Chapter 30 – Sit Down.
I ran into my room and slammed the door closed to get ready. I was taking Vince out to another place I found all on my own. It was far from as classy as the place Rome had taken me to go dancing in. That place had been fun, and I'd had a good time, but it wasn't really my style.
It was too classy, too chintzy, too...well...nice for it to be the kind of club I liked to go out to. I liked clubs where there was sawdust on the floor to make the blood and spilt liquor easier to clean up at the end of the night and the only drinks you could buy were shots of hard liquor and Corona.
I liked clubs that I could go into dressed in my own cargos and a wife- beater and fit right in because in that outfit I looked as tough as the rest of the patrons. It was either that kind of a bar or a place where all the racers and their skanks went to for me. I only liked the latter because it gave me a chance to show off the fact that I was on Dom's arm, not all the skanks who wished they were.
But since I had no Dom tonight, just rough and tumble Vince I knew just the place to go. I knew he'd get a kick out of the place. I pulled on a clean tank top and picked out a pair of leather combat pants.
"What am I supposed to wear Letty?" Vince called through the door of my room.
"Whatever Vince. What you had on would be fine." I yelled back
"So covered in grease goes over well where we're going does it?" Vince called back at me exasperatedly. I just considered it revenge for all the times he said 'food' when I asked him what he wanted to eat.
"No, but you could wear what you had on, if it was clean." I said as I walked out of my room. I walked out of my room to find Vince wearing nothing but his boxer shorts in the living room. "Damn Vince, you wanna give the whole place a free show or something?"
"Well, I got no room to change in, where did you want me to do it?"
"The bathroom might be a good choice V. Shit you're slow by times. Anyone could come by and see you naked in the living room."
"I ain't naked. I got shorts on."
"Not exactly shorts Vince. They your underoos."
"I ain't had underoos since I was 10 Letty. These are Joe Boxers I'll have you know."
"You's lyin I know you's lyin. I saw those superman underwear in your drawer back home one day when I went lookin for your cash." I told him, giggling.
"You bitch!" Vince made a lunge for me, I don't know what he was planning to do to me if he caught me but he was very focused on not letting me go. I was a bit worried at the crazed look in his eyes.
I ran out of the boat and onto the dock, Vince on my heels. Wait a second. This means that Vince is out in public in his underwear. I spun on my heel and just started to laugh. I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face and I was gasping for breath. Vince pulled up short and looked at me like I had two heads, for all of two seconds. That was about when it occurred to him that he was almost naked in public.
The look on his face was priceless. He went to cover his package with his hands, caught himself then put his hands on his hips to hide it. He tried to brazen his way out of the embarrassment he was in at being dressed in almost nothing in public. He slowly scratched his chest, like running around outside in his boxers was something he did every day.
"You went in my room and went through my underwear drawer huh?" Vince asked, a half decent imitation of the Dom 'so angry I'm calm' face in place.
"Yeah. I needed money."
"When was this?"
"I don't remember exactly. I guess it was sometime when Dom was in jail."
"I see. And who did you tell about what you found?"
"No one. I didn't want anyone else to know our tough protector still had superman underoos." I snickered.
"Yeah, well, my...I wanted....I had to...Shut up!" Vince yelled, not able to find a way to explain to me why he still had a pair of underwear from when he was 10.
I noticed then that a bit of a crowd had gathered.
"We should go back inside and finish getting ready V." I said and started past him into the house. He followed me in and as soon as the door was closed he grabbed me and started tickling me like crazy.
I hollered for him to stop for about 10 minutes and then he finally did.
"Now we're even and I can go get ready." Vince said, laughing as he got up off the floor where he'd had me pinned.
"That was a really mean thing to do to me Vince."
"Well, so was going through my underwear drawer." Vince answered and picked out a new pair of jeans from his bag. He pulled them on and then grabbed a clean wife beater and pulled it on over his head. Just then Fiona walked into the room.
"Everything ok? I heard screaming." Fiona looked at us speculatively.
"Yeah, everything's chill." I told her. "I just gave Vince some bad news and he felt the need to tickle me to punish me."
"Ok, good. Tej was sort of worried about who was getting murdered." Fiona actually cracked a smile. Then she looked at me like she was sizing me up. "So, what did you say to Rome that has him so mad? It's not like Ro to get that mad. Not since B-B and him fought back home just after high school." Fiona caught her mistake before she let her brother's name slip, thank god.
"What did I say to him to make him mad?" I asked, getting pissed that this was being put off on me.
"Yeah, he was muttering about Letty this and Letty that all afternoon."
"Yeah well, Letty just told him where he could shove his bull headed accusations and assumptions." I told Fiona and huffed as I put my hands on my hips and tried not to let the genuine upset show. It shouldn't hurt that I'd been tried and convicted without a trial but it did.
"What did he accuse you of?" Fiona asked, looking like she didn't believe her precious 'Ro' could have accused me of doing anything that upsetting if I didn't really do what ever it was.
"Nothing major." I answered her and unwittingly glanced at Vince. Aw shit, now he was gonna know I was pissed at Rome.
