Chapter 26 – One Catch
We walked up to my car and Rome stood up off my hood.
"Hey." I said to Rome, feeling lame. I was also feeling panic. How was I going to get out of this one? Not only that but how was I going to get the message to Rome not to say anything about Brian to Vince.
"Hey." Rome answered with an almost angry glance at Vince.
"Roman Pierce, Vince Casaletto. Vince, Rome." I introduced them and made a wide eyed face at Rome, trying to make him realize who Vince was. I hoped that if he knew who Vince was he'd know it was important not to mention Brian. "I work with Rome at the garage I told you about." I told Vince. "And Vince is one of my friends from L.A. I told you about." I explained to Rome, hoping it would be enough for him to know not to say anything.
The guys shook hands.
"Nice to meet you." Rome told Vince.
"Same." Vince told Rome and it wasn't the nicest thing he's ever said. His tone left something to be desired.
"We got worried when you never came back from lunch. It's not like you to take off for so long." Rome told me, gaze unreadable.
"I ran into Vince here and lost track of time. Is Tej pissed?"
"Naw girl, you hardly take breaks or lunches. You could take a day off and Tej wouldn't get pissed."
I smiled. "Vince, how'd you get here? Can I give you a lift somewhere before I go back to work?"
"You're gonna blow me off that fast Letty? I just got here. Your friend Rome here says that you could take a day off and no one would care. Show me around the place and where you stay."
"Veeeeee." I whined. He had to be pushy. He's the most stubborn guy I've ever met. He never gives. He's like a dog with a bone, he won't give up till he gets his way. He just looked at me, waiting for me to give in and give him his way.
"Will you be home later Letty? I wanted to ask you something." Rome told me.
Not now Rome, I wanted to say. That would just make Vince even more curious to know what was up.
"Yeah, I'm sure I will be."
"Ok, well I'll call you later." I let Rome walk away till he was to his car, then I called after him.
"One sec!" I told Rome and turned to Vince. "Wait here one second. I forgot something."
I ran up to Rome and Vince stood his ground with his arms crossed. He didn't approve of me knowing Rome but I didn't really care. My life was finally only my own.
"Rome, I don't know what I'm gonna do but he can't know I stay with Brian. He'll kill him. Can you warn Bri he's in town and tell Bri to call me on my cell? He just showed up out of the blue and I don't know what I'm gonna do."
I think Rome could tell how panicked I was getting about the whole situation.
"I'll go back and find Brian. He was talking about taking a trip down to his parents with Fi anyway to try and smooth things over, maybe now would be a good time for him to do that."
"That would be perfect. But go talk to him and have him call me please."
"Can do Let. I'll see you at the garage later anyway. Don't kill yourself over that stupid car."
"I won't. Thanks for everything Rome."
"No sweat." With a quick tug on my hair Rome got in his car and left. I walked back up to Vince.
"Ok Coyote, let's go."
"Where we goin?"
"To see Miami of course. Isn't that what you said you wanted to do?"
"Yeah. But you're forgetting the whole see where you work and live part."
"Well, first we'll see Miami then I'll call home and tell B I want to have someone over."
"Why can't we just show up?" Vince was seeing through all the holes in my story and it was pissing me off.
"Because it's his place and I stay with him. I don't want to just show up and have the place be a mess or something."
"Let, you've seen my room. I don't think a mess is likely to bother me."
True that. Vince lived in some sort of chaos that was organized only to him. He knew where everything was but it looked like a twister came into his room and dumped everything everywhere on the floor. He would not notice what constituted a mess to the average person.
"Yeah, ok, but it will bother me."
"Fine. Where are the good clubs and where does racing happen?"
"There are good clubs everywhere and racing happens in a warehouse district. Why do you care? You didn't bring your car."
"No but you have this."
"You are not racing Ray." He made a pouty face at me. "No, get the idea out of that thick skull right now."
"Leeetttt."
"Don't Let me. You wanted to race you shoulda brought the Maxima."
"Yeah I shoulda. You know Jesse has it down to 11 seconds? He keeps that up it will run 9's."
"No shit. 11 seconds? Dom having kittens yet?"
Vince laughed. "Yeah, but he hid it behind his wall of 'still can't touch me coyote' calm."
I laughed. "You'll never be able to take him anyway Vince. Car could run 5's and he'd still win."
"I know that Letty. Being best at racing is one thing I wouldn't take away from him no matter what. Not even if I could. Everything else he has is fair game." Vince chuckled.
"Everything?" I cocked one eyebrow.
