Chapter Five: There's Us (And That's Enough)
"What the hell was that?!" I shrugged. In all actuality, my mouth had pretty much overridden my head. "By the way, that's my smart mouth you got."
"So you're the one he's cursin' at when I piss him off…nice to know." I laughed at my own lame joke, trying to lighten the moment up, only to realize that I was failing miserably. I went back to poking at my food, not really eating any more of it since I'd lost my appetite.
We left nearly an hour later and after about an hour more of driving, we go to the base. We were met by Taylor—the sister of someone on Hector's crew—who promptly dragged hector over, and soon enough the coronas had been broken out.
"So I'm guessing nobody's told your moms about You-know-who?" she asked. I shrugged; I hadn't really thought about it since Kat rarely ever came to the house anymore.
"Why?" I thought she wasn't comin' this year?"
"We're about to find out; she's on her way straight to your pops."
"Not for long." I got in her way and managed to catch Leon's attention.
"Hey, Kat…I thought you were goin' to Salt Lake to see your sister or somethin'?" She shoved past me, forcing me to run past her and try to get to my dad before she did.
"Dad, we've got a slight—or major—problem. Kat ain't in salt lake. She's here and about 2.5 minutes behind me. Does she know ma's here?" the look on my dad's face said it all. Kat was beside us before I'd responded. "Have fun, Daddy." I caught up with Taylor in the hanger Hector'd staked out as his hang-out. I think my expression said everything hector wanted to ask.
"So he didn't bother letting Kat know what's goin' on, eh, esa?" he asked, laughing.
"I guess we'll know what the damage is by whether team Toretto is still here in the morning." Back at the Toretto HQ, things were quiet—for the moment…or so I thought.
"You wanna tell me what that was about?" Kat asked Dad softly.
"There's nothing to tell, Katrina." My dad answered flatly in a tone that was meant to tell her to back off.
"What, I go outta town for a few days and you automatically go after the first whore that strikes your fancy?!" I walked in on the tail end of this.
"Girl, you done it now." Leon muttered under his breath as I came up behind her.
"You've made three big mistakes, Kat. One: you messed with my family. Secondly, you were actually stupid enough to actually think you could make my dad happy. You messed up the most, though, when you called my mother a whore." Kat turned to me, almost foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog.
"Your mother left because she was a coward, you stupid little girl. She couldn't keep his leash short enough so she gave up her claim to him." I wanted to tear her throat out.
"Do not tell lies about things you know jack shit about!" she moved to slap me when dad caught her arm midair.
"Kat, if you ever want to have the slightest shot in hell at me again," he trailed off. She dropped her arm and I took the chance to leave. Dad was hot on my heals.
"I cant believe you're still sharing your bed with a girl who looks like she used to be one of Johnny Tran's girls!" I spat. "When Mom goes back to Santa Rosa, I'm going with her until school starts. After the stunt Kat pulled, she'll probably never come back to LA."
"You're not going anywhere, Maya. You're grounded." I flipped him the bird and walked out, catching up with Taylor yet again, who offered to off Kat herself.
"As eager as I am to be rid of the wicked witch of the west, I don't need you taking the fall for it."
When I came back, dad was about to race and there was no sign of my mom.
He won—just like always.
We partied later, but I wasn't in the mood for dancing, so leon brought me a soda when he finally managed to tear himself away from the party.
"She's still here so don't get any ideas about keying your old man's car," he said as I took a swig from the soda and replied.
"I was actually thinkin' more of keying Kat's car." Leon grinned at me and swigged his beer.
"Lucky she's already gone, then, huh, girlie?" Leon replied.
"Tell me she at least kicked Kat's ass before the bitch got away?" I laughed when Leon didn't answer. "I told you two NOT to introduce her to my dad but nobody ever listens to me." I fished a few coronas out of one of the coolers and found Vince, who had Mia attached to his neck.
"What're you so happy about?" he asked.
"Better question: what did you put in Mia's drink and is my father going to kill you for it when he finds out?" I retorted, laughing. He growled spastically, his hand clamping in Mia's hair.
