Chapter 24 – In Vino Et Veritas (In Wine, Truth)
"You think you know what you're doing?" Fiona asked.
"Yeah. This is what I do." I told her, trying to play nice.
"Be my guest." She offered, still not in the most polite tone she could have used and got up from her crouching position beside her car.
I hit the ground on my stomach and looked under her car. Her exhaust system slipped a hanger and ended up dragging on the ground, that's what caused the sparks. But since the metal hanger broke off I couldn't fix it right there at races. Not to mention that the pipe was all ground up and flattened. The section of pipe was going to need to be replaced. I looked up at her.
"Exhaust broke a hanger when you landed. I'll wire it up for you so you can drive the car but you'll need to bring it into the garage so someone can replace the section of pipe that's all flattened now."
"Is it safe to drive?" She looked concerned.
"Oh yeah, it's fine to drive. But that flattened part of the pipe is going to restrict your exhaust flow so you're going to lose some horsepower till you get it fixed. It's a Racing Beat exhaust right?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"My Ex has an RX-7 and he swears they make the only exhaust for rotary engines worth having."
She looked momentarily pissed off at me. I guess she knows my ex is Dominic and she doesn't want the reminder of him and what he did.
"So, in that case, do you know anyone who knows what they're doing to work on the damn thing? I can't find a single person who knows about how rotary engines work. And I don't have a clue. I just like to race. I'm never going to be on anyone's pit crew."
"Well, I know a lot about them. I helped D..." I sort of trailed off, not wanting to use his name, "my ex, build his the last time it ate an apex seal and I use to help him all the time with working on it so I guess I'm as close to an expert this side of him you're gonna find. I don't know what Jimmy might know about them though."
"Well, this car is the one thing that has poor Jimmy stumped. He says he doesn't get and doesn't want to." Fiona giggled.
"He's not alone. My best friend Vee, he always says the same thing. 'Fucken thing looks like a Doritos spinning inside an egg. I don't know who the fuck dreamed that up and I don't wanna. Give me pounding pistons any day. 'Least I get what the fuck that's about!' and then he'd leer at me like you know...pounding pistons." I laughed and surprise surprise she joined me. "And my answer to that is always to lean on Dom's car with the engine bonnet open and ask in a, like, dirty voice 'Wanna touch my Wankel?"
I started to laugh but Fiona looked confused.
"I don't really get that part." She admitted, surprising me.
"Well the guy who invented the rotary engine was Mr Felix Wankel, so it's also called a Wankel engine sometimes. It's just a dirty sounding word and it always cracks the whole team up when I say it." She laughed and I could tell she really got it. She's a sharp one.
Then I got sad because when I say that Dom always comes up to me and leans in close while he stands between my legs and whispers to me 'I wanna touch your wankel' and winks. And then I move aside and say 'ok, touch my wankel, it needs an oil change.' And he laughs every time.
Of course he's always trying to get me to do his oil changes and I'm always telling him to do it his own damn self.
"What's wrong?" Fiona asked me after a minute. She looked concerned.
"Nothin, just remembering. So," I got back to the business at hand. "let's find some wire and get this bad boy back on the road for you huh?"
"Ok, where can I find wire?"
I rolled onto my back and fished in my pocket. I pulled out my always present length of mechanics wire.
"Right here." I rolled back over and used the wire to tie her exhaust up off the ground. "Now don't forget to bring that by so we can figure out if we can fix it or if we have to order a replacement pipe from Mazdatrix. Oh, and racing's out till you get that fixed up more solid then just held up with a piece of wire, aiight?"
"Sure, I understand. Thanks." Fiona offered.
"Don't mention it." I replied and with a slightly forced smile I walked away. Tej walked up to me a moment later.
"You gonna race again? I got more people that want to run you then I can count girl. That's off the chain. What did you do to that car to make it run like that anyway?"
"Yeah, I'll race again. And what I did to my car to make it run like that is my secret and always will be. A girl can't just show anyone what she has under the hood." I winked and he laughed.
"I get ya girl but dayum, you're gonna know everything under my hood."
I nodded with a smile, and then remembered something I wanted to tell Tej before any more racing took place.
"Oh, and you betta not ever pull a stunt like that bridge thing again without telling me or you might find yourself eating your teeth." I smiled my sweetest smile to show I wasn't kidding and started to walk away. Much to my surprise Tej just let me go.
I walked over to my car and started to check over the recordings the computer had made during the last race.
Based on what I learned I really didn't think I should run the car more then one or two more times. I was going to have to call it a night after two more races no matter how many other people Tej had that wanted to race.
"I don't know how you beat me but let me assure you it won't happen again!" Suki walked up to my window and started running her mouth right off.
I was straight up not taking it any more.
"I beat you because I'm fuckin better then you and it'll happen again and again and again if you're stupid enough to ever race me again." I didn't even look up from my computer at her. I just told her off while I looked at the screen.
"You cheated in some way. No way you're better then me." Suki scoffed at me.
"Yeah, I cheated. Like how? I mean, NOS isn't cheating, boost isn't cheating, being good at racing isn't cheating. You're not in my league. Just get over it and get back in your hot pink excuse for a car and find some little racer boys that want to give you their money for a chance to see you make out with their girlfriends. Because you have to be better at that then you are at racing."
She gasped at that. I'm pretty bitchy when I'm riled.
"You got some nerve comin up in here like you're a somebody and then thinking you can out race me."
"Well, Brian and Rome both seem to think I'm somebody and I just proved I can race you."
She went to speak and I shushed her.
"Don't speak." I finally looked her in the eye. "Just try to find some measure of ladylikeness in yourself and walk away now."
"Did you tell me to shut up?" Suki looked like that surely wasn't possible.