"Yeah. We been like that since we were kids. You know that."
"You ever think about taking me from him?" I asked, slyly. I mean he said everything.
"Once or twice." Vince said and chuckled. "Just to show him I could do it if I wanted to."
"No offence Vee but you couldn't have, not even if you wanted to."
"I know." Vince answered, serious. Then he answered me to lighten the mood. "But Dom don't know that. Let's keep it that way."
"Ok. A little healthy competition never hurt anyone. So, how's everyone else?"
"Well, Leon's adjusting ok. The kid misses you a lot. Mia's in a funk and I don't know what to do about it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's not like Mia to be depressed like she has been. I know how hard 'the asshole' being a cop and leaving her hit her but she wasn't this depressed over it till you left. But hell, you two haven't been separated for more then a day since you met."
"I know. I miss her too. This girl at my work hates me so I have no girls around to talk to."
"Then just come home."
"Vince. Is this gonna turn into a whole let's harass Letty into coming home fest? Cause if so you may as well just go home now. It won't work."
"But Letty, nothing is right when you're not around."
"If I could go home and just be on the team then I would V. But I can't be around him and not be his girl right now. I was with him too long to get use to not being with him while he's right there talking to me every day."
"But he misses you too."
"Vince, when he called here he told me to come home because you guys missed me. If he can't even admit he misses me how can he be ready for the kind of serious relationship I need if I come back?"
"He's hurting that you left Let. You know how he is when he's hurting. He just tries to act like everything is fine."
"Yeah, well, this time he has to learn to talk to me about what's going on in that thick skull and let me in on what's up. I can't live my life guessing how he feels and trying to anger him into showing me he even has feelings."
"It's always been the main trouble the two of you had, you having too much emotion too close to the surface and him not enough."
"I don't even see it that way Vince. I don't like to let on when people hurt me either, but I still don't try to pretend that evything is fine all the time."
"I know Letty. Is that what it will take for you to come back? For Dom to admit he missed you."
"And wants me back for himself, yes. Not that he wants me back because the shop doesn't work as well when I'm not in it or because you guys and Mia need me. He needs to admit he wants me back because he really needs me too."
"I guess I understand."
"V, how could you understand that when you never had a girl in your life for longer then 8 hours?"
"Shut up!" Vince yelled and messed up my hair. I pulled up to the beach and boardwalk. We got out of the car. "Where are we?"
"The beach. I though you weren't stupid."
"There's a lot of bikini's here." Vince observed as we walked.
"No Vince, there are a lot of nice looking girls in bikinis. Maybe that's why you can't get a girl. That and that scruffy beard and hairdo."
"I could have any girl I wanted back home and you know it."
"I know no such thing." We were gonna keep fighting about it but then my normal cell went off. I pulled it out and answered it.
"'Lo?" I answered the call.
"Hey Reina. I guess you got some mess on your hands huh?"
"You can say that again B."
"I'm gonna do what Rome suggested and go home to talk to my mom and dad. I like having my face in the shape it is now."
"I understand."
"There's a catch."
"How's that?"
"Fi won't come with me. She says I have to do it on my own. She's gonna stay here in my room."
"Oh crap. Will she..." I couldn't say anything in front of Vince.
"She knows not to tell him who I am or who she really is yes. She's fine with it."
"I can't see her being fine with it since she hates me but it's good that it's settled." I was still trying to be vague in front of Vince.
"It'll be fine. You can even offer Vince our couch if you want. There's nothing around that would tell him who I am. I was very careful of that when I moved in and was still on the run from the cops."
"What about Tej and the others?"
"They call me Bullit most of the time anyway and I can tell them not to say anything about who I am so they don't. But he wouldn't be up at the shop much anyway would he?"
"Depends. Might want to be."
"Well, I'll remind them and if it gets out then it does and we'll deal. Ok?"
"Sounds good B. Sorry to hear about that." I was setting up to tell Vince that 'B' had a family emergency and wouldn't be around. I closed the cell.
"Who was that?" Vince asked in general curiosity.
"That was B. He has a family emergency and has to go home right away. He's sorry he's gonna miss you, but says that if you don't have anywhere better to stay you can use our couch. But his sister has to stay with us too, but she'll stay in his room."
"Isn't that convenient? That he has to leave the day I want to meet him."
"He couldn't help it Vince. Damn, do you have a place to stay or do you want our couch?"
"I'll take the couch."
"Where's your stuff?"
"Airport."
"Let's go get it then." I told Vince and we headed back down the boardwalk for the car.
