Chapter 23 – Spooled you!
I knocked off work at 7:00. I had to check over Raidon before I could race him. Everything checked out fine. But I'd forgotten to refill my NOS after my first race.
I had enough for a race or two, but not if I had to use more then one shot a race.
I saw Jimmy, the other guy who works for Tej was still in the garage.
"Hey man." I said, walking up to him. He looked up at me from his position over a Honda Civic.
"Hey. How you doin?"
Jimmy was ok. Kinda like Jesse but without the sense of innocence. He was just a good kid though and an awesome mechanic.
"I'm good. But Tej wants me to head to races tonight and I don't know where to go to get my tanks filled."
"Ah. No sweat. They in the purple car right?"
"Yeah. Is there a store that sells spray around close?"
"Nope, but I'll fill 'em for you here when I get this head back on. Tej keeps a supply of spray in the shop so we can do our own tanks."
"I'd offer to fill my own but we bought all our spray from 'The Racer's Edge' so I don't know how."
Jimmy looked surprised. I don't know if it was because I was willing to do my own work or if he was surprised I either didn't know how or admitted to not knowing how.
"No problem. I mostly fill everyone's anyway. The machine can be a bit temperamental." Jimmy smiled at me.
"Well, that's cool then. I'll leave the car unlocked since it's inside. The tanks are in the passenger seat."
"Wow, you have a sneaky Pete NOS system?"
"Yep." Thanks to Dom.
"Cool. Well, I'll get right on that, and I'll see you tonight."
"Thanks."
I went down to the boat to get ready for races. I didn't have to show off for Dom anymore but I still wanted to look good. I wanted to show off my car and myself to my best advantage.
I was going to rise to the top of the racing scene here too and I wanted people to know who I was. And I didn't want them thinking I was a slut or that I was ugly. I wanted to strike the right balance of sexy but stylish.
I don't want to end up with a bad rep. Well, bad in that people are pissed off I never lose would be alright but not a rep for being a bitch or for dressing like a ho either.
I know I have that rep back home. Letty the bitch with more balls then half the men. That's how they think of me. They think I'm all a bad temper and feisty attitude. No one sees what that attitude is protecting me from or how I got that way. No one but Mia.
Even Dom doesn't really seem to care most of the time. He's allowed to put his hands on the skanks and its still 'just talkin' in his world. Fuck, it's a wonder I even enjoy going to races anymore. The way Dom treats me at them and about them should have been enough to turn me off going for the rest of my life.
But I'm fairly territorial so no matter how much I might have hated going to watch Dom act like he was free to get with any girl that looked good, I was still going to go. I had to make it known that that boy was my property. And that was my story and I was sticking with it to the outside world.
I looked into my closet and just stood there, looking at my clothes. I'd normally wear a leather mini skirt and a tank top. But that had mostly been to show off how good I looked for Dom. It's a pain in the fuckin ass to drive stick in a tight short skirt. I mean, it's a very good thing no one can see more then my top half when I drive in a skirt. It's a very clear view right up into 'all my business' if you get my drift. And then you have to be all careful getting out of the car or everyone sees just what your underwear looks like.
Or if you're half the skanks around Dom everyone sees you're not wearing any.
I'm wearing pants tonight. I have a free chance to start over after all. No one really knows me yet. So if I start wearing pants now then that can just be my style and no one will know better. But I still want to look good.
I don't want to look to close at the reasons why but I think the fact that Rome will be around and he's mostly only seen me in garage mode and in a fancy dress have something to do with it. I mean garage mode me is real but the other one isn't.
It was a fun act for that night but it's not really how I am. Race me is as real as it gets. I pulled out my black leather pants with the red dragons embroidered on the sides that Vince got me for Christmas last year and a red cropped tank top. I had my dog tags on, as always and my flame boots.
How I got those boots is kind of a funny story. Dom's dad insisted on us all having proper footwear for the shop. So he meant steel toed work boots. I couldn't find any made for girls.
I mean I have smaller feet then men and they're narrower too. I found men's boots that would have fit me lengthwise but they were never comfortable on my feet. I was always complaining about how my boots didn't fit right and how it was hard to walk in them and how they looked like crap.
Vince made fun of me for caring that my work boots be stylish but I didn't care. I mean the ugliness of them wasn't the real problem; it was the way they didn't fit. The fact they were butt ugly didn't help. Dom never said anything, not when I complained, not when Vince picked on me, not ever.
But then the first Christmas that I was actively working in the garage, the Christmas after the complaining started I opened my present from Dom to find the coolest boots ever. They had steel toes to please Van, but had thick soles, almost like wearing heels and flames on them to please me.
Is it sad to be this attached to footwear? Because I love these boots and I wear them everywhere. I did get a hard time from Mia about that a lot too. 'You can't wear those with a skirt!' she'd always tell me. But I never listened. I hope they never wear out because I don't know what I'd do without them.
See, that's one way that Dom can be so sweet. He managed to find stylish work boots for me. And not only that but he knew me so well that he picked out a pair that I fell that in love with that I'll never want to be without them.
So I finished lacing them up and then stood up. It was 9pm. I don't know when racing starts around here, but I bet I'm ready early. I headed out to the kitchen and Brian was no where to be found. I got the stuff out of the fridge for supper and started to cook.
I made extra in case Brian came back and he was hungry.
I was chopping up some stuff when I happened to look at the back door. There was a man standing in the screen door.
I screamed and jumped a mile. I wasn't expecting anyone to be on the porch. I snatched the knife back up to get ready to rumble. Then I heard Rome's frantic laughter.
"Man girl, you should see the look on your face. What smells so good?"
"What the hell were you doing out there?" I asked, sort of pissed that he saw me scared and saw me jump.
"Waiting for you to notice me. You gonna ask me in?"
"Maybe. When do we leave for racing around here?"
"11 or 12. No one actually races till 1am anyway."
"Ok then, come in." Rome opened the door and sat himself at the table.
"So, you gonna tell me what it is that smells good or do I have to guess."
I told him what I was having and asked him if he was hungry. As if he was gonna say no. I could have just set the food in front of him and he would have eaten it. He was always hungry. Just like my V man.
When the food was ready I set it down in front of him and sat with mine and we both started to eat. Brian came home during our dinner.
"Hey guys."
"Hey Bri." Rome and I answered in unison and then laughed.
"You hungry?" I asked as Brian fully entered the boat.
"Yeah." Brian helped himself. I couldn't help but think he seemed preoccupied.
"Everything ok?" I asked him as he sat down.
"Yeah, it's fine." Brian looked up and smiled at me. It wasn't his best effort.
"Ok." I let it go; I didn't want to pressure him. "You runnin that silver beast tonight?" I tried to cheer Brian up.
"Against you?" Brian smiled at me, in his little smirk, like he's gonna make you work for everything he gives you.
"Yeah, or against anyone."
"Never against you Letty. I told you that." Brian smirked again but he looked serious around his eyes.
"I'm not that good Bri. You have as much shot as anyone. That's not much, but you have that same chance." I grinned. Rome laughed. Brian still looked kinda down.