"What did that buster say to you?" Vince asked in that same 'I'm so angry I'm calm' voice he'd tried on me earlier.
"Nothin V. Let it go." I answered, and did my best to shake off the bad mood and anger that the knowledge I'd been given had put me in.
"What did that punk say to you!" Vince tried again. "If he said one thing to make you upset I'm gonna go kick his muthafucken ass!" Vince shouted.
"No way Vince. I said let it go. I still wanna go out, let's go. Just let it go V. For me?"
"Ok, only because I wanna go out in this city. I heard it was wild."
"It is, let's go." I took his hand and started to drag him out the door and off the boat. "Let's go! There is a bar you are gonna love somewhere in this city and they have a Corona and Lime with my name on it!" I laughed.
As soon as I started off toward a night of no cares and lots of liquor the whole day started to look up. What Rome had said and what he'd thought didn't matter quite as much and by the time we made the street and flagged down a cab it didn't matter at all. I was gonna get loaded and with Vince by my side I was like as not to get into trouble. I was looking forward to it.
"You look happy all of a sudden." Vince said, his arm along the top of the seat behind my shoulders in the cab.
"You're gonna like this place." I said with a sneaky grin up at Vince.
"Oh yeah?" Vince asked, and I could see the wheels of his head spinning as he tried to figure out why it was he would like this place so much.
"Yeah, it's definitely your kind of bar."
Vince pulled my hair and looked out the window a little absently. "We'll see." Was all he had to say to come back to me about my confidence he'd have a good time. He looked preoccupied. Of course, he likely was, planning Rome's death for pissing me off. Ever my champion, that was Vince. You know, if I could mix him and Dom together, sort of pick and chose which parts of each one I wanted in a man I could come up with one hell of a boyfriend. Too bad I don't like Vince like that. Kinda gross to even think of it really.
We pulled up in front of the place and got out of the cab. Vince paid the guy and then we walked up to the place. I stopped Vince outside the door.
"Ok, we need a few ground rules."
"We do?" Vince asked, narrowing his eyes at me.
"Yeah. Rule one, there are no rules. That means no telling me who I can and can't talk to, no telling me how much I can and can't drink. No telling me what I can and can't do. You can expect the same from me."
"Agreed. Can we go in now?"
I didn't like the look in his eyes. He was agreeing, but he didn't mean it. He was going to feel free to butt in if he thought he should, but I wanted to get the evening started anyway. "Yeah, sure." I pushed open the door and we walked in. The place was dimly lit with none of the flashing coloured lights that were so common in the usual dance club. It was smoky and most people had beers in their hands.
Vince and I headed right to the bar and both asked for a Corona. There were more then a few cowboy hat wearin guys around which, when you thought about it was strange considering we were in Miami, but maybe I liked it so much because it could have been any honky tonk bar back home. We had lots of them but Miami didn't really have that Mexican, desert, cowboy heritage like we did back in California. We had a lot of every background in California but we were close to a lot of deserts and stuff back home. I could tell Vince was fitting right in. Most of the rest of the crowd was wearing leather and denim. It was a cross between a honky tonk and a biker bar. Just the kind of place you could expect either Vince or I to have a great time.
"You mean you came here alone?" Vince asked, looking around at all the rough lookin guys and their equally rough looking women.
"Yep." I answered, leaning on the bar and taking in the scene. I don't know why he was so surprised. We'd both done our motorcycle riding phase, Vince had been into Harleys and I'd been into Jap bikes but even still, we'd both lived the life. Him longer then me.
"Little Letty is all grown up." Vince snickered down at me. "If you can take care of yourself in a bar like this you can take care of yourself anywhere."
"Glad someone finally realized it."
Vince just gave me one of those unreadable looks of his that I hate so much.
We mostly hung out and drank. A lot. I was pretty drunk before I realized it. But that was ok since I'd come out with the intent of getting totally wasted. I hadn't been drunk in a long time. I'd been out since I'd come to Miami but, except that one time with Rome, I hadn't allowed myself to drink enough to loose my control. I couldn't. Not if I was alone. I was too volatile without someone to look out for me in some way.
Not that I couldn't take care of myself because I could. But if I didn't want to fight then I had to lay off the liquor. But tonight that wasn't a concern because I had Vince as a check. So I pounded them back and hoped it would help me forget the mess my life was in at least for a while.
It was around that time when I realized some creepy guy was looking at me from across the bar. When I noticed him he looked away but when I looked back at him a few minutes later he was staring at me again. I got a real creepy vibe from him. I couldn't explain it but it was weird.
For the rest of the night every time I looked around the creepy guy was watching me. I didn't know what to do about it or why he was doing it so I just kept shooting dirty looks back and drinking. Maybe not smart but every once and a while I danced to some crazy dance with Vince to try and make crazy guy know I was with somebody.
Near the end of the night some random girl walked up to me and blocked my way. I looked her up and down more in curiosity then in any real worry about who she was or what she wanted. Even in the rough crowd I wasn't worried about my ability to handle myself and if I got in over my head I knew Vince could bail me out.
"You want something?" I asked the girl with a sneer.