"Yeah, I told you to shut the fuck up and get the fuck away from me and my car."
She leaned in the open window and slapped me. God, I mean, she bitch slapped me.
I got up out of my car and then looked down at her. She didn't look scared. Well, good for her. But it was stupid too. Because I was about to show her why she should have been. I decked her, catching her in the eye.
She gasped and came at me. She tried to slap me again. So I hit her again.
"Come on, you're out of your league in fighting me too, just like racin me. That the best you can do?" I taunted as she tried to scratch me. I punched her again and split her lip open.
By that time a crowd had gathered and while most of them were just cheering us on some of them looked concerned. Isn't it always the way that most men get thrilled when girls fight? Why does two chicks fighting get them off?
Like it finally occurred to someone that we were really fighting and I was kicking the shit out of Suki someone must have gone to get Tej. He came running up with Jimmy and pulled us apart.
"You two need to leave it on the blacktop." Tej lectured us.
"You need to tell it to your girl." I told him. "She came up to my car after our race and started running her mouth. It had nothing to do with me. Then when I told her to bounce she slapped me."
"Whatever. No fighting in public when you both represent my garage. Got it?" Tej really wasn't happy. Likely because miss perfect got her ass handed to her on the street and after.
"Yeah." I agreed and so did Suki.
I did race two more times against three other guys each time and I won each time. This circuit racing thing was fun. It was a bigger challenge then running a car down a straight quarter mile stretch and just going as fast as you could, that was for sure. Plus it helped that I was still pissed off and high on adrenaline from my win and my fight.
By the time the other two races were done I was done too. I just wanted to go home to bed. I was still going to put in at least 8 hours on the Acura the next day and I was ready for sleeping. I was also upset about the fight I'd had with Suki. While it had felt good to kick her ass, it also made me think of Mr. Marks and what he'd told me.
'There are always going to be people who don't like you, who get 'in your face'. You can not beat up every last one of them.'
'You must learn to control that temper if you're ever going to make something of yourself.'
'When you have something everyone else wants you must accept the fact that others will try to take it from you. Have enough confidence in yourself to just let it slide.'
Here I was still fighting out my battles with my fists not my mind. But I had made something of myself so he wasn't totally right about me either. I shook my head and looked around through weary eyes. I was both physically exhausted and emotionally drained. Soul searching is hard work.
I saw Brian talking to his sister off to one side and it looked deep. Brian looked my way a few times. I hate thinking they're talking about me. I shouldn't care but it makes me wonder what they're saying. I decided to head out before I had to think about it more. I've had enough emotion for a year. I went looking for Tej, figuring he could tell everyone where I was if they asked.
I found Rome instead. Or should I say he found me.
"Hey girl. I guess you weren't kidden when you said you were a good racer huh?"
"Nope. It's what I do. I build the cars I race the cars. That's about all there is to me."
"That's a bit oversimplified don't ya think?"
"Not really, no. So, I'm headed home, just wanted to let someone know so ya'll don't hang around looking for me later whenever you all leave."
"You're not gonna come party at Tej's? I mean, you won all three of the races. You have to come to the party." Rome looked disappointed.
"Man, I'm so tired. I gotta get to bed. I have at least 8 hours worth of work to do to the Acura tomorrow."
"Knock off the Acura for tomorrow and then you can come party with us since you won. I mean, you're ahead of schedule on the Acura anyway so it's not like you can't afford to take a day off."
"Ahead of schedule now doesn't mean that something won't go horribly horribly wrong tomorrow or the next day and set me behind schedule. I want the car ready to go to the body shop by the end of tomorrow so I can start on the engine."
"Aw girl..." Rome started to whine then the ringing in my pants pocket cut him off. I forgot to turn off the damn cell phone. Now I guess I should answer it.
"'Cuse me." I said to Rome and answered the call. "'Lo?"
"Letty?" Jesse asked.
"Hey Jess. How's it goin?"
"Fine. How's the car? Everything ok? Did it work alright? Is it still in one piece?"
"The car is fine, everything is fine, it worked fine, it's still in one piece just fine." I laughed.
"That's good to know." Jesse did sound relieved. "Don't forget to take it right back down to where it was boost wise."
"God Jesse I know I know. I'm not going to ruin my own ride you know."
"I know Letty. But I was worried. So how'd your race go? Did you beat the girl?"
"Yeah. I raced three times and won all three."
"Wow, you got in three races and no cops came?"
"Yeah, things work a little different here."
"So, what's this girl you were so worried about drive?"
"A Honda s2000." I kicked myself as soon as it left my mouth. Jesse is still a bit, well, strange over the whole Tran thing. He still worries about what his dad will do when he finds out what happened to the Jetta. Jesse hasn't been able to fix it and he won't let anyone else do it. "I'm sorry Jess."
"It's ok Lett. It's the car you raced right? They didn't stop making those cars just because I had a bad experience."
"Sometimes you surprise me Kiddo. Yeah, it's what she drove. But guess what? The fricken thing is hot pink with an anime portrait of the chick on the side."
"No shit?"
"For real."
"Why were you worried about beating her then? I mean, a hot pink car?"
"She's not bad. She wasn't far behind me."
"So what other cars did you race?"
"An RX-7, an eclipse spyder, a supra, another RX-7, an Evo, an Acura Integra, a WRX, and a 350z."
"Wow, that's an alright line up."
"Yep. But I beat em all."
"Ok Letty, I'll let you go now, I just wanted to remind you to fix the car before you drove it again."
"Thanks Jess. I'll talk to you soon. Bye."
I hung up.
"So who's Jesse?" Rome asked.
"A friend." I didn't want to talk about my team to Brian's team right then.