This might just work out ok after all.
We walked up to my car and Rome stood up off my hood.
"Hey." I said to Rome, feeling lame. I was also feeling panic. How was I going to get out of this one? Not only that but how was I going to get the message to Rome not to say anything about Brian to Vince.
"Hey." Rome answered with an almost angry glance at Vince.
"Roman Pierce, Vince Casaletto. Vince, Rome." I introduced them and made a wide eyed face at Rome, trying to make him realize who Vince was. I hoped that if he knew who Vince was he'd know it was important not to mention Brian. "I work with Rome at the garage I told you about." I told Vince. "And Vince is one of my friends from L.A. I told you about." I explained to Rome, hoping it would be enough for him to know not to say anything.
The guys shook hands.
"Nice to meet you." Rome told Vince.
"Same." Vince told Rome and it wasn't the nicest thing he's ever said. His tone left something to be desired.
"We got worried when you never came back from lunch. It's not like you to take off for so long." Rome told me, gaze unreadable.
"I ran into Vince here and lost track of time. Is Tej pissed?"
"Naw girl, you hardly take breaks or lunches. You could take a day off and Tej wouldn't get pissed."
I smiled. "Vince, how'd you get here? Can I give you a lift somewhere before I go back to work?"
"You're gonna blow me off that fast Letty? I just got here. Your friend Rome here says that you could take a day off and no one would care. Show me around the place and where you stay."
"Veeeeee." I whined. He had to be pushy. He's the most stubborn guy I've ever met. He never gives. He's like a dog with a bone, he won't give up till he gets his way. He just looked at me, waiting for me to give in and give him his way.
"Will you be home later Letty? I wanted to ask you something." Rome told me.
Not now Rome, I wanted to say. That would just make Vince even more curious to know what was up.
"Yeah, I'm sure I will be."
"Ok, well I'll call you later." I let Rome walk away till he was to his car, then I called after him.
"One sec!" I told Rome and turned to Vince. "Wait here one second. I forgot something."
I ran up to Rome and Vince stood his ground with his arms crossed. He didn't approve of me knowing Rome but I didn't really care. My life was finally only my own.
"Rome, I don't know what I'm gonna do but he can't know I stay with Brian. He'll kill him. Can you warn Bri he's in town and tell Bri to call me on my cell? He just showed up out of the blue and I don't know what I'm gonna do."
I think Rome could tell how panicked I was getting about the whole situation.
"I'll go back and find Brian. He was talking about taking a trip down to his parents with Fi anyway to try and smooth things over, maybe now would be a good time for him to do that."
"That would be perfect. But go talk to him and have him call me please."
"Can do Let. I'll see you at the garage later anyway. Don't kill yourself over that stupid car."
"I won't. Thanks for everything Rome."
"No sweat." With a quick tug on my hair Rome got in his car and left. I walked back up to Vince.
"Ok Coyote, let's go."
"Where we goin?"
"To see Miami of course. Isn't that what you said you wanted to do?"
"Yeah. But you're forgetting the whole see where you work and live part."
"Well, first we'll see Miami then I'll call home and tell B I want to have someone over."
"Why can't we just show up?" Vince was seeing through all the holes in my story and it was pissing me off.
"Because it's his place and I stay with him. I don't want to just show up and have the place be a mess or something."
"Let, you've seen my room. I don't think a mess is likely to bother me."
True that. Vince lived in some sort of chaos that was organized only to him. He knew where everything was but it looked like a twister came into his room and dumped everything everywhere on the floor. He would not notice what constituted a mess to the average person.
"Yeah, ok, but it will bother me."
"Fine. Where are the good clubs and where does racing happen?"
"There are good clubs everywhere and racing happens in a warehouse district. Why do you care? You didn't bring your car."
"No but you have this."
"You are not racing Ray." He made a pouty face at me. "No, get the idea out of that thick skull right now."
"Leeetttt."
"Don't Let me. You wanted to race you shoulda brought the Maxima."
"Yeah I shoulda. You know Jesse has it down to 11 seconds? He keeps that up it will run 9's."
"No shit. 11 seconds? Dom having kittens yet?"
Vince laughed. "Yeah, but he hid it behind his wall of 'still can't touch me coyote' calm."
I laughed. "You'll never be able to take him anyway Vince. Car could run 5's and he'd still win."
"I know that Letty. Being best at racing is one thing I wouldn't take away from him no matter what. Not even if I could. Everything else he has is fair game." Vince chuckled.
"Everything?" I cocked one eyebrow.