"I want you to stop flirting with my man." The girl snarled.
"Flirting with your man? I'm not flirting with anyone." I really wasn't. The last thing I needed was more men in my life. Look how well the few I already had were going for me. Like I needed to add any more to that mess.
"Yes you are, you keep staring at him and stuff." This girl accused me of staring at her man? I didn't stare at anyone.
Except creepy guy.
"You mean that weirdo over there who never stopped staring at me all night?"
"He's not weird and you're staring at him."
"Bitch you need to check that attitude and check your man. I was just here with my friend minding my own business when I caught him staring at me. And he stared at me all fucken night long. If he's such a dog you can't trust him not to sniff around then you need to leash him or dismiss him. Him not being able to keep it in his pants isn't my problem. I didn't encourage him."
"You're lying bitch, he wouldn't stare at you. He's got better already."
Ok, that's it. Not only does she think I'd want her loser of a man, she thinks that she's so much better then me that he wouldn't stray on her.
Ok, maybe that hurt because I obviously wasn't all that. After all my man cheated on me more times then I likely know about. I know that it doesn't matter how good they got it at home, some men will just cheat. But this girl, who wasn't half as good looking as I am, and I'm not being vain at all thinking that her creepy man wouldn't leave her for me and not only that but she thought the creepy guy was too good for me just set me off.
So I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances. I hit her.
Ok, normally I wouldn't care what she thought of me and I'd just walk away. But all the shit with Rome and all the shit I was still thinking about with Dom just meant that I wasn't putting up with her shit. I almost think I came out tonight looking for a fight to work off my frustrations with everything anyway. Ok, I know I came out tonight looking to fight. That's why I picked this bar. They're use to it and I knew there'd be lots of people who'd obliged me here.
And she did oblige me. She punched back and got me to. I was surprised to say the least. I'd expected this to be easy. She was making me work way harder then my last few fights, and that included miss thang Suki from Tej's place.
She made a half decent fist but this next one I had coming her way was gonna show her a thing or two. I hit her with a right jab to the nose. Blood started shooting everywhere. Guess she's sort of like me, she didn't start to cry or find a way out of the fight. She got angry.
Good for her.
She tried to punch me back in my nose. I dodged her and she grazed the side of my head instead. I countered with a nicely landed (if I do say so myself) upper-cut to the stomach. She grunted and tried not to go down. She did manage to recover and she came at me again. I think I might have been a bit over confident because she got me in the eye with a left hook. I think she must be right handed and I think I'm lucky. Her left was weak, and that is the only reason why I can still see out of my right eye.
That's gonna bruise.
I wondered where Vince was as I threw another right jab into the girl's chin. It knocked her head back and when she righted herself she looked a little dazed. Never one to miss out on an opportunity I decked her in the mouth quickly before she could recover and then I hit her again.
And again.
And again.
And before I knew it she was on the ground with me on top of her and I was just wailing on her. Her face was pretty messed up. She'd managed to hit me once again so I had added a split lip to my black eye.
She however, had a split lip, cut cheek, two black eyes, I think I knocked a tooth out of her mouth, and I know I broke her nose. She shoulda known better then to mess with someone who looks like me.
I think it was about then that someone realized how bad off she was and got her man. Vince must have come over to see what was going on that had the whole crowd gathered around. And it was likely good he did show up because as drunk as I was, by the time he got to my side I was busy trying to take the face off creepy guy too and I think he was on the verge of fighting back.
While me'n creepy guy were starting to go at each other his girl got back up. I noticed her doing so, but again, I was drunk and it didn't really register that she'd come after me again once she got back up. I guess I just figured that she'd see I was busy with her man and be content with the beating I already laid on her and go fuck off somewhere.
No such luck, because when Vince was hauling me off creepy guy so that I didn't really get my ass kicked she got up and sucker punched me while Vince was holding me back away from her man. That made me so mad I got loose from Vince some how and got one more punch into the girls already broken nose.
She screamed in pain and fury. I screamed in frustration and blood lust.
Vince got a hold of me again and started dragging me kicking and screaming out of the bar, holding me off the ground and carrying me out of the bar. He's lucky he's so strong.
"Letty, those guys were getting ready to kick your ass!"
"I can take 'em, let me back in there. Let me at her!" I yelled at Vince, still infuriated.
"Come on you little spitting wildcat, you'll get your ass kicked." Vince roared back and threw me into a cab.
"I don't wanna go home. I wanna fight that creepy guy."
"Tough shit. I'm not scrapin you off the floor tonight Lett. I've done it one too many times and tonight I'm not in the mood. You're gonna be pissed when you see your face." Vince started to laugh.
"Why?" I asked him, the alcohol dulling the pain to the point where I didn't know just how bad I'd been messed up.
"The little puta got you good a few times."
"Not as good as I got her." I said, starting to slur my words from both exhaustion and from being so very drunk.
"Nope, not as good as you got her." Vince agreed with a masculine chuckle. I don't remember anything else between then and home because I guess I passed out. I do vaguely remember Vince picking me up and carrying me to bed, pulling off my boots and then washing my face. I only remember the face part because he used alchol on the cuts and it hurt like hell.
