The Funeral of a Good Girl
By — TempestRaces
Chapter Eighteen – Of Breakfast and Better Things
He decided there was no way he was going back to sleep, and it didn't really matter all that much, since he was due to get up in half an hour anyway. Instead he got up and took a cold shower before he got dressed and headed upstairs. Mia was puttering around the kitchen, starting breakfast while wearing her housecoat. He didn't even grunt a greeting. He headed straight toward the coffee pot.
"Morning!" Mia chirped.
"Yeah, whatever," he growled in answer. He was far from happy to put up with miss 'I'm such a morning person'. Especially not after how he'd woken up.
"Bad night?"
"No, it was fuckin' super," he snarled sarcastically.
"Ok," Mia drawled. This Vince was more familiar, but she had to admit she preferred to deal with the other one. She left him to drink his first cup of coffee while she cooked. She knew he might be fit to at least speak to once it was in him. When she saw him drain the last mouthful she was filling the cup before he could stand.
"Thanks," he muttered, only because he knew it was expected of him.
"Sometimes I'm happier when you get up later, rather than sooner, you know that? You're always such a grump."
"Um," he answered in a grunt.
On that note Leon came up the stairs, followed by Tempest, who was pushing the heavy fall of her hair out of her face and still dressed in her cami and terry shorts from the night before, yawning into her hand, her green eyes still slightly dreamy and unfocused.
"What are you doin' up?" Mia asked the other girl.
"Everyone else gettin' up woke me up too. Figured I might as well get up and maybe finally do some shoppin' today." Tempest's tone belayed the fact she was also far from happy and far from a morning person. She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl. "You got cereal?" she asked, frowning.
"That would imply that some days we didn't devour half a pig for breakfast around here," Mia grinned.
"I saw enough of how breakfast is around here to do me a lifetime, thanks all the same. I don't intend to have anything made of pig or potato with my breakfast. I'd settle for a glass of OJ and a bowl of something with whole grains though."
"There's Special K in there," Mia pointed.
As Tempest was filling her bowl, Dom and Letty straggled down to the kitchen and sat down. Jesse darted up to take his seat too. By the time Tempest turned around there was only Mia's seat left.
"Just take my place," Mia offered.
"Naw girl. You got work, you need it worse. I'll go sit in the living room."
"You're not gonna go sit alone to eat breakfast. Don't be silly. Sit down."
"No, I ain't takin' your seat. You got places to be. I don't. I'll just stand here in the kitchen."
"For cryin' out loud!" Vince pushed back from the table half way. "Just come sit right here and shut up," he said, indicating his left thigh.
"Well, when you ask so nicely how can I refuse?" Tempest asked, a fake sunny smile pasted on her mouth. He shot her a nasty look. "You always such an asshole in the morning?"
Mia burst out laughing. "Yeah. Yes he is." She'd never heard Vince asked a question like that point blank before.
"Not always," Vince answered, smirking in a way that left no question what he was implying.
Letty snorted through her nose as she tried to contain her laughter.
Tempest carried her bowl over the table and perched on Vince. She waited until she knew his mouth was full before leaning close to his ear, sliding her hand up over his neck and into his hair on the other side to hold his head steady as she got so close to him her lips brushed his earlobe. "So, how was it to know the reality of waking up happy, but have to make due with only dreaming about it this morning?" It was her turn to smirk in a way that left no possibility to mistake her meaning.
She knew. He choked on the food in his mouth. When he was done coughing he scowled at her. "I don't know what you're talkin' about."
She grinned. "I'm sure you don't." She crunched her way through a spoonful of her cereal, her lips still tipped up at the corners in a smile.
The smile on her face reminded him of the cat who ate the canary. He gave up on a suitable retort and settled for stuffing his mouth full again instead, feeling the flush creeping up the back of his neck. Thank god she had at least had the decency to make sure no one else heard her barb.
"That's how I thought it was," Tempest imparted, sly smirk still in place.
"So cuz, what are you doin' today?"