I'm gonna have to find out what's up with that boy tomorrow. I'm worried about him. I guess that after all he's been through he's bound to have down days. But it's Brian. He's always been about the surfer good looks and California golden boy smile. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who gets down, and it doesn't suit him at all.
"Well, maybe someday we'll put that to the test Reina. For now though, you're the queen and I don't want a chance at that throne."
"Maybe I do." Rome piped up.
"In your car?" I asked before I thought about how it would sound when it came out.
On thing I've learned really fast by dating Dominic and hanging around Vince and Leon is that you never dis a man's whip. Not ever. You never say anything that can come off as a dis either. You always let 'em think that they're all that, even when you know they're not.
But again, it's not my style to watch my mouth that close either. More like some kinda self preservation instinct just made me start doin it around Dom when I didn't want to brawl with him.
"Yeah in my car miss Racer Girl. What? You don't think I can take you?" Rome looked like it was all one big joke to him and I was thankful. I didn't want to have a big fight with him over thinking I could race better then him. I could, but again, I knew better then to rub it in.
"No offence man, but I don't think Brian can take me in a skyline. I really don't think you can take me in an Eclipse. It's not you, it's just that I've been doing this so long and my car is so tuned I don't think you've got what it takes in that Eclipse to take Ray."
"Ray?" Rome asked.
"Raidon, my car."
"You named your car?" Rome snickered.
"Brian named his Honey for Christ's sake. What's wrong with mine having a Japanese name?"
"I laughed at Brian for naming the skyline Honey too. Why Raidon?"
"He's the Japanese god of thunder." I said, sitting back and crossing my arms. I was pretending to be very hurt about him teasing me about naming my car.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"You didn't. You just convinced me more then ever there's no way in hell you can take me in a race and win." I was gonna get revenge.
"How so?" Rome narrowed his eyes and looked right at me.
"Well, I mean you don't even love your car enough to give it a name. How do you think you could ever beat a partnership like me and my baby boy?"
Brian was practically pissing his pants as he watched us go on. He thought the whole thing was great. I was glad he was out of the blue mood he'd come home in. At least for a while anyway.
"I think I can take you miss queen of the streets." Rome looked me up and down.
"Well, bring your cash and your game face tonight then and we'll see. I'm sure Tej can find us a third and fourth."
"I'm sure he can." Rome stood up and headed for the door. "See you at the garage at 12 then?"
"I'll be there." I called out to his retreating back. "So, Brian, how good is your boy?"
"Good enough to win a lot of what he enters."
"Good enough to take me?"
"Not likely." Brian grinned. So did I. "You know one of the others is gonna be Suki right?" Brian asked, grin being replaced with a frown.
"So? I'll kick her little haten ass too and my night will be complete."
"She's better'n Rome."
"Is she better'n me?"
"She'll come closer then Rome."
"Could she beat Leon?"
"Hell no!" Brian snorted.
"Well, I can. So I guess I can take her too."
"You can beat Leon?" Brian looked incredulous.
"Yeah, about half the time. Why you look so shocked?"
"Because my skyline's better'n his and till you came along there was no one I thought could get me. I know Leon's a phenomenal racer and I don't think I could take him, even with the differences in our skylines."
"I know you couldn't take him. But you gotta remember Brian, me'n the mad scientist are tight. You know he's put a lot of his spare time into my ride. I can take whatever ya'll wanna throw at me."
"We'll see."
"Yeah we will." I stood up to go check on Raidon. If I was racing Suki I had to have my car in the topmost shape.
I headed up to the garage. I was getting sort of concerned about beating Suki. I couldn't not beat her. She was only running an s2000 which should be like taking candy from a baby for me to race and win against. But nothing good ever comes from breaking the rules and one of mine is never underestimate any opponent you haven't raced before.
I really had to win. I somehow knew that not only was the Acura a test, so was the invite to races tonight. Tej wanted to know if I could race and win consistently. I have a real bad idea about what he's gonna do. I don't know why that is but he just didn't seem like he was asking me to races out of generosity.
Now, I know some things about my car that everyone else doesn't know. It's gonna help me out tonight.
Yeah, it's an s14 Silvia. Anyone who knows Nissans is gonna know that. And obviously since I drive on the 'normal' left hand side of the car, and not the right side like Leon it's the American car, so it started life off as a 240sx. And everyone can tell it's been converted to a Silvia. But what everyone doesn't know is that I got the sr20det engine imported with the Garrett T28BB that was technically only available in Japan. Jesse found this awesome Silvia front clip and got it into the country somehow. My car is essentially a skyline underneath. It shares the skyline engine. It's even registered in KM/H just like it would be in Japan.
So people aren't up against a 240sx when they race me, it's almost like they're up against a skyline. But no one knows. It's my secret. And I'm betting, since I haven't seen Rome do more then oil changes and bolt ons, that he has no idea what engine the car should have and what it has now. I'm knowing that no Honda on planet earth is going to touch me and my car.
So that only means that it remains to be seen who the fourth is to see if I have to worry tonight or not. But whether I do technically have to or not, I still am.
I'm gonna do something crazy. I have to win. But its nuts for me to do what I'm thinking off.
I mean, it's nuts for me to do it without Jesse here to supervise. I need to talk to the mad scientist. Sometimes even a girl like me needs to talk to her tech advisor. I ran back down to the boat and got 'the phone' off Brian. I'm still not impressed that the untraceable phone gave out our number, but what can I do about it now.
Brian and I decided to keep the thing but keep it turned off. That way if there's an emergency at home they can get a hold of me by leaving a message on the phone. It's a good plan. I called up the house and waited for them to answer the phone.
"Hello?" Dom's deep baritone filled the line and filled my soul. I've been to long without that voice. It makes me sad that it doesn't reverberate through me over the phone the way it does when he talks while my chest is pressed to his. I consider hanging up the phone. I don't want to talk to him at all. But I need Jesse.
"Hey. Jesse there?" No small talk. Just get him the fuck off the phone and get on with my life. Get on with pretending that something as simple as the sound of his voice doesn't make me remember what I'm missing.
"Letty. Where are you?" Dom growled at me.
"In the garage Dom. Jesse there?"
"What garage?" Man that boy's stubborn.
"The one I work at. Can I talk to Jesse?"
"Letty." Dom sighed, frustrated. "When are you coming home?"
"When will you be ready to get on with your life and apologize to me?"
"I don't know." I could almost hear the hand running over the stubble on his head. Dom always rubs his head when I annoy him.
"Then I don't know either. Will you get the kid already?" I sighed. Dom didn't even answer me. He just yelled of Jesse to 'pick up the god damn phone'. I must have hit a nerve.
"Hello?" Jesse answered.
"Hey Kiddo. How's it goin?"
"Letty! How you doin?" Jesse sounded happy.
"Good. I need some help though."
"What's wrong?" Jesse sounded worried.
"Nothing exactly. I have this big race tonight. I have to win."
"Shouldn't be an issue girl. You can take anyone."
"Thanks for the confidence boost kid but I can't leave this one go on my rep. I need to be more sure."
"What were you thinking?" Jesse asked. I could see plans running in his head already. "You could up your NOS shot by 50."
"Now you're talking. Can you walk me through that over the phone?"