Then he crawled into the bed with me and I don't remember anything after that point till I woke up the next day with a splitting headache and a very sore face. Vince was no where to be found in the room so I got up and dragged myself into the bathroom.
I looked like hell. My eye was all black and blue, there was a crusty cut on my lower lip where the bitch had split it open and I had a little scraped patch on my cheek.
After I showered and brushed my teeth I felt much better but still like shit. I left my hair loose around my shoulders to detract from the eye. I didn't really own makeup so I couldn't try to hide it that way. I dragged back into my room and changed into clean, very comfortable clothes. I picked my keys up off my dresser and left my room. I knew what I needed.
Greasy food. I needed a big old bag of McDonald's fries, a large Coke and a Quarter Pounder. I don't know what it is about grease but there is nothing better for a hang over then greasy food and lots of liquids.
I was walking out of the door when Vince called out to me.
"You ok baby girl?"
"Ugh." I answered. It was all I could get out.
He laughed, dirty bastard that he is.
"You still feel good you fucked her up worse then she fucked you up?"
"Hell yeah." I croaked.
"Where you goin?" He asked. I finally met his gaze. "Ah Lett." He got up off the couch. "You ok?" He took my chin and tipped my face back gently. He was doing a credible Mia impression.
"Yeah. I'll live."
"Glad I put ice on that eye last night. Could be a real swollen mess."
"Thanks Vince."
"Eh, it was just time for you to blow Letty. I could tell it was comin before we left the house. You always get this look in your eye when you're gonna blow up. I'm just glad that guy kept his cool long enough for me to get you out of the bar."
"Me too. But the pretty bitch had it comin." I chuckled, couldn't help it.
"Why did you two fight, by the way?"
"She accused me of trying to pick up her creepy boyfriend."
"Did you?"
"Vince!"
"What?" Vince looked like Mr. Innocent.
"Of course I didn't try to pick up her creepy ass boyfriend. He was a weirdo who kept staring at me all night."
"Why'd you fight her then?"
"Because when I told her that her boy kept staring at me she said that it wasn't like he'd ever leave her for me and I took exception to how she said it." I was still croaking out my words like a smoker with a two pack a day habit.
"Same old Letty, taking exception to how everyone says everything." But Vince laughed when he said it.
"Yeah, that's me."
"So you never did tell me where you were going."
"McDonald's. Why are you not hung over? You seemed pretty drunk yourself."
"I just got lucky. Let's go. I'm hungry."
"What else is new?"
Vince didn't answer he just picked me up like he had last night to drag me out of the bar and carried me into the sun. I squinted and groaned with my aching head.
"You gonna let me walk Vince."
"Maybe." He set me down when he said it and we walked, slowly, to my car. "Can you drive?" Vince asked, and it was in genuine concern, not a want to not be driven around by a girl.
"I'd rather not." I admitted and handed him my keys. He was likely one of only two people I could admit that 'weakness' to. Most people I'd have had to go 'of course I can drive fool' but with Vince or Mia I could admit I didn't want to or didn't feel good enough to.
"Good enough." Vince took the keys and started the car. He drove rather sedately to McDonald's, following my directions. We ate then headed back to the house. I went to change into my work clothes. It might be a late start but there's no way I'm missing a whole day of working on the car.
"Later V." I said on my way out the door.
"Where you goin?"
"Garage."
"Can I come?"
"Nope. Not today. I'll be home soon."
"You'll be sorry." Was what I heard as I left the boat. And maybe I would be.
I walked into the garage and Tej was the first one who saw me.
"What the hell happened to you?"
"Bar fight." I mumbled as I started to arrange my work space. Fiona walked up. Was she always hanging around the garage or what?
"My god! That looks bad. Did you ice it?" Fiona asked, sounding concerned. She's concerned about me? What Rome told me about her being a nice girl might be true after all.
"Yeah. I had ice on it last night. I'll be fine. I've been in worse fights. It's all Vince's fault. Ever since we was little kids he's always gotten me into shit."
Fiona looked like she had more to say but she didn't say whatever it was. She just shot me off a speculative look and walked off.
"You sure you should be working today? You can take the day off. We'll even extend the deadline a day. You look like shit."
"Thanks, but I'll be fine."
"Ok." Tej walked off to work on the car he was in the middle of when I'd walked in. If Tej was working on a car that meant it was for someone really important. He mostly had Jimmy and Rome do the mechanical stuff. And Brian, when he was around. Of course with Brian out of town Tej was short handed.
Oh well, I'm sure Vince will go home soon and then Brian can come home.
I put a good few hours into the car then headed back to the boat. Much as I was looking forward to Vince going home I was gonna miss having someone from home around me too. It was just too much of a headache to have him around. I always had to watch my step and worry if he was going to find something that would clue him into who B was.
As soon as I walked into the boat Vince walked up to me and sat me down on a kitchen chair.
"Letty, I gotta go."
"V, what's wrong?" Vince didn't look good.
"Letty." He sighed. "There was an accident back home."