"Oh, so he helped you do that crazy shit to your car did he."
"Yeah." I guess Rome didn't want to take the hint. "You ever heard Brian talk about 'The Mad Scientist'?"
"Yeah, the 'if this guy can't make the car do it then it can't be done' guy?"
"Yeah, him. Well, that's Jesse."
"Ah." Rome got it.
"Well, I'm out. See you guys tomorrow. Tell Bri where I went if you see him would you?"
"Sure."
And with that Rome let me leave after giving me an enigmatic look.
I went home and went to bed. I hadn't been kidding when I told Rome I was tired and needed sleep before I got up tomorrow to go to work. Just because I was ahead of the game right then didn't mean that I couldn't fall behind somehow and miss my deadline.
I had been thinking about the design for the NSX since I sort of convinced Tej to let me do it and it was really important to me. If I didn't get to do it I was going to be really upset about it. I was willing to not have much of a life till it was done. It was a sacrifice but I was learning a lot about myself as I did it.
That's why I'm here after all so I may as well make the most of it.
I guess I fell asleep right after because before I knew it voices in the boat were waking me up. I checked the clock and it was 4am.
"You have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch." I heard Brian try to whisper. I guess he must be drunk because the whispering thing was not working out for him.
"I'll take the couch, you sleep in your bed." His sister 'whispered' back. She wasn't exactly sober either I don't think. I envy them both. I would have loved to go get drunk instead of heading home to bed like I had. I haven't been really drunk in a long time. It would be a great stress reliever.
"No way. You take the bed."
"Shush, you'll wake her." Ok, so Fiona isn't ok with me as she let on at races when I patched up her car. That was catty.
Of course I can't really blame her. I'd be mad if anyone ever did something that took cars away from Leon or Jesse like we took police work away from Brian and they're like my brothers. I guess I kinda know how she feels. But I don't have to be thrilled about it.
"What do you have against Letty?" Brian was talking now in what I'm sure he thought were his normal tones but due to his intoxicated state was really more like yelling.
"Her and her idiot boyfriend are the reason why you aren't a cop anymore and the reason why Dad is all flipped out at you. What am I supposed to do, fall in love with her?"
"That's not fair! I did what I did. No one made me give Dom my keys. I fucked up Fi and it's not fair for you to blame poor Letty."
They were yelling at each other and now I feel bad for being the reason that two siblings so obviously close to each other are fighting.
"But that idiot Dom was the one breaking the law! And that girl and the rest of them went along with him. I mean, she use to date him. And he just played you into liking him so you'd let him go!"
"So now the truth comes out. You think I'm some sort of idiot that anyone can walk all over?"
"Well, she's living here isn't she? I mean really Brian, you don't even see you should hate them for what they did to you?"
"What they did to me? What about what I did to them?"
"You mean like how you threw away your career and let them all get away, then let them get off the hook for the stupid thing they did? Then gave her a place to stay?"
"How about how I lied to them all, made friends with them all, all with the sole intent of screwing them over?"
"It was your fuckin job to do that Brian!" Fiona shrieked. "You wanted to be a detective just like daddy and that is what detectives do!"
"It wasn't my fuckin job to fall in love with or make love to Dom's sister!" Brian yelled back.
He feels guilty about that part. I can tell. It was more the fact that he fell for Mia when he knew he had no business doing so that was making him upset.
"What!? You did what?"
So Fiona hadn't known about Mia.
"That's right. I started dating Dom's sister under my alias and I fell for her hard. I couldn't detach myself. I love her and it would have killed her to see her brother go to jail again. It would have killed Dom to go and then Letty and Mia would have been lost. I watched Jesse almost get killed. I mean, as far as I knew he did get killed. I watched Vince almost bleed to death and I didn't know if he lived or died either. I could have stopped them. I could have levelled with them and had them stop, warned them they were about to be caught but I didn't. I kept trying to play both sides till the end and because of it a good kid almost died, a man I looked up to almost lost his best friend, the woman I love almost lost her brother and I lost her."
"Brian, you were only doing your job and those people used you to get away with breaking the law. We're not talking about a few street races here Brian; we're talking about stealing millions worth of stuff and assaulting truck drivers."
They were still yelling at each other and it was breaking me down inside. It's all my fault. I stuck my head under my pillow to try and not hear but the walls are pretty much like paper on a boat and nothing I did could save me from hearing them yell at each other. I guess I could turn on my radio but then they'd know I've heard it all and I really don't want that either.
They think I can't hear them I think; they're both so drunk that they think they're being quiet would be my guess. Or, at this point I guess the more likely scenario is they're so into fighting each other they just don't care that I can hear every word.
"You don't know them! You don't know Dom or why he felt he had to do it!"
"He felt he had to do it because he's a greedy bastard who wanted money Brian. Don't go giving this asshole more credit then he deserves!"
I wonder if she knows anything about Dom or if she's just going solely on the whole truck thing.
"Fiona, it's time I told you about Dominic Toretto and his family ok. You don't know shit about him."
"I know what I need to know Brian. He was a petty criminal stealing stuff instead of getting a real job that used you to get out of what he did."
"How about how he lost his dad in a lethal car accident when he was just a kid and had to watch him burn to death? How that left him only 20 and raising his 16 year old sister? Then how he saw the guy who caused the accident a week later and ended up having words with him that turned into a fight that left Dom doing two years for assault not knowing who was going to take care of Mia. Or Letty, whom Dom's father had been raising since she was 10 since her own parents couldn't be bothered?"
I wonder who told Brian about that. Well, on second thought it would be Mia.
"That's a sad story Brian but it wasn't your fault any of that happened and there were other things he could have done that didn't involve highway robbery."