"Yeah, that's simple. You got your laptop with you?"
"In the trunk. The car is the only thing I just that thing for."
"Well, boot it up and jack it into the computer of the car."
"We'll do." I answered him and set about doing that. "Jesse?"
"Yeah LD." Jesse asked. He calls me LD as short for Little Dawg. He got Dawg from Leon and he calls Dom BD or Big Dawg. He moved that into LD for me.
"I wanna up my boost too."
"Letty..." Jesse started into his warning tone of voice. I hate that.
"Jesse..." I whined back.
"I don't think your fuel map can handle more boost. I mean, it can but only if you upgrade the injectors to like 1200cc or better and get a fuel pump that can push more fuel to keep up."
"I don't have time for that kiddo, I need it by tonight."
"Can't you just trust me that the 150 shot of NOS will give you all the extra kick you need and it won't fry your engine?"
"Nope, wanna run at 30PSI."
"Letty. I really don't recommend it till you come home and we have the time and parts to upgrade the whole fuel system. You're gonna run it too lean and it's gonna implode."
"If I just run it at 35PSI for tonight, three races tops, should it be ok?"
"Yeah. But then you gotta take it right back down to 25, or you could blow the whole thing up. And I can't guarantee you I can find you another front clip for it. You'd have to tow it home from where ever to me so I could tear it right down and start from scratch." Jesse cautioned me.
"Ok MS, walk me through this, the computer's ready to go."
And so Jesse took me through upping the NOS shot and the boost pressure of my turbo. He even helped me remap the fuel so that I hopefully wouldn't get a hole in the map, run too lean and end up cooking my engine. That'd go over real well with Tej.
I slammed the hood as we finished.
"Thanks Jesse."
"No sweat LD. Good luck, let me know how she runs like that will ya?"
"Only if you remember that Ray is not a she." I teased.
"Yeah, yeah." Jesse laughed.
"Put my bro on?" I asked, needing to hear Vince's voice before my big night.
"Yeah, hold on. VEE!" Jesse yelled in the background. I heard feet running and flesh hitting flesh.
"Hey baby girl." Vince said.
"Who hit who?" I asked, curious.
"I hit Leon. He tried to take the phone from Jesse even though the kid called me." Vince snickered. I laughed.
"You'n Leon are always picken at each other."
"He's always tryin shit." Vince answered. Things really are that simple in his life. Must be nice. "So, what's up?"
"I just wanted to chat for a few. I got a big race tonight."
"Pre race jitters?" Vince shrewdly asked. He wasn't here to joke me out of the funk.
"Yeah. That'n, well, I can't lose this one V. So I had the kid help me make some changes."
"Such as?" Vince asked, suspicious.
"Well, he helped me up the NOS to a 150 shot."
"Well, I thought you should have done that long ago."
"And I had him help me set the turbo back up for 35P."
"Letty. Hell no. That car isn't set up to run that kind of boost and you know it."
"Yeah, I do. But it's just for tonight. There's this puta and I know I'm gonna have to run her tonight and she can't win. But she has B..." I caught my slip and ended it at B before I finished Brian. "...and this other guy helping her tune her car. I have to be ready for her to be good."
"But Jesse built your car. And he built it to run at 25P. You know you need to work on the fuel system before you go any higher."
"Yeah I do know that but I don't got the time. The car needed to roll tonight ready to kick ass. I'll do the fuel mods soon cause there's this skyline here I might have to race someday. Jesse has me leaving the laptop jacked in to run the system and I'm tuning it back down as soon as I get it home."
"You know it'll kill him if you wreck that car Let. He'll think you did it on purpose."
He was talking about Dom and we both know it. No names are needed there. I know Vince said it like that so Dom would think Vince meant Jesse if he was listening.
"I know V, but I'm not gonna wreck the car. I love the car as much as I loved him."
"Loved?" Vince asked, concerned.
"For now, yeah." I answered, trying to convince myself too.
"Alright baby girl. Just be careful and be safe. Let me know how it goes."
"I will."
"You wanna say hi to Le before he explodes?" Vince laughed.
"Sure." I laughed back, picturing Leon doing a dance beside Vince like he had to go to the bathroom.
"Hey LD." Leon had adopted the nickname, thinking it was a good fit.
"Hey big bird." My nickname for him, and his car. It was like an either or kinda thing.
He laughed. He always got a kick out of it because I'd call him that in front of the skanks and they'd all think I'd seen something I shouldn't have seen and they'd be even more all over him. As if his big green eyes and 'take care of me' hairdo wasn't enough.
"I hear you're doing crazy things to poor Ray." Being one of the few people in the world who'd also named his car, Leon was in agreement about using the names.
"Yeah, for tonight."
"Well, good luck with that."
"Thanks. I should go."
"Ok LD. See you soon?"
"I don't know about that one but I'll talk to you soon."
"Ok."
"Tell Mia I said hi and that I'll call her soon."
"We'll do."
We both hung up and I realized it was 11:30 now that all the mods were done. I started to polish the paint off to wait for Brian and Rome to show up.
"What have you been up to?" Brian asked as he and Rome walked into the shop.
"Just a little fine tuning." I answered with a smirk.
Tej and Jimmy showed up with Suki in tow.
"Hey Bullitt, you racin'?" Jimmy asked.
"Maybe." Brian answered. Jimmy turned to me.
"I got your spray all hooked up."
"Great. Thanks. We ready to roll then?"
"Let's head out." Tej answered and we all headed off with a squeal to his meeting place. I was bringing up the rear since I had no idea where I was going.
We pulled in and got surrounded by people right away. My car wasn't as flashy as most of those around. I mean, it's a custom colour and has some graphics. That's it. Everyone else had tonnes of neon and huge ass stereos and stuff. My car was really built to race, not to be a show car.
The phrase all show and no go really came into my mind as I looked around. I had no desire to rice up my car the way the ones around me were. My car was built to run like the wind, not to sit in and watch DVD's. I mean, I like my tunes, I have a stereo. But not a TV, DVD player, PSII and all that crap in it.
I was getting worried about running the car as lean as it was going to be boosting as high as I was. But I didn't have time to go into it and lower the boost so I was going to have to go with it. But I did dump a can of Octane boost into the gas tank.
Tej got up in the back of his truck.
"Ok ya'll. Who's in this first race? I need three people who wanna run my new girl here, Letty, and her s14."
Murmurs of 'new girl?' started to go through the crowd. Yeah, that's right, just an s14 people, nothing to worry about. I giggled under my breath.
"I'm in!" Suki called just like I knew she would.
"Me too!" Rome added his two cents and his money to the pile.
"Ok, I need a fourth then." Tej called. "Come on, anyone?"
"I'm in." A beautiful white girl stepped up and dumped her 3 grand on the pile. She was tall for a woman, tall as me, maybe an inch taller. She had long, slightly wavy honey blonde hair and the bluest eyes I've ever seen this side of Brian.
When I thought about it more I realized the girl looked kinda like Brian. And she was shooting dirty looks my way too.
Holy fuck, I bet that's his sister I thought. I couldn't help it. She looked just like Brian.
Brian walked up to her and grabbed her in a hug. "Fiona! I wasn't expecting you."