"Mall," she answered through a mouthful of cereal.
"Damn! Do I have to go too?"
"Not if you can give me good directions. I can shop alone."
"Not in L.A. you can't. You don't just wander off alone in Los Angeles."
"I can take care'a myself around a shopping mall Vince. I ain't twelve. I don't intend to wander, I intend to drive."
"If you stick to the Beverly Center and Glendale Galleria you'll be fine on your own," Mia broke in. "I wish I had time to go with you."
"I doubt it. I'm a power shopper. I don't browse. I look around but I look fast."
"You sound like Letty," Mia wrinkled her nose. "Why go shopping if you're not going to try on a bunch of stuff?"
"'Cause most of the time I don't need to try it on to know if I'll like it or not. I can tell on the hanger."
"That's just messed up. I don't think I'll ever meet another girl. I always get stuck meeting you half female, half 'other' types."
Rather than get upset, Tempest and Letty both laughed. "Hey, I'm all female when and where it counts baby," Tempest told Mia with a wink. She slurped the last of her milk out of her bowl and looked up. "Guess I'll get dressed. Jess, trace out on my map where I gotta go, would ya?"
"Sure. You sure you don't want me to come with?"
"Only if you wanna. I'll be ok on my own if you really don't wanna hit the mall."
"Think I'll go get the Jetta ready for races tomorrow instead. Meet me at the shop when you're done?"
"Only if someone," she shot a pointed look at Dominic. "Doesn't expect me to do any oil changes today."
"Hey, if you hadn't taken my whole team with you, we wouldn't have had so much work backed up."
"Yeah, and if you hadn't had me around, you'd still be watching air bubbles squirt out of a Sunfire in the brake fluid," she reminded cattily.
Vince pinched her ass under the table. She swung around to look at him. His look warned her to let it drop.
"You better watch your step, Slick."
"Go put some damn clothes on and get the fuck outta here," he snarled. "You got someplace to be tonight, remember?"
"I'll damn soon forget if you ever pinch my ass again."
This coaxed another laugh out of Letty. "Where does she have to be tonight?"
Vince grinned, some good humour finally added to his morning. "Tell her, Trouble."
"No." Tempest shook her head.
"On the way to races last night, I asked why she was happily sitting behind everyone in a tricked out Skyline. So she decided to pass everyone. Including Dom. I told her if she managed than the movies were on me. But if she didn't, she had to be at my mercy tonight. Needless to say, she lost."
"I didn't really wanna win. Car ain't broken in yet," Tempest mumbled.
"Yeah, sure." Vince didn't let her off the hook that easily.
"Hey, I own an RX-7. I know all their weaknesses and how to exploit them."
"I damn near died when you hit the nitrous on the expressway," Dom admitted. "You gave me an ok run. Didn't come all that close, but did ok. For an amateur."
"What do you think you are? Some kinda pro?"
"Well, yeah."
"Really? 'Cause I never knew there were pro leagues at breaking the law."
Vince pinched her again. She was skirting a little too close to some really dangerous territory. She was libel to make Dom blow up, hard core. This time she heeded his warning without anything to say about it. Before Dom could answer to her last barb she stood up. "Guess I'll get ready to head out." She started down the stairs after putting her bowl in the sink.
Vince got up and followed her down the stairs and into his room, where all her stuff still was. "You can't push him that far."
"I can't not either. I just don't know how to not. It's just how things are at home. We all have smart aleck answers for everything and everyone knows the score. It's how we play."
"Well, confine your play to something else down here. I really don't wanna have to have another fight with Dominic when he goes to choke the life outta you."
She pouted playfully. "And would you fight him over me?"
He backed her up to the wall, standing with one hand pressed flat to the plaster on either side of her head. "Yeah, if I had to. And another thing, if you ever say anything to me like you did this morning at the breakfast table again, I don't care who's watching. I'll take you over my knee and spank you."
She licked her lips and smirked. "Promise?"
"Oh yeah." He looked dead serious, the overtone of teasing which had been present in her words to him was lacking in his answer.