"Go find Hector; Dom's probably with him." I left V and Mia to themselves, finding hector in his hangar, Dad and Letty were with him—Taylor glared at her from across the room.
"Tay, can we hold off on tryin' to kill my mom just a little bit longer?" I said, standing beside her.
"I just can't believe she kicked Kat's ass and she's only been here for 36 hours!" Tay said exasperatedly.
"Even if it gives my dad a chance in hell of getting back together with my mom?" She gave me a look that said it all.
"I didn't mean it like that, May. I just wish I coulda gotten a piece of that vaca before she left."
"Yeah, you and most of the other girls here." I said, heading back over to Hector and my parents.
"So, rumor has it, you finally got rid of the longest-lasting whore the Toretto clan's ever had." I saw Hector watching me as I talked with my mom and I knew that he'd known for at least a few hours. He lured my dad off to look at some car.
"I'd say Leon's mouth seems a little worse than I remember." She replied, but didn't sound surprised.
"So its true, then? Because if it is, your standing with people loyal to this family may improve a lot faster." Letty looked at me like I'd grown a third head.
"Dios Mio, you're worse than Mia about the gossip around here."
"You missed Dad's race, ya know."
"No, actually, I didn't. I was at the finish line. But I noticed that you weren't there." She replied, coolly.
"I was, I was. I just stayed with Hector and Tay till the money changed hands." There was a pause that seemed to last forever. "So, you leavin' again after this is all over with?"
"Baby, I have a life in Santa Rosa—one that doesn't revolve around Dominic Toretto." She almost sounded disgusted by the name. I couldn't listen to this anymore.
"If you walk, you're basically letting Kat win. The bitch doesn't know a piston ring from a fuel intake! I swear my IQ drops 5 points if I'm around her more than fifteen minutes!"
"What, and Vince doesn't?"
"Just because he talks slow don't mean he's stupid. He's finally figured out that if he ever wants to get Mia to himself, he's gonna have to make some sacrifices. So, ignore any bite marks you might happen to see." Mom made a noise that sounded like a groan of frustration.
"At least somebody's getting some. At the rate I'm goin', I'll never get laid again!"
"Don't be so sure about that…its been a while since Kat stayed over night at the house."
"Maya, I'm warning you…"
"Aight, aight. Hint taken. Geez, touchy much?" I turned to leave as Dad came back from wherever Hector had taken him. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear." I smirked to myself as I left.
"The hell is she on about?"
"She's got it in her head to play matchmaker." There was a heavy silence. "So what's this I hear about V and Mia gettin' together?" Dad laughed.
"So I wasn't the only one who heard her swear hell would freeze over before she'd ever consider getting together with V?" Ma smiled.
"Guess not. It's late…I should get some sleep if I'm drivin' back tomorrow afternoon." She said, turning to leave.
"Lett, you don't have to—"
"Don't do that. I have a life of my own that I need to get back to. I'm not going to stoop to that level—" before she could continue Dom kissed her soundly on the mouth. "What are you doin?" she whispered, her voice husky.
"You'll never leave me, Letty...not now that you've been around Maya." Dom growled in her ear, sending shivers down her spine.
"I have to go back." Letty murmured against his lips. "But I will come back." She whispered, nudging her nose against his own.
"What's so damn important in Santa Rosa that you can't stay a few days?" he asked, watching her from where he stood against the wall.
"I have a job, Dom. A real job…one that I don't have to stay out all night runnin' from the cops." Letty scoffed at the memories as she said this.
"Like you didn't love every minute of it." Dom said, almost laughing.
"I loved the cars, Dom. Not so much the almost getting booked on a weekly basis."
"There was a time when you loved me, too, Letty." Dom said quietly. "Used to be all you needed to be happy were me, the guys and your car keys."
"That was a long time ago, Dom." Letty said. "Before the heists and all the bullshit with Johnny."
"We could have that again, Letty." Dom said.
"And we will, Dom. But I have to take care of business in Santa Rosa. We can't just pick up and leave like the old days, Dominic, but I will be back." Dom pulled her into a kiss that was filled with as much promise as Letty could remember there being in an embrace with Dominic Toretto.