Brian was very clearly happy to have his sister around. This spelled trouble for me. I know the girl knows who I am and what part I played in Brian's exit from the force. And now I'm gonna kick her ass. I looked around trying to figure what she drove.
"Hey big bro." She spared a smile for Brian.
"When did you decide to race around here?" Brian asked his sister.
"Since you got me hooked when I started to visit."
"What are you gonna run? Last time I checked you drove a Honda Civic." Brian laughed.
She's gonna race me in a civic?
"Oh, I upgraded a bit since then." Fiona laughed and pointed.
She pointed out a green third generation RX-7 just like Dom's. So no sweat, with my car running the way it is now, no way she can take me. Not unless she learned to drive as good as Dom. And since she just started to race when Brian moved here she couldn't be that good. Could she?
What was it Rome told me again? Something about it being about the size of the fight in the dog and about who had the most to run for.
Well, I think this chick has a lot to run for, considering how mad she must be at my whole family about what she thinks we did to her brother. The night just got more interesting by half.
"Ok then Fifi baby, you in." Tej said with a smile and a hug for the blonde girl.
Uh oh, seems she's a team favourite up here. If I smoke her, and I do fully intend on doing so, it's not going to go over well with Tej. And not with Jimmy or Suki either I wouldn't think, judging by how they're all laughing and hugging right now.
I feel just as much like an outsider now as I did when I first got here. It stings but then I push it down and school my tough bitch look onto my face. I didn't come here to make friends. I came here to get away from Dom and to get to race. If I get to race and I win then who cares if Brian's sister and friends don't like me?
I guess the answer is I care. But it sucks to care about it when I think I shouldn't. Like Brian remembered me then he motioned me over and I went with dragging feet. I don't want to talk to her at all.
"Letty, this is Fiona, my sister. Fiona, this is Letty, or as you've heard me call her, Reina."
"Hey." I said, trying to sound like I cared to meet her just to not be rude.
"Hey." She answered in much the same tone and Brian gave her a look, like he was warning her to play nice.
Is it my lot in life to have every last new person I meet hate me? First Suki and now Brian's sister.
Like Tej knew it was getting too thick he called us all to the line.
"You sure you want to do this Fifi?" I heard him ask her before he lowered his voice and all I heard after that was 'surprise' and 'route'. It sounded like he was warning her off the race based on some surprise he had planned near the end of the route.
Well, I'll just have to find out I guess. I went to my car and climbed in. I fired it up and looked over to my left at Rome. Tej had given me Dom's spot to break from, the far right. He couldn't have known it was where I liked to run from too or he'd have made sure that I didn't get it.
Rome smiled and motioned me to roll down my window.
"You ready Reina?" First time he's ever called me that.
"Always. You?"
"Of course."
"See you at the finish line then." I called and rolled the window back up. Rome waved back and turned to his left to talk to Fiona. Suki was on the far left. Tej came up and I rolled down my window and listened while he explained the route to me. I got it all memorized and Tej walked away.
A skank walked out in front of us and got our attention. She held her arms up and wiggled her fingers. I revved up Ray and he sounded ok. No negative effects from what I did yet. I could vaguely hear everyone else revving their cars too but I tuned it out and turned up the tunes. I needed to be in my own world for what I was about to attempt. I blasted 'Gimme the light' by Sean Paul. I love the beat and the words don't really make sense so I don't need to listen too hard. It says fuel injector once which made me thing about what I'd done again but only for a second. So who was gonna catch my flow?
The skank dropped her arms and we all broke off the line, me and Fiona fishtailing a bit as we over revved our cars a bit.
I straightened out to find myself in second place to Fiona with Suki on my tail and Rome behind her. We raced down the straightaway.
The feeling of my newly adjusted turbo spooling up and kicking in at just over 2 grand was more then I can put into words. The car literally jumped ahead and snapped me back into my seat so hard my neck hurt.
Holy hell 10 PSI is like a whole nother turbo under there. I need those fuel mods so I can run him like this all the time. I passed Fiona so fast that her car was just a green blur. I think the fucken tires squealed mid race. I hit second and waited for the rush of hitting that turbo power band to happen again.
2000 RPM came again and the rust was just as powerful. I was gaining on everyone. I knew better then to get comfortable out front though. I kept pushing it to the red line. Rome was pretty far behind. Fiona was sort of keeping up with me about a car length behind me and Suki was right behind her.
Suki went to make a move but Fiona kept moving her car in front of her. I kept pushing my car up through third and fourth, each time the turbo kicked in I got a rush right through my body.
Fiona must have found her power band because she started to catch me. She was a novice and it was showing. The only reason she was still ahead of Suki was because she was anticipating each time the other girl tried to come up on her.
Suki faked her out and got around her. Then she started to gain on me.
I took the second turn of the race and Suki wasn't far off my ass. Of course, that's likely where she'd like to be, I thought nastily.
I ran it in fourth the whole way down the third straight away. Suki kept trying to get around me and I kept cutting her off. I wasn't really pushing the car yet. I didn't want to use NOS till the last leg of the race.
I took the fourth corner of the circuit tight and Suki swung wide to try and get around me. Fiona was still right there.
Soon as I levelled out I pushed the peddle to the floor and started to pull away.
That was about when I noticed the bridge in the road was opening. So that was Tej's surprise on the route. Well, he's not getting me. I'ma jump it. But it does explain why I had a bad feeling about this race right from the start.
But telling myself I was going to do it and not being scared as fuck are two different things. My heart was racing, my palms were sweaty and the adrenaline was doing...interesting...things with my body.
I hit my NOS and hit the gas. I knew I needed speed if I was gonna make the jump. I glanced in my rearview and saw that Rome wasn't going to take the jump. He had stopped his car. Suki and Fiona were trying to make up ground. They both started to fly at me at an alarming rate, I guess they discovered their NOS too.
The bridge was right in front of me. I discovered NOS 2 and picked up speed. I was running at 220 KM/h which is about 150 MPH. I hit the bridge and was launched into the air. The feeling of being in a car weightless was again something I don't have words for. It was incredible, sensational, indescribable, and a whole bunch of other words that make you think of fabulous things.
Suki and Fiona hit it at the same time half a second after me and we all landed in unison since I flew farther. I winced at the noise my car made when it landed. But I kept it on course and on the road. So did the other girls a quick glance in the rearview confirmed. But Fiona's car was spewing sparks from the undercarriage.
Does it go without saying that I got over the line first? It should. I beat them both. Suki by a car length and Fiona by three. Fiona did good for a newbie. And Suki's a pretty good racer too. But not as good as me. I hope the little puta has something to say to me about it too.
We pulled up and got out of our cars. Tej handed me the money.
"You did good."
"Thanks. Did I pass?"
"Yeah, with flying colours."
Rome walked up to me.
"Nice girl. I wish I'd have taken that bridge."
"Why didn't ya?"
"Too scared to roll over in a convertible I guess."
I respect him for admitting it. I nodded to show him that. But I couldn't just let it go.
"But you do know what that means right?"
"No, what?"
"Spooled ya!"
With that I walked up to Fiona.
"Want me to take a look?" I asked and waited to see what her reaction would be.