Fiona was still screaming at her brother. I was still wishing the floor would just open up and let me fall into a world where I didn't have to hear them yell at each other about me.
"You don't know what it's like to have a little sister to take care of Sis, but I do. And I know where Dom was coming from. He got banned off the tracks for life because of the mistakes he made and that was the only thing he ever wanted to do with his life, so he turned to street racing. But it's an expensive thing to be into as you know. And Dom had his own car to worry about plus Letty's and Vince's and plus he took in Jesse and Leon when they had no where else to go. And Mia's so smart, he always wanted her to go to med school and that was gonna cost money too. And the garage did ok but he knew he could never make enough street racing and running a garage to keep all the cars on the road and send Mia to a good college."
"There are student loans and learning to live on what you can make honestly Brian. They didn't have to do what they did!"
"No, they didn't. But I can also see where Dom was coming from and I didn't have to get in so deep either. I fucked up too and that's why I did what I did. I mean, I had enough evidence to turn them in long before I did but I didn't because I kept hoping that I was wrong. And if I'd turned them in as soon as I was sure then Jesse wouldn't have gotten shot, Vince wouldn't have ended up hurt, Letty wouldn't have ended up hurt, no one would have had to run away."
"God Brian, I don't want to talk about it anymore if you're gonna just refuse to see reason about it. Just don't expect me to approve it any of it, including you having her here. I mean, her attitude stinks. It's her friends and her fault that you lost your job and she acts like she doesn't even care. She's all stuck up, so much attitude."
"No one asked you to approve, and if you just got to know Letty, you'd like her as much as I do. She's not all attitude, she's a very nice person who's been through a hell of a lot of shit in the last few weeks."
"Whatever. Good night."
"Yeah, 'night."
I guess they decided that Brian should have his bed because I heard him sigh in his room a few minutes later.
Man my life is fucked up. First Dom leaves me, then I leave California, then I find Brian, but then I get this fucked up test from Tej, then I get to race and win, but then I find out Brian has a sister who hates me and now they're fighting and it's all my fault. Not to mention I beat the face off Brian's friend and he's gonna find out about that tomorrow I'm sure. Then he'll be mad at me too. Not that he didn't have reasons before that.
I want Van. Whenever things got messed up in my life before he died he always knew what to do or what to say. He'd know just what to do to make this better. Of course if he hadn't died then none of this ever would have happened because Dom would be racing on the track not in the street and we never would have pulled the whole truck heists anyway.
But now here's Brian, who's been nothing but good to me since I got here and because of me he's fighting with his little sister who he obviously loves very much. I told myself I shouldn't care, that it's not really my fault or my problem. But I do care. I don't want to see them fighting and I don't want to see her knowing that all the while she's thinking about how much she hates me inside.
The more I think about it the sadder I get. And the sadder I get the more hopeless my whole life looks. And then I start to cry. And once I start I can't stop. And when I can't stop I get even more upset and I start to cry harder. And then I get worried that someone will hear and I try to be quiet. And the more I try to be quiet the louder I am.
I still had my head under my pillow and I was trying so hard to be quiet that I guess I missed the door to my room opening. So when the bed dipped down under someone's weight it sort of scared me a bit and I gasped.
"Sush Letty. It's ok." Brian started rubbing my back. "You have another nightmare?"
I shook my head no without thinking then wished I could take it back. Brian was gonna put two and two together and realize I'd heard them. I made a pathetic sort of gaspy noise that people make when they try to stop crying. I was so ashamed of myself for sounding like a whiney kid.
"Oh god, you heard everything didn't you?" Brian's even quicker then I though.
I nodded yes since he already knows and why else would I be crying. Brian lay down behind me and put his arms around me, resting his chin on my head.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that Reina. I wish you hadn't."
"I'm sorry for making you and you sister fight." I stammered out.
"You didn't make us fight Lett. It's all on her and I. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"No, she's right. The mess you're in is all our fault. If Dom hadn't been doing what he was doing and if the rest of us hadn't gone along with him then none of this would have happened."
"Maybe Let, maybe not. No one will ever know for sure. And the mess I'm in is all my own fault. Letty, I had a job to do and I didn't do it. You guys didn't make me do that, I just did it. I shouldn't have made friends with you guys for real, I shouldn't have fallen for Mia, and when those things started to happen I should have gotten out. I didn't and I knew better. So everyone made mistakes girl."
"But everything is so messed up and it's mostly my fault. If I hadn't been such a bitch to Dom maybe he wouldn't have broken up with me."
"Letty." Brian said my name on a sigh. "I really believe that Dom just wanted to try and save you some pain. He knew he was hurting you and he wanted to try and stop. I don't think he decided he didn't love you anymore."
"I miss him so much. Him and V and Jesse and Leon and Mia. I'm lost without them." I was so upset it was making me say things I would not normally have admitted to.
"I know you do girl. But you're gonna be ok. It's ok to be upset about this whole situation Letty. I mean, you lost your whole family in one day and now you're here in the middle of strangers. It's ok to feel out of place. It'll get better. You got me and I know that Rome would do anything for you."
"I know I got you Brian, and it's the only thing keeping me sane."
"It'll look better in the morning Let. Try to get some sleep. I'm sorry you had to hear the fight. I know you got enough of it back home without hearing me and Fi go at it too."
"S'ok." I slurred, already starting to succumb to the comfort of having Brian comfort me and the warmth of his arms holding me.
"You want me to stay with you till you fall asleep?" Brian asked.
"Yeah." I answered him in a small voice.
"Ok. Good night Reina, I'll see you in the morning."
The last thing I remember is Brian giving me a sisterly kiss on the top of my head as I fell asleep.