"Just be warned, I fight back."
"I'm scared."
"Be smarter if you meant it. You saw me with the dude at races. I know how to handle myself in a street fight Vince."
"Little girl, you can only handle yourself in a fight if the fight ever gets a chance to get started."
"You couldn't stop it, if you ever decided to take me over your knee."
"Oh yes I could."
She put her hands up to push him away, knowing neither of them was totally kidding, and unwilling to allow the debate to go on any farther. He half seriously thought he could restrain her and spank her for being bad, she half seriously thought due to the fact he'd underestimate her hugely she could take him. Who knew which was right?
As if he knew her thoughts, when her hands came up to push against his chest he grabbed one of them at the wrist, quickly moved it toward the other and snagged her other wrist between his fingers too. He brought both her hands up over her head and used his one to hold them flat against the wall. "See, no matter how good you are, no matter how fast, in close quarters it all comes down to strength."
She brought her knee up in a sharp jab. Only her exquisite control prevented him from having a nasty surprise in the form of her knee in his balls. She bumped him in the crotch with her knee hard enough to put a look of shocked surprise on his face. "Sometimes it comes down to exploiting the weaknesses of those you're fighting. Even if that weakness is only a tendency to underestimate an opponent. I could have you rollin' around on the ground right now if I wanted. So you better be thankful I like you too much to low blow you just to make a point."
He flattened her leg back into the wall and kicked her feet farther apart. He moved to stand between them, effectively pinning her helpless against the wall. She'd given away her only advantage. Sure, it had been done in the spirit of not seriously injuring him, and he knew that. But he was still going to show her who was boss, at least in the department of winning physical fights. "Yeah, but you didn't make your point, and now I'd love to see you get free."
There still wasn't really a hint of play in their exchange. It was an honest battle of wills. She hadn't appreciated being pinched on the ass, basically being told to shut up. He hadn't appreciated being embarrassed, even if the situation was only between him and her. Now they were going to fight it out, one way or the other it seemed. She knew she was running out of options for how to deal with him. She likely should have given him just a taste of what her knee in his balls would really feel like, instead of only giving him fair warning she could have done so. Seeing only one avenue left to her she leaned forward the slight amount needed and took his lower lip between her teeth before she bit down. Hard.
"Son of a bitch!" he roared. It came out kind of oddly, as she was still biting him.
She pressed a smidge harder, making him yelp. He used his free hand to tangle a handful of her hair and pulled back just as hard on her hair as she'd bitten down on his lip. She gasped at the sting and in doing so, released his lip. She watched him; looking downward from the extreme angle he was holding her head at, as his tongue tested the bloody inside of his lip. When his eyes met hers, she saw the anger there, barely restrained. But there wasn't only anger. There was something else too.
She watched as his mouth came toward hers. Knowing that there would be nothing but domination and anger if he kissed her in the frame of mind he was in, she wasn't willing to allow it. He wasn't going to show her domination with something that should have been affectionate. He might think he had her licked, but he was wrong. She allowed him to bring his face within millimetres of hers, within a hair of pressing his lips to hers. Then, with a sharp whip of her neck, she drove her forehead into the bridge of his nose. Due to the hold he still had on a handful of her hair, this hurt her a great deal as well. But she did get the satisfaction of being abruptly released as he swore and pinched his now bleeding nose.
"Don't ever, and I mean ever, think to hold me against my will and then use sex to punish me," she bit out through clenched teeth, obviously furious. "I'll be as wild and rough as you want me to be. But never because you're forcing me to meet you there. You might be stronger than me, but you sure ain't smarter, or more tenacious. I shoulda kneed you in the fuckin' balls when I had the chance."
He watched as, rather than dart off in fear to find her cousin, or someone else to serve as a buffer between them, she walked over to her things and started fishing around for an outfit for the day. She had to know he was livid, ready to explode. "If you were smart you'd get the fuck outta here until I calm down."