I knocked off work at 7:00. I had to check over Raidon before I could race him. Everything checked out fine. But I'd forgotten to refill my NOS after my first race.
I had enough for a race or two, but not if I had to use more then one shot a race.
I saw Jimmy, the other guy who works for Tej was still in the garage.
"Hey man." I said, walking up to him. He looked up at me from his position over a Honda Civic.
"Hey. How you doin?"
Jimmy was ok. Kinda like Jesse but without the sense of innocence. He was just a good kid though and an awesome mechanic.
"I'm good. But Tej wants me to head to races tonight and I don't know where to go to get my tanks filled."
"Ah. No sweat. They in the purple car right?"
"Yeah. Is there a store that sells spray around close?"
"Nope, but I'll fill 'em for you here when I get this head back on. Tej keeps a supply of spray in the shop so we can do our own tanks."
"I'd offer to fill my own but we bought all our spray from 'The Racer's Edge' so I don't know how."
Jimmy looked surprised. I don't know if it was because I was willing to do my own work or if he was surprised I either didn't know how or admitted to not knowing how.
"No problem. I mostly fill everyone's anyway. The machine can be a bit temperamental." Jimmy smiled at me.
"Well, that's cool then. I'll leave the car unlocked since it's inside. The tanks are in the passenger seat."
"Wow, you have a sneaky Pete NOS system?"
"Yep." Thanks to Dom.
"Cool. Well, I'll get right on that, and I'll see you tonight."
"Thanks."
I went down to the boat to get ready for races. I didn't have to show off for Dom anymore but I still wanted to look good. I wanted to show off my car and myself to my best advantage.
I was going to rise to the top of the racing scene here too and I wanted people to know who I was. And I didn't want them thinking I was a slut or that I was ugly. I wanted to strike the right balance of sexy but stylish.
I don't want to end up with a bad rep. Well, bad in that people are pissed off I never lose would be alright but not a rep for being a bitch or for dressing like a ho either.
I know I have that rep back home. Letty the bitch with more balls then half the men. That's how they think of me. They think I'm all a bad temper and feisty attitude. No one sees what that attitude is protecting me from or how I got that way. No one but Mia.
Even Dom doesn't really seem to care most of the time. He's allowed to put his hands on the skanks and its still 'just talkin' in his world. Fuck, it's a wonder I even enjoy going to races anymore. The way Dom treats me at them and about them should have been enough to turn me off going for the rest of my life.
But I'm fairly territorial so no matter how much I might have hated going to watch Dom act like he was free to get with any girl that looked good, I was still going to go. I had to make it known that that boy was my property. And that was my story and I was sticking with it to the outside world.
I looked into my closet and just stood there, looking at my clothes. I'd normally wear a leather mini skirt and a tank top. But that had mostly been to show off how good I looked for Dom. It's a pain in the fuckin ass to drive stick in a tight short skirt. I mean, it's a very good thing no one can see more then my top half when I drive in a skirt. It's a very clear view right up into 'all my business' if you get my drift. And then you have to be all careful getting out of the car or everyone sees just what your underwear looks like.
Or if you're half the skanks around Dom everyone sees you're not wearing any.
I'm wearing pants tonight. I have a free chance to start over after all. No one really knows me yet. So if I start wearing pants now then that can just be my style and no one will know better. But I still want to look good.
I don't want to look to close at the reasons why but I think the fact that Rome will be around and he's mostly only seen me in garage mode and in a fancy dress have something to do with it. I mean garage mode me is real but the other one isn't.
It was a fun act for that night but it's not really how I am. Race me is as real as it gets. I pulled out my black leather pants with the red dragons embroidered on the sides that Vince got me for Christmas last year and a red cropped tank top. I had my dog tags on, as always and my flame boots.
How I got those boots is kind of a funny story. Dom's dad insisted on us all having proper footwear for the shop. So he meant steel toed work boots. I couldn't find any made for girls.
I mean I have smaller feet then men and they're narrower too. I found men's boots that would have fit me lengthwise but they were never comfortable on my feet. I was always complaining about how my boots didn't fit right and how it was hard to walk in them and how they looked like crap.
Vince made fun of me for caring that my work boots be stylish but I didn't care. I mean the ugliness of them wasn't the real problem; it was the way they didn't fit. The fact they were butt ugly didn't help. Dom never said anything, not when I complained, not when Vince picked on me, not ever.
But then the first Christmas that I was actively working in the garage, the Christmas after the complaining started I opened my present from Dom to find the coolest boots ever. They had steel toes to please Van, but had thick soles, almost like wearing heels and flames on them to please me.
Is it sad to be this attached to footwear? Because I love these boots and I wear them everywhere. I did get a hard time from Mia about that a lot too. 'You can't wear those with a skirt!' she'd always tell me. But I never listened. I hope they never wear out because I don't know what I'd do without them.
See, that's one way that Dom can be so sweet. He managed to find stylish work boots for me. And not only that but he knew me so well that he picked out a pair that I fell that in love with that I'll never want to be without them.
So I finished lacing them up and then stood up. It was 9pm. I don't know when racing starts around here, but I bet I'm ready early. I headed out to the kitchen and Brian was no where to be found. I got the stuff out of the fridge for supper and started to cook.
I made extra in case Brian came back and he was hungry.
I was chopping up some stuff when I happened to look at the back door. There was a man standing in the screen door.
I screamed and jumped a mile. I wasn't expecting anyone to be on the porch. I snatched the knife back up to get ready to rumble. Then I heard Rome's frantic laughter.
"Man girl, you should see the look on your face. What smells so good?"
"What the hell were you doing out there?" I asked, sort of pissed that he saw me scared and saw me jump.
"Waiting for you to notice me. You gonna ask me in?"
"Maybe. When do we leave for racing around here?"
"11 or 12. No one actually races till 1am anyway."
"Ok then, come in." Rome opened the door and sat himself at the table.
"So, you gonna tell me what it is that smells good or do I have to guess."
I told him what I was having and asked him if he was hungry. As if he was gonna say no. I could have just set the food in front of him and he would have eaten it. He was always hungry. Just like my V man.
When the food was ready I set it down in front of him and sat with mine and we both started to eat. Brian came home during our dinner.
"Hey guys."
"Hey Bri." Rome and I answered in unison and then laughed.
"You hungry?" I asked as Brian fully entered the boat.
"Yeah." Brian helped himself. I couldn't help but think he seemed preoccupied.
"Everything ok?" I asked him as he sat down.
"Yeah, it's fine." Brian looked up and smiled at me. It wasn't his best effort.
"Ok." I let it go; I didn't want to pressure him. "You runnin that silver beast tonight?" I tried to cheer Brian up.
"Against you?" Brian smiled at me, in his little smirk, like he's gonna make you work for everything he gives you.
"Yeah, or against anyone."
"Never against you Letty. I told you that." Brian smirked again but he looked serious around his eyes.
"I'm not that good Bri. You have as much shot as anyone. That's not much, but you have that same chance." I grinned. Rome laughed. Brian still looked kinda down.