I ran into my room and slammed the door closed to get ready. I was taking Vince out to another place I found all on my own. It was far from as classy as the place Rome had taken me to go dancing in. That place had been fun, and I'd had a good time, but it wasn't really my style.
It was too classy, too chintzy, too...well...nice for it to be the kind of club I liked to go out to. I liked clubs where there was sawdust on the floor to make the blood and spilt liquor easier to clean up at the end of the night and the only drinks you could buy were shots of hard liquor and Corona.
I liked clubs that I could go into dressed in my own cargos and a wife- beater and fit right in because in that outfit I looked as tough as the rest of the patrons. It was either that kind of a bar or a place where all the racers and their skanks went to for me. I only liked the latter because it gave me a chance to show off the fact that I was on Dom's arm, not all the skanks who wished they were.
But since I had no Dom tonight, just rough and tumble Vince I knew just the place to go. I knew he'd get a kick out of the place. I pulled on a clean tank top and picked out a pair of leather combat pants.
"What am I supposed to wear Letty?" Vince called through the door of my room.
"Whatever Vince. What you had on would be fine." I yelled back
"So covered in grease goes over well where we're going does it?" Vince called back at me exasperatedly. I just considered it revenge for all the times he said 'food' when I asked him what he wanted to eat.
"No, but you could wear what you had on, if it was clean." I said as I walked out of my room. I walked out of my room to find Vince wearing nothing but his boxer shorts in the living room. "Damn Vince, you wanna give the whole place a free show or something?"
"Well, I got no room to change in, where did you want me to do it?"
"The bathroom might be a good choice V. Shit you're slow by times. Anyone could come by and see you naked in the living room."
"I ain't naked. I got shorts on."
"Not exactly shorts Vince. They your underoos."
"I ain't had underoos since I was 10 Letty. These are Joe Boxers I'll have you know."
"You's lyin I know you's lyin. I saw those superman underwear in your drawer back home one day when I went lookin for your cash." I told him, giggling.
"You bitch!" Vince made a lunge for me, I don't know what he was planning to do to me if he caught me but he was very focused on not letting me go. I was a bit worried at the crazed look in his eyes.
I ran out of the boat and onto the dock, Vince on my heels. Wait a second. This means that Vince is out in public in his underwear. I spun on my heel and just started to laugh. I laughed so hard I had tears running down my face and I was gasping for breath. Vince pulled up short and looked at me like I had two heads, for all of two seconds. That was about when it occurred to him that he was almost naked in public.
The look on his face was priceless. He went to cover his package with his hands, caught himself then put his hands on his hips to hide it. He tried to brazen his way out of the embarrassment he was in at being dressed in almost nothing in public. He slowly scratched his chest, like running around outside in his boxers was something he did every day.
"You went in my room and went through my underwear drawer huh?" Vince asked, a half decent imitation of the Dom 'so angry I'm calm' face in place.
"Yeah. I needed money."
"When was this?"
"I don't remember exactly. I guess it was sometime when Dom was in jail."
"I see. And who did you tell about what you found?"
"No one. I didn't want anyone else to know our tough protector still had superman underoos." I snickered.
"Yeah, well, my...I wanted....I had to...Shut up!" Vince yelled, not able to find a way to explain to me why he still had a pair of underwear from when he was 10.
I noticed then that a bit of a crowd had gathered.
"We should go back inside and finish getting ready V." I said and started past him into the house. He followed me in and as soon as the door was closed he grabbed me and started tickling me like crazy.
I hollered for him to stop for about 10 minutes and then he finally did.
"Now we're even and I can go get ready." Vince said, laughing as he got up off the floor where he'd had me pinned.
"That was a really mean thing to do to me Vince."
"Well, so was going through my underwear drawer." Vince answered and picked out a new pair of jeans from his bag. He pulled them on and then grabbed a clean wife beater and pulled it on over his head. Just then Fiona walked into the room.
"Everything ok? I heard screaming." Fiona looked at us speculatively.
"Yeah, everything's chill." I told her. "I just gave Vince some bad news and he felt the need to tickle me to punish me."
"Ok, good. Tej was sort of worried about who was getting murdered." Fiona actually cracked a smile. Then she looked at me like she was sizing me up. "So, what did you say to Rome that has him so mad? It's not like Ro to get that mad. Not since B-B and him fought back home just after high school." Fiona caught her mistake before she let her brother's name slip, thank god.
"What did I say to him to make him mad?" I asked, getting pissed that this was being put off on me.
"Yeah, he was muttering about Letty this and Letty that all afternoon."
"Yeah well, Letty just told him where he could shove his bull headed accusations and assumptions." I told Fiona and huffed as I put my hands on my hips and tried not to let the genuine upset show. It shouldn't hurt that I'd been tried and convicted without a trial but it did.
"What did he accuse you of?" Fiona asked, looking like she didn't believe her precious 'Ro' could have accused me of doing anything that upsetting if I didn't really do what ever it was.
"Nothing major." I answered her and unwittingly glanced at Vince. Aw shit, now he was gonna know I was pissed at Rome.
