The Funeral of a Good Girl
By – TempestRaces
Chapter Twenty Seven – Of Roads to Hell and Good Intentions
When Tempest's very happy scream rent the air, the indecision everyone in the downstairs living room had been dealing with seemed to melt away. Vince moved to push the door open first.
"Um, I don't think we should be bothering them right now," Jesse tried to stall. He was shocked that his cousin and friend were able to put on such a convincing imitation of two people having sex when they were really just pretending. His honest shock added to his put out and confused act, making it all the more convincing.
Dom rubbed his head. "I guess Jesse's right. What's done is done. We don't need to walk in on them when they're," he trailed off, unsure how to finish his sentence.
"You might not, but I have a fuckin' big score to settle. With both of 'em," Vince growled and moved to take the doorknob in his hand again.
"Shit! Leon! Where did you learn to do that?"
The breathless question was his breaking point. Vince threw the door open. It crashed against the wall behind it and bounced off, almost rebounding to hit him in the face. He pushed past it into the room.
With a shrug, figuring since Vince had already interrupted things, the rest of them might as well get their answers and be present to stop the carnage, Dom followed Vince into the room. He had to push around Vince, who was frozen just beyond the doorway. When he finally made it past Vince fully into the room, he looked at the bed and snarled.
Everyone else filed into the room and moved to stand in a shocked semicircle around the bed. They took in the fully clothed and relaxed positions of the two people in the bed. Jesse cracked up laughing even as Leon smirked and Tempest gave a flippant little wave from where she was laying, reclined against Leon. "What would ya'll have done if we were actually doin' the nasty in here?"
"Killed you both," Vince snarled. "Not that that isn't still an option."
"This was a joke?" Dom asked, seemingly in shock.
"Fuckin' got you good," Leon drawled, grinning. "'Member that time you guys all convinced us you killed Lett in a fit of jealous rage? Consider yourself gotten back, fuckers."
"You should see the look on your faces right now," Jesse snickered, slapping Vince and Dom off the back as he stood between them.
"Good one," Dom admitted grudgingly, shaking his head as he left the room. He was so relived that Leon wasn't actually married to Tempest he couldn't even find himself all that angry at them for what they'd done. But he still felt a bit queasy when he thought about what Vince was likely to do about the whole situation. With a shake of his head he decided it didn't matter. They were going to be late for races as it was. "We gotta go."
Letty and Mia left the room, grinning and shaking their heads. The prank had been very well executed and they knew they had it coming for the first one they'd played on Leon and Jesse. I knew something was up, Mia mused. Soon everyone had left the room but Leon, Tempest and Vince.
"A fuckin' joke? You thought this was a funny joke?" Vince snarled.
"Yeah, flippin' hilarious actually," Tempest answered. "We got the lot of you good. Oh Leon!" she moaned, before busting up laughing.
"Where the fuck did the rings come from?"
"Craft store," Leon answered, throwing his at Vince, who caught it before crushing it flat.
Fake rings, fake sex. They're very fuckin' lucky it was all fake. "Can I see you in the other room?" Vince snarled at Tempest.
"After races. We gotta go or Dom's gonna while the fuck out."
"Then we'll miss races for tonight 'cause I wanna talk to you."
"And we'll talk. After races. I ain't missin' them. My turn to take my car down, 'member?"
"I don't care about the fuckin' Skyline right now."
"No, but I do, and Dom said it was time to go. They'll be time after for talkin'." She turned back to Leon, and he saw the anxiety on her face. She was worried that Vince might actually hold her back, force her to stay home with him, and it was obvious she didn't want to, and wasn't ready. "You comin' dearest?"
"Be right there, Honey," he quipped back, being sure to emphasize honey.
Vince growled again. "The two of you are both gonna wish you'd never cooked this up when we get home."
"Get over it V," Leon said, smirking. "You guys got Jess and I the last time, made us think that Dom killed Letty and we all had to take off so he didn't end up back in jail. Now we got you guys back. Don't act like it's the end of the world. It's not like we were really doin' it in here."