I'm gonna have to find out what's up with that boy tomorrow. I'm worried about him. I guess that after all he's been through he's bound to have down days. But it's Brian. He's always been about the surfer good looks and California golden boy smile. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who gets down, and it doesn't suit him at all.
"Well, maybe someday we'll put that to the test Reina. For now though, you're the queen and I don't want a chance at that throne."
"Maybe I do." Rome piped up.
"In your car?" I asked before I thought about how it would sound when it came out.
On thing I've learned really fast by dating Dominic and hanging around Vince and Leon is that you never dis a man's whip. Not ever. You never say anything that can come off as a dis either. You always let 'em think that they're all that, even when you know they're not.
But again, it's not my style to watch my mouth that close either. More like some kinda self preservation instinct just made me start doin it around Dom when I didn't want to brawl with him.
"Yeah in my car miss Racer Girl. What? You don't think I can take you?" Rome looked like it was all one big joke to him and I was thankful. I didn't want to have a big fight with him over thinking I could race better then him. I could, but again, I knew better then to rub it in.
"No offence man, but I don't think Brian can take me in a skyline. I really don't think you can take me in an Eclipse. It's not you, it's just that I've been doing this so long and my car is so tuned I don't think you've got what it takes in that Eclipse to take Ray."
"Ray?" Rome asked.
"Raidon, my car."
"You named your car?" Rome snickered.
"Brian named his Honey for Christ's sake. What's wrong with mine having a Japanese name?"
"I laughed at Brian for naming the skyline Honey too. Why Raidon?"
"He's the Japanese god of thunder." I said, sitting back and crossing my arms. I was pretending to be very hurt about him teasing me about naming my car.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
"You didn't. You just convinced me more then ever there's no way in hell you can take me in a race and win." I was gonna get revenge.
"How so?" Rome narrowed his eyes and looked right at me.
"Well, I mean you don't even love your car enough to give it a name. How do you think you could ever beat a partnership like me and my baby boy?"
Brian was practically pissing his pants as he watched us go on. He thought the whole thing was great. I was glad he was out of the blue mood he'd come home in. At least for a while anyway.
"I think I can take you miss queen of the streets." Rome looked me up and down.
"Well, bring your cash and your game face tonight then and we'll see. I'm sure Tej can find us a third and fourth."
"I'm sure he can." Rome stood up and headed for the door. "See you at the garage at 12 then?"
"I'll be there." I called out to his retreating back. "So, Brian, how good is your boy?"
"Good enough to win a lot of what he enters."
"Good enough to take me?"
"Not likely." Brian grinned. So did I. "You know one of the others is gonna be Suki right?" Brian asked, grin being replaced with a frown.
"So? I'll kick her little haten ass too and my night will be complete."
"She's better'n Rome."
"Is she better'n me?"
"She'll come closer then Rome."
"Could she beat Leon?"
"Hell no!" Brian snorted.
"Well, I can. So I guess I can take her too."
"You can beat Leon?" Brian looked incredulous.
"Yeah, about half the time. Why you look so shocked?"
"Because my skyline's better'n his and till you came along there was no one I thought could get me. I know Leon's a phenomenal racer and I don't think I could take him, even with the differences in our skylines."
"I know you couldn't take him. But you gotta remember Brian, me'n the mad scientist are tight. You know he's put a lot of his spare time into my ride. I can take whatever ya'll wanna throw at me."
"We'll see."
"Yeah we will." I stood up to go check on Raidon. If I was racing Suki I had to have my car in the topmost shape.
I headed up to the garage. I was getting sort of concerned about beating Suki. I couldn't not beat her. She was only running an s2000 which should be like taking candy from a baby for me to race and win against. But nothing good ever comes from breaking the rules and one of mine is never underestimate any opponent you haven't raced before.
I really had to win. I somehow knew that not only was the Acura a test, so was the invite to races tonight. Tej wanted to know if I could race and win consistently. I have a real bad idea about what he's gonna do. I don't know why that is but he just didn't seem like he was asking me to races out of generosity.
Now, I know some things about my car that everyone else doesn't know. It's gonna help me out tonight.
Yeah, it's an s14 Silvia. Anyone who knows Nissans is gonna know that. And obviously since I drive on the 'normal' left hand side of the car, and not the right side like Leon it's the American car, so it started life off as a 240sx. And everyone can tell it's been converted to a Silvia. But what everyone doesn't know is that I got the sr20det engine imported with the Garrett T28BB that was technically only available in Japan. Jesse found this awesome Silvia front clip and got it into the country somehow. My car is essentially a skyline underneath. It shares the skyline engine. It's even registered in KM/H just like it would be in Japan.
So people aren't up against a 240sx when they race me, it's almost like they're up against a skyline. But no one knows. It's my secret. And I'm betting, since I haven't seen Rome do more then oil changes and bolt ons, that he has no idea what engine the car should have and what it has now. I'm knowing that no Honda on planet earth is going to touch me and my car.
So that only means that it remains to be seen who the fourth is to see if I have to worry tonight or not. But whether I do technically have to or not, I still am.
I'm gonna do something crazy. I have to win. But its nuts for me to do what I'm thinking off.
I mean, it's nuts for me to do it without Jesse here to supervise. I need to talk to the mad scientist. Sometimes even a girl like me needs to talk to her tech advisor. I ran back down to the boat and got 'the phone' off Brian. I'm still not impressed that the untraceable phone gave out our number, but what can I do about it now.
Brian and I decided to keep the thing but keep it turned off. That way if there's an emergency at home they can get a hold of me by leaving a message on the phone. It's a good plan. I called up the house and waited for them to answer the phone.
"Hello?" Dom's deep baritone filled the line and filled my soul. I've been to long without that voice. It makes me sad that it doesn't reverberate through me over the phone the way it does when he talks while my chest is pressed to his. I consider hanging up the phone. I don't want to talk to him at all. But I need Jesse.
"Hey. Jesse there?" No small talk. Just get him the fuck off the phone and get on with my life. Get on with pretending that something as simple as the sound of his voice doesn't make me remember what I'm missing.
"Letty. Where are you?" Dom growled at me.
"In the garage Dom. Jesse there?"
"What garage?" Man that boy's stubborn.
"The one I work at. Can I talk to Jesse?"
"Letty." Dom sighed, frustrated. "When are you coming home?"
"When will you be ready to get on with your life and apologize to me?"
"I don't know." I could almost hear the hand running over the stubble on his head. Dom always rubs his head when I annoy him.
"Then I don't know either. Will you get the kid already?" I sighed. Dom didn't even answer me. He just yelled of Jesse to 'pick up the god damn phone'. I must have hit a nerve.
"Hello?" Jesse answered.
"Hey Kiddo. How's it goin?"
"Letty! How you doin?" Jesse sounded happy.
"Good. I need some help though."
"What's wrong?" Jesse sounded worried.
"Nothing exactly. I have this big race tonight. I have to win."
"Shouldn't be an issue girl. You can take anyone."
"Thanks for the confidence boost kid but I can't leave this one go on my rep. I need to be more sure."
"What were you thinking?" Jesse asked. I could see plans running in his head already. "You could up your NOS shot by 50."
"Now you're talking. Can you walk me through that over the phone?"
"Yeah, that's simple. You got your laptop with you?"