"What did that buster say to you?" Vince asked in that same 'I'm so angry I'm calm' voice he'd tried on me earlier.
"Nothin V. Let it go." I answered, and did my best to shake off the bad mood and anger that the knowledge I'd been given had put me in.
"What did that punk say to you!" Vince tried again. "If he said one thing to make you upset I'm gonna go kick his muthafucken ass!" Vince shouted.
"No way Vince. I said let it go. I still wanna go out, let's go. Just let it go V. For me?"
"Ok, only because I wanna go out in this city. I heard it was wild."
"It is, let's go." I took his hand and started to drag him out the door and off the boat. "Let's go! There is a bar you are gonna love somewhere in this city and they have a Corona and Lime with my name on it!" I laughed.
As soon as I started off toward a night of no cares and lots of liquor the whole day started to look up. What Rome had said and what he'd thought didn't matter quite as much and by the time we made the street and flagged down a cab it didn't matter at all. I was gonna get loaded and with Vince by my side I was like as not to get into trouble. I was looking forward to it.
"You look happy all of a sudden." Vince said, his arm along the top of the seat behind my shoulders in the cab.
"You're gonna like this place." I said with a sneaky grin up at Vince.
"Oh yeah?" Vince asked, and I could see the wheels of his head spinning as he tried to figure out why it was he would like this place so much.
"Yeah, it's definitely your kind of bar."
Vince pulled my hair and looked out the window a little absently. "We'll see." Was all he had to say to come back to me about my confidence he'd have a good time. He looked preoccupied. Of course, he likely was, planning Rome's death for pissing me off. Ever my champion, that was Vince. You know, if I could mix him and Dom together, sort of pick and chose which parts of each one I wanted in a man I could come up with one hell of a boyfriend. Too bad I don't like Vince like that. Kinda gross to even think of it really.
We pulled up in front of the place and got out of the cab. Vince paid the guy and then we walked up to the place. I stopped Vince outside the door.
"Ok, we need a few ground rules."
"We do?" Vince asked, narrowing his eyes at me.
"Yeah. Rule one, there are no rules. That means no telling me who I can and can't talk to, no telling me how much I can and can't drink. No telling me what I can and can't do. You can expect the same from me."
"Agreed. Can we go in now?"
I didn't like the look in his eyes. He was agreeing, but he didn't mean it. He was going to feel free to butt in if he thought he should, but I wanted to get the evening started anyway. "Yeah, sure." I pushed open the door and we walked in. The place was dimly lit with none of the flashing coloured lights that were so common in the usual dance club. It was smoky and most people had beers in their hands.
Vince and I headed right to the bar and both asked for a Corona. There were more then a few cowboy hat wearin guys around which, when you thought about it was strange considering we were in Miami, but maybe I liked it so much because it could have been any honky tonk bar back home. We had lots of them but Miami didn't really have that Mexican, desert, cowboy heritage like we did back in California. We had a lot of every background in California but we were close to a lot of deserts and stuff back home. I could tell Vince was fitting right in. Most of the rest of the crowd was wearing leather and denim. It was a cross between a honky tonk and a biker bar. Just the kind of place you could expect either Vince or I to have a great time.
"You mean you came here alone?" Vince asked, looking around at all the rough lookin guys and their equally rough looking women.
"Yep." I answered, leaning on the bar and taking in the scene. I don't know why he was so surprised. We'd both done our motorcycle riding phase, Vince had been into Harleys and I'd been into Jap bikes but even still, we'd both lived the life. Him longer then me.
"Little Letty is all grown up." Vince snickered down at me. "If you can take care of yourself in a bar like this you can take care of yourself anywhere."
"Glad someone finally realized it."
Vince just gave me one of those unreadable looks of his that I hate so much.
We mostly hung out and drank. A lot. I was pretty drunk before I realized it. But that was ok since I'd come out with the intent of getting totally wasted. I hadn't been drunk in a long time. I'd been out since I'd come to Miami but, except that one time with Rome, I hadn't allowed myself to drink enough to loose my control. I couldn't. Not if I was alone. I was too volatile without someone to look out for me in some way.
Not that I couldn't take care of myself because I could. But if I didn't want to fight then I had to lay off the liquor. But tonight that wasn't a concern because I had Vince as a check. So I pounded them back and hoped it would help me forget the mess my life was in at least for a while.
It was around that time when I realized some creepy guy was looking at me from across the bar. When I noticed him he looked away but when I looked back at him a few minutes later he was staring at me again. I got a real creepy vibe from him. I couldn't explain it but it was weird.
For the rest of the night every time I looked around the creepy guy was watching me. I didn't know what to do about it or why he was doing it so I just kept shooting dirty looks back and drinking. Maybe not smart but every once and a while I danced to some crazy dance with Vince to try and make crazy guy know I was with somebody.
Near the end of the night some random girl walked up to me and blocked my way. I looked her up and down more in curiosity then in any real worry about who she was or what she wanted. Even in the rough crowd I wasn't worried about my ability to handle myself and if I got in over my head I knew Vince could bail me out.
"You want something?" I asked the girl with a sneer.