"You think you know what you're doing?" Fiona asked.
"Yeah. This is what I do." I told her, trying to play nice.
"Be my guest." She offered, still not in the most polite tone she could have used and got up from her crouching position beside her car.
I hit the ground on my stomach and looked under her car. Her exhaust system slipped a hanger and ended up dragging on the ground, that's what caused the sparks. But since the metal hanger broke off I couldn't fix it right there at races. Not to mention that the pipe was all ground up and flattened. The section of pipe was going to need to be replaced. I looked up at her.
"Exhaust broke a hanger when you landed. I'll wire it up for you so you can drive the car but you'll need to bring it into the garage so someone can replace the section of pipe that's all flattened now."
"Is it safe to drive?" She looked concerned.
"Oh yeah, it's fine to drive. But that flattened part of the pipe is going to restrict your exhaust flow so you're going to lose some horsepower till you get it fixed. It's a Racing Beat exhaust right?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"My Ex has an RX-7 and he swears they make the only exhaust for rotary engines worth having."
She looked momentarily pissed off at me. I guess she knows my ex is Dominic and she doesn't want the reminder of him and what he did.
"So, in that case, do you know anyone who knows what they're doing to work on the damn thing? I can't find a single person who knows about how rotary engines work. And I don't have a clue. I just like to race. I'm never going to be on anyone's pit crew."
"Well, I know a lot about them. I helped D..." I sort of trailed off, not wanting to use his name, "my ex, build his the last time it ate an apex seal and I use to help him all the time with working on it so I guess I'm as close to an expert this side of him you're gonna find. I don't know what Jimmy might know about them though."
"Well, this car is the one thing that has poor Jimmy stumped. He says he doesn't get and doesn't want to." Fiona giggled.
"He's not alone. My best friend Vee, he always says the same thing. 'Fucken thing looks like a Doritos spinning inside an egg. I don't know who the fuck dreamed that up and I don't wanna. Give me pounding pistons any day. 'Least I get what the fuck that's about!' and then he'd leer at me like you know...pounding pistons." I laughed and surprise surprise she joined me. "And my answer to that is always to lean on Dom's car with the engine bonnet open and ask in a, like, dirty voice 'Wanna touch my Wankel?"
I started to laugh but Fiona looked confused.
"I don't really get that part." She admitted, surprising me.
"Well the guy who invented the rotary engine was Mr Felix Wankel, so it's also called a Wankel engine sometimes. It's just a dirty sounding word and it always cracks the whole team up when I say it." She laughed and I could tell she really got it. She's a sharp one.
Then I got sad because when I say that Dom always comes up to me and leans in close while he stands between my legs and whispers to me 'I wanna touch your wankel' and winks. And then I move aside and say 'ok, touch my wankel, it needs an oil change.' And he laughs every time.
Of course he's always trying to get me to do his oil changes and I'm always telling him to do it his own damn self.
"What's wrong?" Fiona asked me after a minute. She looked concerned.
"Nothin, just remembering. So," I got back to the business at hand. "let's find some wire and get this bad boy back on the road for you huh?"
"Ok, where can I find wire?"
I rolled onto my back and fished in my pocket. I pulled out my always present length of mechanics wire.
"Right here." I rolled back over and used the wire to tie her exhaust up off the ground. "Now don't forget to bring that by so we can figure out if we can fix it or if we have to order a replacement pipe from Mazdatrix. Oh, and racing's out till you get that fixed up more solid then just held up with a piece of wire, aiight?"
"Sure, I understand. Thanks." Fiona offered.
"Don't mention it." I replied and with a slightly forced smile I walked away. Tej walked up to me a moment later.
"You gonna race again? I got more people that want to run you then I can count girl. That's off the chain. What did you do to that car to make it run like that anyway?"
"Yeah, I'll race again. And what I did to my car to make it run like that is my secret and always will be. A girl can't just show anyone what she has under the hood." I winked and he laughed.
"I get ya girl but dayum, you're gonna know everything under my hood."
I nodded with a smile, and then remembered something I wanted to tell Tej before any more racing took place.
"Oh, and you betta not ever pull a stunt like that bridge thing again without telling me or you might find yourself eating your teeth." I smiled my sweetest smile to show I wasn't kidding and started to walk away. Much to my surprise Tej just let me go.
I walked over to my car and started to check over the recordings the computer had made during the last race.
Based on what I learned I really didn't think I should run the car more then one or two more times. I was going to have to call it a night after two more races no matter how many other people Tej had that wanted to race.
"I don't know how you beat me but let me assure you it won't happen again!" Suki walked up to my window and started running her mouth right off.
I was straight up not taking it any more.
"I beat you because I'm fuckin better then you and it'll happen again and again and again if you're stupid enough to ever race me again." I didn't even look up from my computer at her. I just told her off while I looked at the screen.
"You cheated in some way. No way you're better then me." Suki scoffed at me.
"Yeah, I cheated. Like how? I mean, NOS isn't cheating, boost isn't cheating, being good at racing isn't cheating. You're not in my league. Just get over it and get back in your hot pink excuse for a car and find some little racer boys that want to give you their money for a chance to see you make out with their girlfriends. Because you have to be better at that then you are at racing."
She gasped at that. I'm pretty bitchy when I'm riled.
"You got some nerve comin up in here like you're a somebody and then thinking you can out race me."
"Well, Brian and Rome both seem to think I'm somebody and I just proved I can race you."
She went to speak and I shushed her.
"Don't speak." I finally looked her in the eye. "Just try to find some measure of ladylikeness in yourself and walk away now."
"Did you tell me to shut up?" Suki looked like that surely wasn't possible.