"Guys, we gotta go. There will be loads of time to fight or talk about this whole prank after races. Let's roll." She waited for Leon to stand up and sling an arm around her shoulders before she even attempted to get out of the room past Vince. She wouldn't put it past him for a second to grab her and hold her in the house against her will. And then she'd have to fight him and she really didn't know what the aftermath would be, let alone if she could hold her own when he was this pissed off. She and Leon walked out of the room together, Vince walking behind them. She felt the need to turn around and see where he was, and what the look on his face was like, but she fought it. She knew letting on that she knew he was pissed off, and that she'd done something to contribute to his state, wasn't smart.
Leon pushed Tempest up the stairs in front of him so Vince wouldn't have a chance to grab her. He put her in her car before going around the nose of it to get in his own. He watched as she started the car quickly and pulled out onto the street behind Mia. Vince got into the Maxima with a shake of his head and backed it down the driveway. Leon started his own car and backed onto the street as well. So far, so good. They were on the road without Vince putting a hand on anyone or doing too much yelling. Things were going fairly well, all things considered. Everyone but Vince had taken the prank pretty well. He couldn't wait to get Jesse to fill him in on how it had gone upstairs. With a groan, he realized he'd need to make up a good story of what he and Tempest had done while they waited to hear the rest of the crew coming down the stairs. He couldn't have any hesitation in his voice, especially not if Dom or Vince was around to hear it. The last thing they needed was for anyone else to find out how close of a call it had been for them to really be interrupting what they thought they had been.
Much as she was trying not to be, Tempest was afraid of how her conversation with Vince was going to go down. It was going to overshadow her time at races because she was going to be worrying about what to say to him after, and how to say it. She really didn't want to be with him anymore. She'd told him so that morning. She knew he had chosen to take her saying they were done as in done with their conversation, not done as in we no longer have a relationship. So now she had to break it to him in a way that wouldn't leave any question how serious she was, but wouldn't make him flip the fuck out either. She really didn't think she had the words to accomplish both those tasks. She doubted very much that anyone did, which was a small comfort. She realized they were about to reach the alleyway, and allowed herself to fall to the back of the V, back with Mia, who had elected to take her own car.
They flew down the center of the two rows of parked cars, coming to a stop at the end of the path. She parked the car and got out before looking around. And that was when she saw Craig Everett heading her way. She groaned. Of all the nights to forget that she had told Craig to come see her car, it had to be the night she had pissed Vince off to the edge by pretending to marry his best friend. None of that was Craig's fault, so she was going to have to play nice and show him the Skyline, all while hoping Vince didn't kill him, or her, or the two of them together. Boy, she led a complicated life in California. Oh what a tangled web we weave! With all the balls she was always juggling in the air, she was surprised that she hadn't felt them all fall down on her head yet.
"Hey you!" she called out to Craig as he strolled up. "Well, this is him." She gestured toward her shining car.
"Holy shit. You weren't kidding when you said you couldn't do it justice with words, were you?" he asked rhetorically, walking around the outside of the car and letting out a low whistle.
She leaned back on the driver's door and grinned. "Thank you. It's no more than I deserve, but thank you."
Craig stopped beside the passenger side door, grinning at her lack of modesty. "May I?"
"Sure, go crazy." She motioned for him to open the door.
He did so, before whistling again. "This is totally hot. I can't believe this smokin' ride is going to spend most of its life in the back of beyond."
"There are perks to being the biggest fish in a very small pond."
"Until you kick the ass of everyone else in the scene and end up bored out of your mind because no one will try to take you."
"Well, where I come from, that'll take a while. Trust me. There will always be some new idiot who figures no matter what she drives, ain't no way a female can take him."
"You got no call to worry on this front. I know I likely can't take you."
She scowled. "In a RX-7 with a Cosmo? Please. You could give me a good run."
He smiled. "Well yeah, I could. But in the end you'd still win."
"I know," she smirked. She watched as Craig slammed the door shut and moved around the car to stand in front of her. Can this possibly be a good thing?
"So," Craig started, looking down at her. "I know this isn't any of my business, so please tell me to butt out if you want, but what's up with you and Toretto's friend, anyway?"
She blew out a breath. "The answer to that is complicated."
"Everything is with that crew."
"Yeah, no kiddin'. Well," she started, pausing to think about how to sum up what was, or at least had been, between her and Vince. "He pushed me from the second I met him. Constantly in my face, makin' wise cracks, constantly pushing me to see how far he could get away with. And I'm constantly pushin' back for the same reason. Sparks flew from the second we met," she said, shrugging a shoulder. "But, that's about all we have in common. He's into Dom's sister, not me. And every time I attempt to tell him that I don't want any kind of relationship with him anymore but a friendship he refuses to take that for an answer. I told him again this morning that we were over and done with, but the boy's as thick as a milkshake and refuses to let the idea into his thick skull."