"Yeah, that's a right scary threat while you stand there bleeding all over yourself." She waved her hand toward him angrily in sarcasm. "I thought I just finished telling you I wasn't afraid of you, and proving to you that I got no call to be."
"If you were smart you'd run right now," he growled, low and serious, taking a step her way.
"I guess I ain't smart then, 'cause I sure as hell ain't lettin' you run me off." She looked at him, eyebrows knit together and a sneer on her mouth. "You thought you'd play the big man and scare little old me into falling over myself to concede to your superiority. I don't see it that way."
Why was it that he found her hotter than ever when she was fighting with him? It wasn't that he didn't take her anger seriously, because he did. He'd clearly be stupid not to when she'd almost broken his nose and bitten his lip off. Not that he was scared of her, but he did take her seriously. He found the way her nose wrinkled across the bridge when she sneered at him sexy. The way she roared at him without fear turned him on. He was going to have angry sex with her, and there was no other option. But first he had to clean himself up. There was nothing he could do with her while bleeding all over the place. The delay just pissed him off more so he stormed out of the room without a word to her, slamming the door closed behind him and going into the bathroom.
As soon as he was gone, she collapsed on the floor, her knees giving up on her. She put her head between her knees, taking a few deep breaths. Scared shitless. She'd been scared shitless. The rage on his face had been black and dangerous and she'd just pushed him back harder. He'd promised not to hit her in anger. And he hadn't, not really. But he'd looked capable of it, and that was scary enough. He'd looked like he was walking a razor thin edge, about to fall off the side of his control. She took another moment to regain her composure before she stood again and tried to find some clothes to put on. She schooled herself to look serene, just in case he came back. But inside she was anything but. She was a quivering mass of jelly. Her fight with him had literally been one step away from seriously violent. Seriously, no going back, someone's gonna need medical assistance right away violent.
Vince got himself cleaned up in the bathroom. She hadn't broken his nose, thankfully, and it didn't take very long to get the bleeding stopped. He realized he had gotten blood all over his shirt when he looked at himself in the mirror to see if he looked swollen. He didn't. She'd gotten him in just the right spot to give him a nose bleed but no visible damage. It was a different story for where she'd bitten him. He had marks from her teeth just under his lip. Bitch! Thinking about it brought back all the anger. Who did she think she was? He stalked back toward the closed door of his room and threw it open. He couldn't wait to sink into her and feel her buck around on him while she spit, hissed and clawed.
"You still in pissy humour, or did you get over yourself while you were out?" she asked. She was combing out her hair, and she didn't spare him a glance.
"I can't believe you fuckin' did that!"
"What? Didn't let you walk all over me 'cause you think you should be allowed?"
"Try to break my fuckin' nose."
"I didn't try to break your nose. If I had, you'd have one right now. I tried, and succeeded I might add, to give you a bloody nose."
He snarled at her, getting angrier by the second.
"Listen," she said, turning to face him. "You thought you'd make me feel small and helpless and that I'd beg you to go easy on me. That I wouldn't be able to defend myself and I'd have to concede you were able to dominate me. I'll never accept that, and that is why I went out and learned to protect myself in the first place. So if you wanna fight, we'll fight. But don't think it's gonna be all about you pinning me down and getting to feel superior, 'cause that shit won't fly. It's like they say. If you can't take the heat, stay the fuck outta the kitchen." She turned back to the mirror, ran the brush through her hair one final time and turned to the clothes she had laid out on the bed. Without looking his way again she pulled her cami and shorts off before starting to dress in the denim shorts and tank top she'd picked out for the day.
The anger that was still definitely singing in his blood mixed with lust again in a split second. It wasn't just seeing her naked in front of him that turned him on either. She was so confident. It was a turn on. Where was the fear she should have? He was almost twice her size. But instead she went toe to toe with him, not one idea it wasn't smart to be found in her head. He figured his mind had figured out before he had allowed himself to see that her unwillingness to be afraid of him in a fight would transmute into an unwillingness to be afraid of anything they would do in the bedroom. Someone as fearless as he was turned out to be a quality he couldn't resist in a bedmate. He was on her before she could have so much as one leg in her shorts, two hands buried in her hair and his lips pressing hard onto hers.