"I want you to stop flirting with my man." The girl snarled.
"Flirting with your man? I'm not flirting with anyone." I really wasn't. The last thing I needed was more men in my life. Look how well the few I already had were going for me. Like I needed to add any more to that mess.
"Yes you are, you keep staring at him and stuff." This girl accused me of staring at her man? I didn't stare at anyone.
Except creepy guy.
"You mean that weirdo over there who never stopped staring at me all night?"
"He's not weird and you're staring at him."
"Bitch you need to check that attitude and check your man. I was just here with my friend minding my own business when I caught him staring at me. And he stared at me all fucken night long. If he's such a dog you can't trust him not to sniff around then you need to leash him or dismiss him. Him not being able to keep it in his pants isn't my problem. I didn't encourage him."
"You're lying bitch, he wouldn't stare at you. He's got better already."
Ok, that's it. Not only does she think I'd want her loser of a man, she thinks that she's so much better then me that he wouldn't stray on her.
Ok, maybe that hurt because I obviously wasn't all that. After all my man cheated on me more times then I likely know about. I know that it doesn't matter how good they got it at home, some men will just cheat. But this girl, who wasn't half as good looking as I am, and I'm not being vain at all thinking that her creepy man wouldn't leave her for me and not only that but she thought the creepy guy was too good for me just set me off.
So I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances. I hit her.
Ok, normally I wouldn't care what she thought of me and I'd just walk away. But all the shit with Rome and all the shit I was still thinking about with Dom just meant that I wasn't putting up with her shit. I almost think I came out tonight looking for a fight to work off my frustrations with everything anyway. Ok, I know I came out tonight looking to fight. That's why I picked this bar. They're use to it and I knew there'd be lots of people who'd obliged me here.
And she did oblige me. She punched back and got me to. I was surprised to say the least. I'd expected this to be easy. She was making me work way harder then my last few fights, and that included miss thang Suki from Tej's place.
She made a half decent fist but this next one I had coming her way was gonna show her a thing or two. I hit her with a right jab to the nose. Blood started shooting everywhere. Guess she's sort of like me, she didn't start to cry or find a way out of the fight. She got angry.
Good for her.
She tried to punch me back in my nose. I dodged her and she grazed the side of my head instead. I countered with a nicely landed (if I do say so myself) upper-cut to the stomach. She grunted and tried not to go down. She did manage to recover and she came at me again. I think I might have been a bit over confident because she got me in the eye with a left hook. I think she must be right handed and I think I'm lucky. Her left was weak, and that is the only reason why I can still see out of my right eye.
That's gonna bruise.
I wondered where Vince was as I threw another right jab into the girl's chin. It knocked her head back and when she righted herself she looked a little dazed. Never one to miss out on an opportunity I decked her in the mouth quickly before she could recover and then I hit her again.
And again.
And again.
And before I knew it she was on the ground with me on top of her and I was just wailing on her. Her face was pretty messed up. She'd managed to hit me once again so I had added a split lip to my black eye.
She however, had a split lip, cut cheek, two black eyes, I think I knocked a tooth out of her mouth, and I know I broke her nose. She shoulda known better then to mess with someone who looks like me.
I think it was about then that someone realized how bad off she was and got her man. Vince must have come over to see what was going on that had the whole crowd gathered around. And it was likely good he did show up because as drunk as I was, by the time he got to my side I was busy trying to take the face off creepy guy too and I think he was on the verge of fighting back.
While me'n creepy guy were starting to go at each other his girl got back up. I noticed her doing so, but again, I was drunk and it didn't really register that she'd come after me again once she got back up. I guess I just figured that she'd see I was busy with her man and be content with the beating I already laid on her and go fuck off somewhere.
No such luck, because when Vince was hauling me off creepy guy so that I didn't really get my ass kicked she got up and sucker punched me while Vince was holding me back away from her man. That made me so mad I got loose from Vince some how and got one more punch into the girls already broken nose.
She screamed in pain and fury. I screamed in frustration and blood lust.
Vince got a hold of me again and started dragging me kicking and screaming out of the bar, holding me off the ground and carrying me out of the bar. He's lucky he's so strong.
"Letty, those guys were getting ready to kick your ass!"
"I can take 'em, let me back in there. Let me at her!" I yelled at Vince, still infuriated.
"Come on you little spitting wildcat, you'll get your ass kicked." Vince roared back and threw me into a cab.
"I don't wanna go home. I wanna fight that creepy guy."
"Tough shit. I'm not scrapin you off the floor tonight Lett. I've done it one too many times and tonight I'm not in the mood. You're gonna be pissed when you see your face." Vince started to laugh.
"Why?" I asked him, the alcohol dulling the pain to the point where I didn't know just how bad I'd been messed up.
"The little puta got you good a few times."
"Not as good as I got her." I said, starting to slur my words from both exhaustion and from being so very drunk.
"Nope, not as good as you got her." Vince agreed with a masculine chuckle. I don't remember anything else between then and home because I guess I passed out. I do vaguely remember Vince picking me up and carrying me to bed, pulling off my boots and then washing my face. I only remember the face part because he used alchol on the cuts and it hurt like hell.