"Yeah, no kidding. Judging by the look currently on his face, he's having some issues with me talking to you and he's on his way over here to drive home to me just what he'll do about those issues if I don't shove off."
"Well," she smiled tightly, a look of chagrin on her face. "I kinda played a little joke on the whole house with the help of Jess and Leon today, and it didn't go over very well. We convinced them all that Leon and I eloped. Vince didn't see the humour. And since the joke just played out about half an hour ago, he's really not over it yet."
"I think that's a fair sized understatement. I should likely go before he really explodes, if you think you're going to be ok left alone with him, that is?"
"Yeah, he won't start shit in a crowd this big. I don't think. 'Sides, Leon knows enough to keep an eye on me after the shit that hit the fan at the house."
"Ok. Well, I'll see you around. Perhaps some day when Vince doesn't want to kill me."
She chuckled. "Don't hold your breath waiting on that day."
He laughed back. "Oh I won't, trust me. Maybe we'll run into each other some day when he's not around."
"Maybe we will. Ciao," she called out, glad Vince was only close enough to hear the good-bye she offered.
"What're you doin', talkin' to that punk again?" he snarled.
"I guess just what it looked like. I was talking to him. 'Sides, he ain't no punk. He's just a guy I met. And you got no call to have an opinion who I talk to." As usual, his attitude put her fur up. He was always pushing her to see how far he could take her, and she was always pushing back for the same reason. It never stopped. And it always seemed to end with one or both of them blowing up in the face of it.
"I got every call when I'm the one you've been sleeping with every night, when I'm the one with images of you waking up naked in my bed."
"Enjoy that image, 'cause memories are all you're gonna have of it from now on." Her temper made her snap at him, admitting something she hadn't planned to get into until they were away from the prying eyes of the public.
"Come again?"
She sighed. "Listen, I didn't want to go into this here. Can't it wait until we get home?"
"No it can't fuckin' wait 'til we get home. What do you mean memories is all I'm gonna have from now on?"
"When I told you we were done this morning Vince, I didn't mean done arguing, done talkin'. I meant done, as in there is no us. Whatever we were playing at is over. I don't want it anymore." She looked up at him from where she was still reclined against the side of her car. She hoped he could read her sincerity and seriousness from the look on her face. She hoped he couldn't see the hurt, and the fact that while her brain agreed with her mouth, her heart did no such thing.
"Is that what the whole thing with Leon was over?" he growled. "You cookin' up some fucked up scheme to get back at me for this mornin'? Because it fuckin' well worked. Consider it a great success and let it fuckin' drop."
"No, it wasn't about that." Well, it wasn't, not totally. "The boys wanted to get you all back for what you'd done before and we came up with the prank we did to accomplish it. Me leaving the house without you and telling you we were through was about the fight we had this morning." She met his eyes again. "Me tellin' you we're done now is about me. I don't want it anymore," she reiterated firmly.
He crowded her against the side of her car, bringing a hand up to cup the side of her head as the other hand found her hip and he cupped it, his thumb stroking idle circles against the exposed skin he found where her top didn't quite meet her low rise pants. He leaned in close and brushed his lips against hers, a feather touch. He repeated it a second time, an equally gentle brush of his mouth against hers, before he nibbled gently at the corner of her mouth. When he felt her hands leave their position where they had been pressed flat against the door panel of her car, and come up to rest softly on his shoulders, he fought to keep a smug smile of triumph off his face. He kissed her more deeply, caressing his tongue against hers even as his thumb started a soft stroking against her cheekbone. "Tell me you don't want me," he muttered against her lips when he stopped kissing her.
"I don't want you," she said, her voice soft.
"Make me believe it. Tell me you don't want me so I believe it." His hand left her hip to splay flat on her belly.
"I don't want you anymore," she repeated. The heat of his hand on her bare stomach seemed to radiate right through her. "I don't want this anymore," her voice was thready with the very want she was denying.
"I don't believe you. Tell me I couldn't have you right now if I wanted, right here in the middle of all these people, all our friends, your family. Tell me and mean it."