Sensing the difference between lust and punishment, this time she didn't try to escape. She angrily kissed him back, crushing her lips against his just as hard as he was giving, as her hands came up under his shirt and her nails bit into the skin across his shoulders. When his hands moved out of her hair and down to grab her ass before pulling her against him hard, she broke free of his mouth and nipped at the skin of his neck, her hands moving to tangle in his hair.
Before she could do much more than realize what he was doing, he used his grip on her ass to lift her up. Her hands moved down to brace against his shoulders for stability. Before she knew what he was thinking, he had one of her nipples between his teeth. Her head fell back as pleasure and pain mixed together, leaving her unsure where one ended and the other started. He nipped her again and she had a handful of his hair in her hand in a flash, using her grip to pull his head away from her. She leaned down from where he still had her lifted into his arms and crushed her mouth to his again. He slowly lowered her back down to her feet. She felt one of his hands slid down across the side of her neck, down over her breast. As his hand was caressing low on her belly, teasing her by staying just centimetres away from where she really wanted to feel his fingers, a sound intruded into her sensory world.
"Aw fuckin' son of a bitch!" he roared.
She realized the sound was Dominic calling Vince's name as soon as he'd stopped swearing. She was inclined to agree with Vince. She'd had a funny feeling that the sex they had been about to have was going to be of the stormy, violent, mind blowing kind. But she wasn't going to come right out and admit that either.
He kissed her, hard but not half as violent as things had been up until Dom had unknowingly butted in. "Hold that thought until tonight." He brushed her mouth with his again.
"You think I'm still goin' someplace with you tonight after all that?"
"Like it or not, you lost. You gotta pay up. 'Sides, don't act like you didn't want it."
She shrugged. "Maybe, but I wanna get to the mall now, and you're wanted at work, so what're ya gonna do?"
He turned to the door. "I'm gonna go to work, then I'm gonna take you out. You lost, so it is gonna happen."
"Yeah, well the ending of what we were doing before Dom called you isn't a forgone conclusion just 'cause I lost a car race in which I'd bet I'd be your date for the night."
"I'll see you at six." He wouldn't touch her sentence for love or money. Not while she was standing naked in his room, her lips red and swollen from the pressure of his mouth and her breasts were swollen in desire, her nipples hard from the attention he'd paid them.
"Only if I don't see you first!" she called after him, smirking. Once the door was closed behind him she pulled on her clothes and gathered her cards, money and shades. After she kicked her feet into her sandals, she opened the door and walked into the downstairs living room. Before she could start up the stairs, Vince pounded back down them. "Forget something?"
She had the nerve to be smug, standing there dressed to kill, in nothing but her casual shorts and tank top. She didn't have her own blood still splattered all over the front of herself. "Yeah, to change my shirt after someone fuckin' made me bleed all over it."
"Oops," she answered, faking a look of contrition. "My bad."
"You know, Dom already left for the shop, so he wouldn't be around to interrupt this time."
"Yeah, I guess he wouldn't. But I have other things to do. Better things."
He growled at her as he stalked over to where she was standing. "Better things?"
"Oh yeah. Like driving to the mall and spending a few hours shopping. Like knowing you want it, and I didn't give it up to you. Like thinking about you thinking about me, and what you wanted to do to me this morning all day long. Have a nice day, Slick."
She took off up the stairs before he could get a hold of her, and he heard the back door slam shortly after. He was going to have a long day. He wasn't sure how nice it was going to be. He left for the garage after he changed his shirt. He was home by lunch time. He was so short with everyone Dom told him to 'get the fuck outta here, and don't come back until you're done being a fuckhead.' So he left. There was no sign of Tempest, and he wondered if she was still out shopping. Only a woman could spend more than an hour in the mall without getting a splitting headache.