"Yeah, I told you to shut the fuck up and get the fuck away from me and my car."
She leaned in the open window and slapped me. God, I mean, she bitch slapped me.
I got up out of my car and then looked down at her. She didn't look scared. Well, good for her. But it was stupid too. Because I was about to show her why she should have been. I decked her, catching her in the eye.
She gasped and came at me. She tried to slap me again. So I hit her again.
"Come on, you're out of your league in fighting me too, just like racin me. That the best you can do?" I taunted as she tried to scratch me. I punched her again and split her lip open.
By that time a crowd had gathered and while most of them were just cheering us on some of them looked concerned. Isn't it always the way that most men get thrilled when girls fight? Why does two chicks fighting get them off?
Like it finally occurred to someone that we were really fighting and I was kicking the shit out of Suki someone must have gone to get Tej. He came running up with Jimmy and pulled us apart.
"You two need to leave it on the blacktop." Tej lectured us.
"You need to tell it to your girl." I told him. "She came up to my car after our race and started running her mouth. It had nothing to do with me. Then when I told her to bounce she slapped me."
"Whatever. No fighting in public when you both represent my garage. Got it?" Tej really wasn't happy. Likely because miss perfect got her ass handed to her on the street and after.
"Yeah." I agreed and so did Suki.
I did race two more times against three other guys each time and I won each time. This circuit racing thing was fun. It was a bigger challenge then running a car down a straight quarter mile stretch and just going as fast as you could, that was for sure. Plus it helped that I was still pissed off and high on adrenaline from my win and my fight.
By the time the other two races were done I was done too. I just wanted to go home to bed. I was still going to put in at least 8 hours on the Acura the next day and I was ready for sleeping. I was also upset about the fight I'd had with Suki. While it had felt good to kick her ass, it also made me think of Mr. Marks and what he'd told me.
'There are always going to be people who don't like you, who get 'in your face'. You can not beat up every last one of them.'
'You must learn to control that temper if you're ever going to make something of yourself.'
'When you have something everyone else wants you must accept the fact that others will try to take it from you. Have enough confidence in yourself to just let it slide.'
Here I was still fighting out my battles with my fists not my mind. But I had made something of myself so he wasn't totally right about me either. I shook my head and looked around through weary eyes. I was both physically exhausted and emotionally drained. Soul searching is hard work.
I saw Brian talking to his sister off to one side and it looked deep. Brian looked my way a few times. I hate thinking they're talking about me. I shouldn't care but it makes me wonder what they're saying. I decided to head out before I had to think about it more. I've had enough emotion for a year. I went looking for Tej, figuring he could tell everyone where I was if they asked.
I found Rome instead. Or should I say he found me.
"Hey girl. I guess you weren't kidden when you said you were a good racer huh?"
"Nope. It's what I do. I build the cars I race the cars. That's about all there is to me."
"That's a bit oversimplified don't ya think?"
"Not really, no. So, I'm headed home, just wanted to let someone know so ya'll don't hang around looking for me later whenever you all leave."
"You're not gonna come party at Tej's? I mean, you won all three of the races. You have to come to the party." Rome looked disappointed.
"Man, I'm so tired. I gotta get to bed. I have at least 8 hours worth of work to do to the Acura tomorrow."
"Knock off the Acura for tomorrow and then you can come party with us since you won. I mean, you're ahead of schedule on the Acura anyway so it's not like you can't afford to take a day off."
"Ahead of schedule now doesn't mean that something won't go horribly horribly wrong tomorrow or the next day and set me behind schedule. I want the car ready to go to the body shop by the end of tomorrow so I can start on the engine."
"Aw girl..." Rome started to whine then the ringing in my pants pocket cut him off. I forgot to turn off the damn cell phone. Now I guess I should answer it.
"'Cuse me." I said to Rome and answered the call. "'Lo?"
"Letty?" Jesse asked.
"Hey Jess. How's it goin?"
"Fine. How's the car? Everything ok? Did it work alright? Is it still in one piece?"
"The car is fine, everything is fine, it worked fine, it's still in one piece just fine." I laughed.
"That's good to know." Jesse did sound relieved. "Don't forget to take it right back down to where it was boost wise."
"God Jesse I know I know. I'm not going to ruin my own ride you know."
"I know Letty. But I was worried. So how'd your race go? Did you beat the girl?"
"Yeah. I raced three times and won all three."
"Wow, you got in three races and no cops came?"
"Yeah, things work a little different here."
"So, what's this girl you were so worried about drive?"
"A Honda s2000." I kicked myself as soon as it left my mouth. Jesse is still a bit, well, strange over the whole Tran thing. He still worries about what his dad will do when he finds out what happened to the Jetta. Jesse hasn't been able to fix it and he won't let anyone else do it. "I'm sorry Jess."
"It's ok Lett. It's the car you raced right? They didn't stop making those cars just because I had a bad experience."
"Sometimes you surprise me Kiddo. Yeah, it's what she drove. But guess what? The fricken thing is hot pink with an anime portrait of the chick on the side."
"No shit?"
"For real."
"Why were you worried about beating her then? I mean, a hot pink car?"
"She's not bad. She wasn't far behind me."
"So what other cars did you race?"
"An RX-7, an eclipse spyder, a supra, another RX-7, an Evo, an Acura Integra, a WRX, and a 350z."
"Wow, that's an alright line up."
"Yep. But I beat em all."
"Ok Letty, I'll let you go now, I just wanted to remind you to fix the car before you drove it again."
"Thanks Jess. I'll talk to you soon. Bye."
I hung up.
"So who's Jesse?" Rome asked.
"A friend." I didn't want to talk about my team to Brian's team right then.