"I can't," she ground out, irate with her body's betray. "I can't tell you any of it and mean it because it isn't true. When you put your hands on me I want you. When you're close to me it's the same story. But that's my body. That's physical." Hurt green eyes met triumphant blue. "But my heart doesn't want you anymore. My mind is finally too smart to let you in willingly. So while you can have me by playing my physical reactions to you against my mind, heart and soul, you'll just break me a little more inside every time. So if that's how you want me, go ahead. Take me, right here in front of all these people. Against the side of my car, if you want." She looked away from his eyes and stared out over the writhing sea of humanity ebbing and flowing around the various groups of people like water around rocks in a riverbed.
The triumph left his face quickly. He sighed. "I never started out to hurt you."
"I know you didn't. I guess I even know you couldn't help it. But you did. And I'm so sick of being angry all the time."
"We're good together Trouble."
She shrugged, looking up at him in sadness. "Good sex just isn't enough. We're not good for each other V. All we do is fight and fuck." She hoped bluntness would keep the conversation on track. Keep him focused on the fact she meant every word she was saying, even if she couldn't back up her wants with her real, deep down feelings.
"The first one makes the second one better," he growled. He was getting a funny feeling that he wasn't going to change her mind. She seemed really serious. Not that she hadn't the twenty or so odd other times they'd fought over the span of seven days. But this time she seemed really resolved. He had a feeling unfurling in his gut that she wasn't going to be swayed away from her path with a few hot kisses and hotter words murmured into her ear this time.
"That might be true. And maybe if that was all it was I'd have an easier time accepting the whole situation at face value. Maybe if I wasn't the third person in this situation, and the second place substitute at that, I could accept the whole 'casual sex' situation. But at some point in time I had to start valuing myself for more than I'm gettin', 'cause I'm not even gettin' that. I think, as long as you're holding out for more with someone else, both of us will be better off in the long run if the girls you see are only after the same one thing you are. I'm not that girl, no matter how much we both might wish I was."
"So that's it, huh?"
"Yeah," she sighed through her nose. "That's it."
"Do you really have a thing for Leon?" he asked, his eyes narrowed into suspicious slits.
"No, I don't have a thing for Leon." She rolled her eyes to illustrate how absurd she found his accusation. Inside, she hoped she was selling it with total assurance. He couldn't possibly ever find out. Not if she and Leon were going to be allowed to live.
"So this is about that Craig guy then," he questioned further. He hadn't totally missed the little flair of something in her eyes when she had so vehemently denied having feelings for Leon. He let it go, with difficulty, telling himself it was just because she was worried just how upset he was about the joke they had played on him.
Relief he remained ignorant to how close to the truth he'd come wasn't enough to temper the anger she felt over his inability to see the situation wasn't over her being fickle, but over him being an idiot. "No, this is about you!" she said, poking him in the chest in the hopes of making her point stick. How could he honestly be so thick, so oblivious? "This is about you, and your expectations and actions, verses my expectations and reactions to your actions. There doesn't have to be another guy I like for me to stop wanting to be with you. I didn't have a guy when I landed here and I won't have one when I leave. This is about me, and my inability to convince myself this is ok anymore, that this is enough. I could make it enough, if it was just you'n me having a little somethin' fun while I'm around. But there's always this third person just beyond my vision and I can't pretend it don't matter anymore. Can't look past it and pretend I don't know anymore."
He had never told her there would be more. Had always been up front about things. So why was she making him feel like an asshole over it now? "I never lied to you. Not once."
"I know you didn't, and I never said you did. But do you think that makes it better? That that somehow makes it ok?"
It was his turn to sigh. He did so forcefully, running a hand through his hair. "No, I guess it doesn't." He turned to walk away. "This all your final decision?"
"Yeah," she answered. "It's for the best."
He nodded once, to show he had heard her soft spoken words, not to agree with them, and then walked away without a backward glance. She stayed where she was, leaning with what looked like careless indifference against the side of her car. Only someone who walked right up to her would see the tremors racing through her arms and legs. She studied her feet, sure if she didn't keep looking down, someone would see how upset she was mirrored in her eyes. So instead she looked down at her feet and let her hair form a protective curtain around her and strove for a tough, bad ass look on her face. He gave you what you wanted without a fight, so why aren't you happier?