"In the trunk. The car is the only thing I just that thing for."
"Well, boot it up and jack it into the computer of the car."
"We'll do." I answered him and set about doing that. "Jesse?"
"Yeah LD." Jesse asked. He calls me LD as short for Little Dawg. He got Dawg from Leon and he calls Dom BD or Big Dawg. He moved that into LD for me.
"I wanna up my boost too."
"Letty..." Jesse started into his warning tone of voice. I hate that.
"Jesse..." I whined back.
"I don't think your fuel map can handle more boost. I mean, it can but only if you upgrade the injectors to like 1200cc or better and get a fuel pump that can push more fuel to keep up."
"I don't have time for that kiddo, I need it by tonight."
"Can't you just trust me that the 150 shot of NOS will give you all the extra kick you need and it won't fry your engine?"
"Nope, wanna run at 30PSI."
"Letty. I really don't recommend it till you come home and we have the time and parts to upgrade the whole fuel system. You're gonna run it too lean and it's gonna implode."
"If I just run it at 35PSI for tonight, three races tops, should it be ok?"
"Yeah. But then you gotta take it right back down to 25, or you could blow the whole thing up. And I can't guarantee you I can find you another front clip for it. You'd have to tow it home from where ever to me so I could tear it right down and start from scratch." Jesse cautioned me.
"Ok MS, walk me through this, the computer's ready to go."
And so Jesse took me through upping the NOS shot and the boost pressure of my turbo. He even helped me remap the fuel so that I hopefully wouldn't get a hole in the map, run too lean and end up cooking my engine. That'd go over real well with Tej.
I slammed the hood as we finished.
"Thanks Jesse."
"No sweat LD. Good luck, let me know how she runs like that will ya?"
"Only if you remember that Ray is not a she." I teased.
"Yeah, yeah." Jesse laughed.
"Put my bro on?" I asked, needing to hear Vince's voice before my big night.
"Yeah, hold on. VEE!" Jesse yelled in the background. I heard feet running and flesh hitting flesh.
"Hey baby girl." Vince said.
"Who hit who?" I asked, curious.
"I hit Leon. He tried to take the phone from Jesse even though the kid called me." Vince snickered. I laughed.
"You'n Leon are always picken at each other."
"He's always tryin shit." Vince answered. Things really are that simple in his life. Must be nice. "So, what's up?"
"I just wanted to chat for a few. I got a big race tonight."
"Pre race jitters?" Vince shrewdly asked. He wasn't here to joke me out of the funk.
"Yeah. That'n, well, I can't lose this one V. So I had the kid help me make some changes."
"Such as?" Vince asked, suspicious.
"Well, he helped me up the NOS to a 150 shot."
"Well, I thought you should have done that long ago."
"And I had him help me set the turbo back up for 35P."
"Letty. Hell no. That car isn't set up to run that kind of boost and you know it."
"Yeah, I do. But it's just for tonight. There's this puta and I know I'm gonna have to run her tonight and she can't win. But she has B..." I caught my slip and ended it at B before I finished Brian. "...and this other guy helping her tune her car. I have to be ready for her to be good."
"But Jesse built your car. And he built it to run at 25P. You know you need to work on the fuel system before you go any higher."
"Yeah I do know that but I don't got the time. The car needed to roll tonight ready to kick ass. I'll do the fuel mods soon cause there's this skyline here I might have to race someday. Jesse has me leaving the laptop jacked in to run the system and I'm tuning it back down as soon as I get it home."
"You know it'll kill him if you wreck that car Let. He'll think you did it on purpose."
He was talking about Dom and we both know it. No names are needed there. I know Vince said it like that so Dom would think Vince meant Jesse if he was listening.
"I know V, but I'm not gonna wreck the car. I love the car as much as I loved him."
"Loved?" Vince asked, concerned.
"For now, yeah." I answered, trying to convince myself too.
"Alright baby girl. Just be careful and be safe. Let me know how it goes."
"I will."
"You wanna say hi to Le before he explodes?" Vince laughed.
"Sure." I laughed back, picturing Leon doing a dance beside Vince like he had to go to the bathroom.
"Hey LD." Leon had adopted the nickname, thinking it was a good fit.
"Hey big bird." My nickname for him, and his car. It was like an either or kinda thing.
He laughed. He always got a kick out of it because I'd call him that in front of the skanks and they'd all think I'd seen something I shouldn't have seen and they'd be even more all over him. As if his big green eyes and 'take care of me' hairdo wasn't enough.
"I hear you're doing crazy things to poor Ray." Being one of the few people in the world who'd also named his car, Leon was in agreement about using the names.
"Yeah, for tonight."
"Well, good luck with that."
"Thanks. I should go."
"Ok LD. See you soon?"
"I don't know about that one but I'll talk to you soon."
"Ok."
"Tell Mia I said hi and that I'll call her soon."
"We'll do."
We both hung up and I realized it was 11:30 now that all the mods were done. I started to polish the paint off to wait for Brian and Rome to show up.
"What have you been up to?" Brian asked as he and Rome walked into the shop.
"Just a little fine tuning." I answered with a smirk.
Tej and Jimmy showed up with Suki in tow.
"Hey Bullitt, you racin'?" Jimmy asked.
"Maybe." Brian answered. Jimmy turned to me.
"I got your spray all hooked up."
"Great. Thanks. We ready to roll then?"
"Let's head out." Tej answered and we all headed off with a squeal to his meeting place. I was bringing up the rear since I had no idea where I was going.
We pulled in and got surrounded by people right away. My car wasn't as flashy as most of those around. I mean, it's a custom colour and has some graphics. That's it. Everyone else had tonnes of neon and huge ass stereos and stuff. My car was really built to race, not to be a show car.
The phrase all show and no go really came into my mind as I looked around. I had no desire to rice up my car the way the ones around me were. My car was built to run like the wind, not to sit in and watch DVD's. I mean, I like my tunes, I have a stereo. But not a TV, DVD player, PSII and all that crap in it.
I was getting worried about running the car as lean as it was going to be boosting as high as I was. But I didn't have time to go into it and lower the boost so I was going to have to go with it. But I did dump a can of Octane boost into the gas tank.
Tej got up in the back of his truck.
"Ok ya'll. Who's in this first race? I need three people who wanna run my new girl here, Letty, and her s14."
Murmurs of 'new girl?' started to go through the crowd. Yeah, that's right, just an s14 people, nothing to worry about. I giggled under my breath.
"I'm in!" Suki called just like I knew she would.
"Me too!" Rome added his two cents and his money to the pile.
"Ok, I need a fourth then." Tej called. "Come on, anyone?"
"I'm in." A beautiful white girl stepped up and dumped her 3 grand on the pile. She was tall for a woman, tall as me, maybe an inch taller. She had long, slightly wavy honey blonde hair and the bluest eyes I've ever seen this side of Brian.
When I thought about it more I realized the girl looked kinda like Brian. And she was shooting dirty looks my way too.
Holy fuck, I bet that's his sister I thought. I couldn't help it. She looked just like Brian.
Brian walked up to her and grabbed her in a hug. "Fiona! I wasn't expecting you."