"Oh, so he helped you do that crazy shit to your car did he."
"Yeah." I guess Rome didn't want to take the hint. "You ever heard Brian talk about 'The Mad Scientist'?"
"Yeah, the 'if this guy can't make the car do it then it can't be done' guy?"
"Yeah, him. Well, that's Jesse."
"Ah." Rome got it.
"Well, I'm out. See you guys tomorrow. Tell Bri where I went if you see him would you?"
"Sure."
And with that Rome let me leave after giving me an enigmatic look.
I went home and went to bed. I hadn't been kidding when I told Rome I was tired and needed sleep before I got up tomorrow to go to work. Just because I was ahead of the game right then didn't mean that I couldn't fall behind somehow and miss my deadline.
I had been thinking about the design for the NSX since I sort of convinced Tej to let me do it and it was really important to me. If I didn't get to do it I was going to be really upset about it. I was willing to not have much of a life till it was done. It was a sacrifice but I was learning a lot about myself as I did it.
That's why I'm here after all so I may as well make the most of it.
I guess I fell asleep right after because before I knew it voices in the boat were waking me up. I checked the clock and it was 4am.
"You have my bed and I'll sleep on the couch." I heard Brian try to whisper. I guess he must be drunk because the whispering thing was not working out for him.
"I'll take the couch, you sleep in your bed." His sister 'whispered' back. She wasn't exactly sober either I don't think. I envy them both. I would have loved to go get drunk instead of heading home to bed like I had. I haven't been really drunk in a long time. It would be a great stress reliever.
"No way. You take the bed."
"Shush, you'll wake her." Ok, so Fiona isn't ok with me as she let on at races when I patched up her car. That was catty.
Of course I can't really blame her. I'd be mad if anyone ever did something that took cars away from Leon or Jesse like we took police work away from Brian and they're like my brothers. I guess I kinda know how she feels. But I don't have to be thrilled about it.
"What do you have against Letty?" Brian was talking now in what I'm sure he thought were his normal tones but due to his intoxicated state was really more like yelling.
"Her and her idiot boyfriend are the reason why you aren't a cop anymore and the reason why Dad is all flipped out at you. What am I supposed to do, fall in love with her?"
"That's not fair! I did what I did. No one made me give Dom my keys. I fucked up Fi and it's not fair for you to blame poor Letty."
They were yelling at each other and now I feel bad for being the reason that two siblings so obviously close to each other are fighting.
"But that idiot Dom was the one breaking the law! And that girl and the rest of them went along with him. I mean, she use to date him. And he just played you into liking him so you'd let him go!"
"So now the truth comes out. You think I'm some sort of idiot that anyone can walk all over?"
"Well, she's living here isn't she? I mean really Brian, you don't even see you should hate them for what they did to you?"
"What they did to me? What about what I did to them?"
"You mean like how you threw away your career and let them all get away, then let them get off the hook for the stupid thing they did? Then gave her a place to stay?"
"How about how I lied to them all, made friends with them all, all with the sole intent of screwing them over?"
"It was your fuckin job to do that Brian!" Fiona shrieked. "You wanted to be a detective just like daddy and that is what detectives do!"
"It wasn't my fuckin job to fall in love with or make love to Dom's sister!" Brian yelled back.
He feels guilty about that part. I can tell. It was more the fact that he fell for Mia when he knew he had no business doing so that was making him upset.
"What!? You did what?"
So Fiona hadn't known about Mia.
"That's right. I started dating Dom's sister under my alias and I fell for her hard. I couldn't detach myself. I love her and it would have killed her to see her brother go to jail again. It would have killed Dom to go and then Letty and Mia would have been lost. I watched Jesse almost get killed. I mean, as far as I knew he did get killed. I watched Vince almost bleed to death and I didn't know if he lived or died either. I could have stopped them. I could have levelled with them and had them stop, warned them they were about to be caught but I didn't. I kept trying to play both sides till the end and because of it a good kid almost died, a man I looked up to almost lost his best friend, the woman I love almost lost her brother and I lost her."
"Brian, you were only doing your job and those people used you to get away with breaking the law. We're not talking about a few street races here Brian; we're talking about stealing millions worth of stuff and assaulting truck drivers."
They were still yelling at each other and it was breaking me down inside. It's all my fault. I stuck my head under my pillow to try and not hear but the walls are pretty much like paper on a boat and nothing I did could save me from hearing them yell at each other. I guess I could turn on my radio but then they'd know I've heard it all and I really don't want that either.
They think I can't hear them I think; they're both so drunk that they think they're being quiet would be my guess. Or, at this point I guess the more likely scenario is they're so into fighting each other they just don't care that I can hear every word.
"You don't know them! You don't know Dom or why he felt he had to do it!"
"He felt he had to do it because he's a greedy bastard who wanted money Brian. Don't go giving this asshole more credit then he deserves!"
I wonder if she knows anything about Dom or if she's just going solely on the whole truck thing.
"Fiona, it's time I told you about Dominic Toretto and his family ok. You don't know shit about him."
"I know what I need to know Brian. He was a petty criminal stealing stuff instead of getting a real job that used you to get out of what he did."
"How about how he lost his dad in a lethal car accident when he was just a kid and had to watch him burn to death? How that left him only 20 and raising his 16 year old sister? Then how he saw the guy who caused the accident a week later and ended up having words with him that turned into a fight that left Dom doing two years for assault not knowing who was going to take care of Mia. Or Letty, whom Dom's father had been raising since she was 10 since her own parents couldn't be bothered?"
I wonder who told Brian about that. Well, on second thought it would be Mia.
"That's a sad story Brian but it wasn't your fault any of that happened and there were other things he could have done that didn't involve highway robbery."