"Yeah. We been like that since we were kids. You know that."
"You ever think about taking me from him?" I asked, slyly. I mean he said everything.
"Once or twice." Vince said and chuckled. "Just to show him I could do it if I wanted to."
"No offence Vee but you couldn't have, not even if you wanted to."
"I know." Vince answered, serious. Then he answered me to lighten the mood. "But Dom don't know that. Let's keep it that way."
"Ok. A little healthy competition never hurt anyone. So, how's everyone else?"
"Well, Leon's adjusting ok. The kid misses you a lot. Mia's in a funk and I don't know what to do about it."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, it's not like Mia to be depressed like she has been. I know how hard 'the asshole' being a cop and leaving her hit her but she wasn't this depressed over it till you left. But hell, you two haven't been separated for more then a day since you met."
"I know. I miss her too. This girl at my work hates me so I have no girls around to talk to."
"Then just come home."
"Vince. Is this gonna turn into a whole let's harass Letty into coming home fest? Cause if so you may as well just go home now. It won't work."
"But Letty, nothing is right when you're not around."
"If I could go home and just be on the team then I would V. But I can't be around him and not be his girl right now. I was with him too long to get use to not being with him while he's right there talking to me every day."
"But he misses you too."
"Vince, when he called here he told me to come home because you guys missed me. If he can't even admit he misses me how can he be ready for the kind of serious relationship I need if I come back?"
"He's hurting that you left Let. You know how he is when he's hurting. He just tries to act like everything is fine."
"Yeah, well, this time he has to learn to talk to me about what's going on in that thick skull and let me in on what's up. I can't live my life guessing how he feels and trying to anger him into showing me he even has feelings."
"It's always been the main trouble the two of you had, you having too much emotion too close to the surface and him not enough."
"I don't even see it that way Vince. I don't like to let on when people hurt me either, but I still don't try to pretend that evything is fine all the time."
"I know Letty. Is that what it will take for you to come back? For Dom to admit he missed you."
"And wants me back for himself, yes. Not that he wants me back because the shop doesn't work as well when I'm not in it or because you guys and Mia need me. He needs to admit he wants me back because he really needs me too."
"I guess I understand."
"V, how could you understand that when you never had a girl in your life for longer then 8 hours?"
"Shut up!" Vince yelled and messed up my hair. I pulled up to the beach and boardwalk. We got out of the car. "Where are we?"
"The beach. I though you weren't stupid."
"There's a lot of bikini's here." Vince observed as we walked.
"No Vince, there are a lot of nice looking girls in bikinis. Maybe that's why you can't get a girl. That and that scruffy beard and hairdo."
"I could have any girl I wanted back home and you know it."
"I know no such thing." We were gonna keep fighting about it but then my normal cell went off. I pulled it out and answered it.
"'Lo?" I answered the call.
"Hey Reina. I guess you got some mess on your hands huh?"
"You can say that again B."
"I'm gonna do what Rome suggested and go home to talk to my mom and dad. I like having my face in the shape it is now."
"I understand."
"There's a catch."
"How's that?"
"Fi won't come with me. She says I have to do it on my own. She's gonna stay here in my room."
"Oh crap. Will she..." I couldn't say anything in front of Vince.
"She knows not to tell him who I am or who she really is yes. She's fine with it."
"I can't see her being fine with it since she hates me but it's good that it's settled." I was still trying to be vague in front of Vince.
"It'll be fine. You can even offer Vince our couch if you want. There's nothing around that would tell him who I am. I was very careful of that when I moved in and was still on the run from the cops."
"What about Tej and the others?"
"They call me Bullit most of the time anyway and I can tell them not to say anything about who I am so they don't. But he wouldn't be up at the shop much anyway would he?"
"Depends. Might want to be."
"Well, I'll remind them and if it gets out then it does and we'll deal. Ok?"
"Sounds good B. Sorry to hear about that." I was setting up to tell Vince that 'B' had a family emergency and wouldn't be around. I closed the cell.
"Who was that?" Vince asked in general curiosity.
"That was B. He has a family emergency and has to go home right away. He's sorry he's gonna miss you, but says that if you don't have anywhere better to stay you can use our couch. But his sister has to stay with us too, but she'll stay in his room."
"Isn't that convenient? That he has to leave the day I want to meet him."
"He couldn't help it Vince. Damn, do you have a place to stay or do you want our couch?"
"I'll take the couch."
"Where's your stuff?"
"Airport."
"Let's go get it then." I told Vince and we headed back down the boardwalk for the car.
This might just work out ok after all.