Brian was very clearly happy to have his sister around. This spelled trouble for me. I know the girl knows who I am and what part I played in Brian's exit from the force. And now I'm gonna kick her ass. I looked around trying to figure what she drove.
"Hey big bro." She spared a smile for Brian.
"When did you decide to race around here?" Brian asked his sister.
"Since you got me hooked when I started to visit."
"What are you gonna run? Last time I checked you drove a Honda Civic." Brian laughed.
She's gonna race me in a civic?
"Oh, I upgraded a bit since then." Fiona laughed and pointed.
She pointed out a green third generation RX-7 just like Dom's. So no sweat, with my car running the way it is now, no way she can take me. Not unless she learned to drive as good as Dom. And since she just started to race when Brian moved here she couldn't be that good. Could she?
What was it Rome told me again? Something about it being about the size of the fight in the dog and about who had the most to run for.
Well, I think this chick has a lot to run for, considering how mad she must be at my whole family about what she thinks we did to her brother. The night just got more interesting by half.
"Ok then Fifi baby, you in." Tej said with a smile and a hug for the blonde girl.
Uh oh, seems she's a team favourite up here. If I smoke her, and I do fully intend on doing so, it's not going to go over well with Tej. And not with Jimmy or Suki either I wouldn't think, judging by how they're all laughing and hugging right now.
I feel just as much like an outsider now as I did when I first got here. It stings but then I push it down and school my tough bitch look onto my face. I didn't come here to make friends. I came here to get away from Dom and to get to race. If I get to race and I win then who cares if Brian's sister and friends don't like me?
I guess the answer is I care. But it sucks to care about it when I think I shouldn't. Like Brian remembered me then he motioned me over and I went with dragging feet. I don't want to talk to her at all.
"Letty, this is Fiona, my sister. Fiona, this is Letty, or as you've heard me call her, Reina."
"Hey." I said, trying to sound like I cared to meet her just to not be rude.
"Hey." She answered in much the same tone and Brian gave her a look, like he was warning her to play nice.
Is it my lot in life to have every last new person I meet hate me? First Suki and now Brian's sister.
Like Tej knew it was getting too thick he called us all to the line.
"You sure you want to do this Fifi?" I heard him ask her before he lowered his voice and all I heard after that was 'surprise' and 'route'. It sounded like he was warning her off the race based on some surprise he had planned near the end of the route.
Well, I'll just have to find out I guess. I went to my car and climbed in. I fired it up and looked over to my left at Rome. Tej had given me Dom's spot to break from, the far right. He couldn't have known it was where I liked to run from too or he'd have made sure that I didn't get it.
Rome smiled and motioned me to roll down my window.
"You ready Reina?" First time he's ever called me that.
"Always. You?"
"Of course."
"See you at the finish line then." I called and rolled the window back up. Rome waved back and turned to his left to talk to Fiona. Suki was on the far left. Tej came up and I rolled down my window and listened while he explained the route to me. I got it all memorized and Tej walked away.
A skank walked out in front of us and got our attention. She held her arms up and wiggled her fingers. I revved up Ray and he sounded ok. No negative effects from what I did yet. I could vaguely hear everyone else revving their cars too but I tuned it out and turned up the tunes. I needed to be in my own world for what I was about to attempt. I blasted 'Gimme the light' by Sean Paul. I love the beat and the words don't really make sense so I don't need to listen too hard. It says fuel injector once which made me thing about what I'd done again but only for a second. So who was gonna catch my flow?
The skank dropped her arms and we all broke off the line, me and Fiona fishtailing a bit as we over revved our cars a bit.
I straightened out to find myself in second place to Fiona with Suki on my tail and Rome behind her. We raced down the straightaway.
The feeling of my newly adjusted turbo spooling up and kicking in at just over 2 grand was more then I can put into words. The car literally jumped ahead and snapped me back into my seat so hard my neck hurt.
Holy hell 10 PSI is like a whole nother turbo under there. I need those fuel mods so I can run him like this all the time. I passed Fiona so fast that her car was just a green blur. I think the fucken tires squealed mid race. I hit second and waited for the rush of hitting that turbo power band to happen again.
2000 RPM came again and the rust was just as powerful. I was gaining on everyone. I knew better then to get comfortable out front though. I kept pushing it to the red line. Rome was pretty far behind. Fiona was sort of keeping up with me about a car length behind me and Suki was right behind her.
Suki went to make a move but Fiona kept moving her car in front of her. I kept pushing my car up through third and fourth, each time the turbo kicked in I got a rush right through my body.
Fiona must have found her power band because she started to catch me. She was a novice and it was showing. The only reason she was still ahead of Suki was because she was anticipating each time the other girl tried to come up on her.
Suki faked her out and got around her. Then she started to gain on me.
I took the second turn of the race and Suki wasn't far off my ass. Of course, that's likely where she'd like to be, I thought nastily.
I ran it in fourth the whole way down the third straight away. Suki kept trying to get around me and I kept cutting her off. I wasn't really pushing the car yet. I didn't want to use NOS till the last leg of the race.
I took the fourth corner of the circuit tight and Suki swung wide to try and get around me. Fiona was still right there.
Soon as I levelled out I pushed the peddle to the floor and started to pull away.
That was about when I noticed the bridge in the road was opening. So that was Tej's surprise on the route. Well, he's not getting me. I'ma jump it. But it does explain why I had a bad feeling about this race right from the start.
But telling myself I was going to do it and not being scared as fuck are two different things. My heart was racing, my palms were sweaty and the adrenaline was doing...interesting...things with my body.
I hit my NOS and hit the gas. I knew I needed speed if I was gonna make the jump. I glanced in my rearview and saw that Rome wasn't going to take the jump. He had stopped his car. Suki and Fiona were trying to make up ground. They both started to fly at me at an alarming rate, I guess they discovered their NOS too.
The bridge was right in front of me. I discovered NOS 2 and picked up speed. I was running at 220 KM/h which is about 150 MPH. I hit the bridge and was launched into the air. The feeling of being in a car weightless was again something I don't have words for. It was incredible, sensational, indescribable, and a whole bunch of other words that make you think of fabulous things.
Suki and Fiona hit it at the same time half a second after me and we all landed in unison since I flew farther. I winced at the noise my car made when it landed. But I kept it on course and on the road. So did the other girls a quick glance in the rearview confirmed. But Fiona's car was spewing sparks from the undercarriage.
Does it go without saying that I got over the line first? It should. I beat them both. Suki by a car length and Fiona by three. Fiona did good for a newbie. And Suki's a pretty good racer too. But not as good as me. I hope the little puta has something to say to me about it too.
We pulled up and got out of our cars. Tej handed me the money.
"You did good."
"Thanks. Did I pass?"
"Yeah, with flying colours."
Rome walked up to me.
"Nice girl. I wish I'd have taken that bridge."
"Why didn't ya?"
"Too scared to roll over in a convertible I guess."
I respect him for admitting it. I nodded to show him that. But I couldn't just let it go.
"But you do know what that means right?"
"No, what?"
"Spooled ya!"
With that I walked up to Fiona.
"Want me to take a look?" I asked and waited to see what her reaction would be.