Fiona was still screaming at her brother. I was still wishing the floor would just open up and let me fall into a world where I didn't have to hear them yell at each other about me.
"You don't know what it's like to have a little sister to take care of Sis, but I do. And I know where Dom was coming from. He got banned off the tracks for life because of the mistakes he made and that was the only thing he ever wanted to do with his life, so he turned to street racing. But it's an expensive thing to be into as you know. And Dom had his own car to worry about plus Letty's and Vince's and plus he took in Jesse and Leon when they had no where else to go. And Mia's so smart, he always wanted her to go to med school and that was gonna cost money too. And the garage did ok but he knew he could never make enough street racing and running a garage to keep all the cars on the road and send Mia to a good college."
"There are student loans and learning to live on what you can make honestly Brian. They didn't have to do what they did!"
"No, they didn't. But I can also see where Dom was coming from and I didn't have to get in so deep either. I fucked up too and that's why I did what I did. I mean, I had enough evidence to turn them in long before I did but I didn't because I kept hoping that I was wrong. And if I'd turned them in as soon as I was sure then Jesse wouldn't have gotten shot, Vince wouldn't have ended up hurt, Letty wouldn't have ended up hurt, no one would have had to run away."
"God Brian, I don't want to talk about it anymore if you're gonna just refuse to see reason about it. Just don't expect me to approve it any of it, including you having her here. I mean, her attitude stinks. It's her friends and her fault that you lost your job and she acts like she doesn't even care. She's all stuck up, so much attitude."
"No one asked you to approve, and if you just got to know Letty, you'd like her as much as I do. She's not all attitude, she's a very nice person who's been through a hell of a lot of shit in the last few weeks."
"Whatever. Good night."
"Yeah, 'night."
I guess they decided that Brian should have his bed because I heard him sigh in his room a few minutes later.
Man my life is fucked up. First Dom leaves me, then I leave California, then I find Brian, but then I get this fucked up test from Tej, then I get to race and win, but then I find out Brian has a sister who hates me and now they're fighting and it's all my fault. Not to mention I beat the face off Brian's friend and he's gonna find out about that tomorrow I'm sure. Then he'll be mad at me too. Not that he didn't have reasons before that.
I want Van. Whenever things got messed up in my life before he died he always knew what to do or what to say. He'd know just what to do to make this better. Of course if he hadn't died then none of this ever would have happened because Dom would be racing on the track not in the street and we never would have pulled the whole truck heists anyway.
But now here's Brian, who's been nothing but good to me since I got here and because of me he's fighting with his little sister who he obviously loves very much. I told myself I shouldn't care, that it's not really my fault or my problem. But I do care. I don't want to see them fighting and I don't want to see her knowing that all the while she's thinking about how much she hates me inside.
The more I think about it the sadder I get. And the sadder I get the more hopeless my whole life looks. And then I start to cry. And once I start I can't stop. And when I can't stop I get even more upset and I start to cry harder. And then I get worried that someone will hear and I try to be quiet. And the more I try to be quiet the louder I am.
I still had my head under my pillow and I was trying so hard to be quiet that I guess I missed the door to my room opening. So when the bed dipped down under someone's weight it sort of scared me a bit and I gasped.
"Sush Letty. It's ok." Brian started rubbing my back. "You have another nightmare?"
I shook my head no without thinking then wished I could take it back. Brian was gonna put two and two together and realize I'd heard them. I made a pathetic sort of gaspy noise that people make when they try to stop crying. I was so ashamed of myself for sounding like a whiney kid.
"Oh god, you heard everything didn't you?" Brian's even quicker then I though.
I nodded yes since he already knows and why else would I be crying. Brian lay down behind me and put his arms around me, resting his chin on my head.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that Reina. I wish you hadn't."
"I'm sorry for making you and you sister fight." I stammered out.
"You didn't make us fight Lett. It's all on her and I. You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"No, she's right. The mess you're in is all our fault. If Dom hadn't been doing what he was doing and if the rest of us hadn't gone along with him then none of this would have happened."
"Maybe Let, maybe not. No one will ever know for sure. And the mess I'm in is all my own fault. Letty, I had a job to do and I didn't do it. You guys didn't make me do that, I just did it. I shouldn't have made friends with you guys for real, I shouldn't have fallen for Mia, and when those things started to happen I should have gotten out. I didn't and I knew better. So everyone made mistakes girl."
"But everything is so messed up and it's mostly my fault. If I hadn't been such a bitch to Dom maybe he wouldn't have broken up with me."
"Letty." Brian said my name on a sigh. "I really believe that Dom just wanted to try and save you some pain. He knew he was hurting you and he wanted to try and stop. I don't think he decided he didn't love you anymore."
"I miss him so much. Him and V and Jesse and Leon and Mia. I'm lost without them." I was so upset it was making me say things I would not normally have admitted to.
"I know you do girl. But you're gonna be ok. It's ok to be upset about this whole situation Letty. I mean, you lost your whole family in one day and now you're here in the middle of strangers. It's ok to feel out of place. It'll get better. You got me and I know that Rome would do anything for you."
"I know I got you Brian, and it's the only thing keeping me sane."
"It'll look better in the morning Let. Try to get some sleep. I'm sorry you had to hear the fight. I know you got enough of it back home without hearing me and Fi go at it too."
"S'ok." I slurred, already starting to succumb to the comfort of having Brian comfort me and the warmth of his arms holding me.
"You want me to stay with you till you fall asleep?" Brian asked.
"Yeah." I answered him in a small voice.
"Ok. Good night Reina, I'll see you in the morning."
The last thing I remember is Brian giving me a sisterly kiss on the top of my head as I fell asleep.