Then he crawled into the bed with me and I don't remember anything after that point till I woke up the next day with a splitting headache and a very sore face. Vince was no where to be found in the room so I got up and dragged myself into the bathroom.
I looked like hell. My eye was all black and blue, there was a crusty cut on my lower lip where the bitch had split it open and I had a little scraped patch on my cheek.
After I showered and brushed my teeth I felt much better but still like shit. I left my hair loose around my shoulders to detract from the eye. I didn't really own makeup so I couldn't try to hide it that way. I dragged back into my room and changed into clean, very comfortable clothes. I picked my keys up off my dresser and left my room. I knew what I needed.
Greasy food. I needed a big old bag of McDonald's fries, a large Coke and a Quarter Pounder. I don't know what it is about grease but there is nothing better for a hang over then greasy food and lots of liquids.
I was walking out of the door when Vince called out to me.
"You ok baby girl?"
"Ugh." I answered. It was all I could get out.
He laughed, dirty bastard that he is.
"You still feel good you fucked her up worse then she fucked you up?"
"Hell yeah." I croaked.
"Where you goin?" He asked. I finally met his gaze. "Ah Lett." He got up off the couch. "You ok?" He took my chin and tipped my face back gently. He was doing a credible Mia impression.
"Yeah. I'll live."
"Glad I put ice on that eye last night. Could be a real swollen mess."
"Thanks Vince."
"Eh, it was just time for you to blow Letty. I could tell it was comin before we left the house. You always get this look in your eye when you're gonna blow up. I'm just glad that guy kept his cool long enough for me to get you out of the bar."
"Me too. But the pretty bitch had it comin." I chuckled, couldn't help it.
"Why did you two fight, by the way?"
"She accused me of trying to pick up her creepy boyfriend."
"Did you?"
"Vince!"
"What?" Vince looked like Mr. Innocent.
"Of course I didn't try to pick up her creepy ass boyfriend. He was a weirdo who kept staring at me all night."
"Why'd you fight her then?"
"Because when I told her that her boy kept staring at me she said that it wasn't like he'd ever leave her for me and I took exception to how she said it." I was still croaking out my words like a smoker with a two pack a day habit.
"Same old Letty, taking exception to how everyone says everything." But Vince laughed when he said it.
"Yeah, that's me."
"So you never did tell me where you were going."
"McDonald's. Why are you not hung over? You seemed pretty drunk yourself."
"I just got lucky. Let's go. I'm hungry."
"What else is new?"
Vince didn't answer he just picked me up like he had last night to drag me out of the bar and carried me into the sun. I squinted and groaned with my aching head.
"You gonna let me walk Vince."
"Maybe." He set me down when he said it and we walked, slowly, to my car. "Can you drive?" Vince asked, and it was in genuine concern, not a want to not be driven around by a girl.
"I'd rather not." I admitted and handed him my keys. He was likely one of only two people I could admit that 'weakness' to. Most people I'd have had to go 'of course I can drive fool' but with Vince or Mia I could admit I didn't want to or didn't feel good enough to.
"Good enough." Vince took the keys and started the car. He drove rather sedately to McDonald's, following my directions. We ate then headed back to the house. I went to change into my work clothes. It might be a late start but there's no way I'm missing a whole day of working on the car.
"Later V." I said on my way out the door.
"Where you goin?"
"Garage."
"Can I come?"
"Nope. Not today. I'll be home soon."
"You'll be sorry." Was what I heard as I left the boat. And maybe I would be.
I walked into the garage and Tej was the first one who saw me.
"What the hell happened to you?"
"Bar fight." I mumbled as I started to arrange my work space. Fiona walked up. Was she always hanging around the garage or what?
"My god! That looks bad. Did you ice it?" Fiona asked, sounding concerned. She's concerned about me? What Rome told me about her being a nice girl might be true after all.
"Yeah. I had ice on it last night. I'll be fine. I've been in worse fights. It's all Vince's fault. Ever since we was little kids he's always gotten me into shit."
Fiona looked like she had more to say but she didn't say whatever it was. She just shot me off a speculative look and walked off.
"You sure you should be working today? You can take the day off. We'll even extend the deadline a day. You look like shit."
"Thanks, but I'll be fine."
"Ok." Tej walked off to work on the car he was in the middle of when I'd walked in. If Tej was working on a car that meant it was for someone really important. He mostly had Jimmy and Rome do the mechanical stuff. And Brian, when he was around. Of course with Brian out of town Tej was short handed.
Oh well, I'm sure Vince will go home soon and then Brian can come home.
I put a good few hours into the car then headed back to the boat. Much as I was looking forward to Vince going home I was gonna miss having someone from home around me too. It was just too much of a headache to have him around. I always had to watch my step and worry if he was going to find something that would clue him into who B was.
As soon as I walked into the boat Vince walked up to me and sat me down on a kitchen chair.
"Letty, I gotta go."
"V, what's wrong?" Vince didn't look good.
"Letty." He sighed. "There was an accident back home."