a chance on a punk that didn't know his ass from the carburetor and showed me the ropes. He raised me on the streets and it was only right that I took in my brother's sister and kept her safe. I admit it, when you showed up on my doorstep, I thought that you would give me a run for my money. I thought that if raising Mia and Letty was hard, you would be the one to break me, but you proved me wrong. You grew up and taught us a couple of things around here. I know that Hector would be proud of you if he was still around and that baby has one hell of a mother. Tonight, we party for you. Tonight, I say goodbye to a street punk. Tomorrow, I say hello to you and a new Toretto family member," Dom toasted, butting his beer with Edwin's and chugging it down.
Matty smiled and tears came to her eyes as she looked around the crowded Toretto living room and the people toasting to her. It was all Jesse's idea- a going away party for Matty. Tomorrow she would be moving out to the 2 bedroom apartment 15 minutes away that Mia and Jesse had helped her find. Tomorrow she would start working down at Racer's Edge full-time as a receptionist.
Mia figured that it would take the tension off the Dom/Leon/Letty drama, but instead it was escalating. Dom wouldn't acknowledge Letty and the only reason he kept Leon around was because he needed the extra hands at the garage. It was an on going battle between all of them. Mia, Jesse and Vince wanted peace while the other three were just creating havoc.
Matty drank from the bottle of water in her hand and spotted Vince slipping away into the kitchen, his shoulders hunched. She followed him, finding him sitting on the picnic table out in the backyard. As she slid up beside him, she smelled the heavy liquor on his body. Tonight while everyone else was toasting to her future, Vince was toasting to their past.
He didn't acknowledge her, just kept drinking from the bottle of whiskey. "So…. How's it hanging today?" She asked, trying to lighten the mood. He ignored her comment and stretched out on the picnic table, staring off into the sky. She turned to face him, sitting crossed legged, knowing that she had to say her part before she left tomorrow.
"Vince, can we talk? Can I say some things before we go our separate ways?" She whispered. He grunted and shrugged. "Feel free to say whatever you want. It's what you always do, make decisions without consulting others." Matty shook her head and watched him. He was a mess. The beard was out of control. He no longer bothered trying to make himself presentable. He just threw on tank tops and jeans, worked, drank and ate. It was true, she was hurting him.
"I have to do this for myself, V. I feel like I have to strive for something better than living in Dom's basement for the rest of my life with a baby. I need a job. I need to do things for myself. It's the only way I'll get out of this rut. I can't spend the rest of my life doped up on meds because I'm scared to deal with things the right way. This doesn't mean an end to us," she replied. Vince scoffed and shot up, facing her. "We can get an apartment or whatever. It doesn't mean you need to move out by yourself and get a different job and whatnot," he said.
"You're talking out of your ass, V. We don't know each other that well. What if I wake up one morning and I decide that I don't like how you smell? I can drive people up the walls when I'm in one of my moods. I need to be by myself. I need to do this for the baby and above all for me. I'll come by the house and the garage all the time and I expect you to be the best uncle this baby will ever have. I just need my own place to call home."
Vince scrunched up his face in disgust and took a long swig from the bottle. "I don't want to be an uncle. Try father but whatever, it's up to you. Go and be a failure. Hector is probably turning in his grave right now at all the stupid idiotic things you've done. That baby has no father, a bitch for a mother and no future. You might as well go live in a hole somewhere. You're no good to me anymore. Leave, kick rocks and have fun in your new, pointless life," he barked.
Matty shook her head and get down from the picnic, anger making her speechless. "I just came out here to say that I was sorry and that I still had feelings for you, but fuck you! You're just a drunk, V," she yelled back. V scoffed and laughed exaggeratedly loud. "NO! FUCK YOU!" She watched as he yelled loud obscenities at her, changing completely in front of her. "You just proved to me that the decision I'm making is right. Why would I want my baby to call some low-life thug daddy?"
She shook her head slowly and walked inside the house. She headed straight to her room, closing the bedroom door behind her softly before dropping to her knees and sobbing.